Moving my BBS from Mega 4 to Raspberry Pi/Hatari

[sniperstorm]

My bbs is currently running on a Mega 4 with a Cosmo Ex, and Lantronix UDS10. I want to move it to emulation and was thinking Raspberry PI. Does anyone have ideas how to set it up so I can access the internet and telnet. I have never really used Hatari before and do not know how to set it up to emulate a com port so I can just plug it into my network and not have to use a Lantronix. I hope I am explaining this correctly. Can anyone give me some ideas?

Thank you.

Stguild BBS

stguild-bbs.ddns.net

[Eero Tamminen]

Hatari doesn't emulate any network adapters, so you would need to use Atari emulation serial or parallel port for networking (not sure whether parallel port emulation is bi-directional, at least serial port is). In MiNT there's support for this, but I think there are also solutions for doing TCP/IP networking from TOS through them.

On Linux side you need something that converts the files Hatari uses for serial / parallel communication into normal TCP/IP traffic.

If you're going the MiNT route, I think Aranym would be better option unless you want something that emulations real Atari machines (Aranym emulates 040, it's DSP emulation isn't compatible with any real Atari programs and it's not cycle-exact, but it's fast, especially with JIT).

[ThorstenOtto]

In MiNT there's support for this

Should be, yes. But IIRC, the slip driver (for doing tcp/ip over a serial interface) is currently broken. Maybe some older release might work.

But if you are using MiNT, you might consider using Aranym, which has a network driver that can use the hosts IP stack. For that to work, you need to set up a bridge and/or a tap driver. There are several documents available that should give you some clue.

[stormy]

Perhaps he could use BeePi?

[jokker]

http://breakintochat.com/blog/2012/12/13/telnet-to-bbs-within-hatari-emulator/

I used the information in the URL above to get Hatari to telnet to BBSes using tcpser (instead of tcper4j) and socat. So you could likely get it to work for incoming connections as well.

[DarkLord]

I'm just curious - why do this and not stick with the original hardware?

[Orion_]

I'm just curious - why do this and not stick with the original hardware?

with Atari computers ageing, I would be afraid to let mine run all day for months/years.

[DarkLord]

I'm just curious - why do this and not stick with the original hardware?

with Atari computers ageing, I would be afraid to let mine run all day for months/years.

I'm not. I might be the exception (but I don't think so), but my Mega ST4 has been running 24/7 since the early
90's with one 4-5 year break when I transitioned from dial-up to telnet.

That includes a 4 gig SCSI drive...

PS Replaced the MB once and a couple of power supplies - other than that....

[stormy]

I'm always wanting to find meaningful uses for my retro machines, having a real Atari running a bbs sounds brilliant

[DarkLord]

I'm always wanting to find meaningful uses for my retro machines, having a real Atari running a bbs sounds brilliant

There are a handful of us loonies who are dedicated to it. You'll find even more among the 8bit crowd.

[tjam]

I'm always wanting to find meaningful uses for my retro machines, having a real Atari running a bbs sounds brilliant

There are a handful of us loonies who are dedicated to it. You'll find even more among the 8bit crowd.

That's nice Are you aware if there's decent list of telnet based BBS systems somewhere (Atari, Amiga etc) ?

[Gaiyan]

Yeah, I would encourage to keep your BBS on the Mega 4. Makes it more "authentic". Unless, of course, you have a pressing reason to do so.

[DarkLord]

That's nice Are you aware if there's decent list of telnet based BBS systems somewhere (Atari, Amiga etc) ?

Go to AtariAge and under the 8bit section look for the permanent message base, "Atari 8bit BBS's". Doctor Clu there maintains
a list that is updated periodically although you may have to browse around a bit to find it.

HTHs.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/174831 ... ated-bbss/

[jokker]

I'm just curious - why do this and not stick with the original hardware?

with Atari computers ageing, I would be afraid to let mine run all day for months/years.

