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Comm Program for OS/2 Suggestions

Started by iainnitro, 2012.03.17, 09:46:21

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iainnitro

Greetings:

I am contemplating re-doing my my old BBS machine under OS/2 Warp 4 and I am still kind of a Noob when it comes to the OS itself.

My understanding is that it is 100% compatible to DOS programs (like MS-DOS 6.2x apps), but not necessarily for WIndows (95/98) apps?

The Comm programs that I have for DOS are Procomm Plus 2.0, Qmodem and of course can probably really easily find Telix.   My BBS software is Major BBS or I now have an Amiga alternative for the BBS itself.  SO this project is multi-layered in that I may be moving my actual BBS to the Amiga platform, but still need this old Pentium 100 (Gateway) to run DOS or OS/2 preferably.  It currently has DOS 6.22 and Desqview installed, and of course Major BBS.

So my big question is:  I saw ZOC listed a lot on a Google search, but I am wondering if there is a PCPLUS, Qmodem equivalent for OS/2.  I do have the Windows versions of both PCPLUS 2.0 for Windows (95+) and Qmodem Windows which I believe also was for Win95... but would like to find an OS/2 native program with the ANSI-BBS terminal emulation in it.  Am I right that my Qmodem DOS or PCPLUS 2 DOS will run under OS/2?

Sorry about the OS/2 101 questions, but a person does have to start somewhere.  :-)   My reference books on PC Comms don't seem to cover OS/2 very well at all, they gloss over it, if even to mention that there is existence of what I consider to be very much a "sleeper" OS from the same W95 era.  And naturally, I am learning that I am not the only one who is exploring the OS even now.  That is great.

Thanks for any help and please be very verbose if you offer any technical stuff as I am essentially learning OS/2.

Hope someone can help.

os2monkey

#1
Hello Sysop comrade :), and welcome to this great os/2 community.

I actually ran a multi line bbs during the pre internet era and really miss those days.
But sadly I was running a windows 3.1 based BBS at the time so don't have a lot of os/2 specific experience.

OS/2 does have great compatibility with dos, and decent support for windows 3.1 apps, so I wouldn't be surprised if it works with your dos software.

But, there are several specific BBS packages which have specifically been produced with os/2 friendly versions:
http://archives.scovetta.com/pub/fehq/BBSSoftware/00_index.htm

MysticBBS stands out to me as a major possibility:
http://www.mysticbbs.com/
Since I see they have a specific os/2 upgrade from their dos version.

So it might be easier for you to choose one of those since they have been specifically tested and built for os/2 - and and it looks like you might be able to get some help from the mystic community at the above page.

I've played with Amiga OS a little and it's a fun OS. I would think OS/2 on good hardware is more stable though, with memory protection etc - which would be important for a bbs.
If you want to roll your BBS into the future you could consider getting a copy of ecomstation, which is basically a version of os/2 that runs well on modern hardware.
But that was pretty much a shameless plug for my favorite OS so please forgive it :).




ivan


iainnitro

Thanks guys for the replies.  So far, PCPLUS 2 (which is my fav terminal program) runs fine under OS/2 (it is indeed for DOS) and my Major seems to run fine too.  I am still deciding on updating the BBS and whether or not to do dial up still or not -- do have quite a few modems lying around (all USR Couriers).

Will definitely report back if I do something OS/2 specific.

os2monkey

Quote from: iainnitro on 2012.03.24, 02:22:33
I am still deciding on updating the BBS and whether or not to do dial up still or not -- do have quite a few modems lying around (all USR Couriers).
Couriers are very nice modems... better than anything I previously used. Is your BBS available via telnet now?
If so give me the address and i'll check it out sometime.
I've sometimes considered putting another telnet only board back up for nostalgia but i've just been too busy.
There was something extra special about a real modem though. I remember how awesome the sound was when I had like 6 people hitting my old setup at once. My basement could get seriously noisy. It was also too expensive so it didn't last long.

iainnitro

Unfortunately, My BBS is down right now (at least as far as public access).  Have been trying to decide if I actually have the time to put it back up and devote.

Yeah, I can remember back in the day too... our hobby (running a BBS) was touted as the only hobby that was almost as expensive as doing model airplanes.... so only model airplanes were more expensive as a hobby!

I am quite proud of my latest Courier acquisition which came from our local Amiga Users Group BBS -- I am an officer of that group currently.   It was one of the "not for resale" Couriers that USR gave to only a few BBS systems as a marketing deal.  You had to have quite a few members to receive one.  It is the original HST model.  They put this in my care just last month.


hausmaus

Hello, fellow sysop.  :)

I'm running ProBoard 2.17 under Warp 4.52 here.  As for your comm program, I'd suggest either mTel (for telnet stuff) or ZOC.  DOS comm programs under OS/2 can act kinda strange at times from my experience.  I have Procomm Plus and QModem here and have tried them both to varying successes.  PP tends to die on my 3.2gHz machine with a strange error which I'm assuming is akin to the RTE200 bug that unpatched Pascal programs suffer from.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.  I've been running a BBS under OS/2 Warp since 1996 and have picked up a few tricks and tips along the way.

