Hi all,

I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. I'm the sysop from Jensencloud, based in Fresno, CA and a new fsxNet node. I've spent most of my life building large networks at AT&T, Cisco and Zoom and connecting millions of people, and I think it all came from my burning childhood passion for BBS's.

I recently teamed up with my brother to see if we could rebuild our family BBS together. It's so great seeing people still connecting, and innovating around the BBS scene and sharing it with their kids. I especially appreciate what fsxNet has in building and supporting new modes of communication.

Looking forward to learning, connecting and participating more in the BBS scene.

Pat
Jensencloud BBS | Fresno, CA | ssh://jensencloud.net
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
* Origin: Jensencloud - Fresno, CA - telnet:jensencloud.net (21:4/163)

On 08 Jul 21 20:23:47, Crashj said the following to All:

I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. I'm the sysop from Jensenclou based in Fresno, CA and a new fsxNet node. I've spent most of my life buildi large networks at AT&T, Cisco and Zoom and connecting millions of people, an I think it all came from my burning childhood passion for BBS's.

Awesome... I tried to reply to your request to join Fidonet, you should reach out to RC10 so you can be listed in the right Net.

Atreyu

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (21:1/176)

Awesome... I tried to reply to your request to join Fidonet, you should reach out to RC10 so you can
be
listed in the right Net.

Thanks for the reply. Happy to say I did get my nets set up successfully. I have been spending time with areafix and subbing to forums. It's been fun getting reintroduced to FTNs and seeing how the mailers have evolved over IP. It's neat that BBS's have integrated the binkd processes - improved over chasing fossils and EMM memory during my Binkley and Maximum BBS days.

Love to hear some tips on BBS systems and nets in general. What is everyone running on their end?

Pat
Jensencloud BBS | Fresno, CA | ssh://jensencloud.net
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
* Origin: Jensencloud - Fresno, CA - telnet:jensencloud.net (21:4/163)

On 08 Jul 21 21:57:44, Pat Jensen said the following to Atreyu:

Thanks for the reply. Happy to say I did get my nets set up successfully. I have been spending time with areafix and subbing to forums. It's been fun getting reintroduced to FTNs and seeing how the mailers have evolved over I It's neat that BBS's have integrated the binkd processes - improved over chasing fossils and EMM memory during my Binkley and Maximum BBS days.

Dare I say BinkD was revolutionary... but Internet Rex was also responsible, along with the acceptance of IP addresses in the nodelist. Planet Connect offering FTP feeds back in the day for the first time was amazing.

Love to hear some tips on BBS systems and nets in general. What is everyone running on their end?

D'Bridge and Renegade since '93 and now in a Vmware environment, but I was also a huge fan of TBBS and Searchlight... along with OS/2.

Atreyu

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (21:1/176)

Re: Re: Hello from a returning Sysop + new f
By: Atreyu to Crashj on Fri Jul 09 2021 12:31 am

Awesome... I tried to reply to your request to join Fidonet, you should reach out to RC10 so you can be listed in the right Net.

Yep, He's all set up now (I hope)
--- SBBSecho 3.14-Win32
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. I'm the sysop from Jensencloud, based in Fresno, CA and a new fsxNet node. I've spent
most of my life building large networks at AT&T, Cisco and Zoom and connecting millions of people, and I think it all came from my burning childhood passion for BBS's.

Welcome Pat. Nice to meet you and see you back on the scene.

So many people I know I met from being on the BBSes in the late 80s and
early 90s and are still some of my closest friends today. A large number
of them are in IT in various forms. :)



--- Talisman v0.24-dev (Linux/x86_64)
* Origin: Lost Underground BBS (21:1/230)

mailers have evolved over IP. It's neat that BBS's have integrated the
binkd processes - improved over chasing fossils and EMM memory during
my Binkley and Maximum BBS days.

Oh I have bad memories of Binkley.. haha binkd is easier, but there's not
much in it... At least the protocols and the boards have stabilised now
over the years, so it's not too tough getting a basic binkd setup.

Love to hear some tips on BBS systems and nets in general. What is
everyone running on their end?

I'm running Talisman on Linux, fsx and happynet (with a couple of others planned). I ran Mystic about 5 years ago, but it's too complete and
polished now and I like tinkering with new software :)

In the bad memories dept, I have avoided The World's Original FTN this
time around. FSX is, dare I say it, populated with much nicer people.

Avon's done an excellent job over the last few years making it a great
place to hang out, and it seems to have become the default FTN now.



