[Coco] Coco can do more

[Robert "Exile In Paradise" Murphey]

On Fri, 2020-02-28 at 13:34 -0500, phil pt wrote:
> The second question is do you really think we are using the maximum
> potential availability of what the Coco has o really offer today?


In my humble opinion - yes, we're using well beyond the potential
availability - it's a machine that stopped being directly manufactured
or supported decades ago... yet is capable of doing more right now than
ever before.

(and yes, I read your provocative question in the spirit I think it was
intended - a call to action to keep pushing further...)


> The research I did I discovered that that it;s possible to still use
> the
> Rs232 Pack and the /T2 in the Vcc emulator without re-spending huge
> amount
> of time re-writting new code or making large modifications to the
> existing
> programs by adding the Rs232 pack to the Vcc.


As Picard would say - make it so?


> 
> Yes, it should be able to be done by controlling the buffer overflow
> using
> timers that is included in most of all the compilers available today.
> Yes,
> there is still some Os9 BBS software source code will still run using
> the
> Rs232 Pack standards back in 1990's.


Even that is possibly patchable...


> I for one would like to bring back the older bbs system. How about
> you?


Would love to see that, and its one of the dozens of "when time
permits" projects on my personal list.

Last year I posted a bit about resurrecting an old copy of Rainboard on
Remote2 over a BeckerPort and DriveWire as a lark.

That was before I had a CoCo3 which I've been studying like fiend and
purchasing parts toward building a dedicated BBS on.


> Would you rather just keep using your browser to get files and post
> messages in the mail list or have the options to call and login to a
> real
> coco running a real coco bbs system?


That too. The more the merrier.
The existence of the web of today is proof that most people preferred
that to the BBS.

This is coming from a guy who ran a 64 line dialup/TCPIP BBS in the
90's and still runs a tiny BBS on the internet today (not CoCo
specific).

So - yes.
And to start off - I know Neil Blanchard's Internal Affairs is up - not
CoCo specific but at least CoCo3 friendly.

More can always be added.

And they are pretty easy to network for shared message bases on UUCP,
Fight-O-Net, or even custom InterBBS protocols.

So pick a package:
* Access Color BBS
* AllRAMBBS
* BBS Board Bulletin System
* C09 BBS
* CoBBS
* CEBBS may still exist out there
* OS9 L2 BBS
* Rainboard
* RAMbase
* RIBBS
* ShadowBBS

And put it up behind Drivewire, TCPser, or a WifiModem...

Or roll your own with DECB with Remote2 or BASIC09 and NitrOS-9

-- 
Robert "Exile In Paradise" Murphey <exile at weylan-yutani.com>
Weylan-Yutani Corporation