October 4, 1998
This version of NetModem is a major rewrite, using none of the external librarys that previous one was built around. According to Dedrick this version will not only be crash-proof, but it will be loaded with many new features. Some of the features he mentioned today are:
An Internal Multitasker
True Comport Emulation (optional)
Emulates a 16550 DOS UART
Option to disallow duplicate connections
Opens Additional BBS nodes as needed on the fly
There will soon be an alpha version of NetModem/32 2.0 available to the public. Dedrick did not say how soon, as he is still finalizing some of the new features first. He has allowed us to display some screen shots of the new version. Click Here to see how the new configuration panel looks. Click Here to see how the server itself looks.
Dedrick also mentioned that there is a rumor going around about a backdoor in NetModem/32, which is totally untrue. He said this rumor was started by a rather immature young kid who is developing a DOS BBS, and he recently asked Dedrick for a copy of the NetModem source code to use in his BBS software. When Dedrick refused his request, the kid became upset and started the rumor to be spitefull.
RemoteAccess News:
Intrestingly the developers of the RA clones (tcRA32 and EleBBS) have
included Year-2K compatibility without structural changes. Using the
2-digit date method will still work in the twenty-first century, as long
as none of the BBS users are over 100 years old. It's currently unknown
if they plan to support the 4-digit structures as well.
tcRemoteAccess32 News:
tcRemoteAccess32 can be registered with Ed Meloan (of RA-USA) in the
United States, as well as with Jeroen van de Leur (of Slash) in the
Netherlands.
Tornado News:
Searchlight News:
Searchlight already includes it's own fossil-compatible telnet driver,
allowing it to run all DOS doors that are fossil driven via telnet.
ProBoard News
Former ProBoard developer Philippe Leybaert has changed his mind about
Selling ProBoard to the higest bidder by the end of September, as he
originally announced. He now says he may wait up untill the end of
October 1998 before he desides what to do with the code. The few
remaining ProBoard supporters are not surprised, as history has shown
them that that what Philippe says and what he actually does are rarely
the same.
Bruce Morse, the new developer of RemoteAccess BBS, announced recently
that the next version of RemoteAccess will have structural changes.
These changes will allow 4 digit dates to be stored in the userbase,
filebase, and exitinfo.bbs files. This is part of his recent effort
to make RA Year-2K compatible. Morse said that Third-Party utilities
that write to these RA filese will have to be updated to work properly,
but utilities that only read the files will not be affected. Bruce plans
to release the new version around the end of the year.
Speaking of tcRemoteAccess32, on October 1st 1998 it became possible
to register tcRemoteAccess32 for the first time. This is a 32-bit Windows
98/NT clone of the original DOS based RemoteAccess BBS. The price for the
3 node non-commercial version is US $65, or $55 to upgrade from the
original DOS version of RA, or for existing tcUE or tcFE keyholders.
Konstantin Klyagin is currently preparing to release Tornado v1.60gamma.
It is now available in DOS, OS/2, And Windows32 versions. Konstantin
says after this release his next step will be to make internal internet
services (telnet, ping, finger, etc) in the Win32 version and perhaps
in the OS/2 version as well.
Pat Clawson announced that he is currently looking for beta testers to test
Searchlight 5.1 for Win32 and OS/2. Pat owns Telegrafix, the company that
developed the RIP graphics protocol and several RIP related tools. Telegrafix
recently purchased the Searchlight 5.0 source from Frank LaRosa, and is
currently enhancing it's RIP support among other features.
Hits since October 4 1998:
Older News:
BBS News September 1998
BBS News August 1998
BBS News July 1998
BBS News April 1998
BBS News March 1998
January 1998 ProBoard/32 release date postponed
December 1997 RemoteAccess was finally sold!
October 1997 ProBoard author plans to continues development!
October 1997 Mike Ehlert reappears