Most QLers probably don’t realize what exists overseas for the QL. I also don’t think that they realize what exists out there for the QL and a modem. I feel that I can say this because of a few experiences I have had.
The first is with GEnie. I subscribed to GEnie for a few months. It was a great place to find files for my Amiga, play intense online MULTIPLAYER games, and talk to people “in the biz”. I also found the small, and extremely underpopulated, Orphan section, which also had a few messages for the QL and other Sinclair/Timex machines. It seemed, however, that I was the first, and only, caller to visit the area in some time. I uploaded a terminal (although, I don’t know if I got it all), but I think the point was kind of mute. There was simply nobody else there. Adam, Sanyo, and TI fans were abundant, and very conversive.
I had always thought that most QL people had at least 1 modem hooked up. All they have to do is call. There are so many things out there to get hooked up with. There are several bulletin boards to get connected to. Bill Miller’s group uses the bulletin board called “The Mini File Server BBS”, run by Steve Nichols, and written by him. They use it mainly to pass messages and files, but I have also chatted with Steve on it once or twice. Vulcan’s magazine, “Computer Monthly” also runs a bbs with 2 phone lines. They also have an orphan sub board, much like GEnie. Although, there, as with GEnie, there is simply no callers. The Chicago group is running some kind of support thing on the Motorola Tech board (or something to that effect), and there, too, like Bill’s group, people mainly pass messages and files. Although, I think they are starting some kind of nationwide group, with the home base for pasting articles for their newsletter there as well. The now disbanded Ottawa group is still running a bulletin board off of a real live 2068. The board is called “Sir Clive’s Castle”, and is run by a very friendly sysop. I happened to run into a capture file there which will lead me into my second point.
The capture file was about a bbs in Holland which is hooked into Fidonet, and runs on a real live QL. The board is called “Sinclair Box”, and is run under the auspices of the 1200+ member user group in the area. I was unable to connect to the board (something to do with my modem’s inability to emulate too many modulation protocols at once), but through that board, I have been able to get in touch with the board run by the author of the software. The author’s name is Jan Brendenbeek, and his software is called QBOX, and is currently at version 1.19d. He (among others) has also written a front end, mail tossers, and mail packers, so that a person can run a legitimate board in the Fido net mail network. For those of you unfamiliar with Fidonet, it is a very large network of personal computers that exchange mail (and some files) worldwide to each other. They set their board up to “echo” messages to each other, and also to call each other in the wee hours of the morning to exchange data (so’s to not disturb the human callers, and to call when the long distance rates are cheapest). Anyways, Jan runs two boards, one on his QL with a 30 meg Miracle Systems hard drive, and one on a PC type with 200 or so megs. Both are nodes in Fidonet. I also did a bit of calling around Europe; Germany, Holland, England, and God knows where else, with numbers I was able to scrounge from his board.
Well, I was able to discover two things from the experience. First, I knew that the American Sinclair echo on Fido net had long since died out. Over there, however, with their greater proportion of QL users and owners, there is still quite a few echos to get in on. I also found out that many of the projects that a few of us have been working on have already been accomplished over there.
First, CC68 has long since been ported, and all one has to do is send some disks to an address over there to get the complete package. There is also a lot of users with Minix over there, but the details on that are still shaky. I was able to glean, however, that the Atari ST, Amiga (possibly), and the QL Minix versions are all binary compatible! By that I mean that programs written for the Minix system will run on all three computers, without modifications of any sort! Or this is what I gather at any rate. Along with Qbox 1.19d (a beta test version), I was also able to get some other things from Jan’s bbs. First, I was able to get a ZIP file packer and extractor. I haven’t been able to test this with the IBM’s version, nor to compare the two, but since the program IS pd, I will distribute it to the rest of you guys to see for yourselves. I know that there is also some kind of converter program from the QL zip to the IBM, but I did not download it. I was also able to get a hold of a few other packers/ header strippers, as well as a viewdata terminal, written by Jan. I also was successful at getting a local sysop to get me into the Sinclair echos. Originally, Jan was going to set me up as a point off of his bbs, but then I talked to a local sysop (one of the hubs for the area, as a matter of fact) into picking up the echos, since he was already set up, and also had a more compatible modem (an HST). I am still planning on setting up a bbs to run on my QL, and am still planning to run as a point off of Jan’s board. Oh, and one other thing about Jan’s board, is that he has designed a third serial port (I forget what chip he used), to overcome the defficiencies of the built in serial ports. He also wrote extended (i.e. carrier detecting) serial drivers for all three serial ports. Qbox won’t run right without an extended driver. Jan also devised an access layer for the modem interface, called QSPIL, which separates the communications application from the modem, and standardizes things.
