Using BBS with my Amiga 3000 in 2021

No carrier, ATDT, ATZ, ZModem, XModem, Kermit, Door games, FidoNet, and SysOps. Ring a bell?

For those who never got to experience Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) back in the day, they were the pre-internet method for spreading software, chatting, playing online gaming, chatting on Forums, and a lot more too.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's I was heavily using BBS via 2400 baud rate modem on my Amiga 500 and later Amiga 2000 to get new software, chat with other Amiga fans and to play some classic BBS Door games online.

In recent times there has been movement to re-build this method of using computers as part of the "Retro" revival, and so BBS have sprung up using telnet gateways, allowing us to connect to these old BBS systems using the internet.

In 2021, I got back on board with this and bought a Wimodem 232 from CBMstuff.com, which allows you to connect your Amiga via a simulated serial modem, which is actually connected via your local WiFi SSID to the internet. FYI you can also do this with a Commodore 64, which I have demonstrated at Adelaide Retro Group meetings when I ran them in the past.

Here is the WiModem 232 for the Amiga:

It has a screen on it to show the current status of the modem. It needs power via a USB power cable to function.

With the WiModem 232 device connected to the Amiga 3000's serial port with USB power supplied, it is looking for a router and it is time to configure it. 

There are plenty of instructions on how to do this online. I don't plan to repeat those here as the guides online at cbmstuff.com are good enough to get anyone online, even me. I chose to use NComm 3.0 initially for this, as it is the terminal program I am most familiar with using on the Amiga.

Running the command ATI in NComm shows the current configuration of the WiModem:

For privacy reasons I can't show the full WiModem 232 setup as it reveals a lot of my personal network setup which I don't want to disclose - sorry about that. Basically it scans for local SSID's and you issue some Hayes commands into the terminal program to select the network you want to use, and the password. This is then saved into the memory of the WiModem and it connects automatically the next time it is switched on.

Initially the modem is set to 300 baud. I chose to change it to 19200. You can use higher speeds of course, but higher speeds like 56k and 115k on the serial port does start to impact the Amiga's performance the higher you go, unless you have Zorro interface card with buffered serial interfaces. Keeping the speed reasonable allows me to listen to my favourite modules and do other tasks on the Amiga while the BBS session is running.

Some friends of mine from the Brisbane Amiga Retro Group (which I visited and did a presentation in 2019), recently decided to create their own BBS too, using Mystic BBS software running 24x7 on a hosted linux server, available via amigaretro.com on port 23.

You could run a BBS solution on your Amiga of course, but it is a lot more work, and also means keeping your beloved Amiga running 24x7, reducing it's operating life considerably! So it is hosted for simplicity and to safeguard our Amigas!

So I quickly connected to amigaretro.com port 23 to try it out!

As you can see, NComm is not using ANSI support, so the output is a bit rubbish.

I setup my user account on the BBS:

I got the welcome email from the SysOp and responded to become a full member of the site.

It is kind of fun to add your own one liner when you log in, a tradition in BBS land that still continues on demoscene focused pouet.net today!

That done, I checked the files area:

I had read through Brisbane Amiga Retro Group's Discord page that one of the members had great success using DCTelnet on the Amiga for BBS use, which relies on having working network and internet access from your Amiga, rather than using a device like WiModem 232. 

Luckily, I do have this via my X-Surf 100 card and purchased version of Roadshow TCP software on the Amiga 3000.

Members had already put the required files on the BBS, so I could easily get what I needed on the BBS without having to go anywhere else!

Flagged for download..

Downloading files via Modem and Modem - really brings back so many fond memories.

Disconnecting, installing DCTelnet, copying the fonts to the FONTS: directory and switching from NComm to DCTelnet, I got a very different (and more normal) ANSI BBS experience on my Amiga 3000.

I configured my Address book to add AmigaRetro.com port 23, and added my username and password, which I can pass into the system on connection using Amiga-N and Amiga-P shortcuts.

I then connected to the BBS. Now THIS is more like it:

My favourite Mods playing on the Amiga 3000 in the background, and BBS access all areas in 2021. Oh yeah!

With the SCSI CDROM connected, I could also enjoy Lizardking's greatest hits CD on the Amiga 3000 while using the BBS via DCTelnet. 

Moving back to DCTelnet, the Amigaretro.com BBS and into the main menu again, it is now looking a million times better than in Ncomm with full ANSI support.

Intangybles, the handle of the guy who built this new BBS, was online and we soon engaged in a great chat about all things BBS and Amiga, just like it was 1990 all over again!