--- Talisman v0.24-dev (Linux/x86_64)
* Origin: Lost Underground BBS (21:1/230)

Hello Crashj!

Welcome, and nice to have you here!

On 08 Jul 2021, Crashj said the following...

Jensencloud, based in Fresno, CA and a new fsxNet node. I've spent most
of my life building large networks at AT&T, Cisco and Zoom and
connecting millions of people, and I think it all came from my burning childhood passion for BBS's.

That's cool!

I guess a large portion of all former SysOps ended up in the computer/tech field after finding out how much fun tech and communications are. =)

Myself, I'm a Linux/UNIX sysadmin at a large university here. Mostly setting up web services of different kinds, but also other software and solutions. Used to have a CCNA once upon a time, but ended up in the Linux division rather than the network division. Of course also had a poke at fax reception for a certain function at the university in the early 00s. :-D

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/07/06 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

Hello Pat!

On 08 Jul 2021, Pat Jensen said the following...

Love to hear some tips on BBS systems and nets in general. What is everyone running on their end?

I'm running Mystic for BBS and tosser as it made it easy to get a "jumpstart", but decided to use binkd and ifcico for most of the mail transfer parts (except QWK mail transfers for DOVE-Net which I let Mystic handle) so that I won't be completely tied up to a certain BBS software for that.

Back in the days I was using RemoteAccess, FrontDoor, GEcho and ALLFIX, though.

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/07/06 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

Welcome Pat. Nice to meet you and see you back on the scene.

So many people I know I met from being on the BBSes in the late 80s and early 90s and are still some of my closest friends today. A large number
of them are in IT in various forms. :)

Thanks Joe! It is interesting to see how life paths diverged from my BBS friends.
One of my early BBS mentors ended up at Sun working on Java. He did help me learn a lot about DOS and scripting and programming early on. Looking back on it
was definitely time well spent.

Pat
Jensencloud BBS | Fresno, CA | ssh://jensencloud.net
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
* Origin: Jensencloud - Fresno, CA - telnet:jensencloud.net (21:4/163)

I guess a large portion of all former SysOps ended up in the computer/tech field after finding out how much fun
tech and communications are. =)

Myself, I'm a Linux/UNIX sysadmin at a large university here. Mostly setting up web services of different
kinds,
but also other software and solutions. Used to have a CCNA once upon a time, but ended up in the Linux division
rather than the network division. Of course also had a poke at fax reception for a certain function at the
university in the early 00s. :-D

Hey Zip!

Love hearing about your Univ sysadmin background.

I spent about 10 years of my career as a Unix (BSDi and Solaris) and net admin, those were very enjoyable times.
I have fond memories of coming into work and always learning something new every day. I was
responsible for running RADIUS, INN (Usenet) and Sendmail for a regional ISP at the time.

I made a career change to networking full time right before I joined Cisco. I ended up
achieving CCIE #53452 after 14 long years and by then I had chosen to specialize in Voice over IP.
I can certainly appreciate the complexities of fax relay and I sympathize with you (with whiskey)
if you had to manage that on a VoIP network. :)

Cheers,

Pat

Jensencloud BBS | Fresno, CA | ssh://jensencloud.net
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
* Origin: Jensencloud - Fresno, CA - telnet:jensencloud.net (21:4/163)

Awesome... I tried to reply to your request to join Fidonet, you should reach out to RC10 so you can be
listed
in the right Net.

Yep, He's all set up now (I hope)

Happy to say my nets are online and tossing. Certainly appreciate the help and guidance as I work my way in the IP BBS world. :)

Pat
Jensencloud BBS | Fresno, CA | ssh://jensencloud.net
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
* Origin: Jensencloud - Fresno, CA - telnet:jensencloud.net (21:4/163)

On 09 Jul 2021, JOE DOOM said the following...

I'm running Talisman on Linux, fsx and happynet (with a couple of others planned).

Waaaaat? happynet is still around? Is it only for Talisman sysops? If not hook a sysop up! :)


Jay

... The world looks as if it has been left in the custody of trolls.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/07/06 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: Northern Realms (21:3/110)

Hello Pat!

On 09 Jul 2021, Pat Jensen said the following...

I have fond memories of coming into work and always learning something
new every day. I was

Yep, that's the best part!

OK, nowadays, perhaps not every day, but every once in a while. =)

I can certainly appreciate the complexities of fax relay and I
sympathize with you (with whiskey)
if you had to manage that on a VoIP network. :)

Actually, back then we had regular copper lines for certain extensions to be sure that faxing would work for sure.

