ml> no, not really... try using domain names in IREX and you'll find   
   ml> that it f   
   ml> quite miserably... instead you have to use IP numbers because the   
   ml> kernel s   
   ml> changed such that DNS lookups fail and IPs are required...   
      
    TJM> That's only the Linux version.  Plus who the hell wants to run   
    TJM> Linux?  I wish  eCS would be marketed to the mass public like OS/2   
    TJM> was. :(  I run IREX here  with domain names with no issues.   
      
   i wasn't aware of the problem being strictly related to windows... at least no   
   one has ever stated it so plainly... however, in restrospect, i can see it now   
   and fully understand it, too... windows doesn't come out with new kernels all   
   the time... in fact, they rarely ever come out with new kernels...   
      
   ml>  TJM> I don't run OS/2 any longer so I have to stick to something that   
   ml>  TJM> works.   
   ml>    
   ml> OS/2 still works ;)  especially on older equipment... my main   
   ml> server was a   
      
    TJM> Yeah, but I don't have any old boxes lying around for just the BBS   
    TJM> machine  tho.   
      
   i wouldn't if i hadn't refused to move the bbs to each new OS as it came out   
   and was embraced by all and sundry... that box has had a few upgrades over the   
   years but it is essentially the same as it was when i first acquired it...   
      
    TJM> eCS was nice in a virtual box I setup, but I dunno.   
    TJM> It's been so long  since I ran an OS2 platform ... :(   
      
   and there you have one up on me... i've never used any kind of virtual   
   environment that i know of... maybe win3 on OS/2 was one such but i didn't   
   even really use that once i got another machine for my playing and was able to   
   leave the bbs machine alone for it to perform its mission uninterrupted and   
   unmolested ;)   
      
   ml> IIRC there is a method of doing this but i'd have to go digging to   
   ml> see if    
   ml> still have the posts detailing how... but this also bring up the   
   ml> question    
   ml> why do you need/want to run it without a comport? surely there is   
   ml> at least   
   ml> on your system you can allow it to access even though it may not   
   ml> actually    
   ml> it for connections...   
      
    TJM> For it to run under Windows and not die because NetSerial has it's   
    TJM> own issues  of crashing when I get pinged 1000x in a row on port   
    TJM> 23 by people looking for  a way in.     
      
   this sounds like you need a perimeter firewall that can handle problems like   
   this... i'm serious, too... i have one such and it didn't cost me a thing...   
   not even for the dedicated machine that it runs on... too many hits of certain   
   types from an address within a certain time period and the door gets slammed   
   shut and remains shut for an amount of time... if that address continues to   
   beat on the door, their block time is extended... i rarely even look at the   
   machine any more...   
      
    TJM> Net2BBS is comport-less   
    TJM> (virtual) and is what I use now for the  server.  I had to switch   
    TJM> to NetFOSS from BNU as FD will drop out to load the  board and   
    TJM> kill the window because of the FOSSIL.  Did the same for X00.  So    
    TJM> under winblows, I had no choice, either dump FD and switch to   
    TJM> something that  doesn't crash when I get pinged 1000 times within   
    TJM> 2 seconds on all "connection ports/nodes" or have NetSerial die   
    TJM> everyday and have to reboot the computer  for it to work.  Mike   
    TJM> never did get around to looking into this or fixing it.  :(   
      
   i can understand why he hasn't... i can also understand why you and so many   
   others made the choices you did... i just wish that more had stopped and   
   really looked at things before following the troubled paths they took :?   
      
   )\/(ark   
      
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