From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet
I have a side project of getting a small dial-up BBS configured as a demo for vintage computers. The idea is to make it portable enough I can bring it to a Vintage Computer Festival and set it up. I have most of it running, but having issues with [sexpots] so I'm hoping someone can give me a push in the right direction.
In my shop, the server is a modern-ish PC running XP Pro SP3 (with IPv6 installed) and a Digi Classicport 8x PCI card. I have two Hayes 14400 modems on the server side and a Hayes 300 on the client side, both running through an 8x4 analog telephone switch.
Using Telnet from inside my network, I can access the BBS using the server's fixed IP (so the server is running and the firewall is set properly). On the server machine, if I run telnet, I can only access it through the IP, not 127.0.0.1 or "localhost". I checked the hosts file and the localhost mapping is set "127.0.0.1 localhost" and NOT commented out (which seems to be the default for Windows). Not sure why that's not working.
The part that's not fully working is the dial-up part. When dialing-up the BBS from the test machine, the host modem connects, but there is no access to the BBS. I'm running [sexpots] from the command line for one node using the INI file template from the Synchronet site, but the only parts I changed was the COM port (COM3) and the Telnet host address (using the actual IP rather than "localhost"). The other settings seemed sensible to me so I left them.
It feels like I'm close but missing something probably obvious. I've read the FAQ, etc., and I'm not coming up with any leads.
From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet
Thanks for getting back to me. For starters, the version of [sexpots] is 3.17b-Win32 which is installed with the 3.17b version.
Here's my INI file, followed by the session log. I ran [sexpots] in a command window (not as a Windows service) while the Synchronet control panel was open. I dialed into the BBS from a client PC running HyperTerm and connected to a similar Hayes SmartModem 144. When the modem connected, I got "CONNECT 19200" but nothing after that. Looking at the log, the thread connects and then terminates 8 seconds later (@ 8:39:27PM). Not sure why that is. I did hit <ENTER> a few times after the connect. I tried the same process with "Ident/Interface" set to the same IP. No change.
Rich
[SEXPOTSC3.INI]
LogLevel = INFO ; set display/log output level
Debug = FALSE ; enable debug logging (overrides LogLevel)
PauseOnExit = FALSE ; wait for key-press on exit (non-service)
[COM]
Device = COM3 ; COM port device name (or port number)
BaudRate = 19200 ; If non-zero, use this DTE rate (e.g. 115200) Hangup = TRUE ; Hang-up phone after call
IgnoreDCD = FALSE ; Set to TRUE to ignore state of DCD
DCDTimeout = 10 ; Seconds to wait for DCD to drop
DTRDelay = 100 ; Milliseconds to delay before hangup
NullModem = FALSE ; Set to TRUE to not send AT commands to modem
[Modem]
Init = AT&F ; Modem initialization string
AutoAnswer = ATS0=1 ; Put modem into "auto-answer" mode
CleanUp = ATS0=0 ; When exiting, turn off auto-answer EnableCallerID = AT+VCID=1 ; Enable Caller-ID support (or try AT#CID=1)
Timeout = 5 ; Seconds to wait for a response from modem ReInit = 60 ; Minutes between re-init while waiting for call Answer = ATA ; Answer command (for manual answer mode) Ring = RING ; Ring indication string ManualAnswer = FALSE ; Set to TRUE to disable auto-answer
[TCP]
Host = 192.168.1.15 ; Hostname or IP address of TCP server
Port = 23 ; TCP port number of TCP server
NoDelay = TRUE ; Set to TRUE to disable the Nagle Algorithm
[Telnet]
Enabled = TRUE ; Set to FALSE to disable Telnet mode
Debug = FALSE ; Set to TRUE to log Telnet commands sent/recv AdvertiseLocation = FALSE ; Set to TRUE to send "WILL SEND LOCATION" TermType = SEXPOTS ; You shouldn't normally change this value TermSpeed = 28800,28800 ; Default terminal speed reported (tx, rx bps)
[Ident]
Enabled = FALSE ; Set to TRUE to enable Ident (RFC1413) server Port = 113 ; TCP Port Ident server will listen on
Interface = 0 ; IP address of network interface (0=Any)
Response = CALLERID:SEXPOTS ; Resp-type and Add-info portions of response
[sexpots] log:
Synchronet External POTS Support v1.31-Win32 Copyright 2018 Rob Swindell
8/23 20:39:25 Reading sexpots3.ini
8/23 20:39:25 Synchronet Communications I/O Library for Win32 v1.8
8/23 20:39:25 Build Dec 31 2018 20:43:08 MSC 1800
8/23 20:39:25 WinSock 2.0 Running
8/23 20:39:25 TCP Host: 192.168.1.15
8/23 20:39:25 TCP Port: 23
8/23 20:39:25 Opening Communications Device (COM Port): COM3
8/23 20:39:25 COM Port device handle: 1968
8/23 20:39:25 COM Port DTE rate: 19200 bps
8/23 20:39:25 Initializing modem:
8/23 20:39:25 Modem Command: AT&F
8/23 20:39:25 Waiting for Modem Response ...
