That's today's efforts in a nutshell.

Started off by packing up stuff for my kids that has come down from the North Island from my mother-in-laws estate. We then ran around the city dropping stuff into three children and ended up with a less cluttered house and an
empty car... so what to do? Fill it up again :)

Next off to the local hardware store / garden center which entailed buying several random items to help finish off a reno project (we're doing one room
at a time here at home) for an upstairs bedroom. Bought a door stop (ooohh)
and one of those plastic barrel fittings you screw into the base of a ceiling lap to hold it in place (ahhh) along with yet another doorstop for the lounge door (we were on a roll by then :)

Next to the garden center, bought some sweet peas to plant outside near a trellis, then a pumpkin plant to grow over the summer months and some pretty yellow/purple flowering shrub my wife really liked.

A visit to the cafe for some coffee and cake and the day is mostly done.

Have also been working on setting up a Win10 system for the lounge so I can
get the PC back I want to use for Agency and the 1/100 HUB. So a case of one step at a time to then get back to where I was working on before Bathurst arrived a few weeks ago.

That's the day so far.

How's your day going?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

Upgrading Cisco router this morning and helping kids carve pumpkins this evening. Good fun..

I e-mailed you an fsxNet app last night. No rush, but I think I got it all working. Just need a proper node number.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A27 (Windows)
* Origin: Eternal Domain (21:1/999)

On 30 Oct 2020 at 09:54p, Chaise pondered and said...

Upgrading Cisco router this morning and helping kids carve pumpkins this evening. Good fun..

Halloween here tonight, but it's cold and wet so I expect not too many to
call.

I e-mailed you an fsxNet app last night. No rush, but I think I got it all working. Just need a proper node number.

Yep got it, will be in touch :)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

Hello Avon!

On 31 Oct 2020, Avon said the following...

That's today's efforts in a nutshell.

Sounds like you've been quite busy! =)

How's your day going?

I've written a simple a systemd service utilizing socat to be able connect to the modem over the network (Telnet or similar). Inspired by:

http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/doc/socat-ttyovertcp.txt

Thinking of launching a socat instance on my Windows box (or does anyone know of something similar presenting a COM port?) so that I can run SyncTerm from there and dial out. Instead of SSHing to the Linux box using PuTTY and then using minicom or qodem from there.

(For some reason, despite changing character coding settings in PuTTY and selecting ANSI, ANSI usually gets borked in minicom for me; qodem works fine with ANSI but crashes all the time due to communications assertions...)

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2020/10/11 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

Thinking of launching a socat instance on my Windows box (or does anyone know of something similar presenting a COM port?) so that I can run SyncTerm from there and dial out. Instead of SSHing to the Linux box using PuTTY and then using minicom or qodem from there.

I'm not sure what you mean by presenting a com port. Are you trying to use a dial-up modem? SyncTerm does support dial-up modems as far as I know although I haven't used one for 20 or so years.

(For some reason, despite changing character coding settings in PuTTY and selecting ANSI, ANSI usually gets borked in minicom for me; qodem works fine with ANSI but crashes all the time due to communications assertions...)

When I had a CP437 or LATIN-1 terminal I used to use minicom with good results but since switching to a utf8 terminal it looks terrible and I have never found a solution for that. I don't think minicom has had any development in a long time and likely will not get any more updates.

When BBSing I use plain old telnet or ssh and that works well. If I need zmodem and friends I use syncterm or the telnet terminal in nodespy.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-4
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.1)

How's your day going?

Marginally interesting. I got a call late yesterday the scanner round at the church wasn't working. Told them I'd have a look at it today. So duly trundled in about 11, using a key handed to me recently. Of course having gotten in the alarm system eventually went off. Requiring a phone call to find out what I thought was the code wasn't working.... I had all the right numbers in the wrong sequence, I hate that, it tends to make it harder to remember right next time for me....