I can't begin to tell you how many strong memories came from just this first night on a BBS in over 25 years!

Naturally I was keen to explore more, and Intangybles was also keen to expand the functionality of the BBS, enabling forums and network access to send messages across other networks.

I had a snoop around to see who else had been online, and if anyone was around.

Usage patterns - being a brand new BBS, of course not so many as yet, but I expect as more functionality and games are added to the BBS we should see more coming from all over the world. Hopefully I get to see some of you reading this online here soon!

Also, Door games are being added to the BBS. I personally used to play BBS Crash almost everyday, and was very keen to try it again. I located it and waited for the SysOp to work his magic to get it working.

One of the challenges with this is that most games required registration, and the original source code and authors have long ago given up on the software, which makes it hard to get registered versions to use. Some sites like BBSFiles.com are helping with this, trying to save s many BBS door games as possible for future generations to experience and enjoy.

Speaking of these games, I had a go at Blackjack, since it was already online on the BBS, ready to try out.

I admit I am pretty awful at card games like this, and so it proved! I did win occasionally, but soon ran out of virtual money to play with! This is why I never go to Casinos!

I also tried out the Stack 'Em door game available on the BBS, and had a lot of fun playing this Tetris clone!

It never ceases to amaze me how playable a text graphics based game can be on a BBS. 

I got sucked in and ended playing it for over 30 minutes!

Exploring the forums available through the BBS is fun too. I know these days we can use web forums, Discord, Facebook and other online tools too, but these kinds of local and network forums were genesis, where it all began. They are still active today too, like fsxnet:

I also got some more files that were online on the BBS.

Scroll down the list, and press space on any file you want to tag it for download.

Using the internet to download files via ZModem is of course a much faster way to do it than the original Modem on a real modem...In the old days I would start it and go off to do something else while the file(s) downloaded very slowly to my computer.

Not long after this Intangybles came through with a working install (unregistered) of my favourite BBS door game - BBS Crash. I was so excited to play it again after so many years, albeit limited due to not being able to save progress to play it daily as you need to.

I quickly got to work, and the game started coming back to me, keeping my disk space, uploading trojans, trashing BBS files to gain levels, money from hacking SysOp's bank accounts and improving your experience.

Start at BBS number 1 and work your way up.

If the SysOp catches you, things go bad fast. If you run out of disk space trying to trash the BBS, it's game over.

You can retry a few times per day, and regularly free up your initial 10MB space to work with to trap and backup your data gained from destroying other BBS systems. Levelling up with limited tries per day is the hook to keep you coming back everyday to try again!

You have to drop carrier and empty often to avoid running out of disk space. If you run out of disk space it is game over.

Checking my status reveals I have a long way to go:

Back in the day I was hooked on this game, and would dial up to my local BBS to play it every day.

I hope I have brought across how much fun playing with a BBS again in 2021 really is. Please try it out when you can, it is a lot of fun and I guarantee if you used BBS in the past, the memories will come flooding back in a good way! I'll see you on amigaretro.com:23 BBS hopefully soon!

Prisma Megamix and X-Surf 100 on A4000

My apologies for the delay in blog posts but work has been very busy lately and I have had very little free time. This week though I took delivery of the Prisma Megamix music card (A-EON) and X-Surf 100 (Individual Computers) and was very keen to try out both on my Amiga 4000!

As you are no doubt aware, the Prisma Megamix has been a long time coming - over 2 years in fact. The software needed a re-write by a new developer apparently which delayed things considerably. But it is now here (available at AmigaKit) for GBP76 so lets take a look at it:

It comes with a main Zorro card for big box Amiga systems (with a clock port for connection to Amiga 1200 and clock port enabled Amiga's as well).

There is a CDDA and optional SPDIF optical connector, neither of which can be used at the present time. On the right hand side is the connector for the audio connectors, which are mounted on a frame to connect to the A1200 expansion slot or a standard PC expansion frame to connect to an expansion bay on a big box Amiga.

On the back of the card there is not much to see - just a testing date:

In my case I am planning to use this Prisma in my Amiga 4000 so it came with the mounting bracket to connect it to the expansion slots on the back of the Amiga:

Annoyingly the ports are completely unlabelled, with no colour coding or labels on the board or mounting bracket to identify which port is used for what purpose - but more on that later.

