27 Sep 16 17:39, you wrote to me:   
      
    ml>> that must have been before Ray Gwinn (yes, the x00 fossil author)   
    ml>> released SIO for OS/2...   
      
    rc> Ummm.. I left in late '99 due to job relocation and some other   
    rc> things...   
      
   yeah, we had SIO with telnet and vmodem protocols before win95 came out...   
   likely you just don't remember or didn't know about the vmodem protocol at   
   that time :)   
      
    ml>> yup... AFAIK SIO on OS/2 is the only way one can use the vmodem   
    ml>> protocol...   
      
    rc> Well that probably is part of why I never really paid much attention I   
    rc> didn't do OS2! I was dragged kicking and screaming from my DOS world   
    rc> heavily customized with 4DOS and FANSI-CONSOLE to winstupper...in the   
    rc> ~ 5 years or so from that to eXtremely stuPidows.. then I moved to   
    rc> Linux full time via Knoppix with KDE 3 right before that one went down   
    rc> the Linux Holy Roller route ie: "It must be open! ! ! "   
      
   yep, that explains it :lol:  i went from DOS/DESQview to OS/2 and never looked   
   back at anything else for that system... yeah, i ran the various winwhatevers   
   but not for mission critical stuff...   
      
    ml>> to avoid the scanner bots on port 23, choose any other port... you   
    ml>> can use 3141 if you like... i was just pointing out that vmodem   
    ml>> normally runs on that port...   
      
    rc> Well I was thinking that putting it there might be "correct" since   
    rc> this is some sort of "VMODEM" but from what it appears this is   
    rc> probably not the same protocol.   
      
   well, remember, vmodem is the protocol... virtual modem is the artificial   
   device (modem) that is the shim between analogue FOSSIL comms and telnet or   
   vmodem protocols...   
      
    rc> And dosxbox would need to be run as root to get below 1024! And that   
    rc> ain't happening!   
      
   it really doesn't matter since you can forward your WAN side port 23 to any   
   other port internally so set your BBS up on 2023 for instance and forward port   
   23 to that... the BBS doesn't have to know that it isn't talking to port 23   
   all the way...   
      
    rc> I get plenty of scans on stuff... but since SSH and a select few are   
    rc> the only ones passed through.. they get bubckious... I chose to leave   
    rc> SSH v. something else in the off chance I run into things blocking non   
    rc> standard ports which I have with some VPN services and LAN's.   
      
   i always configure my SSH to use a non-standard port anyway... that allows me   
   to do silly things like running SBBS and let it provide SSH on port 22 ;)   
      
    ml>> so they say ;)   
      
    rc> I spend alot of time using them... If I blow up a VM.. no biggie... I   
    rc> go back to the base image, and go on from there after I triage what   
    rc> went wrong..   
      
   yep...   
      
    rc> Thats why I despise compiling since it takes 3-4-5-x-x- times to try   
    rc> get it work when the instructions mostly leave out the key things,   
    rc> namely dependencies..   
      
   sadly that's because developers code and don't always remember the individual   
   steps or additional requirements...   
      
    rc> I don't install anything till I read, read, read, read, then read read   
    rc> read again, and thats for a DEB!   
      
   screw that shite :lol:   
      
    rc> I need to know what it is going to do to things that could potentially   
    rc> muck up things.   
      
   agree there... for me, that goes for most anything, though... not just DEB...   
      
    rc> Once I get things to a stable level, then I will install to physical   
    rc> hardware if applicable or create a VM and repeat installs from my   
    rc> notes to get error free operations.   
      
   sometimes it is too much busy work, too...   
      
    ml>> hahahaha... i'd probably fall back to QEMU from quarterdeck because i   
    ml>> know it... no clue if it would even work with today's stuff,   
    ml>> though...   
      
    rc> I am not sure if you need it as DOSbox I think tries to provide a lot   
    rc> of this...like EMS/XMS etc..there is a lack of info, or info at the   
    rc> level I prefer on setup and use.   
      
   i was thinking that DOXBOX was the virtual machine and you could use your own   
   DOS on it...   
      
    rc> I used QEMU for a long time then TLB came along.. and it ran rings   
    rc> around QEMU.   
      
   i've never heard of TLB... if i have, it was for a very brief passing moment   
   back in the '90s...   
      
    rc> I got more memory, I think because one of the newer units I built had   
    rc> one of the needed chipsets that would do some of the extra magic that   
    rc> QEMU couldn't I was getting like 760K free DOS or something silly and   
    rc> thats with FANSI-CONSOLE loaded, 4DOS etc...   
      
    rc> I think it and Terminate were about the only thing at that time I   
    rc> actually paid registrations for.. the rest was shareware and lived   
    rc> with its limits like Silver Xpress and SLMR.   
      
