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- Newsgroups: comp.bbs.misc
- Path: sparky!uunet!emba-news.uvm.edu!moose.uvm.edu!cblaise
- From: cblaise@moose.uvm.edu.UUCP (Chris Blaise)
- Subject: Re: Running a BBS under DOS, OS/2, or Linux?
- Message-ID: <1992Sep6.142050.21741@uvm.edu>
- Originator: cblaise@moose.uvm.edu
- Sender: news@uvm.edu
- Organization: University of Vermont -- Division of EMBA Computer Facility
- References: <Bu4pD4.8w4@news.udel.edu>
- Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 14:20:50 GMT
- Lines: 70
-
- From article <Bu4pD4.8w4@news.udel.edu>, by radel@bach.udel.edu (Todd Radel):
- > My question is this: Is there a combination of OS, BBS software, and
- > mailer that allows all of the following?
-
- In my TBBS experience, yes and no....
- >
- > * FidoNet netmail, echomail, and SDS (file distribution).
-
- Yes. TBBS supports netmail, echomail, and SDS. The catch of course,
- is that you have to use external utilities to make them work (ie.
- Tmail for tossing/scanning messages. Whatever dist program (TICK?) you
- would use for files). I notice below you need support for 100+ echos.
- TBBS supports a "topic" based message system like BIX, so you
- can have somewhere around 200,000 message base areas (too bad the message
- base itself is limited to 65,000 messages :(
-
- > * Door games. (I've only seen maybe 3 or 4 doors for OS/2, and none for
- > Linux. If I use the OS/2 versions of Binkley and Maximus, can I spawn
- > a DOS door game?)
-
- Not with TBBS. You can get TDBS (expensive) and then there are a
- wide variety of programs that others write for that (The games range
- from free to outragously expensive. There doesn't seem to be middle ground
- either. Either the game is < $10 or >$40 :(
-
- > * Background mail tossing. (I carry about 100 echo areas, and I don't want
- > the system tied up for long periods of time just unpacking new mail.)
-
- Nope. You need to take the system down and run Tmail. In my
- experience, to fully toss and link about a meg of mail takes a little over
- 15 minutes. Some people can live with that, others can't.
-
- > * Maximum speed -- as little effect on whatever I'm doing, and vice versa,
- > as possible.
-
- TBBS's strongest point is it's speed. On our 386-16 with 1
- 14.4K line and 15 2400 baud lines, there's never a perceived slowdown to
- the user. We've had up to 14 people on it at once with no slowing down.
-
- > * [Optional] USENET interface.
-
- If you want to dicker with Fredgate/UFGate, yes it's possible.
- We're doing it here. I'm not satisfied 100% with the way it works, but
- it does, and I guess that's mostly what matters.
- >
- > I've come up with the following configurations which I plan to check out:
- > * FrontDoor/VBBS under Windows 3.1.
- > * BinkleyTerm OS/2 and Maximus/2 under OS/2 2.0.
- > * XBBS under Linux. (Does anyone know of a Fido mailer for UNIX? I once
- > heard about a port of Binkley to UNIX, but that it was abandoned.)
- >
- > Any pointers would be welcomed. I will summarize to the net if there is
- > sufficient interest.
-
- Well, the big "warnings" when going to TBBS are:
- a) Cost. If you only want to run a couple of lines on a single
- computer (DOS), you're much better off getting something shareware/PD.
- It looks like from the above you're trying to go the less-expensive
- route, so TBBS may not be for you.
-
- b) Conservatism. TBBS can be very conservatism in some areas -
- eSoft isn't always willing to jump on the new "standard" bandwagon right
- away. However, it can also be a mixed bag. For example, it took 4-5
- years to get a FSE with the latest version (from 2.1 to 2.2), but we also
- got something as "revolutionary" as a topic message base system allowing
- us to surpass the 63 base limit in 2.1 (and the 200 base limit found in
- most other DOS based packages)...
-
- TTYL
- Chris
-