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Post by wiskow on Feb 21, 2007 15:33:15 GMT -5
Brotherbryce came across the following message posted by Jim Brain in April 2005: www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctech/2005-April/042403.html... in that message, Jim talks about "captive modem support", which I believe is EXACTLY what I'm looking for to get a "hybrid" setup running with my BBS! The message says that this is "still under development", however. So I'm wondering, was it ever developed? Or is it still under development? I'd be VERY interested to know when this feature becomes available. I've send an e-mail to Jim privately, but I was wondering if anyone here might possibly have some "inside information". :-) -Andrew |
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Post by Golan Klinger on Feb 21, 2007 17:12:47 GMT -5
This is something Leif suggested in comp.sys.cbm quite some time ago and it came up again recently in these forums so I assumed you knew all about it. Slight OT: Something funny is going on with Google Groups. I remember Leif's post very clearly and yet I can't find it when searching GG's archive. Worse yet, I can't find posts I made and have copies of. A great deal suddenly seems to be missing. For example, the post of Leif's that I'm referring to was made in the thread in which you first announced your BBS. You can find it here but you can't find it through GG. What the $@#&! is going on?! Is anyone else experiencing this? |
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Post by wiskow on Feb 21, 2007 18:55:15 GMT -5
This is something Leif suggested in comp.sys.cbm quite some time ago and it came up again recently in these forums so I assumed you knew all about it. I know all about the discussions we've had, which can mainly be summed up as "it'll work in theory". But the April 2005 message from Jim Brain seems to imply that it was either actually working or was something that was planned for addition. I've never used TCPserJ myself... Everytime I've looked at it, I just get confused... I use BBS Server to connect my C128 to TelBBS's, as it seems to have a much simpler interface. But if this hybrid setup will work with TCPserJ, then I'd like to know how to do it. Slight OT: Something funny is going on with Google Groups. I remember Leif's post very clearly and yet I can't find it when searching GG's archive. Worse yet, I can't find posts I made and have copies of. A great deal suddenly seems to be missing. For example, the post of Leif's that I'm referring to was made in the thread in which you first announced your BBS. You can find it here but you can't find it through GG. What the $@#&! is going on?! Is anyone else experiencing this? You're right... It seems that Google is "losing it"!  -Andrew |
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Post by Jim Brain on Feb 22, 2007 0:17:10 GMT -5
It got into the design phase, and I have the docs here, but without someone to test it (I can;t really test it here, as it really requires someone with two lines or someone who has a friend willing to call them a bunch of time), I put it on the shelf until someone who could test came along.
geesh, you GUI weenies. tcpser4j isn;t THAT hard to grok.
Jim
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Post by wiskow on Feb 22, 2007 1:05:03 GMT -5
Jim, I'd be more than happy to help you test this out! Just imagine, a BBS running on a C64 with both dial-up and Telnet capability! I never would've imagined I'd be working on this back in the late 80's when I was running a BBS on a C64 with a single 1541 drive... ;-)
And yes, I'm a big GUI weenie... but I'll try harder. ;-)
-Andrew
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Post by Pinacolada on Feb 22, 2007 14:10:12 GMT -5
geesh, you GUI weenies. tcpser4j isn;t THAT hard to grok. I respectfully disagree, my good man. You're a Java guru, I'm not.  The XML or whatever it's called seems... well, overly featureful. I can't seem to grok the connection between the file and what happens when I fire up WinVICE. It just makes no sense to me; but that's a personal problem, eh? |
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cube
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Post by cube on Feb 22, 2007 16:41:10 GMT -5
Even the simplest concept can seem confusing and daunting until you understand it... Imagine being a computer Newbie picking up a Commodore 64 today, in the world of the GUI and Online Help, Point and Click, Plug & Play, etc. learning to operate our little gem would be a gargantuan task! Can you imagine how long the average computer user of the day would spend looking for the mouse on a Commodore 64? And if he or she actually found a 1351 - how long they'd sit there wondering why it didn't work and where the CD was supposed to go? *ahh* That would be a great reality (or hidden camera) TV show!
"Ready you say... Ready for what?"
"I'll give YOU a syntax error!!"
