Rob's Ramblings

Wednesday, 9 September 2009

How to access the BBS

My old Ringworld BBS will be up and running at Acorn World this weekend.

We would love as many people as possible to access it, and leave us a message!

There are two main ways of accessing the BBS.

1. Dial-up, just as you did back in the 1980s!
You will need a viewdata terminal, or a BBC Micro, Modem and communications software such as CommSoft or Commstar, or some sort of viewdata terminal software and modem for your PC.

Once set-up, the magic telephone numbers to access the BBS are 0161 660 8192 or 020 7099 2934 for line 1 and line 2. If one is engaged, try the other. (I know that those are Manchester and London numbers, but they both terminate in a box I can plug-in anywhere I want!)


2. Telnet access. If you already have access to a terminal program that supports viewdata, simply point it at uko.irrelevant.com port 6400.

Alternatively, you can download a pre-configured copy of BeebEm for Windows all set-up to run CommSoft and connect to the BBS here. Simply unzip it to anywhere on your PC (I suggest c:\BeebEmDialer) and run the RUNME.BAT file! This will fire off a couple of windows and finish off by dialing into the BBS! If you are using Vista, you will probably get authorisation messages, just click "Continue". If you need to re-dial, press f3. f0(f11 in BeebEm) brings up the help screen.

I think this BeebEm is configured with beeb-style keys, so * is on shift-@. If you want to use the star on the 8 key, select Options>Logical Keyboard Mapping!

Login with your name, and have a look around. Press numbers to select the options, *aw# to access information about the BBS a the show, and *bye# when you have finished! # is usually available on your return key if using a computer.

We would appreciate if if you could goto *bb.3# and leave a message for all to see!


Both access methods will be kept available as much as possible from now until the end of the show on Sunday 13th September 2009. Watch this space for what happens afterwards. I cannot guarantee 100% uptime; we're running on 25yo hardware here, and the BeebEm implementation isn't perfect yet either, throwing up occasional errors, but please persevere with us! ...

See you online!

posted by rob at 15:18

6 Comments:

  • uko.irrelevant.com (87.81.12.15) doesn't seem to be responding from here, either from a terminal or from a ping.

    By Blogger Unknown, At 10 September 2009 at 14:39  

  • Hmm. It's the right IP, and still connected. (It's one of the ADSL lines here..) All I can suggest is try agian, it might have been somehting temporary ...

    Somebody got in, as I found it sitting on a NO CARRIER .. hmm.

    By Blogger rob, At 10 September 2009 at 15:45  

  • *** we're NOT running saturday. I'm not there. Not sure about Sunday either yet, Sorry Sorry Sorry everybody.

    By Blogger rob, At 12 September 2009 at 13:21  

  • Hi I know it's been a long tie since the post I was just wondering if you are still up and running have just got in to bbc micros at 18 and am look at what to do with them.

    Thanks Tom

    By Blogger setithing, At 2 March 2012 at 10:45  

  • Board is still up, in theory anyway! You can access it now on 03333 403311 - see the later blog post http://blog.irrelevant.com/2011/12/fun-with-terminals.html

    Hope you have fun!

    By Blogger Rob, At 3 March 2012 at 20:50  

  • Hi Rob, Is the bbs site still up and running ??? I use a lantronix connected to all my 8bit computers that being c64/atarixl/amiga+atari ste. I use a term program for example on the c64 and i enter the quad numbered ip address and the port number of the bbs site like cottonwood or borderline and the lantronix emulates a modem. Of course i have to connect the c64 to the serial side of the lantronix using a turb232 cart and then a lan cable in the other end of the lantronix and hey presto i'm on a bbs site. So my next aim is to use an acorn bbc model b computer using Commstar on a rom and i have a cross over serial cable from sprow's and one end in to the back of the bbc and the other end in to my lantronix. So my question is if the bbs site is still up and running can you please tell me what the quad numbered ip address is as well as the port number? The only downside of the lantronix is you must use the ip adress and port number to access a bbs site. I can't enter a phone number or an actual bbs web address.Only the quad numbered ip address and port number :)I'd really like to access your bbs site using the bbc :)

    By Blogger Andrew, At 7 May 2018 at 21:47  

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