Put your BBS back online with MagicJack?

[Terry Olsen]

Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in the
heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone line?
Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and $20 per
year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be entirely
possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.

Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone line
and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges to call.
No-brainer, eh?

So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy a
MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens. Anyone else?

[Steven Lichter]

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in
the heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone
line? Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and
$20 per year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be
entirely possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone
line and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges
to call. No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy
a MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens. Anyone else?

You would need to run the Magic Jack with a PC or Intel Mac, I would
guess from there you could plug a modem into the phone jack then to your
Apple. I have a Magic Jack, but I have never tried a modem on it.
There might be problems since the system requires compression. I know
years ago when Sprint has PC Pursuit it required special drivers to
allow the Apple BBS software t o run on it.

[Terry Olsen]

Compression could be a killer...or it could mean a lower baud rate... I'll
have to try it out and see what kind of connection I can get...if any...

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in
the heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone
line? Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and
$20 per year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be
entirely possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone line
and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges to
call. No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy a
MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens. Anyone else?

You would need to run the Magic Jack with a PC or Intel Mac, I would guess
from there you could plug a modem into the phone jack then to your Apple.
I have a Magic Jack, but I have never tried a modem on it. There might be
problems since the system requires compression. I know years ago when
Sprint has PC Pursuit it required special drivers to allow the Apple BBS
software t o run on it.
--
The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c)
2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co.

[w***@yahoo.com]

Post by Steven Lichter

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in
the heyday???  With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone
line? Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and
$20 per year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be
entirely possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone
line and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges
to call. No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest?  Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this?  In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy
a MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens.  Anyone else?

You would need to run the Magic Jack with a PC or Intel Mac, I would
guess from there you could plug a modem into the phone jack then to your
Apple.  I have a Magic Jack, but I have never tried a modem on it.
There might be problems since the system requires compression.  I know
years ago when Sprint has PC Pursuit it required special drivers to
allow the Apple BBS software t o run on it.

I've tried it, no dice. Even at 300 baud. During "best connection"
times (night). With QOS setup to highest priority for it on my router.
With no other traffic on the local network. With various sacrifices
offered, including sacrificing young virgins and burning sheeps'
bowels upon the altar, underneath the full moon.

I've given up on MagicJack, because quality was an issue. I use Google
Voice these days... No, I've not tried that - yet.

[Steven Lichter]

Post by w***@yahoo.com

Post by Steven Lichter

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in
the heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone
line? Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and
$20 per year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be
entirely possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone
line and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges
to call. No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy
a MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens. Anyone else?

You would need to run the Magic Jack with a PC or Intel Mac, I would
guess from there you could plug a modem into the phone jack then to your
Apple. I have a Magic Jack, but I have never tried a modem on it.
There might be problems since the system requires compression. I know
years ago when Sprint has PC Pursuit it required special drivers to
allow the Apple BBS software t o run on it.

I've tried it, no dice. Even at 300 baud. During "best connection"
times (night). With QOS setup to highest priority for it on my router.
With no other traffic on the local network. With various sacrifices
offered, including sacrificing young virgins and burning sheeps'
bowels upon the altar, underneath the full moon.
I've given up on MagicJack, because quality was an issue. I use Google
Voice these days... No, I've not tried that - yet.

That should answer his question. The problems that you had are pretty
much what we had with the start of BBS's in the early days. You are
dealing with voice grade lines, routers and other equipment around the
world that will work fine with voice, but not with data. If a way could
be found to compress the data then it might work.

Have you called a BBS using MagicJack?

[z***@gmail.com]

That should answer his question.  The problems that you had are pretty
much what we had with the start of BBS's in the early days.  You are
dealing with voice  grade lines, routers and other equipment around the

The problem is that VoIP of all flavors uses audio encoding with
acoustic models designed to reproduce a human vocal tract. It's not
designed for data. GSM has the same issue, which is why GSM "modems"
bypass the speech codec and transmit the data directly out-of-band.
The real "modem" (modulates digital data into an audio signal) lives
at the central station (where the GSM-to-POTS interface lives).

