-=> mark lewis wrote to Tony Langdon <=-

 ml> actually, it is not that far away... consider this... using DOSEMU, you
 ml> can fire up and hop right into a door from a native linux BBS... now,
 ml> instead of using DOSEMU, try it using KVM/QEMU...

 ml> how do you start the VM on demand?
 ml> how do you provide the door with the BBS dropfile information?
 ml> how do you connect the remote caller through the BBS to the VM?

I know it has been done with Qemu on a Pi, though I haven't done it myself.  I
did try setting it up at one stage, but ran into issues getting FreeDOS working
inside the VM.

 ml> i envision the VM running all the time and the "door" being little more
 ml> than some sort of virtual serial connection between the BBS and the VM
 ml> in the same vein as using scp to transfers files... except that the
 ml> connection would be two way and live... if DOSEMU worked on a rPi, it
 ml> would be great but i've not seen anyone demoing that with a native
 ml> linux BBS and existing DOS doors... the only thing i can see, at this
 ml> time, is something like the apple guys are doing with their real
 ml> hardware connecting via serial to other real hardware but even that
 ml> doesn't involved a BBS sitting in the middle...

Well, that would be another way to do it.  Would certainly save the overhead of
starting the VM each time a door is run.  You'd probably have to configure it
to work a bit like the door/game servers that are out there.  And of course,
you could setup your own door server on a Win32 box. :-)


... Bed & Breakfast: two things the kids will never make for themselves.
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