Re: Re: Opus-CBCS - any boards on
By: Tiny to Akacastor on Sun Jun 02 2024 07:12:22

I guess RBBS is still alive! I don't see either of these systems listed
in fsxNet. Do you know if RBBS had Fidonet support?

I believe it did, but I could be wrong. Again I wish my darn BBS image was here so I could look. I'm sure I had RBBS and a ton of addons in the file base.

RBBS can do fido. There were 2 tossers that I recall supporting its message base format: MSGTOSS and RBBSMail. Look around for MSGTOS2B.ZIP or RMAIL182.ZIP. Looks like annex.retroarchive.org has them both off of Kirk's Comm CD numero 2.

I think both packages only do echomail. There is a separate package for netmail, called NoSnail. NOSN190A.ZIP same place is some alpha version. There are better versions around.

I have run all of the above with RBBS 17.4 but it's been literally 30 years or more. no idea how I remember all this stuff.

Back to the original topic, I'm not aware of any live Opus-CBCS systems on the internet. 1.79 is widely available and should be Y2K complaint. The older ones, good luck. 1.73a is around, and someplace I saw version 0.00 for download (sunsite maybe?), Wynn started with 0.00 as the initial release. 1.14 was a common version, at least here in Pittsburgh, but I haven't seen it around lately. I had Opus running with telnet support via rlfossil years ago, but there are certainly better options nowadays. I may give it another try.

f
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com (21:1/164)

RBBS can do fido. There were 2 tossers that I recall
supporting its message base format: MSGTOSS and
RBBSMail. Look around for MSGTOS2B.ZIP or RMAIL182.ZIP.
Looks like annex.retroarchive.org has them both off of
Kirk's Comm CD numero 2.

Great to know! It makes sense, RBBS was pretty widespread (even if I never called one personally). Maybe with some outreach we could get one of the existing RBBS systems on fsxNet - I am not familiar with Bitwoods RBBS-PC, but have heard of RC-BOX and the RC2014 project (Z80 homebrew system), seems like they'd be a good fit here. :)

I think both packages only do echomail. There is a
separate package for netmail, called NoSnail.
NOSN190A.ZIP same place is some alpha version. There
are better versions around.

Do you remember if there was a preferred frontend mailer? I presume any of them would work (like with most other BBSes)?

I have run all of the above with RBBS 17.4 but it's been
literally 30 years or more. no idea how I remember all
this stuff.

I'm glad you do remember! It's really interesting to find out some details like you've mentioned.

Back to the original topic, I'm not aware of any live Opus-CBCS systems on the internet. 1.79 is widely available and should be
Y2K complaint. The older ones, good luck. 1.73a is
around, and someplace I saw version 0.00 for download
(sunsite maybe?), Wynn started with 0.00 as the initial
release. 1.14 was a common version, at least here in
Pittsburgh, but I haven't seen it around lately.

1.79 sounds like the version most likely to work today, I also got the impression it is Y2K compliant while the older ones aren't. Do you happen to remember how much Opus changed through the different versions? I am curious how close 1.79 is to the early versions written by Wynn Wagner.

I found pieces of earlier Opus versions, but so far I didn't find a complete set of install files for any of the early versions.


Chris/akacastor


--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

Fandarel was heard saying....

RBBS can do fido. There were 2 tossers that I recall supporting its message base format: MSGTOSS and RBBSMail. Look around for MSGTOS2B.ZIP

Thanks!

I have run all of the above with RBBS 17.4 but it's been literally 30
years or more. no idea how I remember all this stuff.

Laugh, that's how I feel sometimes.

Back to the original topic, I'm not aware of any live Opus-CBCS systems
on the internet. 1.79 is widely available and should be Y2K complaint.

Was that was released for y2k? Or was he ahead of the game when he coded
it?

with telnet support via rlfossil years ago, but there are certainly
better options nowadays. I may give it another try.

Oh tons of better options. This is just trying to get our old memories
working. :)


Shawn

--- Via Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg]
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

Re: Re: Opus-CBCS - any boards on
By: AKAcastor to Fandarel on Wed Jun 05 2024 10:37:18

Do you remember if there was a preferred frontend mailer? I presume any of them would work (like with most other BBSes)?

I most likely was using BinkleyTerm with it. My recollection is that MSGTOSS could only handle ARCMail-attach mailers so I was using oMMM or something behind it to get the BSO.

to remember how much Opus changed through the different versions? I am curious how close 1.79 is to the early versions written by Wynn Wagner.

The basic concept is pretty much the same as Wynn's time. Tons of new features, but those could be switched off in the control file.

f
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com (21:1/164)

Re: Re: Opus-CBCS - any boards on
By: Tiny to Fandarel on Thu Jun 06 2024 06:12:02

Was that was released for y2k? Or was he ahead of the game when he coded it?