Nowadays, we're all connected to ATAs, but I believe there are provisions for making faxing work "better" by chosing the appropriate codec(s)?

And turning off ECM on the fax machine (or in software) to avoid multiple error correction techniques on top of each other.

And perhaps lowering the initial speed and restricting the maximum speed to (at least) avoid trying to go above 14400 bps.

Lots of things to fiddle with, and one's mileage may vary...

But I still think it's kinda cool to put a piece of paper in a fax machine at one location and having it pop out at a completely different location across the globe. Pure magic. :-D

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/07/06 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

Waaaaat? happynet is still around? Is it only for Talisman sysops?
If not hook a sysop up! :)

I'm not sure tbh. I'm running Talisman and never thought it was just for
us. Talk to apam.

It's a pretty quiet place and there are only 3 subs, so maybe it is just
for Talisman testing..


--- Talisman v0.24-dev (Linux/x86_64)
* Origin: Lost Underground BBS (21:1/230)

Crashj wrote to All <=-

I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. I'm the sysop from Jensencloud, based in Fresno, CA and a new fsxNet node. I've spent most
of my life building large networks at AT&T, Cisco and Zoom and
connecting millions of people, and I think it all came from my burning childhood passion for BBS's.

Welcome back! BBSing is probably what got me into the IT world, too.

You asked in another message what everyone is running. I am running a relatively new package on this machine... MagickaBBS on a Raspberry Pi. My "main" machine runs Synchronet under linux. My original BBS, online since c1988, runs GT Power (DOS) in a vm (moetiki.ddns.net:27).


... 2 + 2 = 5 for extremely large values of 2.
--- MultiMail
* Origin: Possum Lodge South * possumso.fsxnet.nz:7636/SSH:2122 (21:4/134)

Welcome back! BBSing is probably what got me into the IT world, too.

You asked in another message what everyone is running. I am running a relatively new package on this machine...
MagickaBBS on a Raspberry Pi. My "main" machine runs Synchronet under linux. My original BBS, online since c1988,
runs GT Power (DOS) in a vm (moetiki.ddns.net:27).

Thanks BW! Interested in hearing more about your Pi setup.

I have a Pi 3 and a 400 in my lab somewhere and I'm curious how the BBS hosting experience is under ARM Linux? Can you still support external programs? Can you emulate DOS doors? Are FTNs and networking in general well supported? How about ANSI character set support on linux console?

Linux is very attractive when it comes to dealing with some of the management challenges that I am re-discovering with running Windows BBS in a VMware VM: anti malware, windows update forced/auto reboots, disabling power management, VMware tools, dealing with nightly off site backups, OS firewall exceptions, service management, remote access is simpler, etc.
Love to hear your thoughts and what you've learned along the way!

Pat
Jensencloud BBS | Fresno, CA | ssh://jensencloud.net
--- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
* Origin: Jensencloud - Fresno, CA (21:4/163)

I guess a large portion of all former SysOps ended up in the
computer/tech field after finding out how much fun tech and
communications are. =)

Myself, I'm a Linux/UNIX sysadmin at a large university here. Mostly setting up web services of different kinds, but also other software and solutions. Used to have a CCNA once upon a time, but ended up in the
Linux division rather than the network division. Of course also had a
poke at fax reception for a certain function at the university in the early 00s. :-D

Can't believe I didn't go into the field. I'd of had to learn a bunch more, but... totally could have - the amount I know just from tinkering is... as amateurish as YA'LL might think; but impressive to me.

I had to go be a hustler, and make the big bucks on day 1.... fun times, now, Paulie. Yay.

I'll be selling till I'm dead.



|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/06/21 (Raspberry Pi/32)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Pat Jensen wrote to Zip <=-

I spent about 10 years of my career as a Unix (BSDi and Solaris) and
net admin, those were very enjoyable times. I have fond memories of
coming into work and always learning something new every day. I was responsible for running RADIUS, INN (Usenet) and Sendmail for a
regional ISP at the time.

I started out in telecom, managing call centers and corporate PBXes, then
did networking, servers and desktop support for a small company. We replaced
a Mac-based email system that needed 4 servers to handle the gateways and mailboxes for 70 people with one desktop PC running BSD/OS, and the *nix period of my life began.

That was also when my love of O'Reilly books started - beautiful covers, well-bound, and wonderfully task/objective specific. We had borrowed a DNS server (a little SUN 3/60) from the local university and needed to set up
our own box (and give theirs back).

