• Avatar Chat Universal InterBBS chat door

    From Hm Derdoc@21:2/139 to All on Wed May 6 11:01:00 2026
    avatar_chat_universal
    Plug it in to Synchronet, Mystic, ENiGMA½ or whatever. Drop file in, native binary out. Your users land in the same channels as everyone running the existing JS avatar_chat door on Synchronet, because the wire protocol is the same and it talks to the same chat server. Nothing forks.

    Here's what that gets you on screen, in roughly the order I like them.

    A 10×6 CP437 avatar in a gutter next to every message a user sends. They pick from bundled sets — corporate logos, sci-fi heads, eighties stuff, futureland originals — or they upload their own .bin over honest-to-god Zmodem, or they sketch one out in the door's pixel editor. Their avatar travels with their messages everywhere. You get to know people by their faces.

    Messages in colored bubbles, side-aligned by speaker. Above each one: their name, a relative timestamp that ages in place ("just now", "5m ago", "yesterday 14:30"), then their BBS hostname in magenta. You can tell at a glance who's local and who dialed in from where without thinking about it.

    When everybody goes quiet, the transcript area gives way. Fifteen procedural animations — starfield, plasma, aurora, matrix rain, fireworks, Life, lightning, fire-and-smoke — cycle through. Or, if a sysop drops a folder of SAUCE-tagged .ans files in (point it at the sixteencolors archive and you've got decades of scene art on tap), the door interleaves a single piece between each procedural anim. Scrolls up from the bottom, off the top, picks another. Wide pieces — 132 or 160 column — clip the right edge cleanly without distorting alignment.

    Messages keep arriving the whole time. They don't kill the screensaver. They slide along as a small ticker on the bottom row for six seconds and then fade, so you see activity without losing the background.

    For sysops: themes live in themes/<name>.ini, where the color palette and the idle-animation profile both sit. Ship a "cyberpunk" theme that pins the rotation to matrix_rain + lightning + plasma; ship a "forest" theme that runs aurora + fireflies + ocean ripples. Whatever feels right.

    Splash screen on entry. Drop a SAUCE-tagged .ans in and that's what users see while the chat connects. Easy to turn off.

    There's a self-hostable chat server in the box. Same wire protocol as futureland.today. If you want a private deployment, or you just don't want to depend on someone else's uptime, run the bundled avatar_chat_server next to the door and point at it. JS-door users join too — same protocol.

    Standalone CLI mode for when you don't have a BBS handy: ./avatar_chat_universal -user yourname puts your terminal into raw mode and connects you straight to the chat.

    Pre-built binaries for linux/amd64, linux/arm64, linux/386, windows/amd64, windows/386, darwin/amd64, darwin/arm64. MIT.

    Pre-1.0, and the in-door pixel editor is labeled BETA in the UI because Moebius or Pablo Draw plus uploading the .bin is honestly a nicer experience for real avatar work. Everything else is solid daily-driver material.

    Repo: https://github.com/hmderdoc/avatar_chat_universal

    Releases: https://github.com/hmderdoc/avatar_chat_universal/releases

    If you run it on something other than Synchronet, I'd love to hear how it goes.
    \ >== HM Derdoc ==< /
    / @futureland.today \
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
    * Origin: telnet://futureland.today https://blockbra.in (21:2/139)
  • From Shurato@21:2/148 to Hm Derdoc on Wed May 6 12:48:00 2026

    avatar_chat_universal
    Plug it in to Synchronet, Mystic, ENiGMA½ or whatever. Drop file in, native binary out. Your users land in the same channels as everyone running the existing JS avatar_chat door on Synchronet, because
    the wire protocol is the same and it talks to the same chat server. Nothing forks.

    Got a really vague tty raw error with EleBBS, which runs things similar to Mystic. Using the Win32 version. Happens when running from the command line with -user UserName as well.

    --
    Shurato, Sysop Shurato's Heavenly Sphere (ssh, telnet, pop3, ftp,nntp,
    ,wss, ssh utf-8) (22,23,110,21,119,999,2222) shsbbs.net FREQ Me!


