Hello Mike,

>> My UniCornBBS in Arnhem.NL in Europe still uses POTS,
>> and mostly once a day.
>> For your information: in the near future before september 2019 I have to
>> move to TCP/IP wich UniCornBBS,
>> probably on a (reserve old) Raspberry Pi 1B and/or BeagleBoard.
>> My most luxury Pi 3B+ is used for my own pleasure ;-).
>> I am now seeking for the right RISC OS and/or Raspbian Linux FTN software
>> packages, which help from a colleage Dutch sysop.
>> Advise about this FTN solution is very welcome.

> As this involves Raspberry Pis, I suppose it is on topic.

Yes it sure is.

> Here, I have a Pi 2B+.

Are you sure? Have you seen it at the print?
I donot think that number really exists.
As I have almost all Pi models there are
(except the A-models, Zero(W), and the Compute models)
there are only the original: 1B (2012), 1B+ (2013), 2B (2014), 3B (2015) and
3B+ (2018) which I have all.
The old 1B (2012  512 MB 2xUSB) even twice.
The first Pi (2011) is very rare nowadays.

> I am running MagickaBBS software, which has its own
> version of Crashmail II as the tosser (Magimail), and am using the stock
> raspbian binkd package as the mailer.  Works great!

Thank you for mentioning, I have never heard of it,
and I am FidoNet user since december 1985 and FidoNet SysOp since 1991.

> I am not sure what BBS software you are using now.

I am running FrontDoor 2.02 NC and Remote Access at an old DOS 5 system
and an analogue ZyXEL Elite 2864L modem

> Magicka is technically alpha but is pretty solid.
> It has telnet, SSH, and web capabilities.

Ok, I'll take that in consideration.
Do you know other sysops using that kind of software?

> If you would like to try something more stable, Synchronet will also
> compile on a Pi (I have not done it myself), and it comes with its own tosser
.
> It has many additional internet capabilities.

I have heard about some trouble in FidoNet, I think it was about dupes because
some kludges and msgid's (SEENBYE's) were filtered away that hinders
dupecheching in the FidoWeb.
You know it is very irritating to receive the same messages more than once.

> Both are under current development, both are OSS, and the programmers of
> both are good to work with.

> I have never tried BBSing (or anything) on a Beagle.
> Is it an intel board, or ARM?

It is an ARM board too from 2009 and 2010, and
I only have the BeagleBoard xM version from 2010.
Besides 4 x USB2A it has also an RS232c port and a OTG and JTAG port on it.
I used the OTG port as a fifth USB2A port.
When running a BBS on the Beagle, I could use that RS232c port for the analogue
POTS modem. And when running at a Pi I could use my USB2A to RS232c converter
cable in the same way. I'll think about it, but the first priority is to build
a reliable FidoNet station running Binkd protoco inclusive tosser, scanner,
msgeditor and also a file-echomanager.

> If it is intel, I have some experience with the UP Board.

If you realy had the BeagleBoard (xM), you could/should know it has an ARM
processor as Intel software won't run on it. It has a microSDcard too.
I only run RISC OS and Linux on it, when powered on ;-)
That was some years ago, as I dropped my not running 2.5" HDD on the ground.
It did not survive that fall about 0.90 meter.
I have to update my RISC OS SDcard to the latest version and build a new HDD
again some time.
You know it is possible to build a microSDcard that both runs both RISC OS
on a BeagleBoard xM AND on a Pi 3B+?
The clue is the contents of the first FAT partion. We made that happen at
our BigBenComputer club in the Netherlands.
I am not sure if that is also possible with Linux at both machines?

I could use that HDD too at my Pi's when running RISC OS.
I filled it at an Acorn RISC PC with a Baildon EIDE PATA podule card,
as EIDE is much faster than USB. So that 160 GB HDD was filled with a 128 GB
RISC OS partition. I still have 2 other versions of that same 2.5" 160 GB HDD
I once used in my Asus L5800c laptop with now has a broken Windows directory
stucture. I placed the original 2.5" 55 GB HDD back in the laptop. So that I
can use that 2.5 160 GB HDD again for Linux at a Pi or for RISC OS.
A new SSD could be a better solution nowadays.
I am not sure which option I am going to use.

> I run a Synchronet board, as well as a 30+ year-old GT Power board (under
> dosemu!), on it.  The GT board even has POTS!  :)

As nobody calls here besides my UpLink, I think POTS is over.

When I am ready I will run the old and new systems simultaneously for a while.
Thank you for your information.

Henri.

---