The Q's!
- There doesn't seem to be a ton of examples in the wild, or
tutorial-esque material, of how to do theming/programming of command
shells. Does that mean most Synchronet sysops just run the
default/included shells? Has anyone compiled tips/tricks beyond what's
in the doc wiki?
- Baja vs. javascript. My understanding is baja approach (compiled) is
more comprehensive than the js approach. Any recos here?
- I see there is one xtrn-based message viewer (DDMsgReader). Looks
pretty cool. But is there another (relatively easy) way to modify message read headers/footers without go full external? Could be that I am just
really used to FSRs and need to get used BBSs that don't have that :)
- It looks like there is a ton of potential for progammatic customization
via shells/events/etc. Any Synchronet sysops who have transformed their
BBS in unique ways?
- There doesn't seem to be a ton of examples in the wild, or
tutorial-esque material, of how to do theming/programming of command
shells. Does that mean most Synchronet sysops just run the
default/included shells?
Has anyone compiled tips/tricks beyond what's
in the doc wiki?
- Baja vs. javascript. My understanding is baja approach (compiled) is
more comprehensive than the js approach. Any recos here?
- I see there is one xtrn-based message viewer (DDMsgReader). Looks
pretty cool.
But is there another (relatively easy) way to modify message
read headers/footers without go full external?
Could be that I am just
really used to FSRs and need to get used BBSs that don't have that :)
- It looks like there is a ton of potential for progammatic customization via shells/events/etc. Any Synchronet sysops who have transformed their
BBS in unique ways?
We continue to enhance the JS object model however so the nails
in the Baja coffin keep accumulating.
Re: Synchronet questions
By: Digital Man to Robbie Whiting on Fri Mar 05 2021 10:57 am
We continue to enhance the JS object model however so the nails
in the Baja coffin keep accumulating.
Gave me the sads :~(
There are a lot of example modules and shells here: ftp://vert.synchro.net/main/BAJAMODS/
ftp://vert.synchro.net/main/SBBS_3RD/
ftp://vert.synchro.net/main/SMEG/
- Baja vs. javascript. My understanding is baja approach (compiled) is more comprehensive than the js approach. Any recos here?
- There doesn't seem to be a ton of examples in the wild, or tutorial-esque material, of how to do theming/programming of command
shells. Does that mean most Synchronet sysops just run the default/included shells? Has anyone compiled tips/tricks beyond what's
In general I would say to just go with JS, since it'll do everything Baja can do and more. However, it really depends on your background and aspirations.
There are lots of examples in the Synchronet git repo, especially in the exec/ and xtrn/ directories, but there's not much/any material explaining it. You pretty much need to read through a script, see what it does, make some changes, see what happens.
We could probably do with some tutorials, but I'm not sure what people would like to see. Articles? Videos?
Depending on how much customization you want to do, you can get away with using one of the default shells and replacing some "graphics" and some strings in text.dat, and maybe making small edits to the shell's source. I imagine this is what most sysops do.
Re: Synchronet questions
By: Robbie Whiting to All on Fri Mar 05 2021 07:10:12
- Baja vs. javascript. My understanding is baja approach (compiled) is more comprehensive than the js approach. Any recos here?
Baja is sufficient for simple mods and command shells, and sysops with less programming experience find it easier to pick up.
Javascript offers many more options and far more comprehensive data about and control over the BBS.
In general I would say to just go with JS, since it'll do everything Baja can do and more. However, it really depends on your background and aspirations.
- There doesn't seem to be a ton of examples in the wild, or tutorial-esque material, of how to do theming/programming of command
There are lots of examples in the Synchronet git repo, especially in the exec/ and xtrn/ directories, but there's not much/any material explaining it. You pretty much need to read through a script, see what it does, make some changes, see what happens.
