-=> Nick Andre wrote to All <=-

 NA> Hi,

Hi Andre,

Long time no chat.. :)

 NA> I need some advice on converting a Windows 2000 workstation that runs
 NA> my BBS into Linux or BSD.  I've been thinking about changing things
 NA> over for stability reasons...

 NA> The machine runs both Telnet AND dialup, and I wish to preserve as
 NA> closely as possible, the original configuration (BBS Software, mailer,
 NA> doors, etc).

Telnet is no problem. MBSE will do that as well as dialup. It's the only 
one that I know of that will handle dial up calls. I don't have a modem 
anymore so I have not tested it out any though.

Synchronet handles telnet very well, and binkd can be used for the mailer. 
But sync doesn't do dial up natively in v3+, and a mailer for dial up 
would be difficult if not impossible.

 NA> Machine: Dell Optiplex P166, 64MB RAM, 3gb HDD.
 NA> Mailer/tosser/editor: D'Bridge (I am now the current developer)
 NA> BBS: Renegade (of which I also write utilities for)
 NA> Doors: Variety, including LORD, Tradewars, etc etc.
 NA> News: Vsoup/NT.
 NA> Telnet Server: Zoob Telnet Server.
 NA> Telnet FOSSIL/DOS interface: NetFoss/NT.

Doors are a little tougher to get going under linux. It can be done with 
dosemu or native linux apps but be prepared for another learning curve.

 NA> Whenever someone telnets to my BBS, Zoob answers and then spawns a DOS
 NA> session which fires up a batch file that loads NetFoss, then Renegade.
 NA> After the user disconnects, NetFoss is unloaded and the Dos session
 NA> terminates.

 NA> Dialup is all handled by D'Bridge, which runs in its own DOS session
 NA> under Windows with X00 loaded, and talks to another Windows machine on
 NA> the network for storing the mass volumes of messages I'm tossing here
 NA> (mostly Usenet)

 NA> I guess the big thing is NetFoss, it's a FOSSIL driver that interfaces
 NA> any DOS application to the Internet, and Zoob just passes the open
 NA> telnet socket/handle and away it goes.

 NA> So I need to know, if I move over to Linux, can I have a Telnet server
 NA> that will properly run my BBS software and doors, and can I
 NA> simultaneously run my mailer to answer the dialup line?

I don't think you'll be able to get all of your doors running under linux.

 NA> I keep hearing about DosEMU but I have not yet heard how the issue of
 NA> FOSSIL is handled by Linux... FOSSIL is the most important thing as I'm
 NA> running nothing but DOS-based programs for the BBS and mail tossing.

There is a fossil that comes with dosemu. I haven't used it in quite a 
while but it does work.

Best of luck with that. Do post if you need help.

 Ttyl :-),
         Al


... Computer Hacker wanted. Must have own axe.
--- MultiMail/Linux