[vcf-midatlantic] VCFed BBS finally happening

[Christopher Gioconda]

This brought a huge smile to my face, since BBS'ing was what got me into
this whole fantastic world of vintage computing.

Evan, if one has a 1200 baud modem and would like to dial in from home,
would that be supported, or will it only be internal in the VCF building?

Chris

On Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 2:13 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:

> Everyone,
>
> We've had various talk / starts / stops about an authentic-ish dial-up BBS
> through the years. Now it is finally coming true.
>
> The most recent plan was to use Asterisk, but that is overkill, a lot of
> maintenance, and would require an expensive telephony card. I asked Joe O.
> to research something better. He came back with this:
>
> http://www.excelltel.com/en/enproductslist.asp?id=612
>
> It's an 8-port analog PBX with a GSM module. We bought it on Amazon for
> $98.49.
>
> Joe will connect this via modem to a PC running MajorBBS (possibly
> virtualized). We'll connect modems and vintage computers to the analog
> ports. Visitors and VCF East exhibitors/visitors will be able to dial in at
> 300-2400bps, hear the handshake, and connect to our BBS just like in the
> glory days. People can also telnet in directly to the PC thanks to our LTE
> modem, or they can call in remotely once we buy a GSM SIM card (to be
> considered after the main system is up and running).
>
> The PBX won't arrive until sometime next month because it shipping from
> China.
>
> Joe suggested that someone can draw the standard VCFed logo using ASCII
> art, and BBS users can watch it fly by a line at a time when they connect.
> I endorse that idea!
>
> Joe will answer any technical questions. Keep in mind we selected this
> approach because it's affordable, low maintenance, and the simplest way to
> reach the goal. Some people wanted us to use all period hardware, or modern
> servers that were WAY more than we needed, or a high-end PBX, etc. ....
> this one is "just right" for us.
>