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    ---
    * Origin: Shurato's Heavenly Sphere telnet://shsbbs.net (21:2/148)
  • From Hm Derdoc@21:2/139 to Shurato on Wed May 6 15:31:43 2026
    Thanks Shurato - I always appreciate how quick you let me know when something's off! I did run via CLI and notice some issues which should now be fixed, and most likely explain what you saw too on your BBS. I don't have a Windows box to test with but I'm hoping the new 0.1.2 release solves the issue if you'd be so kind enough to try again :)

    Cheers!

    \ >== HM Derdoc ==< /
    / @futureland.today \
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
    * Origin: telnet://futureland.today https://blockbra.in (21:2/139)
  • From Shurato@21:2/148 to Hm Derdoc on Wed May 6 16:30:00 2026

    avatar_chat_universal
    Plug it in to Synchronet, Mystic, ENiGMA½ or whatever. Drop file in, native binary out. Your users land in the same channels as everyone running the existing JS avatar_chat door on Synchronet, because
    the wire protocol is the same and it talks to the same chat server. Nothing forks.

    Is the Win32 version working for anyone?

    --
    Shurato, Sysop Shurato's Heavenly Sphere (ssh, telnet, pop3, ftp,nntp,
    ,wss, ssh utf-8) (22,23,110,21,119,999,2222) shsbbs.net FREQ Me!


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    ---
    * Origin: Shurato's Heavenly Sphere telnet://shsbbs.net (21:2/148)
  • From Shurato@21:2/148 to Hm Derdoc on Wed May 6 17:11:00 2026

    * In a message originally to Shurato, Hm Derdoc said:

    Thanks Shurato - I always appreciate how quick you let me know when something's off! I did run via CLI and notice some issues which
    should now be fixed, and most likely explain what you saw too on
    your BBS. I don't have a Windows box to test with but I'm hoping
    the new 0.1.2 release solves the issue if you'd be so kind enough
    to try again :)

    No problem and will do!

    --
    Shurato, Sysop Shurato's Heavenly Sphere (ssh, telnet, pop3, ftp,nntp,
    ,wss, ssh utf-8) (22,23,110,21,119,999,2222) shsbbs.net FREQ Me!


    ---
    * Origin: Shurato's Heavenly Sphere telnet://shsbbs.net (21:2/148)
  • From Shurato@21:2/148 to Hm Derdoc on Wed May 6 17:16:00 2026

    Thanks Shurato - I always appreciate how quick you let me know when something's off! I did run via CLI and notice some issues which
    should now be fixed, and most likely explain what you saw too on your
    BBS. I don't have a Windows box to test with but I'm hoping the new
    0.1.2 release solves the issue if you'd be so kind enough to try
    again :)

    Same problem:
    ele\avatarc>avatar_chat_universal -user Shurato
    avatar_chat_universal: standalone: make tty raw: The parameter is incorrect.

    --
    Shurato, Sysop Shurato's Heavenly Sphere (ssh, telnet, pop3, ftp,nntp,
    ,wss, ssh utf-8) (22,23,110,21,119,999,2222) shsbbs.net FREQ Me!


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    ---
    * Origin: Shurato's Heavenly Sphere telnet://shsbbs.net (21:2/148)
  • From Hm Derdoc@21:2/139 to Shurato on Wed May 6 16:43:13 2026
    Ok, I was able to feed that to Claude for some tips and hopefully we are now barking up the right tree, there should be a version 0.1.3 available now which has these changes, summary below:

    golang.org/x/term's MakeRaw issues one SetConsoleMode call that combines clearing cooked-mode flags and setting ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_INPUT. Legacy ConHost (older Win10, Server 2016, VT-disabled hosts) rejects the combined call → ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER → the "make tty raw: The parameter is incorrect" he's seeing.

