The Windows operating system has the best of the best in anti-virus software.  My personal favorite is Webroot.  It is American made and is ver light-weight, but very efficient in terms of speed and memory use.  As for GNU/Linux operating systems the best software was ESET NOD32 for Linux.  This worked perfectly, no naturally they had to change it.  Now it is no longer offered for the GNU/Linux OS.  I have a work-around though, assuming that you are using Virtual Machines or two or more computers on which you can place on one the Linux BBS and on the other the Windows Operating System.  On the Linux machine you put CrushFTP on it and on the Windows machine you put MountainDuck on.  You then connect to the Linux server from the Windows system, and Webroot scans the Linux box using an SFTP bridge.  This is the kind of setup that AnonArchivers File Distro Net is about to use so its not all theory.

To set yp a full-scale Echomail Network you are best served to get help by someone who has done this already.  I’d recommend KANSIT>com.  They manage PHATstar’s “Sp00knet” and “Fishingnet” Echomail Servers.  KANSIT also runs its very own network called Whispernet (a general tech net with family friendly topics).  For present-day Echo Nets the systems almost all use BinkP, a message transfer and organization software that deals with all the background stuff that goes on out of view of the sysop.  It is simple and just works, however the initial setup and be daunting, which is why I recommend KANSIT at least initially.  For a fully complete deep-dive into Mystic’s Echomail Networking services please check out our (PHATstar’s) book called, naturally, “Echomail Networking” which should be out in 2026 if not sooner.  It is a full-fledged e-Book, with an ISBN number and all that stuff.  A hard copy will be printed as well so you can consume it how you wish.

Some of the most intriguing things about bulletin board systems is the software that plugs into the BBS,  These application are called “doors” or doorways from the BBS onto connected 3rd party applications.  The most famous game of all time in the BBS Scene is “Legend Of the Red Dragon” (LORD).  It is a text-based adventure in the style of Dungeons and Dragons gaming systems.  As I kid I spent many many hours in that game, coming back daily to upgrade my characters stats and go on adventures of various sorts.  Perhaps its most compelling reason for its popularity was from “In-Game Modules” (IGMs) where anyone could add their customization into the game.  Other popular games inclue Lemonade Stand, LORD 2.0, Bowling, Lunatix, and Tradewars.

Mystic BBS supports running doors with “drop-files” (code that tells the game who is playing and the current data configuration of the calling BBS software.  In addition to that it also offers running arbitrary programs that can be interacted with from the Linux Shell into the BBS.  Python, BASH, and MPL are also supported.  Python is this generation’s go-to programming language.  BASH is the “Bourne Again SHell,” and can do many types of highly advanced scriptiong code together.  MPL (Mysitc Programming Language) is a language similar to Pascal that is used on the Mystic BBS Server Software to aid in ease of customization internally.

As of this writing there are only two File Distro Networks: Anonymous Archivers FDN and Silent Partner FDN.  Both of these File Distro Nets have been merged into one single system that has the name of “Anonymous Archivers File Distro Network.”  The idea came from Zharvek’s “ArchaicNet,” which is currently offline, but his idea was used in the creation of our own network.  Proper respect to Zharvek for giving the great idea to make this thing real.

One problem in old-school BBS systems was that to play a game with other people you needed to centralize your game play on a single BBS that was known for its wide variety of games.  Everyone would then log on to a single system and take turns in game play.  This has been almost completely out-moded with the advent of Centralized Gaming Servers.  They act as massive servers with several dozen or even over one hundred games.  BBSes would then allow their users to “TELNET-OUT” or “RLOGON-OUT” from the participating BBS server onto the game server, allowing for up to 255 nodes working at the very same time, with each node representing a user who has access to the gaming server.  These systems are a great idea in centralizing game play onto a few massive gaming servers rather than having each sysop host their own games of which game play would not be near as populated.

In the BBS Scene there have been adopted certain formalities.  FILE_ID.DIZ and FILE_ID.ANS files are placed into the archives which give file information about what those archives contain.  The description files are 45 characters long (horizontally) and up to 99 rows (vertically).  The .DIZ and .ANS files both contain the same information with one being plain-text and the other using ANSI coloring.

This can be either complicated or quite simple.  For joining Phenom Productions its a matter of submitting a text-based application with your mod creation attached.  The PHATstar Society is harder to get into: you need to be a Born-Again Christian with technical know-how.  To join an art group you attach one of your crations to the head of the crew as per the instructions in their .NFO files contained within their latest artpack.  The question you would want to ask yourself is whether joining one of these groups would actually be beneficial or not so much.  So what is your return on investment in joining one of these groups?  As I’m not with Phenom I don’t know their internal benefits, but for The PHATstar Society all members get “perk packs” of useful computer technology, mailed out to members of The Society via the postal service.  This is a benefit of around $60 USD per every third of the year.  Members get to pick and choose what kind of perk they want to receive.

When one considers the BBS scene they rarely think upon those BBSes hosted by Packet Radio.  These are just as much BBSes as their Telnet/Rlogon/SSH counterparts.  The technology to connect clients to these servers is very different, but they all fulfill the same function as Internet-based BBSes: To be Computerized Bulletin Board Systems, like the bulletin board in the work office, just done via communications technology.  Packet Radios use TNC’s rather than POTS Modems.  Those Terminal Node Controllers interface the radio with the connecting and sending computers.  To learn more about this technology please visit ARRL.org and the TWiT network’s “Ham Nation.”  It is possible to make a radio-based BBS very similar to its POTS/Internet counterpart.  What these systems are lacking is support for ANSI-BBS graphics, but with your help you can make the first ANSI-BBS supporting Packet Radio BBS.  That would be so cool.

Where did this hobby start from?  What were its origins?  Well one week or two during a very very heavy snow storm two techies set up CBBS (The Computerized Bulletin Board System) during their down-time from the snow storm.  This was done with 1200 baud modems (very slow), but the technology increased and improved to the point when there were an estimated 100,000 BBSes Worldwide in its epic use in the 90’s.  Each neighborhood would have several boards that you could connect to for free or a small fee to pay for their phone bills.  It was the great age of modem-based communications.  The Internet took over the BBS Scene in the late 90’s to early 2000’s.  Many abandoned the BBSing technology, however there remained a few who kept The Scene alive.  In the present day there are over 1,000 active bulletin board systems worldwide—a huge departure from the 100,000 back in the day but still a real pleasure to use and improve upon.