You'd need equivalent functionality in MagicJack. Not saying such
things are impossible - I work in an industry that relies on ancient
modems and VoIP providers HAVE been persuaded to implement that sort
of thing. But it needs to be provisioned specifically.

[Steven Lichter]

Post by z***@gmail.com

Post by Steven Lichter
That should answer his question. The problems that you had are pretty
much what we had with the start of BBS's in the early days. You are
dealing with voice grade lines, routers and other equipment around the

The problem is that VoIP of all flavors uses audio encoding with
acoustic models designed to reproduce a human vocal tract. It's not
designed for data. GSM has the same issue, which is why GSM "modems"
bypass the speech codec and transmit the data directly out-of-band.
The real "modem" (modulates digital data into an audio signal) lives
at the central station (where the GSM-to-POTS interface lives).
You'd need equivalent functionality in MagicJack. Not saying such
things are impossible - I work in an industry that relies on ancient
modems and VoIP providers HAVE been persuaded to implement that sort
of thing. But it needs to be provisioned specifically.

There are workarounds, but right now thre is no standard for VOIP.

As to cell phone, I have a G3/G4 CDMA and can plug a modem into my phone
and then into the computer, works pretty good. My new system runs at
broadband speeds now without the modem, and will look for WiFi system to
use.

[Scott Alfter]

Post by z***@gmail.com

That should answer his question.  The problems that you had are pretty
much what we had with the start of BBS's in the early days.  You are
dealing with voice  grade lines, routers and other equipment around the

The problem is that VoIP of all flavors uses audio encoding with
acoustic models designed to reproduce a human vocal tract. It's not
designed for data. GSM has the same issue, which is why GSM "modems"
bypass the speech codec and transmit the data directly out-of-band.
The real "modem" (modulates digital data into an audio signal) lives
at the central station (where the GSM-to-POTS interface lives).

PCM audio is an option with some VoIP systems, but probably not with
MagicJack. My home phone line is provided by a Grandstream HT-286 ATA, with
service provided by Gizmo5. The HT-286 has several compression options, two
of which are variations of PCM (ulaw and alaw). Bandwidth usage is higher,
but voice quality is about equal to POTS most of the time.

I haven't tried hanging a modem off of it, though. There's probably still
some added latency that'd keep faster speeds from working. 2400 bps might
be doable...maybe even 9600 bps or 14.4 kbps, but all of that is just
speculation.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

[Don]

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in
the heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone
line? Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and
$20 per year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be
entirely possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone line
and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges to
call. No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy a
MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens. Anyone else?

You would need to run the Magic Jack with a PC or Intel Mac, I would guess
from there you could plug a modem into the phone jack then to your Apple.
I have a Magic Jack, but I have never tried a modem on it. There might be
problems since the system requires compression. I know years ago when
Sprint has PC Pursuit it required special drivers to allow the Apple BBS
software t o run on it.
--
The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c)
2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co.

If you're going to end up using a PC in any case, there are a number of
freeware TELNET-to-RS232 programs around that will let users TELNET to your
BBS using your existing internet connection. This assumes, of course, that
you've got some sort of "always-on" connection.

I tired a couple of them several years back, but ended up going a different
route using software specific to the system I was/am running (TBBS system on
PC-DOS). The only other issue you might have is your ISP blocking inbound
port 23 connections, but the software that I tried allowed you to select
other ports so you can work around that one.

I've just looked through my HD and I can't find any links to the stuff I
tried, but some enterprising Google-ing may come up with something. I seem
to recall that the guy who had written it was using it to run a BBS on a
C64, but it worked fine with other modem-based BBS's.

[Steven Lichter]

Post by Don

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in
the heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone
line? Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and
$20 per year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be
entirely possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone line
and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges to
call. No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy a
MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens. Anyone else?