    New cmd/avatar_chat_universal/tty_windows.go does it in two steps:

    1. Mandatory: clear ENABLE_LINE_INPUT | ENABLE_ECHO_INPUT | ENABLE_PROCESSED_INPUT — the part that always works.
    2.Best-effort: VT input + VT output processing on follow-up calls; failure ignored.
    ---------------

    I hope that works! It's a fun little program

    \ >== HM Derdoc ==< /
    / @futureland.today \
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
    * Origin: telnet://futureland.today https://blockbra.in (21:2/139)
  • From Shurato@21:2/148 to Hm Derdoc on Wed May 6 17:58:00 2026

    Ok, I was able to feed that to Claude for some tips and hopefully we are now barking up the right tree, there should be a version 0.1.3
    available now which has these changes, summary below:

    Socket mode in windows is not yet implemented. Use STDIO. I don't have that option.

    --
    Shurato, Sysop Shurato's Heavenly Sphere (ssh, telnet, pop3, ftp,nntp,
    ,wss, ssh utf-8) (22,23,110,21,119,999,2222) shsbbs.net FREQ Me!


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    ---
    * Origin: Shurato's Heavenly Sphere telnet://shsbbs.net (21:2/148)
  • From Hm Derdoc@21:2/139 to Shurato on Wed May 6 17:11:04 2026
    Looks like that was left as a stub for some reason <facepalm>... It's implemented now in v0.1.4 available in releases. Thanks for your patience, as always.

    \ >== HM Derdoc ==< /
    / @futureland.today \
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
    * Origin: telnet://futureland.today https://blockbra.in (21:2/139)
  • From Shurato@21:2/148 to Hm Derdoc on Wed May 6 19:48:00 2026

    Looks like that was left as a stub for some reason <facepalm>... It's implemented now in v0.1.4 available in releases. Thanks for your patience, as always.

    Closer, it starts and tries to let me pick an avatar, then abends
    immediately. I didn't see any errors.

    --
    Shurato, Sysop Shurato's Heavenly Sphere (ssh, telnet, pop3, ftp,nntp,
    ,wss, ssh utf-8) (22,23,110,21,119,999,2222) shsbbs.net FREQ Me!


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    ---
    * Origin: Shurato's Heavenly Sphere telnet://shsbbs.net (21:2/148)
  • From Shurato@21:2/148 to Hm Derdoc on Wed May 6 20:55:00 2026

    Looks like that was left as a stub for some reason <facepalm>... It's implemented now in v0.1.4 available in releases. Thanks for your patience, as always.

    Yay! Ater 0.1.5 it appears to be ready for prime time!

    --
    Shurato, Sysop Shurato's Heavenly Sphere (ssh, telnet, pop3, ftp,nntp,
    ,wss, ssh utf-8) (22,23,110,21,119,999,2222) shsbbs.net FREQ Me!


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    ---
    * Origin: Shurato's Heavenly Sphere telnet://shsbbs.net (21:2/148)
  • From Cozmo@21:3/135 to Hm Derdoc on Thu May 7 20:00:57 2026
    Trying to run this in Windows 10 32 bit but just get a bunch of characters that scroll the screen even when I run stand alone. On win10 64bit computer the 32bit version runs fine as stand alone but not on win10 32 computer.

    |02-=|10Cozmo|02=-

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Lunatics Unleashed BBS (21:3/135)
  • From Hm Derdoc@21:2/139 to Cozmo on Thu May 7 17:30:00 2026
    Hey Cozmo,

    Thanks for the report. Tagged v0.1.7 with a fix that should handle
    your case.

    What changed: the door now wraps stdout with go-colorable on Windows.
    It auto-detects whether the console can render ANSI escapes natively
    and translates them to Win32 console API calls when it can't. No-op
    on non-console handles (door-mode pipes / sockets), so it's safe
    across every Windows configuration we ship for.

    Best guess at what was happening, based on the symptoms you described:
    your console likely wasn't getting VT output processing enabled at
    startup, so our ANSI escapes were printing as literal "^[[31m"
    characters scrolling down the screen. That would also explain why the
    same windows_386 binary worked on Win10 64-bit (modern ConHost more
    likely to have VT auto-enabled). I haven't confirmed that on your
    specific machine -- v0.1.7 should fix it regardless of which exact
    Win10 console quirk caused it, but if it still misbehaves, the new
    stderr warning will tell us what's actually happening.