I would just like to sum a few things up here. First, I would really like to see more people use their modems a bit more. Grant it, almost all of the calls are going to be long distance, but I usually call after 11pm, when the rates are cheapest, and can usually do a lot for little money. I am also dead set right now on finding out more information from Europe. There is still a lot of stuff on Jan’s board that I couldn’t get, but I can now just F’req it from my hub sysop.
The funny thing about all this is except for the long distance calls, or the fees for GEnie, this was all free. I really enjoy being able to call a “last stand” bbs, and be able to put my two cents in, and only have to pay for the call. And I hope things get cheaper to get, since I hope on bringing a lot of the pd and shareware stuff from Europe over here through my gateway with the hub sysop. Either way, enjoy yourselves, and have a great summer!
The numbers…
GEnie
Well, you have to register first, and get a subscription.
Set your modem for half duplex. hit “hhh” (no enter key) at the “U#:” enter “xjm11999,genie”. from there on, just answer questions. rates: $4.95 for Star Services (although they’re changing the name of that), and $6.00/hr non-prime time. Plan on the $6/hr rate, since the Sinclair sections are not covered under the star services. (Neither are the games!)
Computer Monthly [EE]
Both numbers are 2400 baud+. Access is free from the first call, I think (sorry, it’s been a while since I last logged on to check). The sysop is very friendly!
Sir Clive’s Castle BBS (Ottawa, Canada)
The sysop is very friendly, and I’m appreciative that he still keeps the board running after the club disbanded. Access is free, although this is mostly a 2068 board (it does, after all, run on a 2068).
Mini File Server BBS (MFSBBS)
This is run on a C=64 for Bill’s group, Slix. There is no logon name or password needed, and to leave a message to someone, just leave it as a file called to.soandso.last. Good idea to precompose your letters before hand. There is also currently a lot of information available on drive 11 (I think it’s 11, it might be 10…). You might also want to encourage Steve Nichols, the sysop, to add a formal message system. Hint, hint, Steve….
Motorola Tech board
CATUG uses this board to exchange information. I don’t know all the details about this board, so you might want to contact one of them about it. There is also a bit complex way of getting on and navigating, so I suggest getting a hold of someone who knows how to get on, or otherwise get used to a “User Validation Error, NO CARRIER” message…
Jenny’s Dog House
This is the board that is carrying the echoes on this side of the Atlantic. Currently, due to a bug in Jan’s setup, Jan is actually polling here (because Jenny’s can’t call him). When it gets switched around, I have agreed to pay for the calls to Holland for the sysop. Because of this, the echo areas are only currently open to me, two other subops, and the sysop. If you are interested in calling here to get into the echo areas, please contact me, and I will ask Tim, the sysop, to set it up. This is mostly to keep the regular callers out of the echoes and jacking up the phone bill uneccessarilly. 3 nodes. I am sub-op of the Amiga section here, so that gives me a little bit of clout, obviously, with Tim…
Also, the echos he’s currently picking up are:
- QL Minerva
- Sinclair C
- QL user
- International C
- 1 other echo reserved for future expansion (there are still others to be picked up).
I’m not sure “International C” is what it really is, I think it’s something more like “programming”, but it defenitely is QL related!
Finally, there is Jan Brendenbeek’s two boards, Syncnet and Quasar (Qbox HQ).
Quasar is run on a QL, Syncnet on a PC type under Remote Access (made to look like Qbox). Jan is a VERY nice guy, and set me up very well over here. I was the first American to call his board, ever. Maybe the rest of America will be able to talk to him through the echoes on Jenny’s Dog House….
Mark is now running his own BBS. – ED