Winter Challenge 09!

It's finally here! (almost.) January of 09 is the month of the Winter Retro Challenge. And this year I am making my own BBS, hosted on my Tandy 102 and served up on a modem. Using that extra landline I never use but comes with my apartment. I pay for it, so I guess I better use it.

And why, you may ask, is this a challenge? Let me enumerate the challenges involved:
1. BBS software. It doesn't exist yet. I'm writing it myself.
2. I don't have a modem for my Tandy, other than the built in 300 baud one. This is a problem for two reasons:
3. First, 300 baud is sickeningly slow, even for a retro computer geek
4. Secondly, my second phone line is a digital line, not analog, so I won't be able to push the baud rate very high (or it might not work at all.) This also excludes the Tandy's built in modem because that is a pulse dialer- sheesh, it really is old.
5. And lastly, it's running on a Tandy 102. I get 32k of RAM. That includes operating space and storage, only 32k total.

A challenge indeed, but a workable one. Most of the problems revolve around the phone line I would like to host it on, and if all else fails I'll run an external modem at 300 baud and the IP compression on the phone line won't be able to change anything anyway. I wanted to host on Telnet, but that is now out of the question because the IT department at the University definitely won't be opening up any ports for me. But they'd never expect a phone line...

SDF UNIX Shell

I know I found this a little late to be much use for the challenge, but it's worth a look for anyone who likes using old computers to do stuff. It's called the Super Dimensional Fortress, and they offer UNIX shell access to nearly anyone. All you need to do is TELNET to sdf.lonestar.org and login as "new" and follow the prompts. Your free account lasts 200 days, otherwise you can pay $1 and you get to use it for as long as you're an active member. Or you could just sign on with a different user name every time your old one expires. And it's a true UNIX shell, not just some fake shell like other places have. It runs on FreeBSD. Give it a try.