Hello all. I was wondering if any of you fine gentlemen have experience in using a external non win USB modem for dial-up access to your Mystic BBS running on Linux?

I am wanting to use a U.S. Robotics USR5637 56K USB Controller Dial-Up External I checked and my computer does see it. I was wondering what server option to use POP3,FTP,SMTP?

Also is there a special program I need to install?

Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

"Because why would you want an average Merkin?"
www.jri-rigg.com

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: The Last Rainboard (21:2/135)

On 08/17/17, Piff Merkin pondered and said...

Hello all. I was wondering if any of you fine gentlemen have experience
in using a external non win USB modem for dial-up access to your Mystic BBS running on Linux?

g00r00 had removed the modem code from Mystic some time back. I think the
best tool to use is sexpots (code written by the author of Synchronet) that plays nice with hardware and provides a bridge between telnet and old style modems. I have not used it but it's often referenced when this subject comes
up across many BBS software platforms as someone attempts to hook in a modem.

Others more knowledgeable that I will be able to comment further as well.

Good luck! and keep us posted on your progress. :)

Best, Paul

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A34 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | telnet://agency.bbs.geek.nz (21:1/101)

I will and thank you for the lead.

"Because why would you want an average Merkin?"
www.jri-rigg.com

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: The Last Rainboard (21:2/135)

Hello Avon and Piff

Avon wrote to Piff Merkin <=-

On 08/17/17, Piff Merkin pondered and said...

Hello all. I was wondering if any of you fine gentlemen have experience
in using a external non win USB modem for dial-up access to your Mystic BBS running on Linux?

g00r00 had removed the modem code from Mystic some time back. I think
the best tool to use is sexpots (code written by the author of
Synchronet) that plays nice with hardware and provides a bridge between telnet and old style modems. I have not used it but it's often
referenced when this subject comes up across many BBS software
platforms as someone attempts to hook in a modem.

Sexpots works on Windows only. There is a Linux version in CVS, but I did not attempt to download it to test. In the case of Linux, mgetty is listed as the reccommended tool by the author of Synchronet.

Please bear in mind that I haven't set up modems in years, so the following is based on "old" knowledge with some "new" Googling thrown in for measure. This only represents a way that I would try to make it work, it might not work at all. Having said that, you cannot break anything with mgetty, so here goes:

Here is a HOWTO meant for Ubuntu, but it is similar to a recent Debian:

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1535238

For some more context, here is a HOWTO in how to set up a serial server:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SerialConsoleHowto

Between these two you should be able to make sense on how to make a modem connect to mgetty. Once you have that sorted, you will need to get mgetty to start a telnet session instead of spawning a login. In order to get this
going, you should edit the /etc/mgetty/login.config file. Comment everything out in this file, and add the following single line to the bottom:

* - telnet /usr/bin/telnet -8 localhost 23

Once you have done this, you should be able to start mgetty without rebooting by doing the following (substitute the ttyS0 with whatever your modem device name is):

sudo start ttyS0

People should now be able to log in via modem dialup.

PS: I'm not sure whether the above telnet will work particularly well with Mystic and ANSI, but it is worth a try! :-)


___ MultiMail/Linux v0.50

--- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A33 (Linux/64)
* Origin: UnderZaNet BBS (21:2/108)

On 08/19/17, dotslash pondered and said...

Sexpots works on Windows only. There is a Linux version in CVS, but I
did not attempt to download it to test. In the case of Linux, mgetty is listed as the reccommended tool by the author of Synchronet.

Please bear in mind that I haven't set up modems in years, so the

Thank you for the info and the walk through :) It's appreciated.

Best, Paul

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A34 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | telnet://agency.bbs.geek.nz (21:1/101)

Thank you, Dotslash. I have mgetty installed but was not sure how to start it or where and how to direct the traffic to the BBS. This info might be the missing piece I need. Will Mystic be viewable on a retro 8-bit computer with
a dial-up 300 baud modem? We will have to see. I will keep you posted here.

"Because why would you want an average Merkin?"
www.jri-rigg.com

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: The Last Rainboard (21:2/135)

Piff Merkin wrote to All <=-

@TZ: 40f0
Hello all. I was wondering if any of you fine gentlemen have experience
in using a external non win USB modem for dial-up access to your Mystic BBS running on Linux?

You will need to setup mgetty on that serial port, and have mgetty fire up a telnet session to the BBS, when the modem answers the phone. Don't know if there's any documentation on the Mystic wiki, but you might also get some help from Synchronet sysops who run dialup, since the process (on Linux) is essentially the same.

I haven't attempted dialup, so I can't give specifics at this time.


... When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
* Origin: Freeway BBS - freeway.apana.org.au (21:1/109)

Avon wrote to Piff Merkin <=-

g00r00 had removed the modem code from Mystic some time back. I think
the best tool to use is sexpots (code written by the author of
Synchronet) that plays nice with hardware and provides a bridge between telnet and old style modems. I have not used it but it's often
referenced when this subject comes up across many BBS software
platforms as someone attempts to hook in a modem.

SEXPOTS is for Windows, it is recommended to use mgetty on Linux, IIRC. I believe there was/is a test version of SEXPOTS for Linux, but the getty method is still the recommended way.


... Yesterday was the deadline for all complaints.
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
* Origin: Freeway BBS - freeway.apana.org.au (21:1/109)

On 08/22/17, Vk3jed pondered and said...

SEXPOTS is for Windows, it is recommended to use mgetty on Linux, IIRC.
I believe there was/is a test version of SEXPOTS for Linux, but the
getty method is still the recommended way.

Yep thanks Tony, as you read the thread further you'll find that there was
some other kind folks here who also offered some mgetty thoughts as well.

Best, Paul

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A34 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Agency BBS | telnet://agency.bbs.geek.nz (21:1/101)

Avon wrote to Vk3jed <=-

Yep thanks Tony, as you read the thread further you'll find that there
was some other kind folks here who also offered some mgetty thoughts as well.

Yeah, mgetty has been around for donkeys years in the Linux world, so it has a proven track record. Normally used to answer the phone for shell or PPP logins, but works perfectly well for BBSs too. :)


... Romulans, Ferengi, and Borgs. Oh My!!
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
* Origin: Freeway BBS - freeway.apana.org.au (21:1/109)

Thank you.

"Because why would you want an average Merkin?"
www.jri-rigg.com

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: The Last Rainboard (21:2/135)

Also is there a special program I need to install?

You can use mgetty or something similar and run Mystic has a shell for dialup users. That is one way to do it. You can also run software that gates between dialup and Telnet to access the BBS. The first option is probably the most in-line with Unix.

If you are trying to create some sort of dialup ISP with Mystic that isn't really something you can do though.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A35 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Sector 7 [Mystic BBS WHQ] (21:1/108)

I decided to work with mgetty.

"Because why would you want an average Merkin?"
www.jri-rigg.com

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)
* Origin: The Last Rainboard (21:2/135)