You would need to run the Magic Jack with a PC or Intel Mac, I would guess
from there you could plug a modem into the phone jack then to your Apple.
I have a Magic Jack, but I have never tried a modem on it. There might be
problems since the system requires compression. I know years ago when
Sprint has PC Pursuit it required special drivers to allow the Apple BBS
software t o run on it.
--
The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c)
2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co.

If you're going to end up using a PC in any case, there are a number of
freeware TELNET-to-RS232 programs around that will let users TELNET to your
BBS using your existing internet connection. This assumes, of course, that
you've got some sort of "always-on" connection.
I tired a couple of them several years back, but ended up going a different
route using software specific to the system I was/am running (TBBS system on
PC-DOS). The only other issue you might have is your ISP blocking inbound
port 23 connections, but the software that I tried allowed you to select
other ports so you can work around that one.
I've just looked through my HD and I can't find any links to the stuff I
tried, but some enterprising Google-ing may come up with something. I seem
to recall that the guy who had written it was using it to run a BBS on a
C64, but it worked fine with other modem-based BBS's.

If you are using DSL, then each time you boot your system tou will have
a defferent IP address. The port problem as you said can be worked
around.

I still have my old data line since it only costs a couple of dollars as
a bundled second line, so that would be no problem. My problems is no
time as well as the last time it was up I had no calls for weeks at a time.

[winston19842005]

Post by Steven Lichter

Post by Don

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in
the heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone
line? Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and
$20 per year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be
entirely possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone line
and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges to
call. No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy a
MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens. Anyone else?

You would need to run the Magic Jack with a PC or Intel Mac, I would guess
from there you could plug a modem into the phone jack then to your Apple.
I have a Magic Jack, but I have never tried a modem on it. There might be
problems since the system requires compression. I know years ago when
Sprint has PC Pursuit it required special drivers to allow the Apple BBS
software t o run on it.
--
The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c)
2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co.

If you're going to end up using a PC in any case, there are a number of
freeware TELNET-to-RS232 programs around that will let users TELNET to your
BBS using your existing internet connection. This assumes, of course, that
you've got some sort of "always-on" connection.
I tired a couple of them several years back, but ended up going a different
route using software specific to the system I was/am running (TBBS system on
PC-DOS). The only other issue you might have is your ISP blocking inbound
port 23 connections, but the software that I tried allowed you to select
other ports so you can work around that one.
I've just looked through my HD and I can't find any links to the stuff I
tried, but some enterprising Google-ing may come up with something. I seem
to recall that the guy who had written it was using it to run a BBS on a
C64, but it worked fine with other modem-based BBS's.

If you are using DSL, then each time you boot your system tou will have
a defferent IP address. The port problem as you said can be worked
around.

I used no-ip.com to resolve to whatever my current DNS is, this particular
one requiring software running on your end to update their database.

Then you can have a DNS-resolving name.

There are many such services out there. I've had some luck playing with it.

[Steven Lichter]

Post by winston19842005

Post by Steven Lichter

Post by Don

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in
the heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone
line? Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and
$20 per year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be
entirely possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone line
and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges to
call. No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy a
MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens. Anyone else?

You would need to run the Magic Jack with a PC or Intel Mac, I would guess
from there you could plug a modem into the phone jack then to your Apple.
I have a Magic Jack, but I have never tried a modem on it. There might be
problems since the system requires compression. I know years ago when
Sprint has PC Pursuit it required special drivers to allow the Apple BBS
software t o run on it.
--
The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c)
2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co.

If you're going to end up using a PC in any case, there are a number of
freeware TELNET-to-RS232 programs around that will let users TELNET to your
BBS using your existing internet connection. This assumes, of course, that
you've got some sort of "always-on" connection.
I tired a couple of them several years back, but ended up going a different
route using software specific to the system I was/am running (TBBS system on
PC-DOS). The only other issue you might have is your ISP blocking inbound
port 23 connections, but the software that I tried allowed you to select
other ports so you can work around that one.
I've just looked through my HD and I can't find any links to the stuff I
tried, but some enterprising Google-ing may come up with something. I seem
to recall that the guy who had written it was using it to run a BBS on a
C64, but it worked fine with other modem-based BBS's.