    Grab v0.1.7:

    https://github.com/hmderdoc/avatar_chat_universal/releases/tag/v0.1.7

    If it still misbehaves, run it once and send me whatever shows up on
    stderr -- there's a new diagnostic line that fires when VT enable
    fails, which will narrow it down.

    Cheers,
    Hm

    \ >== HM Derdoc ==< /
    / @futureland.today \
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
    * Origin: telnet://futureland.today https://blockbra.in (21:2/139)
  • From Atreyu@21:1/176 to Hm Derdoc on Fri May 8 01:16:45 2026
    On 06 May 26 11:01:00, Hm Derdoc said the following to All:

    from bundled sets — corporate logos, sci-fi heads, eighties stuff, futur originals — or they upload their own .bin over honest-to-god Zmodem, or t sketch one out in the door's pixel editor. Their avatar travels with their messages everywhere. You get to know people by their faces.

    I thought the whole point of a BBS chat system was to chat WITHOUT knowing someone by their face and WITHOUT all the added BS.

    Atreyu

    --- Renegade vY2Ka2
    * Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (21:1/176)
  • From Adept@21:2/108 to Atreyu on Fri May 8 07:42:34 2026
    I thought the whole point of a BBS chat system was to chat WITHOUT
    knowing someone by their face and WITHOUT all the added BS.

    And that chat still exists, with MRC.

    Not sure if there's a strong reason for something else _not_ to exist, though.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)
  • From Atreyu@21:1/176 to Adept on Fri May 8 04:49:23 2026
    On 08 May 26 07:42:34, Adept said the following to Atreyu:

    knowing someone by their face and WITHOUT all the added BS.

    And that chat still exists, with MRC.

    Not sure if there's a strong reason for something else _not_ to exist, thoug

    Something that has worked perfectly fine for decades really does not need anything else added to it for the sake of copying Internet fads.

    Atreyu

    --- Renegade vY2Ka2
    * Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (21:1/176)
  • From Codefenix@21:4/141 to Atreyu on Fri May 8 07:49:44 2026
    Re: Re: Avatar Chat Universal InterBBS chat
    By: Atreyu to Adept on Fri May 08 2026 04:49 am

    Something that has worked perfectly fine for decades really does not need anything else added to it for the sake of copying Internet fads.

    One doesn't take anything away from the other. Part of the appeal of this hobby is (and always has been) finding new ways to push this limited tech further.

    |08ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
    |15 Ü|07 Ü |08Ü |11codefenix |08³
    |15 Û|07ÛÛÛ|08Û |09ConstructiveChaos BBS |08³
    |15 Þ|07ÜÛÜ|08Ý |01conchaos.synchro.net |08³ |08ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
    |07
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Win32
    * Origin: -=[conchaos.synchro.net | ConstructiveChaos BBS]=- (21:4/141)
  • From Cozmo@21:3/135 to Atreyu on Fri May 8 08:53:07 2026
    I thought the whole point of a BBS chat system was to chat WITHOUT
    knowing someone by their face and WITHOUT all the added BS.

    I wouldn't call it added BS, I call it 80 x 24 eye candy. Still old school but it makes it a bit more fun. Lets face it it as much as everyone in the BBS community love the nostalgia of BBSes theres going to be some newer technology creeping in. I think if the SYSOPS and developers back in the day could have made something like this they would have jumped at it.

    |02-=|10Cozmo|02=-

    ... I have a really good memory, except it's short.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Lunatics Unleashed BBS (21:3/135)
  • From Cozmo@21:3/135 to Hm Derdoc on Fri May 8 11:15:16 2026
    If it still misbehaves, run it once and send me whatever shows up on stderr -- there's a new diagnostic line that fires when VT enable
    fails, which will narrow it down.


    It works great as stand a lone but i can't get it to show in a term program only local. Tried many different setting with no luck.

    |02-=|10Cozmo|02=-

    ... A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Lunatics Unleashed BBS (21:3/135)
  • From Hm Derdoc@21:2/139 to Atreyu on Fri May 8 12:28:38 2026
    Re: Re: Avatar Chat Universal InterBBS chat
    By: Atreyu to Hm Derdoc on Fri May 08 2026 01:16 am

    On 06 May 26 11:01:00, Hm Derdoc said the following to All:

    from bundled sets — corporate logos, sci-fi heads, eighties stuff, futur originals — or they upload their own .bin over honest-to-god Zmodem,
    out in the door's pixel editor. Their avatar travels with their messages everywhere. You get to know people by their faces.

