h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

hehe...I am a LONG time fan of the BBS. I ran one (called Reptiles Anonymous) for quite a few years and have recently begun looking into starting another one up. For those out there interested in doing the same here is a small list of BBS server software that I have found to still be under development (or at least have a large enough fan base to be community supported):

http://www.synchro.net - SynchroNet is probably the most popular of the still supported softwares out there. It has both a DOS version and a Win32 version. The Win32 version no longer supports dial-up access (it is more or less a glorified web server) but thier site does say that if you run both the dos and windows versions together that you can have the modern internet access as well as dial-up access. On a personal note, this software is more than likely going to be what I will be using for the next installment of Reptiles Anonymous.

http://www.mysticbbs.com - Mystic BBS is no longer being developed although there is a strong enough fan base to get the support you need. Mystic also has a win32 executable as well as a dos version. If I read the website correctly there is even a linux version although I am not sure how far along the development process that version got before they stopped. I used this software for many years and absolutely love it. Very easy to modify and easy to use. If you are a beginner to the BBS sysop biz then I highly recommend this package.

http://www.santronics.com - Wildcat Interactive Net Server (formorly known as Wildcat) was one of the more popular, semi-commercial BBS packages. Still in development (at least I am pretty sure it is) this package hosts all the modern internet features (web, ftp, telnet, etc.) as well as the old fashioned dial-up. This package is kinda nice because with it you can actually become your own internet service provider. It allows for passthru dial-up which, in lamens terms, allows your dial-up users to get on the internet through your home internet connection, and they can do it using any windows internet connection wizard type thing (note: you can still connect to a wildcat system for internet use using OSs other than windows...I just don't know the terms to use).

Well, I am sure there are more that are still being supported but these are the three that I consider to be the 'best of what's left' as far as BBS server packages. All three support external door games and I am pretty sure you can program your own plugins for Wildcat and SynchroNet. They also support FidoNet (yes...it's still around) and a few other message networks. They also support multi-node connections and chat and the like.

And in closing let me say that if any of you DO happen to start up a BBS please, PLEASE e-mail me ( [email protected] ) and let me know. I would love to check it out sometime... oh...and for further reading please check out The Sysop's Corner ( http://sysopscorner.thebbs.org/ ). This site always has been and probably always will be THE place to go to get any and all the information you ever wanted to know about a BBS.