Initially I wanted to use this in the Amiga 4000T, so I got to work installing it:

As you may remember from my last blog entry, I used up all my Zorro slots in the Amiga 4000T with the Big Ram Plus upgrade, so I needed to remove something to make space for the Prisma - the unused Picasso IV card was promptly removed, with the intention to put it back in the Amiga 4000D case at some point:

With the card removed, I now had the slot free that I needed (and yes, the simm socket end is broken - not sure when or how that happened - fortunately I don't use it):

I hit a snag when I realised the port I selected doesn't have a hole for screwing in the mounting bracket...seriously, how weird:

So I had to run the expansion bracket down to the bottom of the case, fortunately the ribbon cable was plenty long enough to reach:

Here is the Prisma Megamix installed in the A4000T:

The rear of the A4000T showing the Prisma Megamix ports on the right hand side:

I then realised I would have a small issue with audio routing:

At the moment the Amiga 4000T has a PCI SB128 sound card in it, which has a AUX IN input connection internally, which I have routed the Paula audio output to, in order to have one mixed audio output to the speakers.

This works well, but how to add the Prisma (pun intended) into the mix? I decided to run the Paula output to the Prisma input jack, then send the Prisma output to the AUX IN on the SB128 card. That way I can get all three audio sources through the one output:

That done, I fired up the Amiga 4000T and confirmed through the Early boot menu that the Prisma device was detected and working - it was:

However, a more serious problem came when I tried to boot from the Amiga 4000T as normal, when I found it couldn't find any of the hard drives in the system! Checking the Early boot menu, I saw this weird display of devices which I have never seen before!

I then spent a bunch of time (hours in fact), swapping around ice cables, switching IDE hard disks between Buddha and onboard IDE controllers, and stripping down the A4000T to base, but it still couldn't find the hard drives!

Having done all I could, I determined that the problem was happening without any Zorro cards present, which meant I had a bigger problem to deal with - one which is still not solved as I write this.

I should stress this problem had nothing to do with the Prisma Megamix, which I was still very keen to try out. So I decided to switch to the Amiga 4000D instead:

My Amiga 4000D has been neglected for some time now, but with the A4000T problems it was time to get it working again - some rear views:

With the cover off you can see the A2065 ethernet card, an IDE hard disk and not much else.

I pulled the cards out, and prepared for the installation of a lot of stuff into the Amiga 4000D:

I pulled the IDE DVDROM drive, Prisma Megamix, BigRam Plus, Deneb USB from the A4000T to put into the A4000D:

I first put the Picasso IV back in - as the Amiga 4000D only has one video slot at the bottom, it is a tight fit but does go in fairly easily - just need to take care not to damage the ram simms inserting the card over the top:

That done, I put the Big Ram Plus card in to give the Amiga 4000D an extra 256MB fast memory:

I then added the Deneb USB card:

 Last but not least I added the Prisma Megamix and header bracket:

Rear view of the Amiga 4000D, showing all slots are full:

Another view of the Prisma Megamix, ready for action:

The Amiga 4000D has a Cyberstorm PPC 604/060 accelerator card in it, and little did I know it was about to waste a bunch more of my time...

I set to work next on installing the IDE DVDROM drive (being used in CDROM mode) into the Amiga 4000D. For those unfamiliar with the A4000D, this annoyingly means pulling apart the whole front of the chassis to reach the cage that has to be removed to install it:

Here is the removed cage, before and after installing the DVDROM drive:

I then put the cage back into the Amiga 4000D, and you can see it gets very tight in there:

Now the front is back on and I am ready to try the system out.

Except well, it didn't boot. Initially I got a green screen, which means the Chip Memory has an issue:

So I pulled all the expansion cards out to reseat the Chip memory, and re-assembled it again. On power on the green screen had gone, but the system was continuously rebooting. I suspected a ram problem on the accelerator card:

I put back in the original 040 accelerator card from Commodore and the system booted straight away - so I was right about the memory:

After swapping the memory simms around (using some from the A4000T 060 accelerator), I got it working again! Whew!

At was at this time that I realised I had forgotten the X-Surf 100 card I recently bought from amigastore.eu for EUR111.49, that I intended to install into the Amiga 4000D as well. Here is the card:

The card has a USB module connector for the Rapid Road USB - I am tempted to buy another Rapid Road to use with this card later on (I already have a Rapid Road in the Amiga 1200):

Rear view of the card:

I installed this in place of the Deneb USB card. There are no free Zorro slots so something had to go. It gives me extra motivation to get the Rapid Road for it since I won't need another Zorro slot for it when it is connected to the existing X-Surf 100 card.