I'm not. I might be the exception (but I don't think so), but my Mega ST4 has been running 24/7 since the early
90's with one 4-5 year break when I transitioned from dial-up to telnet.

That includes a 4 gig SCSI drive...

PS Replaced the MB once and a couple of power supplies - other than that....

and i would to thank you DarkLord for your persistence!

I have a toy BBS running on DOS just since that was my platform at the time for running a BBS ( I used an ST to dial-in for years before that though Flash and FZT forever <grin> )

Hey sniperstorm, I tried telneting to STguild but I couldn't connect to it? Is it still up?

[DarkLord]

and i would to thank you DarkLord for your persistence!

Dedicated, that's me.

[Tillek]

That's nice Are you aware if there's decent list of telnet based BBS systems somewhere (Atari, Amiga etc) ?

Go to AtariAge and under the 8bit section look for the permanent message base, "Atari 8bit BBS's". Doctor Clu there maintains
a list that is updated periodically although you may have to browse around a bit to find it.

HTHs.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/174831 ... ated-bbss/

I also have a maintained list at http://www.sfhqbbs.org/ataribbslist.php

You don't have to dig around to find it.

It also has an option to show either domain names or IP addresses.

[tjam]

That's nice Are you aware if there's decent list of telnet based BBS systems somewhere (Atari, Amiga etc) ?

Go to AtariAge and under the 8bit section look for the permanent message base, "Atari 8bit BBS's". Doctor Clu there maintains
a list that is updated periodically although you may have to browse around a bit to find it.

HTHs.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/174831 ... ated-bbss/

I also have a maintained list at http://www.sfhqbbs.org/ataribbslist.php

You don't have to dig around to find it.

It also has an option to show either domain names or IP addresses.

Thanks! It's nice to see there's still active BBS scene

[Bikerbob]

What about this with Hatari on a PC? I have older laptop with real serial and a UDS-100 lantronix box.. so I should be able to run a BBS through that?

James

[Eero Tamminen]

I'm just curious - why do this and not stick with the original hardware?

Hatari / raspi could act as backup and testing setup before deploying on the real HW. One can also run several Hatari setups on same PC to test BBS upgrades before deployment. If one's aiming at high availability Atari BBS, there should be a backup plan in case of temporary HW failures.

[Tillek]

What about this with Hatari on a PC? I have older laptop with real serial and a UDS-100 lantronix box.. so I should be able to run a BBS through that?

James

If you're going to run an emulator on a PC, why not just emulate the com port with a virtual com port and save the Lantronix box for one of your Ataris.

[Tillek]

I'm just curious - why do this and not stick with the original hardware?

Hatari / raspi could act as backup and testing setup before deploying on the real HW. One can also run several Hatari setups on same PC to test BBS upgrades before deployment. If one's aiming at high availability Atari BBS, there should be a backup plan in case of temporary HW failures.

I find that somewhat funny as my experience with Hatari is that it really isn't any more "reliable" than my actual hardware.

[DarkLord]

Hatari / raspi could act as backup and testing setup before deploying on the real HW. One can also run several Hatari setups on same PC to test BBS upgrades before deployment. If one's aiming at high availability Atari BBS, there should be a backup plan in case of temporary HW failures.

Hmm, that sounds like a lot of extra work to me.

[DarkLord]

I find that somewhat funny as my experience with Hatari is that it really isn't any more "reliable" than my actual hardware.

Ain't nuthin' like the real thing baby.

[Eero Tamminen]

I find that somewhat funny as my experience with Hatari is that it really isn't any more "reliable" than my actual hardware.

With Hatari one has an option of using GEMDOS HD, more RAM than real HW, and less buggy TOS version, with which one can avoid crashes related to those.

However, Hatari is supposed to be accurate emulator; if something crashes on real HW, it should crash also when run with Hatari using the same configuration.

If things don't work like on real HW, and you can reproduce it also with latest Hatari release, please report that bug in the forum Hatari section, or (preferred) on the Hatari mailing list.