rsalz@bbn.com (Rich Salz) (10/25/89)
Last week I asked for pointers to BBS's (free, shareware, commercial) that would run under BSD Unix. Here's the promised summary. Thanks to the following people for the info: David Barto <megatek!barto> Karl Denninger <karl@ddsw1.mcs.com> Mark Gregson <charlie.cc.deakin.OZ.AU!vortex> Piper Keairnes <ar4@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> Steve Simmons <scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us> Thos Sumner <thos@cca.ucsf.edu> Tim Ramsey <tar@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu> Curiously, a couple of people also asked me for info; I guess they didn't read the last two lines of my original article: Please send me email -- advertisements welcome -- and I'll forward them along and post summaries. ===== There's a BBS in Indiana that's a modification to Notesfiles. Changes include a menu system and downloading capabilities. Graphics interfaces for Mac, etc., users are in progress. Duncan Notesfile 317-567-2143 (300/1200/2400) 24 hour system ===== PicoSpan is a commercial product; contact Mike Meyers (mike@m-net.ann-arbor.mi.us) for details on price, etc. Picospan consists of groupings of articles called conferences, not dissimilar to newsgroups. Followups are appended to items, so discussion is threaded. Drift is a problem, but extent depends on quality of the participants and the "fair witnesses". A FW can delete responses or entire items, but cannot change existing text. A FW can 'freeze' an item, making further responses impossible. This is a good way of turning an existing item into an informational posting. Some 'remote picospan' capabilities exist, allowing multiple sites to share a conference. [I quoted Steve Simmons's summary in toto; it's one of the best short summaries I've ever seen. Thanks, Steve! ] ===== XBBS is available from the author's site, alphacm (see the UUCP maps) and anonymous FTP from hotel.cis.ksu.edu (129.103.10.12) "XBBS is a fairly decent BBS. Its one major drawback is that it is a pain to set up and configure." The current version is 7.60. ===== Mark Gregson is in the final "alpha" stage of a new BBS currently written for SystemV but a BSD port should be possible. Source will be available after beta test. Contact Mark Gregson <charlie.cc.deakin.OZ.AU!vortex>. ===== Check out the nixpub listings in alt.bbs ===== SBBS from comp.sources.unix is a BBS written mostly in /bin/sh. { Minimal set of features --r$ } ===== AKCS is based for System V, but porting to BSD has been done before and it's not much of a problem. It's a threaded BBS: responses are linked to parent(s). Internal messages/options/etc are configurable, and the entire commandset is extensible with privilege masks. There's a full-screen editor, with on-line help. It can be integrated to work with Usenet and standard UUCP mail. Kermit, zmodem, etc., for up/download. Can call out to external programs. "Excellent support is our hallmark ... we average 3-4 releases of new features and enhancements a year!" Source code available, binary for several systems. For a demo, call: (312) 566-8911 24 hours a day at 300-2400 baud Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. 415 South East Garfield Avenue Mundelein, IL 60060 (312) 566-8910 -- Please send comp.sources.unix-related mail to rsalz@uunet.uu.net. Use a domain-based address or give alternate paths, or you may lose out.