• a dial up mystery!

    From August Abolins@2:221/1.58 to All on Monday, November 04, 2019 00:23:00

    I discovered a novel that tells a story of cybercrime back in the good ol' dial up days.

    Dial Up for Murder: The Hacker Chronicles Book 1 by Clem Chambers
    331 pages Published November 17th 2014

    "The hacker hero Peter is an entrepreneurial nerd struggling to attract
    paying subscribers to his new-fangled network. A chance meeting with a
    shady customer soon has the young computer whizz raking in the dough."

    The reader reviews are quite good.

    A continuation "Log on for Crime: The Hacker Chronicles Book 2" follows.

    Sounds like a great couple of reads for some of us retro-tech folks.



    ../|ug

    --- OpenXP 5.0.40
    * Origin: /|ug's Point, Ont. CANADA (2:221/1.58)
  • From Alan Ianson@1:153/757 to August Abolins on Sunday, November 03, 2019 22:45:24
    You don't need to be a web developer to start using something like Wordpress. don't know a specific BBS that has created a home-page using wordpress, but Ca tle Rock BBS [ https://castlerockbbs.com/ ]
    has the basics pretty good. He introduces the BBS, provides some background in o, some screen shots of the set up, and adds humour.

    Another place, http://bbs.thenet.gen.nz/ ..has all the content presented pretty good, but it doesn't look as modern as the former.

    I'll have a look at those and see what they've done and get some ideas.
    I'm still busy just making the BBS work but it's coming together.

    If yours is http://trmb.ca:8080/ ..that's a great start, but substitute your o n "rusty mailbox" image for the Magicka BBS at the top. ;)

    Take a screen capture of your login image from here: https://www.telnetbbsguide com/bbs/rusty-mailbox/

    Yes, that is mine. It's brand new so there will likely be changes as I
    go.

    I have been looking at the default and wondering how to do that. I was
    looking at that image in the gimp wondering how to change it. I'll figure
    it out.. :)

    It's interesting to see the variety of design in web home pages for various BBS s. If there is a hope to attract people to a BBS, a web homepage seems to be a essential calling card.

    I think so too. I'm planning to add some basic BBS info and info also for
    net 153. I'm not exactly sure what to say or how to say it or how to
    insert it into the webpage. It's likely to change in the not to distant
    future.

    I was not able to create user accounts on Magicka from my old BBS setup
    because I don't know what passwords (that's a good thing) folks were
    using. I don't think there is a way for me to overcome that. :(

    One of the things I like about Magicka is that it supports ssh. Telnet
    also but ssh is secure, telnet is not. It's possible with Magicka to log
    in with the user name "new" and a password of "new" and the BBS will take
    you through the new user application. After that you can read and reply
    to messages via ssh, telnet or on the web page.

    Magicka is in development and the developer welcomes comments and ideas
    from users.

    Ttyl :-),
    Al

    --- MagickaBBS v0.13alpha (Linux/x86_64)
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
  • From August Abolins@2:221/1.58 to Alan Ianson on Monday, November 04, 2019 18:07:00
    Hello Alan!

    ** 03.11.19 - 22:45, Alan Ianson wrote to August Abolins:

    Before I reply to specific things in your original reply, I noticed that
    your quoted reply of my text seems to drop characters. Here are the lines with missing letters:

    [1]
    using wordpress, but Ca tle Rock BBS [ https://castlerockbbs.com/ ]

    [2]
    background in o, some screen shots of the set up, and adds humour.

    [3]
    your o n "rusty mailbox" image for the Magicka BBS at the top. ;)

    [4]
    various BBS s. If there is a hope to attract people to a BBS, a web
    homepage seems to be a essential calling card.

    Line [1] is missing the "s" for Castle
    Line [2] is missing the "f" for into.
    Line [3] is missing the "w" for own.
    Line [4] is missing the "e" for BBSes, and "n" for an.

    :(

    Is that something you know about?


    ../|ug

    --- OpenXP 5.0.40
    * Origin: /|ug's Point, Ont. CANADA (2:221/1.58)
  • From Alan Ianson@1:153/757 to August Abolins on Monday, November 04, 2019 16:48:10
    Line [1] is missing the "s" for Castle
    Line [2] is missing the "f" for into.
    Line [3] is missing the "w" for own.
    Line [4] is missing the "e" for BBSes, and "n" for an.

    :(

    Is that something you know about?

    Yes, it's a known problem. Andrew is pondering the solution.

    Ttyl :-),
    Al

    --- MagickaBBS v0.13alpha (Linux/x86_64)
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)
  • From Alan Ianson@1:153/757 to August Abolins on Monday, November 11, 2019 04:01:30
    You don't need to be a web developer to start using something like Wordpress. I don't know a specific BBS that has created a home-page
    using wordpress, but Castle Rock BBS [ https://castlerockbbs.com/ ]
    has the basics pretty good. He introduces the BBS, provides some background info, some screen shots of the set up, and adds humour.

    Another place, http://bbs.thenet.gen.nz/ ..has all the content presented prettygood, but it doesn't look as modern as the former.

    Andrew has updated Magicka a couple of times in the last week with
    changes to word wrapping.

    Some like what Agency BBS does at https://bbs.nz/ ..can be very easily accomplished with Wordpress. It has a nice intro screen shot, info
    about Fidonet and othernets it carries.

    I'm just looking at the quotes to see if there is an improvement.

    If yours is http://trmb.ca:8080/ ..that's a great start, but substitute your own "rusty mailbox" image for the Magicka BBS at the top. ;)

    Take a screen capture of your login image from here: https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/rusty-mailbox/

    ...then crop it to fit the "logo" area of your BBBS default.

    It's interesting to see the variety of design in web home pages for various BBSes. If there is a hope to attract people to a BBS, a web homepage seems to be an essential calling card.

    It seems better now. I don't know if that's the end of the changes but I
    think we are making progress.

    I still need to make changes on The Rusty MailBox web page too.. still
    quite busy getting things together but I am thinking about that.

    I have changed the web server to run on port 80 now and I have added
    https support so folks can do their BBSing securely.

    It needs more work but it's coming along. I need more hours in the day
    but there is no bug fix for that.. :)

    Ttyl :-),
    Al

    --- MagickaBBS v0.13alpha (Linux/x86_64)
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)