If you are using DSL, then each time you boot your system tou will have
a defferent IP address. The port problem as you said can be worked
around.

I used no-ip.com to resolve to whatever my current DNS is, this particular
one requiring software running on your end to update their database.
Then you can have a DNS-resolving name.
There are many such services out there. I've had some luck playing with it.

To me it is not worth the time. I have my old system here on the old
data line, but the modem is turned off, The system is up and running
though.

[Don]

Post by Don

Post by Steven Lichter

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in
the heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone
line? Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and
$20 per year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would
be entirely possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once
again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone
line and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges
to call. No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would
consider running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll
probably go buy a MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens.
Anyone else?

You would need to run the Magic Jack with a PC or Intel Mac, I would
guess from there you could plug a modem into the phone jack then to your
Apple. I have a Magic Jack, but I have never tried a modem on it. There
might be problems since the system requires compression. I know years
ago when Sprint has PC Pursuit it required special drivers to allow the
Apple BBS software t o run on it.
--
The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today?
(c) 2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co.

If you're going to end up using a PC in any case, there are a number of
freeware TELNET-to-RS232 programs around that will let users TELNET to
your BBS using your existing internet connection. This assumes, of
course, that you've got some sort of "always-on" connection.
I tired a couple of them several years back, but ended up going a
different route using software specific to the system I was/am running
(TBBS system on PC-DOS). The only other issue you might have is your ISP
blocking inbound port 23 connections, but the software that I tried
allowed you to select other ports so you can work around that one.
I've just looked through my HD and I can't find any links to the stuff I
tried, but some enterprising Google-ing may come up with something. I
seem to recall that the guy who had written it was using it to run a BBS
on a C64, but it worked fine with other modem-based BBS's.

If you are using DSL, then each time you boot your system tou will have a
defferent IP address. The port problem as you said can be worked
around.
I still have my old data line since it only costs a couple of dollars as a
bundled second line, so that would be no problem. My problems is no time
as well as the last time it was up I had no calls for weeks at a time.
--
The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c)
2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co.

You're right about the moving IP ... I'd forgotten about that because my ISP
provides me with DSL and a static IP. I've had people tell me that they've
had success with services like DynDNS to keep a DHCP IP address linked to a
domain.

[]3ob]

On 2009-05-30 18:51:26 -0400, Steven Lichter

Post by Steven Lichter

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in
the heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone
line? Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and
$20 per year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would
be entirely possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once
again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone
line and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges
to call. No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would
consider running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll
probably go buy a MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens.
Anyone else?

You would need to run the Magic Jack with a PC or Intel Mac, I would
guess from there you could plug a modem into the phone jack then to
your Apple. I have a Magic Jack, but I have never tried a modem on it.
There might be problems since the system requires compression. I know
years ago when Sprint has PC Pursuit it required special drivers to
allow the Apple BBS software t o run on it.

Maybe this guy's antics (surfing the web at 300 baud with an acoustic
modem from 1964 (!)) could help shed some light on how to do it?

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/25938

]3ob

[Rusty]

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in the
heyday???

I've given quite a bit of thought to running a dial-in BBS over VoIP,
but I have been unable to successfully put the idea into practice over
the public Internet.

Analog phone-line modems were designed to work with the phone systems
of the time. Connections through the old phone system could be
affected by band limitations, D/A and A/D conversions, and electronic
noise but were guaranteed a uniform round-trip time. So, modems were
built to rely upon uniform RTT and to cope with the other limitations.
Unfortunately, VoIP circuits suffer from jitter and packet loss.
Jitter buffers and frame erasure concealment algorithms address these
limitations in a way that works fairly well for the human auditory
system, but modems were not designed to handle signals altered by
these techniques and become even further confused by them.

I've tried dialing into VoIP-connected modems using all manner of
bitrates and error correction schemes, and have not been able to
achieve a usable connection for a period of more than two or three
minutes. There are VoIP protocols (V.150) which are designed to
reliably carry modem audio over the Internet, but they are not widely
implemented. I have been unable to find an ITSP with a V.150-
compatible network.