8/23 20:39:26 Modem Response: OK
8/23 20:39:26 Setting modem to auto-answer:
8/23 20:39:26 Modem Command: ATS0=1
8/23 20:39:26 Waiting for Modem Response ...
8/23 20:39:26 Modem Response: OK
8/23 20:39:26 Enabling modem Caller-ID:
8/23 20:39:26 Modem Command: AT+VCID=1
8/23 20:39:26 Waiting for Modem Response ...
8/23 20:39:26 Modem Response: ERROR
8/23 20:39:26 Waiting for incoming call (Carrier Detect) ...
8/23 20:39:27 Carrier detected
8/23 20:39:27 Setting TCP_NODELAY to 1
8/23 20:39:27 Connecting to 192.168.1.15 port 23
8/23 20:39:27 Connected from COM Port (handle 1968) to 192.168.1.15 TCP port 23 using socket descriptor 1940
8/23 20:39:27 Input thread started
8/23 20:39:35 Input thread terminated
8/23 20:39:35 Bytes sent-to, received-from COM Port: 1277, 1353
8/23 20:39:35 Call completed (1 total)
8/23 20:39:35 Waiting for transmit buffer to empty
8/23 20:39:35 Dropping DTR (attempt #1)
8/23 20:39:35 Waiting for loss of Carrier Detect (DCD)
8/23 20:39:46 Modem status: 0xB0
8/23 20:39:46 Dropping DTR (attempt #2)
From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet
On Sunday, August 23, 2020 at 10:57:17 PM UTC-4, Digital Man wrote:
Ok, thanks. Here's what I did:
I left the DTE rate at 19200 for now. The modem is a Hayes Optima 14400/FAX. I assume I can always change it to 38400 or whatever.
Changed Debug=TRUE
Init changed to AT&F&C1&D2S95=3
It does not support Caller ID, so I just commented-out the line. I didn't know if there was a better way of doing it (like just leaving a blank after the "=") With these changes, it looks like it works. Thank you so much.
It's
funny how much you forget about using dial-up. I located some of my old manuals and things and remembered that literally every time I got a new modem, I had to tweak the init string in Procomm to get it just right.
Now the final thing is getting all four lines working. I know that you can install [sexpots] as a service, so do I start a service entry for each COM port?
How does it handle the unique INIT files? Should I try to write these
values to EPROM using &W0?
To: Richard CiniI tried registering [sexpots] as a service with a full path to the INI file (which is in the default c:\sbbs\exec) and the NT Service manager won't pick up the command line. So, it defaults to, well, the default. I also tried registering it with command line options for the port, etc., but no go. I also noticed that it won't auto-start, even though it's set to start on startup. Kind of odd.
Re: Re: Getting dial-up/SEXPOTS working
By: Richard Cini to alt.bbs.synchronet on Mon Aug 24 2020 06:56 am
From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet
On Sunday, August 23, 2020 at 10:57:17 PM UTC-4, Digital Man wrote:Cool. You're welcome.
Ok, thanks. Here's what I did:
I left the DTE rate at 19200 for now. The modem is a Hayes Optima 14400/FAX.
I assume I can always change it to 38400 or whatever.
Changed Debug=TRUE
Init changed to AT&F&C1&D2S95=3
It does not support Caller ID, so I just commented-out the line. I didn't know if there was a better way of doing it (like just leaving a blank after
the "=") With these changes, it looks like it works. Thank you so much.
It'sYes, each instance can only handle one port/user.
funny how much you forget about using dial-up. I located some of my old manuals and things and remembered that literally every time I got a new modem, I had to tweak the init string in Procomm to get it just right.