Amused,
John
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Post by wiskow on Feb 22, 2007 18:20:59 GMT -5
*ahh* That would be a great reality (or hidden camera) TV show! Ahh... I can see it now... A new employee walks into the office for his first day of work. The boss hands him a 5ΒΌ" disk and says, "I've got an important spreadsheet saved on this disk, and I need it printed right away. Can you take this to the computer in the next room and print it out for me?" The employee, wanting the impress his new boss, agrees to do this. He takes the disk into the next room, where there's a Commodore 64, a couple 1541 disk drives, and a 1525 printer. Next to the computer is a GEOS box... What will he do? What WILL he do?!?! ;D -Andrew |
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cube
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Post by cube on Feb 22, 2007 23:27:26 GMT -5
I've worked for years in the computer industry and although the average person can stumble their way through Windows and get it to run a couple of programs for them, check their email, listen to music and download porn, whenever that blue screen pops up or (my favorite) they get a "Non-System Disk" error - they have NO IDEA what to do, and many have no inclination to investigate possible solutions on their own, aside from calling for technical support. Which is good - in a way, for people like myself who have made a living solving people's computer problems, but it's sad in a way too because it puts the consumer at the mercy of geeks like me and discourages the development of problem-solving skills. I think that's one of the things that makes the Commodore such a great tool for learning - it does not do ANYTHING for you! You have to learn it's commands, it's syntax and it's ways. But once you do these things, it becomes a very entertaining, educational, and (dare I say useful?) tool. Especially when you consider that the '64 was the platform from which many of the engineers and programmers who built today's computers and software got their start.
I had a 1525... Took forever to print out banners though! But I loved making posters, cards, and calendars with Print Master. I even had an original Newsroom disk and would spend hours on end making up my own newspaper. There's something you don't see very often anymore - tractor feed computer paper! And when the Okimate 10 came out, I begged and pleaded with my parents to buy me one... Eventually it wound up under the Christmas tree one year and it was one of the happiest years of my life! The first thing I printed - Doodle's Middle Earth.
John
PS: That was a tangent.
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Post by wiskow on Feb 23, 2007 0:13:12 GMT -5
There's something you don't see very often anymore - tractor feed computer paper! I've got plenty... A bank that was in the same building where I worked a few years ago switched all their old dot matrix printers to laser printers. They went around the building asking everyone if anyone wanted all their leftover boxes of paper. I think I got 5 big boxes that day. They were mailed to the bank, and still had the postal meter on them... I think it was about $55 each for postage! But I paid nothing... :-) -Andrew |
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Post by Golan Klinger on Feb 23, 2007 0:55:01 GMT -5
There's something you don't see very often anymore - tractor feed computer paper! You just have to know where to look. |
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cube
Junior Member
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Post by cube on Feb 23, 2007 1:02:59 GMT -5
Actually, I know Staples and Office Depot both carry regular 24 lb tractor feed paper. I bought a box about a year ago when I was developing a program to generate invoices, which normally prints them on three part NCR forms. Not wanting to waste the 3-part forms, I bought a box of regular white tractor feed to test on. New dot matrix printers are surprisingly expensive! ($300+) But they are still in high demand in POS applications where even fast laser printers can't whip out three or five copies of an invoice on differently colored paper the way a dot matrix can... Who could forget the patter-patter of the dot matrix printer? hahaha MAN I geek out on this stuff!
- John
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Post by Pinacolada on Feb 23, 2007 15:07:51 GMT -5
The first thing I printed - Doodle's Middle Earth. OMG. I have a printout of that courtesy of my waxy Okimate 20. |
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cube
Junior Member
Posts: 58
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Post by cube on Feb 23, 2007 15:59:27 GMT -5
It was a great printer if you had the right type of paper for it - had to be REALLY smooth or else you'd get white specks everywhere the fibers of the paper 'dipped'. But considering the technology of the day - I'd say it did a fine job.  At one point I did a demonstration of the Okimate at our local Commodore user's group - Calgary Commodore User's Group - but like many of the other elements of my collection, it was parted with many years ago. John |
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Post by Jim Brain on Feb 23, 2007 17:54:18 GMT -5
[ The XML or whatever it's called seems... well, overly featureful. I can't seem to grok the connection between the file and what happens when I fire up WinVICE. It just makes no sense to me; but that's a personal problem, eh? I think someone (who has some time) should just make up a few XML config files for the normal cases, and post them here. Then, just pick one, and go. I agree the XML is not pretty, but GUIs don't add function in an app like this, and one has to pick what to work on. Jim |
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