Looking at the rear of the case you can see the X-Surf 100 and Prisma Megamix installed, ready to go. I have fed the Paula audio output to the Prisma card, and the Prisma audio output to the speakers. Without any labels I took a (turned out to be incorrect) guess which port was which:

You can see the X-Surf 100 has two USB ports on it in addition to the network port, which are usable when the Rapid Road is connected to it.

The correct positioning for the audio is the port furthest from the bracket end that screws into the case is the port the Prisma outputs audio. The third port from the left in the picture above is the audio input port to route the Paula audio to. No idea what the other ports are for yet - Mic input? Seriously, please include this information in the Wiki...

With the Amiga 4000D now booting normally, I put the Prisma Megamix install disk in to install the required software:

My Amiga 4000D is running AmigaSys4 build using AmigaOS 3.9 as a base.

I should mention in regards to the Prisma that the the Paula audio pass through works without any software, so the Amiga audio can always be heard.

Here is the Prisma install disk contents:

The Prisma installer is pretty straight forward:

PrismaPlay is a CLI program for playing music through the Prisma Megamix:

The MHI driver is needed to play music files from AmigaAmp through the Prism Megamix. I used an MHI driver previously when using the MAS Player to play MP3's on my Amiga 600 previously. It works in a similar way.

Install done:

With the install finished I fired up AmigaAmp and change the Prefs to use the new Prisma MHI driver - at the moment it is set to the MAS driver:

I changed it to the mhiprisma.libary in LIBS:MHI

I then saved the Prefs and closed and restarted AmigaAmp. I then heard the MHI driver initialise and the Prisma is ready for action:

I loaded some MP3's at 256kbps, which would never have been playable under the MAS Player or classic Amiga using software playback. It plays back perfectly on the Prisma:

The Prisma card flashes red when it is processing audio:

The great part is while I am listening to MP3's I can go off and use the Workbench without any slowdown!

I did notice the Prisma playback halts if I insert a CD in the drive, and resume once the CD icon appears on the Workbench.

In this case, the CD I put in contained 500MB of FLAC music files I wanted to copy to the Amiga 4000D to test out - while copying the files from CD the MP3's continued to play perfectly in the background using the Prisma.

Having copied the files across, I then used Prismaplay from the Shell to test FLAC playback, which works perfectly also thanks to the Prisma Megamix:

The Prisma is not restricted to MP3's and FLAC files though. Apparently it also supports MP2, MP3, WMA, OGG, LC-AAC, HE-AAC, FLAC, ALAC, IMA ADPCM, G.711 u-law, G.711 a-law, G.722, and WAV PCM formats as well!

I'll have to play around with the other formats later on!

I then turned my attention briefly to the X-Surf 100. I needed to install the drivers, which unhelpfully were not included with the card. I had to download them and burn them onto the CD to install them on the Amiga 4000D. Adding to my annoyance was the lack of installer. I read the readme instructions carefully in the archive:

Because I have an 060 and using AMITCP via EasyNet, I needed to use the x-surf-100.device.a040 for the best speed. I copied it to DEVS:Networks

I then renamed it to x-surf-100.device as instructed, and then fired up EasyNet (already installed) to configure it to use the X-Surf new driver.

I then realised I needed to complete an extra step to copying the x-surf.config file from the original archive to the ENVARC:SANA/ drawer. (so it is copied to ENV: on startup).

I did a test using the xsurftest program to make sure the card was working:

After a reboot, EasyNet picked up the card and I was online with the X-Surf 100, while also playing FLAC files using the Prisma Megamix! Great stuff!

Checking Aminet I then realised there was a new AmigaAmp 3.18 version released just this month for AmigaOS3.9, with FLAC support now included! Very timely :-)

I downloaded it and extracted it to RAM. The new 3.18 version needs the base v2.18 installation. I backed up the 2.18 AmigaAmp drawer and then copied the new files over the top. I also updated my EasyNet install at the same time:

That done, I reconfigured the AmigaAmp prefs again to use the MHI Prisma driver, and restarted AmigaAmp one more time. I could then load and play FLAC files directly in AmigaAmp using Prisma Megamix output!

Just to show the FLAC information to show it is really playing 1024kbps FLAC on an Amiga 4000T thanks to the Prisma Megamix:

Happy times!

I then put the Amiga 4000D case back on and set it up in a new location to free up my other desk for other projects!

The Prisma Megamix and X-Surf 100 are both good products and well recommended for any upgraded Classic Amiga setup!