Anyway since no one else was there and they're in danger of actually having attendees, I took the opportunity to re-lay the AV setup in the church space. Basically just disassemble it, drag it all right down to the back of the church space, hook it all up again, and check the cameras have enough zoom to still work effectively. Disassembly was straight forward, pushed the tables around, mounted up the two permanent cameras, unpacked a new usb extension to hook up the now most distant camera and.... presto... I haven't pick up an USB A to A, its an A to B. Walk over to the local outlet of the store duly return the one I have after packing it up again. What I had was a 5M passive, and of course they have no passive A to A, so I instead opt to take a 10M active. Then I run into problem #2 which is that one of the frame grabbers that recently arrived turns out to be DOA, so I'm scratching my head plugging it into various ports to see if it will come to life, which it doesn't and I end up using the spare. So far so good.

The sound is supplied via a large sound desk that handles all the room audio, and then is run via a small mixer into the computer. Theres and extra set of leads stuck in it to make the original run out into the middle of the room, so I pack them up, and move the small mixer input leads onto the mixing desk end as its within spitting distance now. Figuring I best be trying the sound before D-Day being tomorrow, or today as I'm writing this. I find I've got a great deal of hum going on, but I can't get any real audio from the system. I scratch my head a great deal for this one, poke around with a variety of settings and the little mixer but in the end no change. I call it quits and let the real audio guy know I've created a new problem for him to look at this morning. By this time the Big Man has arrived...

I suspect he's still using the WiFi on his mac, the ip address has changed and the printer/scanner which is using SMB to delivery the scan document can't find him. Check the settings, nope its on wire, ip address is the same, I fixed it previously. Somewhat confused I have a look at the scanner and see someones been playing with its settings, and trying to have it use email for delivery something its steadfastly refused to do for me. Can't find anything obvious, pop a document in it, scan it, and its delivered as expected to the correct location on the mac. Shrug, its just working. No answers. So thats the state of play.

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)

Next off to the local hardware store / garden center which entailed buyingseveral random items to help finish off a reno project (we're
doing one roomat a time here at home) for an upstairs bedroom. Bought a door stop (ooohh)and one of those plastic barrel fittings you screw into the base of a ceilinglap to hold it in place (ahhh) along with yet
another doorstop for the loungedoor (we were on a roll by then :)

I just about spit out my coffee when you mentioned the door stops. lol! I love going to the hardware store, even if I leave with nothing but a stinkin' door stop. Whats the name of the shrub your wife picked out? Sounds like a Spirea but not sure if those grow where you are. That or a weigela cultivar (red prince, sonic boom) .. but I'd love to know the name.

-tG

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2020/10/23 (Windows/32)
* Origin: The Underground ~ www.theunderground.us:10023 (21:1/165)

Hello Al!

Thank you for your reply!

On 31 Oct 2020, Al said the following...

I'm not sure what you mean by presenting a com port. Are you trying to
use a dial-up modem? SyncTerm does support dial-up modems as far as I
know although I

Yep, however the modem is connected to a headless Linux box (the BBS server)
so I want to use it over the network (without SSH). :)

When I had a CP437 or LATIN-1 terminal I used to use minicom with good results but since switching to a utf8 terminal it looks terrible and I have never found
a solution for that. I don't think minicom has had any development in a

Yep, my problem exactly...

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2020/10/11 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

On 31 Oct 2020 at 11:54p, The Godfather pondered and said...

I just about spit out my coffee when you mentioned the door stops. lol!
I love going to the hardware store, even if I leave with nothing but a stinkin' door stop. Whats the name of the shrub your wife picked out? Sounds like a Spirea but not sure if those grow where you are. That or
a weigela cultivar (red prince, sonic boom) .. but I'd love to know the name.

It was a Osteospermum and I think it was one called 'purple sun' I'll need to check but it's dark now and zzz and then a work day beckon :)

I should have also mentioned we bought 3 x wall lamps for out lounge and the plan is to get an electrician in to wire them up in a few weeks time... also part of the home reno bender we're on right now :)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

On 31 Oct 2020 at 10:18a, Zip pondered and said...

Sounds like you've been quite busy! =)

Thanks yes it has been a busy weekend. Today was lawns, moving stuff into the roof/attic ... what else, we had some of our kids stop by to visit, I phaffed around on a HP computer which I am 99% sorted for using it as a system to
watch streaming shows on the telly with... once done I get the current PC
we're using back and I can start working on moving Agency over to Linux.