Now the final thing is getting all four lines working. I know that you can install [sexpots] as a service, so do I start a service entry for each COM port?
How does it handle the unique INIT files? Should I try to write these values to EPROM using &W0?Probably need to pass a unique .ini file to each instance (e.g. sexpots1.ini, sexpots2.ini, etc.).
digital man
Sling Blade quote #15:
Doyle Hargraves: What'cha doin' with that lawn mower blade Karl?
Norco, CA WX: 92.4�F, 46.0% humidity, 4 mph NE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs --- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
* Vertrauen - Riverside County, California - telnet://vert.synchro.net
From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet
On Monday, August 24, 2020 at 6:00:25 PM UTC-4, Digital Man wrote:
To: Richard Cini
Re: Re: Getting dial-up/SEXPOTS working
By: Richard Cini to alt.bbs.synchronet on Mon Aug 24 2020 06:56 am
From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet
On Sunday, August 23, 2020 at 10:57:17 PM UTC-4, Digital Man wrote:Cool. You're welcome.
Ok, thanks. Here's what I did:
I left the DTE rate at 19200 for now. The modem is a Hayes Optima 14400/FAX.
I assume I can always change it to 38400 or whatever.
Changed Debug=TRUE
Init changed to AT&F&C1&D2S95=3
It does not support Caller ID, so I just commented-out the line. I didn't know if there was a better way of doing it (like just leaving a blank after the "=") With these changes, it looks like it works. Thank you so much.
It'sYes, each instance can only handle one port/user.
funny how much you forget about using dial-up. I located some of my old manuals and things and remembered that literally every time I got a new modem, I had to tweak the init string in Procomm to get it just right. Now the final thing is getting all four lines working. I know that you can install [sexpots] as a service, so do I start a service entry for each COM port?
How does it handle the unique INIT files? Should I try to write these values to EPROM using &W0?Probably need to pass a unique .ini file to each instance (e.g. sexpots1.ini, sexpots2.ini, etc.).
digital man
Sling Blade quote #15:I tried registering [sexpots] as a service with a full path to the INI file (which is in the default c:\sbbs\exec) and the NT Service manager won't pick up the command line. So, it defaults to, well, the default. I also tried registering it with command line options for the port, etc., but no go. I also noticed that it won't auto-start, even though it's set to start on startup. Kind of odd.
Doyle Hargraves: What'cha doin' with that lawn mower blade Karl?
Norco, CA WX: 92.4¿F, 46.0% humidity, 4 mph NE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs --- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
* Vertrauen - Riverside County, California - telnet://vert.synchro.net
So, I might just resort to running it in separate command windows started through The "Startup" group in Programs.
To: Richard CiniI went into the services console and added [sexpots3.ini] to the start parameters line. "Apply" was still grayed-out and just hitting "OK" doesn't save it. So, I ran MSC as an administrator and same thing -- it wouldn't let me save it. So, I went into REGEDIT and navigated to HKLM\System\Software\CurrentControlSet\Services and manually added the filename to the command line for [sexpots]. Refreshed/restarted the service and no dice -- the modem won't pick-up.
Re: Re: Getting dial-up/SEXPOTS working
By: Richard Cini to alt.bbs.synchronet on Tue Aug 25 2020 11:11 am
From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet
On Monday, August 24, 2020 at 6:00:25 PM UTC-4, Digital Man wrote:
To: Richard Cini
Re: Re: Getting dial-up/SEXPOTS working
By: Richard Cini to alt.bbs.synchronet on Mon Aug 24 2020 06:56 am
From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet
On Sunday, August 23, 2020 at 10:57:17 PM UTC-4, Digital Man wrote: Ok, thanks. Here's what I did:Cool. You're welcome.
I left the DTE rate at 19200 for now. The modem is a Hayes Optima 14400/FAX.
I assume I can always change it to 38400 or whatever.
Changed Debug=TRUE
Init changed to AT&F&C1&D2S95=3
It does not support Caller ID, so I just commented-out the line. I didn't know if there was a better way of doing it (like just leaving a blank after the "=") With these changes, it looks like it works. Thank you so much.
It'sYes, each instance can only handle one port/user.
funny how much you forget about using dial-up. I located some of my old
manuals and things and remembered that literally every time I got a new
modem, I had to tweak the init string in Procomm to get it just right. Now the final thing is getting all four lines working. I know that you can install [sexpots] as a service, so do I start a service entry for each COM port?
