In
a moment of nostalgic geekiness, I decided to set up a
Bulletin Board System (BBS) on my Commodore 64 again -
after 15 years! However, I wanted to avoid long
distance charges for any callers, and the need for a
second phone line.
The solution:
Set it up so anyone with Internet access can simply Telnet
to it.
How
does it work?
A
Windows PC is used to "bridge" between the
Internet and the C64, as in the block diagram above.
A simple
"server" program (screenshot)
runs on the PC, listening on
TCP Port 23
(standard Telnet). When a connection is made, the
server forwards all incoming data over the serial port
(COM1 in this case) to the Commodore. Replies
from the Commodore are similarly forwarded back to the
caller's Telnet client.
Photos
and more information
Photos of the
BBS and a PowerPoint presentation describing how the BBS
works in more detail, are available here.
Thanks to Jason Scott, director the BBS
Documentary.