-Rusty D

[Steven Lichter]

Post by Rusty

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in the
heyday???

I've given quite a bit of thought to running a dial-in BBS over VoIP,
but I have been unable to successfully put the idea into practice over
the public Internet.
Analog phone-line modems were designed to work with the phone systems
of the time. Connections through the old phone system could be
affected by band limitations, D/A and A/D conversions, and electronic
noise but were guaranteed a uniform round-trip time. So, modems were
built to rely upon uniform RTT and to cope with the other limitations.
Unfortunately, VoIP circuits suffer from jitter and packet loss.
Jitter buffers and frame erasure concealment algorithms address these
limitations in a way that works fairly well for the human auditory
system, but modems were not designed to handle signals altered by
these techniques and become even further confused by them.
I've tried dialing into VoIP-connected modems using all manner of
bitrates and error correction schemes, and have not been able to
achieve a usable connection for a period of more than two or three
minutes. There are VoIP protocols (V.150) which are designed to
reliably carry modem audio over the Internet, but they are not widely
implemented. I have been unable to find an ITSP with a V.150-
compatible network.
-Rusty D

VOIP systems run a lot like the old Sprint PC Pursuit, they are packets
as you said. A driver could be written to allow for this as was done
for OGG-Net.

[Rusty]

VOIP systems run a lot like  the old Sprint PC Pursuit, they are packets
as you said.  A driver could be written to allow for this as was done
for OGG-Net.

Unfortunately, most VoIP systems don't work that way. With standard
VoIP, the audio that the modems send is digitized and the digital
audio stream is sent over the internet as audio. Protocols like V.150,
on the other hand, work almost exactly the way PC Pursuit did. The
local V.150 VoIP gateway acts as a modem and converts the audio your
modem sends back into the original data stream. It then sends the data
(text, files, whatever) over the Internet to the remove V.150 VoIP
gateway which, having received the data without error, acts as a modem
by converting the data back into modulated audio into the distant
modem.

Systems like this are said to work perfectly but, unfortunately, I
have never found a VoIP carrier that supports these protocols.

As you say, it would be possible to implement this type of technology
on both ends but if I were going to run a BBS, I'd prefer that people
could just dial it directly without having to purchase and configure
exotic hardware on their end :).

-Rusty

[Steven Lichter]

Post by Rusty

Post by Steven Lichter
VOIP systems run a lot like the old Sprint PC Pursuit, they are packets
as you said. A driver could be written to allow for this as was done
for OGG-Net.

Unfortunately, most VoIP systems don't work that way. With standard
VoIP, the audio that the modems send is digitized and the digital
audio stream is sent over the internet as audio. Protocols like V.150,
on the other hand, work almost exactly the way PC Pursuit did. The
local V.150 VoIP gateway acts as a modem and converts the audio your
modem sends back into the original data stream. It then sends the data
(text, files, whatever) over the Internet to the remove V.150 VoIP
gateway which, having received the data without error, acts as a modem
by converting the data back into modulated audio into the distant
modem.
Systems like this are said to work perfectly but, unfortunately, I
have never found a VoIP carrier that supports these protocols.
As you say, it would be possible to implement this type of technology
on both ends but if I were going to run a BBS, I'd prefer that people
could just dial it directly without having to purchase and configure
exotic hardware on their end :).
-Rusty

I agree; it took me months of work to get drivers for GBBS to work with
my 56k modem, and then trying to get ProTERM to work. I retired from
Network Operations from the phone company so I understand the signaling
systems. They us SS7 signaling in band now and that will interfere with
modems, you can blame telephone hackers for that. I had the change to
go back t o work as a contractor for them and other companies and found
out I really missed the work; for the most part I don't deal with
putting the equipment in, just training new people; which is he way I
learned, you can lean just so much from books and school as I learned
over 40 years ago.

[Boot Zero]

Greg at Age of Reason (telnet: aor.retroarchive.org) is running GBBS Pro
using tcpser. It emulates a Hayes compatible modem for the Apple, and
uses a serial->usb cable to send / receive via tcp/ip.