I couldn't remember, so I went poking around the 1.79 documentation. No mention of Y2K or the year 2000 at all. Looking at the C data structures doc, it appears that dates and times are encoded in a UNIX-y time_t rather than strings. So I suppose they were forward-thinking.

With the following caveat on Trev's site (still up! sentry.org/~trev/opus/)
16-Nov-1998 Opus v1.03c dies at midnight on 31-Dec-1999 :-( Get v1.79 now :-)

f
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com (21:1/164)

Do you remember if there was a preferred frontend mailer? I presume any of them would work (like with most other BBSes)?

I most likely was using BinkleyTerm with it. My
recollection is that MSGTOSS could only handle ARCMail-
attach mailers so I was using oMMM or something behind
it to get the BSO.

Is MSGTOSS part of Opus or is it another utility that works with it? Interesting to hear what people actually used, thanks for sharing.

I remember my local Opus board running FrontDoor, so that fits the ARCMail-attach mailer requirement.

to remember how much Opus changed through the
different versions? I am
curious how close 1.79 is to the early versions
written by Wynn Wagner.

The basic concept is pretty much the same as Wynn's
time. Tons of new features, but those could be switched
off in the control file.

OK, sounds like if one were to setup an Opus 1.79 system that really would be a good representation of Opus as a whole?


Chris/akacastor

--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

Re: Re: Opus-CBCS - any boards on
By: AKAcastor to Fandarel on Fri Jun 07 2024 13:40:28

Is MSGTOSS part of Opus or is it another utility that works with it? Interesting to hear what people actually used, thanks for sharing.

I was mixing up talking about RBBS-PC and Opus in the same set of emails. MSGTOSS was a 3rd party echomail tosser for RBBS-PC. I think it supported *.MSG format too, so I suppose you could use it with Opus if you wanted to.

Opus could work with a frontend mailer, and many ran it that way, but it has its own decently capable mailer as well. I found it less featureful than I preferred and ran FrontDoor or BinkleyTerm instead, but my NC ran on just Opus for many years.

OK, sounds like if one were to setup an Opus 1.79 system that really would be a good representation of Opus as a whole?

I think so. Wynn passed on a few years ago, so he's not around to disagree with me.

f
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com (21:1/164)

Is MSGTOSS part of Opus or is it another utility that works with it? Interesting to hear what people actually used, thanks for sharing.

I was mixing up talking about RBBS-PC and Opus in the same set of emails. MSGTOSS was a 3rd party echomail tosser for RBBS-PC. I
think it supported *.MSG format too, so I suppose you
could use it with Opus if you wanted to.

Ah OK! I appreciate the RBBS-PC info, interesting to learn about after hearing the name years ago but never seeing it myself.

Opus could work with a frontend mailer, and many ran it
that way, but it has its own decently capable mailer as
well. I found it less featureful than I preferred and
ran FrontDoor or BinkleyTerm instead, but my NC ran on
just Opus for many years.

Oh, I don't think I realized Opus had its own mailer, but I am not sure how I would have thought that it didn't - Wynn created some of the protocols used, of course he was implementing them!

The local Opus board ran FrontDoor, so I have always kind of associated them in my mind.

OK, sounds like if one were to setup an Opus 1.79
system that really would
be a good representation of Opus as a whole?

I think so. Wynn passed on a few years ago, so he's not
around to disagree with me.

I never got to chat with Wynn, but with Opus being a formative part of my BBS experience and seeing him in the BBS Documentary and reading a bit of his writing, it feels like I knew him in a way, a little bit.

There's a large photo album that was shared online by Rik Wallin (Wynn's husband) a few years ago:
https://x.com/RikWallin/status/1112533997442289665

Link directly to the photo album: (very long link) https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPUNB6_adSd9urr_IlP5yECikG4t_ff_IzKCsGPo2t-1ddwC5YoqT249XkKHnCNDw?pli=1&key=WTlFcVVZcmhIdWFLbjdrbFlMOUtmM2MtTkRDaXNn

There's some photos of Wynn and Rik beside some computer equipment and server racks labeled DIVANET - looks like a Windows 95 interface on the computer screen, maybe an early ISP? I didn't spot any photos clearly linked to Opus, but there's a huge number of photos and I just scrolled through. The photo album feels like a very personal look into Wynn's life.


Chris/akacastor


--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

Re: Re: Opus-CBCS - any boards on
By: AKAcastor to Fandarel on Mon Jun 10 2024 11:34:08

I never got to chat with Wynn, but with Opus being a formative part of my BBS experience and seeing him in the BBS Documentary and reading a bit of

I unfortunately never got to meet Wynn either. Most of my involvement with Fidonet and BBSs was during my teenage years, 30 (!! egad !!) or more years ago. I did get to meet some of the auxiliary cast who were from here in Pittsburgh - Paul Kelly, George Stanislav, Bev Freed - at the annual Fidonet picnics (PittNic, great name).