    I thought the whole point of a BBS chat system was to chat WITHOUT knowing someone by their face and WITHOUT all the added BS.

    Atreyu

    It'a 10 x 6 ANSI graphic not a 3D face-scan my dude. Acting like BBS's have some philosophical "Whole point" as a response to some sort of Web 2.0 technology is
    re-writing history. BBS chat was desinged to be cutting edge, not cutting features. Many people back then would just logon to BBS to download bitmaps, and
    pretending like the whole point of a BBS was to have "low tech" experience might be correct in 2003, but not 1993. Were people using BBS's in the early 90's
    luddites? Not at all in my view. Now? I have a much different impression - which is fine, if people want to keep it retro, that's their prerogrative but to
    act like that's the "whole point" of BBS'ing doesn't resonate with me as a valid premise, it's revisionist history - BBS's and their users in their heyday didn't
    have a gag reflex to new technology, applications, etc. they chased it.

    the above is my opinion, and you're welcome to your own we all have our own purposes for our preferences but I respectfully disagree about the "whole point of
    BBSes" argument.

    cheers,
    hm derdoc









    \ >== HM Derdoc ==< /
    / @futureland.today \
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
    * Origin: telnet://futureland.today https://blockbra.in (21:2/139)
  • From Atreyu@21:1/176 to Hm Derdoc on Fri May 8 17:52:36 2026
    On 08 May 26 12:28:38, Hm Derdoc said the following to Atreyu:

    I thought the whole point of a BBS chat system was to chat WITHOUT knowing
    someone by their face and WITHOUT all the added BS.

    It'a 10 x 6 ANSI graphic not a 3D face-scan my dude. Acting like BBS's hav some philosophical "Whole point" as a response to some sort of Web 2.0 technology is
    re-writing history. BBS chat was desinged to be cutting edge, not cutting

    Please continue to lecture me on BBS history as if I just got my node-number yesterday. Please quote for me the memo sent to all Sysops where BBS chat is to be "cutting edge"... On an 80x25 console I do not care to see 10x6 of that showing someone's miniscule penis-size. Neither will anyone else who really uses a chat system; the questions will be how to shut off the Ansi BS.

    Atreyu

    --- Renegade vY2Ka2
    * Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (21:1/176)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to Codefenix on Sat May 9 08:29:38 2026
    Re: Re: Avatar Chat Universal InterBBS chat
    By: Codefenix to Atreyu on Fri May 08 2026 07:49 am

    Howdy,


    Something that has worked perfectly fine for decades really does not need anything else added to it for the sake of copying Internet fads.

    One doesn't take anything away from the other. Part of the appeal of this hobby is (and always has been) finding new ways to push this limited tech further.

    Yeah, I'm with you on this one.

    I got sick of a few folks telling me its "not worth" changing the way this tech works, and even not worth making this tech work in new ways. There's always something that can be done better, and if it helps one person then why not.

    That's said, it's also cool re-using 50 year old software and reliving the past...


    ...ëîåï
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From Exodus@21:1/144 to Atreyu on Fri May 8 18:38:32 2026
    uses a chat system; the questions will be how to shut off the Ansi BS.

    Thats one thing I never understood either. These 10000000 line ansis. Whats the point? If it can't fit on 80x24, there's no use. Make something clean and simple. What these people don't remember, 1200-2400 baud was the norm. No one had the time to waste on waiting for a huge ansi to display. Even when 28.8/33.6 came around, it was still frowned upon in my BBS area.

    ... OS/2 fixes broken windows

    --- Renegade v1.44/Exp
    * Origin: The Titantic BBS Telnet - ttb.rgbbs.info (21:1/144)
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Exodus on Fri May 8 15:46:52 2026
    Re: Re: Avatar Chat Universal InterBBS chat
    By: Exodus to Atreyu on Fri May 08 2026 06:38 pm

    uses a chat system; the questions will be how to shut off the Ansi BS.