I have had some success in tests with GBBS using tcpser4j, which appears
to be the follow-up to tcpser, but written in Java. It even can play
.wav files for dial tone, ringing, etc. It can alias phone #'s, so you
can use atdt5165551212 to get to your favorite IP address.

The problem I have encountered with reviving old BBS software is that
some of the early stuff had drivers written for specific hardware, ie:
Nexus only supports Micromodem and Apple-Cat. I am still trying to find
a suitable Hayes compatible driver that can be hacked into these old DOS
BBSs like Apple-Net, Networx ][, Nexus, Tele-Cat, Pro-Connect and others.

-BZ

[Terry Olsen]

I had my BBS online for a year using a hardware device called an "ethernet
modem". It acted like a modem to the computer and was a telnet server on the
internet. Worked really well with my METAL BBS on the Apple IIgs. The major
problem was that file transfers using x/y/z-modem would not work at all.
There was someone, can't remember his name, that had his IIgs hooked up
directly to a serial port on a cisco router and configured the router to
direct telnet traffic on port 6502 to the IIgs. File transfers worked great.
Unfortunately, it did not detect dropped-carrier and would sit there until
it timed out if someone dumped.

I have also wrote my own software as a go-between called "Internet Modem",
available here: http://boycot.no-ip.com/InternetModem/

It works pretty well also, but just like the ethernet modem, x/y/z-modem
doesn't work at all... That's why I was thinking about going back to the old
way with modems and phone lines...but I'm seeing from the conversation that
there's no hope for that either....

Post by Boot Zero
Greg at Age of Reason (telnet: aor.retroarchive.org) is running GBBS Pro
using tcpser. It emulates a Hayes compatible modem for the Apple, and
uses a serial->usb cable to send / receive via tcp/ip.
I have had some success in tests with GBBS using tcpser4j, which appears
to be the follow-up to tcpser, but written in Java. It even can play .wav
files for dial tone, ringing, etc. It can alias phone #'s, so you can use
atdt5165551212 to get to your favorite IP address.
The problem I have encountered with reviving old BBS software is that some
of the early stuff had drivers written for specific hardware, ie: Nexus
only supports Micromodem and Apple-Cat. I am still trying to find a
suitable Hayes compatible driver that can be hacked into these old DOS
BBSs like Apple-Net, Networx ][, Nexus, Tele-Cat, Pro-Connect and others.
-BZ

[Don]

Post by Terry Olsen
I had my BBS online for a year using a hardware device called an "ethernet
modem". It acted like a modem to the computer and was a telnet server on
the internet. Worked really well with my METAL BBS on the Apple IIgs. The
major problem was that file transfers using x/y/z-modem would not work at
all. There was someone, can't remember his name, that had his IIgs hooked
up directly to a serial port on a cisco router and configured the router to
direct telnet traffic on port 6502 to the IIgs. File transfers worked
great. Unfortunately, it did not detect dropped-carrier and would sit there
until it timed out if someone dumped.
I have also wrote my own software as a go-between called "Internet Modem",
available here: http://boycot.no-ip.com/InternetModem/
It works pretty well also, but just like the ethernet modem, x/y/z-modem
doesn't work at all... That's why I was thinking about going back to the
old way with modems and phone lines...but I'm seeing from the conversation
that there's no hope for that either....

Post by Boot Zero
Greg at Age of Reason (telnet: aor.retroarchive.org) is running GBBS Pro
using tcpser. It emulates a Hayes compatible modem for the Apple, and
uses a serial->usb cable to send / receive via tcp/ip.
I have had some success in tests with GBBS using tcpser4j, which appears
to be the follow-up to tcpser, but written in Java. It even can play
.wav files for dial tone, ringing, etc. It can alias phone #'s, so you
can use atdt5165551212 to get to your favorite IP address.
The problem I have encountered with reviving old BBS software is that
Nexus only supports Micromodem and Apple-Cat. I am still trying to find
a suitable Hayes compatible driver that can be hacked into these old DOS
BBSs like Apple-Net, Networx ][, Nexus, Tele-Cat, Pro-Connect and others.
-BZ

I managed to get X-Modem to work with my TBBS system, but it required
messing with the PC-DOS NIC driver settings. I think the issue was too
small a buffer on the NIC which would cause it to fragment the file transfer
packets. I bumped up the buffer size and managed to get X-Modem to work,
Y/G-modem still wouldn't work, but I think that may be because they use, yet
again, bigger buffer sizes.