I've written a simple a systemd service utilizing socat to be able
connect to the modem over the network (Telnet or similar). Inspired by:

http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/doc/socat-ttyovertcp.txt

Busy days for you too :)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

On 01 Nov 2020 at 05:16a, Spectre pondered and said...

The sound is supplied via a large sound desk that handles all the room audio, and then is run via a small mixer into the computer. Theres and extra set of leads stuck in it to make the original run out into the middle of the room, so I pack them up, and move the small mixer input leads onto the mixing desk end as its within spitting distance now. Figuring I best be trying the sound before D-Day being tomorrow, or
today as I'm writing this. I find I've got a great deal of hum going
on, but I can't get any real audio from the system. I scratch my head a great deal for this one, poke around with a variety of settings and the little mixer but in the end no change. I call it quits and let the real audio guy know I've created a new problem for him to look at this
morning. By this time the Big Man has arrived...

So the audio from the PC into the mixer could have been low or perhaps a bad earth there? Just a guess..

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

It was a Osteospermum and I think it was one called 'purple sun' I'll
need tocheck but it's dark now and zzz and then a work day beckon :)

Oh those are nice! I'll have to see if they have those at the nurseries in spring/summer time frame. Doesn't look like they support our weather zone though. They like zones 9-11 so likely not available here :( We do have colorful varieties of daises and Echinacea that do well here and look similiar.

I should have also mentioned we bought 3 x wall lamps for out lounge and theplan is to get an electrician in to wire them up in a few weeks
time... alsopart of the home reno bender we're on right now :)

When we have the money, we always have something to do around here. We gutted anb remodeled our kids bathroom last year, it was a lot work but looks great now. Those are always fun projects to do, especially when it all comes together right :) Have fun!

-tG

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2020/10/23 (Windows/32)
* Origin: The Underground ~ www.theunderground.us:10023 (21:1/165)

So the audio from the PC into the mixer could have been low or
perhaps a bad earth there? Just a guess..

Well the audio was certainly low.... as to being non-existant... there are already known earth loop hum problems going on, but no one has any idea how to get rid of them. It usually gets a low filter to try alleviate it. It turns out the move was to much for the power supply for the pc side mixer. Its what I consider to be a weird 17VAC x2 power supply. And it's delivering.... NOTHING... and I'm guessing the hum is just the empty load on the pc inputs.

What gets interesting in my mind anyway is a supply delivering 17VAC x2 @ 200mA. Thats weird current even if you still rectify it on board into DC, plus the device will supply something called "ghost power +54v". So my guess is that 2x17VAC out of phase helps supply the 54 if its needed but we never use it. And one of the 17s becomes the onboard DC as well. Shrug.

I thought one of my old AC modem power supplies might do the job, but alas she's some 8 volts short of the requirement, even if at way higher current.

Spec


--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: (21:3/101)

Yep, however the modem is connected to a headless Linux box (the BBS server) so I want to use it over the network (without SSH). :)

I'm not going to be any direct help, but... I have seen software to do this kicking around, I came across it while I was looking for something else. For the life of me can't think what. I'm guessing the "server" end is just redirection to the serial port, and the rest is enough to fool the client into thinking its talk directly to the same. Virtual Serial ports or some such? Ponder... sorry, can't think of any more..

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)

I should have also mentioned we bought 3 x wall lamps for out lounge and

This made me chuckle, and maybe its just an Aussie thing... is the "out lounge" an extension to the Out House? :P

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Scrawled in haste at The Lower Planes (21:3/101)

On 02 Nov 2020 at 12:04p, Spectre pondered and said...

I should have also mentioned we bought 3 x wall lamps for out lounge

This made me chuckle, and maybe its just an Aussie thing... is the "out lounge" an extension to the Out House? :P

No it's just me typing too fast and not proofing, it should have been our... and the blinking r is right next to t on the keyboard :)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

Hello Spec!

On 02 Nov 2020, Spectre said the following...

fool the clientinto thinking its talk directly to the same. Virtual Serial ports or somesuch? Ponder... sorry, can't think of any more..

Thanks! Yep, I'll keep my eyes open... :)

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2020/10/31 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)