    Thats one thing I never understood either. These 10000000 line ansis. Whats the point? If it can't fit on 80x24, there's no use. Make something clean and simple. What these people don't remember, 1200-2400 baud was the norm. No one had the time to waste on waiting for a huge ansi to display. Even when 28.8/33.6 came around, it was still frowned upon in my BBS area.

    I don't particularly care for long ANSIs either, but the days of 2400 baud modems are long gone. These days, with broadband internet and telnet connections, they scroll by fairly quickly, so I don't really see it as a big issue these days. Some sysops do still have dialup phone lines, but with modern software, I think there would be ways to have a BBS not displays such a big ANSI to a dialup user.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.37-Linux
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
  • From NuSkooler@21:1/121 to Exodus on Fri May 8 17:03:29 2026
    On Friday, May 8th Exodus muttered...
    Thats one thing I never understood either. These 10000000 line ansis. Whats the point? If it can't fit on 80x24, there's no use. Make something clean and simple. What these people don't remember, 1200-2400 baud was the norm. No one had the time to waste on waiting for a huge ansi to display. Even when 28.8/33.6 came around, it was still frowned upon in my BBS area.

    I think arguing against what are considered "scrollers", a beloved form of art back then, and now, may be a bit tone deaf.


    --
    |08 þ |12NuSkooler |06// |12Xibalba |08- |07"|06The place of fear|07"
    |08 þ |03xibalba|08.|03vip |08(|0344510|08/|03telnet|08, |0344511|08/|03ssh|08) |08 þ |03ENiGMA 1/2 WHQ |08| |03Phenom |08| |0367 |08| |03iMPURE |08| |03ACiDic --- ENiGMA 1/2 v0.4.0-beta (linux; x64; 22.22.2)
    * Origin: Xibalba -+- xibalba.vip:44510 (21:1/121)
  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Hm Derdoc on Sat May 9 15:16:15 2026
    On 08 May 2026 at 12:28p, Hm Derdoc pondered and said...

    Re: Re: Avatar Chat Universal InterBBS chat
    By: Atreyu to Hm Derdoc on Fri May 08 2026 01:16 am

    On 06 May 26 11:01:00, Hm Derdoc said the following to All:

    from bundled sets — corporate logos, sci-fi heads, eighties stuff futur originals — or they upload their own .bin over honest-to-go Zmodem,
    out in the door's pixel editor. Their avatar travels with their mes everywhere. You get to know people by their faces.

    I thought the whole point of a BBS chat system was to chat WITHOUT know someone by their face and WITHOUT all the added BS.

    Atreyu

    It'a 10 x 6 ANSI graphic not a 3D face-scan my dude. Acting like BBS's have some philosophical "Whole point" as a response to some sort of Web 2.0 technology is
    re-writing history. BBS chat was desinged to be cutting edge, not
    cutting features. Many people back then would just logon to BBS to download bitmaps, and
    pretending like the whole point of a BBS was to have "low tech"
    experience might be correct in 2003, but not 1993. Were people using BBS's in the early 90's
    luddites? Not at all in my view. Now? I have a much different impression - which is fine, if people want to keep it retro, that's
    their prerogrative but to
    act like that's the "whole point" of BBS'ing doesn't resonate with me as
    a valid premise, it's revisionist history - BBS's and their users in
    their heyday didn't
    have a gag reflex to new technology, applications, etc. they chased it.


    the above is my opinion, and you're welcome to your own we all have our own purposes for our preferences but I respectfully disagree about the "whole point of
    BBSes" argument.

    cheers,
    hm derdoc



    I just wanted to say, as someone who first used BBSs in 1994 on a PC, I concur with this. It was always neat to see what people could do with the technology, and that is true for me today.

    ... Youth is glorious, but it isn't a career

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From phigan@21:3/193 to Exodus on Tue May 12 06:32:09 2026
    Thats one thing I never understood either. These 10000000 line ansis.
    the point? If it can't fit on 80x24, there's no use. Make something

    Sometimes I just wanna sit back and watch the art.