It's interesting to sniff the packets when you run a telnet/modem translator
... the full duplex character-by-character BBS traffic makes for a *very*
chatty telnet stream. :-)

[PZ]

With the Packet8 VOIP service you have to specify if you have a fax
line. This enables fax transmission speeds of at least 33.6k,
probably due to greatly decreased compression.

- Paul

[Gene Buckle]

To: PZ
Re: Re: Put your BBS back online with MagicJack?
By: PZ to comp.sys.apple2 on Tue Jun 02 2009 07:48 am

Just FYI, The Age of Reason (telnet://aor.retroarchive.org) is using a tweaked
version of Jim Brain's TCPSER program (it transmits IAC WILLDO ECHO so that the
local telnet client wwoonn''tt ddoo tthhiiss..). It's on a regular Apple
IIe with GBBS Pro v1.3 and a Super Serial Card. If you make the null modem
adapter according to Jim's instructions, it works perfectly.

g.

--- Synchronet 3.15a-Win32 NewsLink 1.85
The Retro Archive - telnet://bbs.retroarchive.org

[Gene Buckle]

To: PZ
Re: Re: Put your BBS back online with MagicJack?
By: PZ to comp.sys.apple2 on Tue Jun 02 2009 07:48 am

Just FYI, The Age of Reason (telnet://aor.retroarchive.org) is using a tweaked
version of Jim Brain's TCPSER program (it transmits IAC WILLDO ECHO so that the
local telnet client wwoonn''tt ddoo tthhiiss..). It's on a regular Apple
IIe with GBBS Pro v1.3 and a Super Serial Card. If you make the null modem
adapter according to Jim's instructions, it works perfectly.

g.

--- Synchronet 3.15a-Win32 NewsLink 1.85
The Retro Archive - telnet://bbs.retroarchive.org

[b***@gmail.com]

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in the
heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone line?
Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and $20 per
year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be entirely
possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone line
and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges to call.
No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy a
MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens. Anyone else?

I have just setup my wildcat bbs, and trying to get a caller to try calling into it even though I am not sure if the bbs will be able to pickup using this setup, in any case I am using the default menus etc..I just want to see if magicjack will allow my bbs to answer calls, I am doubting it will work, but hey who knows. If someone wants to give it a try,

Call my bbs at: 1-201-243-6470

[b***@gmail.com]

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in the
heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone line?
Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and $20 per
year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be entirely
possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone line
and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges to call.
No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy a
MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens. Anyone else?

If the bbs won't work using magicjack, I will have to say, bye bye to the magicjack and switch back to my old service.

[Brian Patrie]

Post by b***@gmail.com

Post by Terry Olsen
Has anyone ever thought of running their old BBS just like they did in the
heyday??? With actual Apple hardware, an analog modem, and a phone line?
Now that MagicJack has come into existence, $40 to purchase, and $20 per
year of service with free long distance, seems to me it would be entirely
possible to have a bunch of Apple II bbs's to call once again.
Sysops would not have to shell out a monthly payment for a 2nd phone line
and users wouldn't have to worry about long distance phone charges to call.
No-brainer, eh?
So would there be any interest? Are there any sysops who would consider
running a BBS like this? In the next month or so, I'll probably go buy a
MagicJack, put mine online, and see what happens. Anyone else?

If the bbs won't work using magicjack, I will have to say, bye bye to the magicjack and switch back to my old service.

VoIP (voice over internet protocol) is notorious for this;
the encoding mangles modem signals.