Single Page

Top Document: Atari 8-Bit Computers: Frequently Asked Questions
Previous Document: 13.4) What are the pinouts for the...?
Next Document: 13.6) What versions of Atari BASIC or the CTIA/GTIA chip do I have?

13.5) What BBS software can be used on the Atari?

This section mostly by mailto:winston@merk.com (Winston Smith)

  o  A.M.I.S. BBS --  The A.C.E. Message Information Service.
                      This BBS was written in BASIC by the Atari Computer
Enthusiasts computer club (was it the Michigan chapter?).  It included
designs for a ring-detector.  You needed a sector editor and had to
allocate message space by hand, hex byte by hex byte.

  o  FoReM BBS --  Friends of Rickey Moose BBS.
                        At the time, there were a lot of BBSes around
called things such as "FORUM-80" and "BULLET-80", ergo the name.  FoReM BBS
was the first truly RBBS-like BBS for the ATARI 8-bit.  It was programmed
in BASIC and was somewhat crashy.  I think that this is the
great-grandparent of the FOREM-XE BBSes that survive today.

Matt Singer, mailto:msinger@oe.fau.edu writes:
FoReM BBS derived from an early AMIS. When multiple message areas were
added the name was extended to FoReM 26M.  Then, When OSS released BASIC
XL the program was rehacked and called FoReM XL... Bill Dorsey wrote most
of the Assembler routines (where is he now?).

  o  ABBCS --  The ANTIC Bulletin Board Construction Set.
               The user design of the ABBCS was very good.  It sported
features such as intra-line editors.  Unfortunately, the coding of the
ABBCS was really poor.  You could practically blow on your keyboard and
crash this BBS.  The BBS would sometimes crash several times a day.

  o  NITE-LITE BBS --  Paul Swanson's BBS with RAM disk.
                       Paul Swanson was a programmer from the Boston,
Massachusetts, USA, area.  I'm not sure whether his BBS for the
Atari 8-bit has been placed into the public domain or not.  This BBS was
the first to support a RAMdisk, which Paul Swanson called a "V:" device
for "virtual disk".  This BBS was written in Atari BASIC and required a
joystick hardware "dongle" device.  This was notable as being one of the
first Atari 8-BIT BBSes that could actually go for a week without having
to be rebooted.  Pointers to the message base were kept in an Atari "very
long string" (for which Atari BASIC is famous).  The BBS would only have
problems (for the most part) if this string became corrupted.

  o ATKEEP --  An Atari 8-bit version of CITADEL BBS.
               I believe that AT-KEEP, like FOREM-XE, requires the use of
the commercial BASIC XE cartridge to run.  This BBS program was very
popular around Louisiana, USA, from what I understand.

  o Benton's SMART BBS --  BBS written in BASIC by Marco Benton.
                           This program is written entirely in BASIC.  It
expects to be running under a SpartaDOS environment.  This was a problem
until very recently, when the disk-based version of SpartaDOS was
re-released as shareware. This BBS program uses a "modem clock string"
rather than an R-Time 8 cartridge in order to retrieve the current time.
It also comes with an Atari BASIC game door called "Sabotage".

  o FOREM-XE --  FOREM using BASIC XE.
                 This version of FOREM BBS requires the commercial BASIC XE
cartridge in order to run.  It is in the public domain and can import and
export messages from the Atari PRO! BBS EXPRESS-NET (7-bit text only,
control ATASCII graphics are reserved for message data-structure bytes).
FOREM-XE BBS is still currently in use as we speak, and may be reached via
the PRO! EXPRESS-NET as long as the cross-networking "transnet" is still in
effect.

  o The BBS Express  --  PRO! BBS demo program.
                         This is the public domain version of EXPRESS!-BBS,
which is the Keith Ledbetter companion project of the EXPRESS!-TERM
terminal program of days gone by.  I am not familiar with this program.  I
think that it is written in Action! and only supports XMODEM Checksum
transfers.  I have never called or seen this program demonstrated.

  o OASIS JUNIOR III --  OASIS BBS demo program.
                         OASIS JUNIOR III is the --ALL MACHINE LANGUAGE--
demo version of the OASIS BBS program.  OASIS is very crash-resistant and
comes with a "dial out" screen so that the Sysop can use the BBS as a
terminal program to call and fetch files without having to bring the BBS
down and reload a terminal program.  OASIS supports "Door programs" which
it refers to as "OASIS PAL modules".  This OASIS demo module comes with an
excellent message system.  The OASIS file system is one of the most
complicated that I have ever seen.  It consists of "file libraries" with
suites of "file types".  There is quite a bit of overhead involved in
performing a download (which may be a good thing, as it discourages file
hogs).  There is a commercial version of OASIS called "OASIS IV" that
performs networking.  There was an OASIS network between Boston,
Massachusets, USA and Murfreesboro(SP?), Tennessee, USA.  Occasionally word
of the OASIS IV developers reaches the network from New Zealand or Canada.

  o Frank Walters BBS --  I know nothing about this BBS except that Frank
                          Walters wrote it.

  o Carina BBS -- a product of Shadow Software.  See Vendor list to contact.

  o BBS Express! Professional -- a product of K-Products.  See Vendor List.

  o OASIS IV -- a product of ???

  o Forem-XE Pro -- by Len Spencer.  http://members.aol.com/lenspencer/