[vcf-midatlantic] VCFed BBS finally happening

[Alan Hightower]

(See the attached drawing for my VCF Midwest display) 

I've done similar BBS setups for VCF Midwest and VCF Southeast displays
in the past. I've used surplus analog PBXs post one year ago - primarily
a Nortel MICS which I still have and can donate (I'll be at East in
spring). That sort of thing gets dumped cheap on eBay these days. That
allows connections up to 33.3K POTS-to-POTS. Multiple 16-port analog
modules can be connected to the central box via fiber. 

For VCF Midwest this year, I switched to a Adtran Atlas 890 with a mix
of TI/PRI/BRI/FXS ports with 48 internal 300 baud to 56K (v.90) internal
modems. I combined it with a terminal server so that 80 distributed
analog lines can dial each other or a 10 line 'show' BBS that can also
take connections over telnet or the terminal server. As you can see,
anyone with a cell phone can connect to the local WiFi hotspot, telnet
to the terminal server, and get an AT prompt to dial within the network.
There were a few problems revealed in Chicago I need to stream-line, but
the setup worked well. I suppose you could also telnet in remotely to
the site (termserver) and get one of the internal digital modems which
you could also use to dial. 

-Alan 

On 2016-10-12 16:10, Joseph Oprysko via vcf-midatlantic wrote: 

> Let me give a brief outline of the way connectivity will work:
> 
> Internal to the museum there will likely be 2 or modems hooked up to the
> BBS machine. The other extensions will be run to various machines setup to
> allow individuals to "Dial-in" to the BBS through the PBX.
> 
> The PBX has 2 external (AKA Ma Bell) connections, one analog phone line,
> and one phone line supported through a GSM phone line. Since getting
> Verizon or whoever to run a real analog line to talk to the PBX, there will
> be ONE telephone number accessible from the outside for people to be able
> to dial in from home on an analog modem.
> 
> That is the function of the PBX, to enable the internal connectivity, as
> well as the one external line.
> 
> The telnet functionality will be handled through the LTE Router the group
> already has, and will have zero to do with the PBX side. The telnet
> functionality isn't limited to a specific number of connections, so we
> could have live multi-user chat (Think something similar to AOL Chat
> Rooms), as well as various games as well.
> 
> Depending on usage and demand, there is also capabilities for forums
> (likely not needed), file libraries (Could be useful for pre-internet
> machines with a modem), as well as a few other features. For now, we're
> looking to give visitors to the museum the "1980's" experience of dialing
> into a BBS, hearing the modem negotiations, etc. If there are members of
> the group that want to use more/additional features (Such as the ability to
> call in from a real modem externally), we are making sure that we're
> prepared for them, as well as the telnet functionality.
> 
> If anyone has any questions, or concerns, feel free to mail me either on or
> off the list.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Joe Oprysko