Hi everyone,

Today, I want to share my tech journey filled with challenges, lessons, and a good dose of humor. As the SysOp of SkyNet BBS, I decided to take a bold step: migrating my Mystic BBS from Windows 10 (32-bit) to a Raspberry Pi 3 running Linux. Sounds simple, right? Well, it wasn’t quite as smooth as you’d think.

After struggling to make Synchronet BBS work (spoiler: it didn’t), I had a frustrating realization about Fidonet. It’s hard not to notice how some folks prefer to guard their knowledge like buried treasure, watching others flounder instead of lending a hand. It’s ironic, really, because hoarding knowledge doesn’t help anyone. In Colombia, we say, “No one takes their wealth to the grave.” And that goes for knowledge, too—sharing it is the only way to truly make a difference.

But back to the story. Installing Mystic on Linux turned out to be surprisingly quick and easy. Using WinSCP, I copied my *.ini and *.dat files, as well as the data, echomail, msgs, files, and themes directories, to /home/sbbs/mystic. Then I ran mystic -cfg, adjusted the System Paths, and updated the QWK General Settings to remove references to Windows paths.

The real challenge came with the message bases. I have around 350 echomail areas, and changing them one by one was simply not an option. While exploring the Message Base Editor, I realized the paths were relative ($mystic\path\msgs\) instead of absolute. That sparked an idea: why not use the Global option to update the path? I tested it with a few FSXNet areas, and it worked!

Encouraged, I updated all areas in groups: first BR.*, then ESP.*, and finally the remaining Fidonet areas. Everything worked perfectly.

One small issue: the "Export to" field in the settings was empty. I went back to the Global section and added my uplinks one by one. With that done, both Echomail and Netmail were good to go.

The only section I had to adjust manually was the Files section, as the Global option doesn’t cover file base paths. Fortunately, I only had about 15 file areas, so it wasn’t too painful.

After finishing the setup, I sent out some test echos and netmails, hoping everything would work as intended. Thankfully, menus and themes worked flawlessly, with no adjustments needed.

That’s my story—short, but full of lessons learned. Migrating SkyNet BBS from Windows to Linux was a rewarding challenge, and I hope my experience helps anyone considering a similar move.

Best regards from Medellín,
David Gonzalez
SysOp of SkyNet BBS

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Best Regards/Saludos
David Gonzalez (Mister G)
SkyNet BBS | Medellin, Colombia | bbs.skynetbbs.com:20023

... 59. "La informática es la ciencia de los futuros que ya no fascinan."

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: SkyNet BBS - telnet://bbs.skynetbbs.com:20023 (21:3/188)