ml> no, not really... try using domain names in IREX and you'll find
ml> that it f
ml> quite miserably... instead you have to use IP numbers because the
ml> kernel s
ml> changed such that DNS lookups fail and IPs are required...

 TJM> That's only the Linux version.  Plus who the hell wants to run
 TJM> Linux?  I wish  eCS would be marketed to the mass public like OS/2
 TJM> was. :(  I run IREX here  with domain names with no issues.

i wasn't aware of the problem being strictly related to windows... at least
no one has ever stated it so plainly... however, in restrospect, i can see
it now and fully understand it, too... windows doesn't come out with new
kernels all the time... in fact, they rarely ever come out with new
kernels...

ml>  TJM> I don't run OS/2 any longer so I have to stick to something that
ml>  TJM> works.
ml> 
ml> OS/2 still works ;)  especially on older equipment... my main
ml> server was a

 TJM> Yeah, but I don't have any old boxes lying around for just the BBS
 TJM> machine  tho.

i wouldn't if i hadn't refused to move the bbs to each new OS as it came
out and was embraced by all and sundry... that box has had a few upgrades
over the years but it is essentially the same as it was when i first
acquired it...

 TJM> eCS was nice in a virtual box I setup, but I dunno.
 TJM> It's been so long  since I ran an OS2 platform ... :(

and there you have one up on me... i've never used any kind of virtual
environment that i know of... maybe win3 on OS/2 was one such but i didn't
even really use that once i got another machine for my playing and was able
to leave the bbs machine alone for it to perform its mission uninterrupted
and unmolested ;)

ml> IIRC there is a method of doing this but i'd have to go digging to
ml> see if 
ml> still have the posts detailing how... but this also bring up the
ml> question 
ml> why do you need/want to run it without a comport? surely there is
ml> at least
ml> on your system you can allow it to access even though it may not
ml> actually 
ml> it for connections...

 TJM> For it to run under Windows and not die because NetSerial has it's
 TJM> own issues  of crashing when I get pinged 1000x in a row on port
 TJM> 23 by people looking for  a way in.  

this sounds like you need a perimeter firewall that can handle problems
like this... i'm serious, too... i have one such and it didn't cost me a
thing... not even for the dedicated machine that it runs on... too many
hits of certain types from an address within a certain time period and the
door gets slammed shut and remains shut for an amount of time... if that
address continues to beat on the door, their block time is extended... i
rarely even look at the machine any more...

 TJM> Net2BBS is comport-less
 TJM> (virtual) and is what I use now for the  server.  I had to switch
 TJM> to NetFOSS from BNU as FD will drop out to load the  board and
 TJM> kill the window because of the FOSSIL.  Did the same for X00.  So 
 TJM> under winblows, I had no choice, either dump FD and switch to
 TJM> something that  doesn't crash when I get pinged 1000 times within
 TJM> 2 seconds on all "connection ports/nodes" or have NetSerial die
 TJM> everyday and have to reboot the computer  for it to work.  Mike
 TJM> never did get around to looking into this or fixing it.  :(

i can understand why he hasn't... i can also understand why you and so many
others made the choices you did... i just wish that more had stopped and
really looked at things before following the troubled paths they took :?

)\/(ark