    --- NE BBS v2.01 (linux; x64)
    * Origin: NE BBS - nebbs.servehttp.com:9223 (21:3/193)
  • From Exodus@21:1/144 to Phigan on Tue May 12 05:54:33 2026
    Thats one thing I never understood either. These 10000000 line ansis.
    the point? If it can't fit on 80x24, there's no use. Make something

    Sometimes I just wanna sit back and watch the art.

    Most days I just want to get to the main menu without being bothered.

    ... Well, I might be high, but...but I'm REAL fast!

    --- Renegade v1.44/Exp
    * Origin: The Titantic BBS Telnet - ttb.rgbbs.info (21:1/144)
  • From Geri Atricks@21:3/235 to Exodus on Tue May 12 11:26:50 2026
    Thats one thing I never understood either. These 10000000 line ansis. Whats the point? If it can't fit on 80x24, there's no use. Make something clean and simple. What these people don't remember,

    THANK YOU!!!

    If it's longer than the screen it's a total waste of time as everything flies by so fast you don't even get a chance to see it. Might have been fine at 24-4800 baud where you had time to actually see the art as it scrolled by.
    ---

    -FltCapt Dallas Vinson, SFI

    ... If you can't make it good, make it LOOK good. -Bill Gates.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Legends of Yesteryear (21:3/235)
  • From Geri Atricks@21:3/235 to Exodus on Tue May 12 11:32:17 2026
    Most days I just want to get to the main menu without being bothered.

    Exactly. It's one thing if the system will let you just hit the space bar to abort the ANSI display, but I've come across a few (Like the long SBBS Ad that comes with the software) that won't let me do that. I also find boards that have so much felgercarb you have to wade through before you even get to the main menu to be rather annoying.
    ---

    -FltCapt Dallas Vinson, SFI

    ... No honey, I can't eat with the family. My computer gets lonely!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Legends of Yesteryear (21:3/235)
  • From Exodus@21:1/144 to Geri Atricks on Tue May 12 15:55:36 2026
    Exactly. It's one thing if the system will let you just hit the space bar abort the ANSI display, but I've come across a few (Like the long SBBS Ad comes with the software) that won't let me do that. I also find boards th have so much felgercarb you have to wade through before you even get to th main menu to be rather annoying.

    Yup. Drives me nuts to go thru oneliners, rumors, 10000 line ansi that won't abort with spacebar, msg check (which is turned OFF in settings, but still checks all echomail to you. If I wanted to read message as soon as I logged on, I would hit M and read messages.

    Thats why I have EVERYTHING turned off here. Right to the main menu you go. Do what you want, not what you are forced to load and press Q to quit to. There are some boards it takes almost 3 MINUTES to get to the main menu before I can do anything. Sigh.

    ... Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot

    --- Renegade v1.44/Exp
    * Origin: The Titantic BBS Telnet - ttb.rgbbs.info (21:1/144)
  • From Shurato@21:2/148 to Geri Atricks on Tue May 12 16:10:00 2026

    Most days I just want to get to the main menu without being bothered.

    Exactly. It's one thing if the system will let you just hit the space bar to abort the ANSI display, but I've come across a few (Like the long SBBS Ad that comes with the software) that won't let me do that. I also find boards that have so much felgercarb you have to wade through before you even get to the main menu to be rather annoying.

    That's why I make mine totally optional and configurable. You can either
    skip all of what you might think is garbage, or just select what you want to see. My screens are dynamic for the most part. I've got from 8 scrollers
    that are picked at random, a random game ad, a random net ad, some other screens all that I think are useful. there's a screen with a lightbar right when you log in that you can pick quicklogin yes/no or configure the no.

    --
    Shurato, Sysop Shurato's Heavenly Sphere (ssh, telnet, pop3, ftp,nntp,
    ,wss, ssh utf-8) (22,23,110,21,119,999,2222) shsbbs.net FREQ Me!


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    ---
    * Origin: Shurato's Heavenly Sphere telnet://shsbbs.net (21:2/148)