Oh, a note about the Mystic BBS version mentioned here: it is unsupported currently and there are no plans as far as I've heard from the author for a new version of an OS/2-native Mystic BBS.  I've offered to help him set up an OS/2 machine but have never heard back.  If I was going to run an OS/2-native BBS, I'd run Maximus/2 or Telegard/2.

-- HM

iainnitro

Thanks for the replies!  I so far (knocking on wood desk) have had no problems with PCPLUS on my current OS/2 Warp 4 setup.  Keep in mind that my machine is a Pentium 120 (not P2 or P3).

I am also considering repurposing one of my Amiga 2000's to be a BBS machine and if I can find a way to do it, run both BBS systems in a heterogeneous manner.  I am looking a DLG Pro for the Amiga and since I am a board member of my local Amiga Users Group, they have asked me to put the "club's bbs" back online if possible.  I am considering doing so and that would at least be a project that has a purpose whereas my other projects serve no other purpose than to keep me entertained :-)

Anyhow, I digress, I appreciate all the help on this topic and indeed I am very happy to see people willing to help.  My goal of course, is to make sure that all my platforms can talk over a serial link to a BBS.  This makes it the ultimate lab IMHO.


hausmaus

Quote from: iainnitro on 2012.04.11, 16:19:03
Anyhow, I digress, I appreciate all the help on this topic and indeed I am very happy to see people willing to help.  My goal of course, is to make sure that all my platforms can talk over a serial link to a BBS.  This makes it the ultimate lab IMHO.

I know a few people that might be able to help you with the Amiga stuff (I'd have to ask to make sure).  If you need help, drop me an email at sean at outpostbbs dot net and I'll see what I can do.

As for the comm program, I'm glad you've got it working!  I mainly use ZOC if I'm on the BBS machine but that's pretty rare that I have to telnet out from that machine.  I use Syncterm under Windows and Linux for my BBS connection needs.

This website is full of friendly and experienced OS/2ers and if you have a question, I'd say there's someone around with an answer or who can point you in the right direction.

Good luck with the BBSes!

--HM

Fahrvenugen

Hi,

I've run Procomm Plus in OS/2 dosboxes for years without any difficulty - I've always had good luck with it.

I've also run the Windows 3.x version of Procomm Plus (both the 2.x and 3.x versions) within a WinOS/2 session without any difficulty.

As for BBSes, you'll probably find that Major works fine in Dosboxes.

One thing you may want to consider is running Ray Gwinn's SIO2K drivers, you can download them from Hobbes

http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=sio2k&pushbutton=Search

It handles Comm ports a lot better then the stock OS/2 drivers.  Note - these drivers are shareware, however as far as I know there's no way to register them (if anyone knows differently then please correct me). 

The other thing about SIO2K drivers - it'll handle up to something like 256 comm ports (either real or virtual ones)

And it also comes with VModem a little app - which turns any virtual Comm port into a virtual telnet modem.  This is great for a BBS since it makes it possible to turn any BBS (whether it is set up for this or not) onto the net as a telnet-accessed BBS on the net.  No phone lines needed.

Another BBS package out there which has a native OS/2 build is Maximus BBS.   Originally a commercial product, about 7 or 8 years ago it was released as free (and the source got opened up).  I'm not sure if the open-source version has been built on OS/2, however I know the 3.0.1 version was released as "free" at around the same as it was made open source (registration no longer required).  Its on Hobbes:

http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-browse.php?dir=/pub/os2/apps/comm/bbs/maximus

Note, there was also a Y2K update for the OS/2 stuff, for some reason it isn't in the Hobbes archive, but can be found here:

http://www.os2bbs.com/file_f/bbs/MAX301P2.ZIP


djcaetano

#10
I used Adept BBS for a long time... today I was trying to set it up again and I discovered SIO.SYS (1.6d, my only 16 port registered version) hangs solid while eComStation is booting (latest ACPI), it doesn't matter if I am using APIC or PIC mode. I've tried SIO2K shareware and it works, but only allows a small number of virtual modem ports. Anyone knows if I can overcome this limitation, since SIO2K is now "abandonware" and registration is not possible? even for more virtual modem ports (I just changed it to 8 and it works).
I've never registered SIO2K because it refused to work in my previous machine. Damn! :( It would be nice to register it though.
Regards,

Daniel Caetano

Fahrvenugen

As I recall, virtual com ports in sio2k have to be set up in  a configuration file that you tell sio2k to load within the config.sys line(s)

Its a little confusing to figure out (read all the .txt doc files that come in the zip to figure it out), but it can be done.  I recall one time when testing I managed to get something like 200 virtual com ports configured and able to accept telnet connections (incoming) via vmodem and sio2k.

If my memory is correct (its been several years since I played around with this) one thing I did run into with this - DOS and Windows apps couldn't recognize this large number of comm ports, however OS/2 apps in general could be made to work.