    ml>> joho was very forward thinking... frontdoor was the first to offer   
    ml>> this capability...   
      
    rc> That definitely happened after '99 then... or if not I didn't pay   
    rc> attention to it in the updates.. I used uucp to get news and mail till   
    rc> then.. relocation brought ISDN, and then finally cable based internet.   
      
   i am/was a frontdoor beta tester so i had access to additional capabilities   
   that were not available to the mainstream users ;)   
      
    ml>> #filegate.net   
    ml>> #74.167.111.188   
    ml>> Vquinnspost.nodelist.net   
    ml>> 000-192.168.99.23   
      
    ml>> frontdoor development stopped before the nodelist INA flag was put   
    ml>> into use so a lot of stuff has to be done manually instead of reading   
    ml>> from the nodelist unless someone wants to write a tool to convert the   
    ml>> distributed nodelist to the form that frontdoor can read directly...   
    ml>> it is easy enough to do   
      
    rc> Is there something that outlines what conversions need to be done for   
    rc> FD..   
      
   not really... just a matter of creating a slightly older format of nodelist   
   and moving the domain from the INA flag or the system name field to the phone   
   field and prefixing it with 000- BUT only doing this with nodes flying the ITN   
   or IVM flags... remember, the nodelist is for mailers so it doesn't matter if   
   there's a BBS or not... only that there's a mailer on the listed ports...   
   that's one reason why so many have embraced binkd and the binkp protocol...   
   they fly on another port and leave 23 alone for the BBS to ride on... kinda   
   like having two phone lines... one for the BBS and one for the mailer so the   
   two don't interfere with each other and the mailer rides beside the BBS   
   instead of in front of it...   
      
    rc> I think I've found 2.26 and a 2.12 SL's or basically read in the   
    rc> domain names in the one field and move them to the phone # location in   
    rc> the nodelist sort of like a FDNODE.txt similar to the binkd list that   
    rc> its little script makes from the raw nodelist.   
      
   yeah, kinda similar to that...   
      
    rc> I can possibly write a BASH or python script to take nodelist.999 in   
    rc> and spit out something for FD to read... maybe even PHP as an option..   
      
   the script that creates the distributed binkd.txt is written in perl...   
      
    ml>> and there are still examples using '000-' as their areacode to signal   
    ml>> that the following numbers are an IPv4 number...   
      
    rc> Yeah.. I read that in reading the nodelist notes...but I see mostly   
    rc> "unpublished" for nearly 90+% of things.. so this conversion would   
    rc> need to be done.   
      
   yeah, we've split "PVT" and "-Unpublished-" from each other... one does not   
   require the other these days... this because some could not agree that the   
   "phone number field" is really a "contact field" and allow IP numbers and/or   
   domains to be listed there... frontdoor, if it had been able to remain in   
   development would have helped to force that option and pedantic arseholes   
   would not have complicated things like they have... "it says phone field so   
   phone numbers are all that's allowed there. we'll have to find somewhere else   
   to put IP numbers and domain names. then you folks using other software that   
   can't handle the new format will have to write yourselves a nodelist shim to   
   move things where you need them to be." :grumble: [/rant]   
      
    rc> That clue probably saved me from dropping the experiment when it   
    rc> barfed on the node list...   
      
   TBH, i really don't even need to be running FD any more... very rarely do i   
   get any mailer connections over telnet... tobias (from fastecho) still polls   
   me on telnet but he's using some winwhatever mailer instead of frontdoor like   
   he used to do... sometimes i get a FREQ or two but most of my traffic is now   
   using binkp on port 24554... me using frontdoor has, however, allowed me to   
   detect and write some IDS/IPS rules for a recent round of skiddiots and their   
   infestation bots ;)   
      
    ml>> IPv6  is different and requires additional conversions... SIO doesn't   
    ml>> do IPv6   
      
    rc> I don't do IPv6 either... that is proof that engineers should not be   
    rc> allowed to set standards without supervision! :) ;)   
      
   hahahahahahahahaha...   
      
    rc> And honestly does EVERYTHING on the planet need an IP???? ;)   
      
   that's my thing, too... it is no one's business how many machines i have on my   
   network and you're surely not going to charge me for each one that uses the   
   internet... we won't even mention that 640k is enough for anyone and the   
   number of available IPs is no more or less shortsighted than IPv4 is/was...   
   available IPv6 numbers will run out one day...   
      
   )\/(ark   
      
   Always Mount a Scratch Monkey   
   Do you manage your own servers? If you are not running an IDP/IPS yer doin' it   
   wrong...   
   ... Famous Last Words: "It hurts." - Chas. DeGaulle   
   ---   
    * Origin:  (1:3634/12.73)