Thanks for the link to Rik's photo gallery. Interesting stuff and a lot of history there. Also some PG-13 content hahaha.

f
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com (21:1/164)

I unfortunately never got to meet Wynn either. Most of
my involvement with Fidonet and BBSs was during my
teenage years, 30 (!! egad !!) or more years ago. I did
get to meet some of the auxiliary cast who were from
here in Pittsburgh - Paul Kelly, George Stanislav, Bev
Freed - at the annual Fidonet picnics (PittNic, great
name).

I recognize George Stanislav's name but I don't think I recall the others. I was also a teenager at the time (mid 90s) so there's a lot I missed out on / didn't pick up on.

The only Fido event I went to was Region 17 Con in the summer of 1995, in Edmonton Alberta. I don't remember names, but I do recall meeting several sysops that went out of their way to be friendly and include 14-year-old me, it was a really positive experience. I also met Scott Dudley (author of Maximus BBS software) there, he also was very kind and generous. It was right before the Maximus 3.0 release and I was very excited! :)

Thanks for the link to Rik's photo gallery. Interesting
stuff and a lot of history there. Also some PG-13
content hahaha.

It really is quite the gallery isn't it! It looks like Wynn and Rik had a lot of fun times over the years.


Chris/akacastor

--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

Quoting Akacastor to All <=-

If there are any Opus boards online today, I'd love to check them out.

This will be your next job! I remember opus boards from years and years
ago and they were far superier to fido software.

That's all I can remember.

There was another package that was quite good back then written in basic
and was open source. I can't htink of the name of it right now.
Pcnet? pcbbs? bbspc? something like that.

Shawn

... Deny thy father and forget thy tagline.
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/700)

If there are any Opus boards online today, I'd love to check them out.

This will be your next job! I remember opus boards from years and years ago and they were far superier to fido software.

My BBS-to-do-list keeps growing! :) Hopefully someone will beat me to it.

That's all I can remember.

I don't think I ever called a Fido board. I think by the time I started calling BBSes in the 90s, Tom Jennings had already left, I don't know if anybody else took over maintenance of the software. I would definitely like to see a Fido board running.

There was another package that was quite good back then written in basic and was open source. I can't htink of the name of it right now.
Pcnet? pcbbs? bbspc? something like that.

RBBS-PC?

http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/software/IBM/DOS/RBBS/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RBBS-PC


Chris/akacastor

--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

AKAcastor was heard saying....

My BBS-to-do-list keeps growing! :) Hopefully someone will beat me to
it.

THat would be good. I think I once looked at opus but didn't do anything
with it as Maximus came out and I used it.

I don't think I ever called a Fido board. I think by the time I started calling BBSes in the 90s, Tom Jennings had already left, I don't know if

I called one a couple of times, but that sysop switched to opus.

Pcnet? pcbbs? bbspc? something like that.

RBBS-PC?

That was it. I started to mess with it at one point but then remote access
got popular in this area so I ended up just using it.

Shawn
--- Via Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg]
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

Pcnet? pcbbs? bbspc? something like that.

RBBS-PC?

That was it. I started to mess with it at one point but then remote access got popular in this area so I ended up just using it.

I don't think I ever called an RBBS system myself. Looking on telnetbbsguide, there are two RBBS systems listed currently:

Welcome to BITWOODS RBBS-PC!
Dedicated to the free exchange of information.

.----------------.
| .------------. | +-+-----------------------+-+
| | Welcome to | | |o| Your SYSOP: |o|
| | BITWOODS | | |o| Aaro Koskinen |o|
| | RBBS-PC! | | |o| |o|
4800 bps | | since 2021 |*| |o| Telnet and SSH: |o|
.-=====-. | `------------'*| |o| bitwoods.duckdns.org |o|
`:-----:' `-::----------::-' |o| |o|
.----------------------------. |o| With SSH use "bbs" |o|
| IBM .-----..-----. | |o| login name. |o|
| |-|-|-||-|-|-| | .-------------------------------.
| ########## `-----'`-----' | | Epson |*
`::::::::::::::::::::::::::::' `:-----------------------------:' ##################################################################


and


"RC-BOX" is a classic 1985 RBBS 4.1 (BDS C code) bulletin board system utilizing a RC2014 (Z80 based) computer kit running the CP/M 2.2 operating system and BYE5 communication program to interface with the outside world.

rc2014.ddns.net:2014


I guess RBBS is still alive! I don't see either of these systems listed in fsxNet. Do you know if RBBS had Fidonet support?


Chris/akacastor


--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

AKAcastor was heard saying....

telnetbbsguide, there are two RBBS systems listed currently:

Oh wow.

I guess RBBS is still alive! I don't see either of these systems listed
in fsxNet. Do you know if RBBS had Fidonet support?

I believe it did, but I could be wrong. Again I wish my darn BBS image
was here so I could look. I'm sure I had RBBS and a ton of addons in the
file base.



Shawn

--- Via Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg]
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)