Hello
I used to run a dial-in BBS years ago prior to the Internet. Local access, light use, simple, effective for a small group. Could have been used widely but just wasnt. It was on a Mac back in System 7 days, but I had it configured and running in about an hour and it was functional from then on. Extremely useful for some projects a few guys worked on. Required zero effort after initial simple setup.
Why cant we do that now?
It baffles me that nobody seeks to see how simple something can be done. It seems the goal is to make it as complex as possible. Not always the right goal, too complex, complexity leads to breakage.
I am not a programmer. I am an electronics troubleshooter working on industrial machines. I have a life and dont want to be consumed by screwing around with computers on my off time.
I dont want to invent the wheel, I want to roll it. But I just want a basic wheel, not a wheel with the space shuttle attached.
I wanted to setup something similar to my old BBS for my small community. I have a cheap, new, Dell 64 bit laptop.
Im not interested in entertaining kids. Im not interested in getting it on the 'net. Im trying to provide a way for fairly small group of adults to get info in a work-related type of scenario. Imagine a neighborhood watch/rural area group that includes firefighters, people checking on old folks, etc
I spent an hour puzzling over bpq32.
- No closer to having even a slightly remote idea of how to make this work than I was prior to starting.
Tried mystic. Wouldnt load.
Tried synchonous (or similar name). Wouldnt load.
I dont see this jacking around with overly complex software as an effective use of time, no matter how great the end result may be.
Can the following be done?
(Think of a cork bulletin board in a hallway at water cooler, where various people cross the path but dont actually see each other. This was the original idea of a BBS. But now implementation too complex, unwieldy.)
Intended for very local use.
Connect over radio using simple software. No use of internet or cell network. Could be vhf or hf. Could be GMRS (setting aside regulations for sake of this discussion).
Goals:
Be able to view simple, short posting of news about a given topic, say a power outage or lack of cell service, or a job several different guys are working on.
Able to respond with update about your status. Could be check boxes or written text, could be a series of questions. Could be as simple as "all ok here".
Anyone logging in can view entire posting.
Extremely simple -- no games or entertainment.
All users are trusted and wont try to "hack the system."
Essentially just a running text message window, with ability to have different postings as topics, or simply a page per day or similar.
An absolutely minimalist setup, easy to install and make work.
Dont care about color or any other whizbang features. If you ever saw an old fido-net bbs very similar idea. Like DOS in appearance. Not "elegant." Pure function. A log cabin with a candle, no draperies or tablecloth. Dark ages.
Can this be actually done so that a person who is not a programmer can install and run on an extra cheap computer? Computer should be a modern model, not requiring a man to find an old xp or similar. Just buy a cheap laptop and install software, attach to radio, and leave it running.
Is bpq32 capable of this? Id think so but dont really know. Not willing to spend what apoears to be hours figuring it out.
Alternatively, is anybody willing to do a setup like I describe for others?
Any ideas?
Is it possible for the current brainpower to replicate what was done in 1989?
Thanks to anyone who gets what Im saying.
DC