How does it handle the unique INIT files? Should I try to write these values to EPROM using &W0?Probably need to pass a unique .ini file to each instance (e.g. sexpots1.ini, sexpots2.ini, etc.).
digital man
After you install it, just run services.msc and set the "Start parameters" to point to the sexpots*.ini file that you want it to use.Sling Blade quote #15:I tried registering [sexpots] as a service with a full path to the INI file
Doyle Hargraves: What'cha doin' with that lawn mower blade Karl?
Norco, CA WX: 92.4�F, 46.0% humidity, 4 mph NE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs --- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
* Vertrauen - Riverside County, California - telnet://vert.synchro.net
(which is in the default c:\sbbs\exec) and the NT Service manager won't pick
up the command line. So, it defaults to, well, the default. I also tried registering it with command line options for the port, etc., but no go. I also noticed that it won't auto-start, even though it's set to start on startup. Kind of odd.
So, I might just resort to running it in separate command windows started through The "Startup" group in Programs.Or that.
digital man
Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #33:
FTP = File Transfer Protocol
Norco, CA WX: 93.0�F, 40.0% humidity, 3 mph NE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs --- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
* Vertrauen - Riverside County, California - telnet://vert.synchro.net
I went into the services console and added [sexpots3.ini] to the start parameters line. "Apply" was still grayed-out and just hitting "OK" doesn't save it. So, I ran MSC as an administrator and same thing -- it wouldn't let me save it. So, I went into REGEDIT and navigated to HKLM\System\Software\CurrentControlSet\Services and manually added the filename to the command line for [sexpots]. Refreshed/restarted the service and no dice -- the modem won't pick-up.
I also found out that if you recycle the Telnet server, it stops the [sexpots] service and you need to manually restart it. Not sure if that is what's supposed to happen or not. At this point, for the limited use and testing, it's not a problem to run it from the command line, but I thought I should mention what I'm seeing.
To: Richard CiniStackExchange is a great site. A lot of my Google searches wind up there :-) For the record, here are the commands based on StackExchange (run from a command prompt as admin):
Re: Re: Getting dial-up/SEXPOTS working
By: Richard Cini to alt.bbs.synchronet on Tue Aug 25 2020 05:53 pm
I went into the services console and added [sexpots3.ini] to the start parameters line. "Apply" was still grayed-out and just hitting "OK" doesn'tSeems there are solutions here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1488851/how-to-pass-a-parameter-to-a-windows-service-once-and-for-all-at-install-instead
save it. So, I ran MSC as an administrator and same thing -- it wouldn't let
me save it. So, I went into REGEDIT and navigated to HKLM\System\Software\CurrentControlSet\Services and manually added the filename to the command line for [sexpots]. Refreshed/restarted the service
and no dice -- the modem won't pick-up.
I also found out that if you recycle the Telnet server, it stops the [sexpots] service and you need to manually restart it. Not sure if that is what's supposed to happen or not. At this point, for the limited use and testing, it's not a problem to run it from the command line, but I thought I
should mention what I'm seeing.
digital man
Sling Blade quote #12:
Karl (re hammer): I don't rightly know. I just kinda woke up holding it. Norco, CA WX: 85.8�F, 49.0% humidity, 12 mph NNE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs --- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
* Vertrauen - Riverside County, California - telnet://vert.synchro.net
sc create MyPOTS3 binPath= "c:\sbbs\exec\sexpots.exe service sexpots3.ini"What's funny is that it still won't work properly -- modem doesn't pick up and it looks like the service keeps stopping. I have tried the "create" command with and without the switch character on sexpots and it doesn't seem to matter. For now, I will stick with running it in a window because that seems to work without a problem.
sc DisplayName= "Synchronet POTS to Telnet Service 3"
sc config MyPOTS3 start= auto
sc description MyPOTS3 "Synchronet POTS to Telnet Service COM3"
| Sysop: | deepend |
|---|---|
| Location: | Calgary, Alberta |
| Users: | 265 |
| Nodes: | 10 (0 / 10) |
| Uptime: | 11:53:52 |
| Calls: | 2,075 |
| Files: | 4,511 |
| D/L today: |
8 files (7,243K bytes) |
| Messages: | 411,952 |