I took an old server, and one Saturday morning installed BSD/OS on it, read Cricket Liu's "DNS and BIND" book, and shortly after lunch had a working DNS server.

After that, I ran FreeBSD for most of my production systems until Linux started to mature, around 2001 or so until 2006. Then, I started managing teams and being less hands-on.

Fast forward to present-day, and I'm a team of one, managing 120+ Linux VMs
in a VMWare vCenter and another 130+ systems in AWS. It reminds me of those early days when I was learning something new every day, and it's incredibly rewarding.

I made a career change to networking full time right before I joined Cisco. I ended up achieving CCIE #53452 after 14 long years and by then
I had chosen to specialize in Voice over IP. I can certainly appreciate the complexities of fax relay and I sympathize with you (with whiskey)
if you had to manage that on a VoIP network. :)

VOIP was a lot of fun. When I started in Telecom, any voice WAN was done
with T1s for local networking and frame relay for any long-haul connectivity (except for the voicemail systems, which would make a dial-up call to
transfer voice messages, felt very BBS-like)

Later on, Nortel introduced SIP trunking, and we could run trunks between sites over our own data network. Having the flexibility of throwing up
trunk lines between any two sites that we had IP connectivity to was world- changing.


... Back in the stream that feeds the ocean that feeds the stream.
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Zip wrote to Pat Jensen <=-

But I still think it's kinda cool to put a piece of paper in a fax
machine at one location and having it pop out at a completely different location across the globe. Pure magic. :-D

That was the allure of the phone network back then - being able to talk to someone, page them, or send a copied page around the world. I forget who it was back then who said "Cyberspace is where you are when you're on the telephone..."






... Back in the stream that feeds the ocean that feeds the stream.
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Hi all,

I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. I'm the sysop from Jensencloud, based in Fresno, CA and a new fsxNet node. I've spent most of my life building large networks at AT&T, Cisco and Zoom and
connecting millions of people, and I

think it all came from my burning childhood passion for BBS's.

I recently teamed up with my brother to see if we could rebuild our
family BBS together. It's so great seeing people still connecting, and innovating around the BBS scene and sharing it with their kids. I especially appreciate what fsxNet has in building and supporting new modes of communication.

Welcome to FSXNet that's the best part of BBSing is the great people you meet. Jeff

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/06/19 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Communication Connection (21:1/192)

Pat Jensen wrote to Blue White <=-

I have a Pi 3 and a 400 in my lab somewhere and I'm curious how the BBS hosting experience is under ARM Linux? Can you still support external programs? Can you emulate DOS doors? Are FTNs and networking in general well supported? How about ANSI character set support on linux console?

Overall, I would say the experience is not much different from hosting
under any other linux. I can support external programs that are compiled
on the pi. Others may have tried, but I have not tried supporting DOS
doors on my pi (or my other non-pi linux bbs). If I remember right,
hosting DOS doors on a pi involves using dosbox as dosemu does not work on
the ARM archetecture but, like I said, I have not tried so I am not sure.

FTN support is going to depend on your bbs package. I am using Magicka,
which, from what I gather, uses a modified/updated version of crashmail for linux as its mail tosser. It works well for me. I am using binkd for mail transfers. It also works well.

Magicka has sense been superseeded by Talisman. I have not had a chance to look into upgrading yet, but there are others here that use it. There are
also others that run linux-native versions of synchronet and mystic on the
pi. My experience with synchronet on a non-pi is that it also has very
good FTN support. I am running it as a local FIDO hub, and an FTN regional
hub on two "othernets" without much issue.

I have not tried supporting ANSI in a linux console, but both syncterm and magiterm, two telnet bbs clients that have linux versions, both render ANSI well.

Linux is very attractive when it comes to dealing with some of the management challenges that I am re-discovering with running Windows BBS
in a VMware VM: anti malware, windows update forced/auto reboots, disabling power management, VMware tools, dealing with nightly off site backups, OS firewall exceptions, service management, remote access is simpler, etc. Love to hear your thoughts and what you've learned along
the way!

I have not tried running a BBS under Windows since a brief excursion with Windows XP and synchronet. Before that, I always used DOS or OS/2. I
prefer the linux environment to Windows. Others who run both more often
may have more of an opinion on the differences. :)

Hope that helps some!



... Keep your stick on the ice
--- MultiMail
* Origin: Possum Lodge South * possumso.fsxnet.nz:7636/SSH:2122 (21:4/134)