We could probably do with some tutorials, but I'm not sure what people would like to see. Articles? Videos?
shells. Does that mean most Synchronet sysops just run the default/included shells? Has anyone compiled tips/tricks beyond what's
Depending on how much customization you want to do, you can get away with using one of the default shells and replacing some "graphics" and some strings in text.dat, and maybe making small edits to the shell's source. I imagine this is what most sysops do.
some JS-thing to interpret/execute .bin files or Baja source. The Baja language itself is nothing to lament losing though. :-) --
customization via shells/events/etc. Any Synchronet sysops who have
transformed their BBS in unique ways?
We continue to enhance the JS object model however so the nails
in the Baja coffin keep accumulating.
Gave me the sads :~(
Re: Synchronet questions
By: Digital Man to xbit on Fri Mar 05 2021 05:03 pm
some JS-thing to interpret/execute .bin files or Baja source. The Baja language itself is nothing to lament losing though. :-) --
Well said DM :) Looking forard to the future.
The Q's!
- There doesn't seem to be a ton of examples in the wild, or tutorial-esque material, of how to do theming/programming of command shells. Does that mean most Synchronet sysops just run the default/included shells? Has anyone compiled tips/tricks beyond what's
in the doc wiki?
- Baja vs. javascript. My understanding is baja approach (compiled) is more comprehensive than the js approach. Any recos here?
- It looks like there is a ton of potential for progammatic customization via shells/events/etc. Any Synchronet sysops who have transformed their BBS in unique ways?
Hi all,
I've got a few question about Synchronet and was hoping the community
could help fill in some details... Sorry if these are newbie Q's.
- There doesn't seem to be a ton of examples in the wild, or
tutorial-esque material, of how to do theming/programming of command
shells. Does that mean most Synchronet sysops just run the
default/included shells? Has anyone compiled tips/tricks beyond what's
in the doc wiki?
- Baja vs. javascript. My understanding is baja approach (compiled) is
more comprehensive than the js approach. Any recos here?
- I see there is one xtrn-based message viewer (DDMsgReader). Looks
pretty cool. But is there another (relatively easy) way to modify message read headers/footers without go full external? Could be that I am just really used to FSRs and need to get used BBSs that don't have that :)
- It looks like there is a ton of potential for progammatic customization via shells/events/etc. Any Synchronet sysops who have transformed their
BBS in unique ways?
|04[] |12Alpha
- I see there is one xtrn-based message viewer (DDMsgReader). Looks pretty cool. But is there another (relatively easy) way to modify message read headers/footers without go full external? Could be that I am just really used to FSRs and need to get used BBSs that don't have that :)
- It looks like there is a ton of potential for progammatic
customization
via shells/events/etc. Any Synchronet sysops who have transformed their BBS in unique ways?
As someone once told me, every Synchronet BBS looks like every other Synchronet BBS :) That said, quite a few people have made up their own menus
As someone once told me, every Synchronet BBS looks like every other
Synchronet BBS :) That said, quite a few people have made up their own
menus
I took great pains to make my BBS different. I modeled it off my old RemoteAccess BBS in the 90's. I don't even offer the stock menus as an option.
I made an unique *.src baja file to control all my menus. Drew custom menus and such. It's not hard to do. Make the BBS your own.
when I started with Synchronet, I created my own custom command shell and modeled it off my old (custom) RemoteAcces menus as much as I could. I always thought customizing your BBS is what you should do. It always felt natural to want to make it my own and offer something unique. I always figured the stock menus were to have something at least functional, and perhaps also to serve as an example to make your own customizations.
sadly, since 2000, half or more of synchronet's bbses have not had any customization or very little. i dont understand it.
i never saw it on this scale with any other bbs software
i saw it a few times with wildcat!
Re: Re: Synchronet questions
By: MRO to Nightfox on Mon Mar 08 2021 12:32 pm
sadly, since 2000, half or more of synchronet's bbses have not had any customization or very little. i dont understand it.
i never saw it on this scale with any other bbs software
i saw it a few times with wildcat!
I don't understand not wanting to customize it either. I always thought part of the whole point (and fun) of running a BBS was to make it different so you can offer something unique. I'm not sure why I'd run a BBS if I didn't have a desire to make something unique or an idea of some way to do so.
Baja is the crappy legacy language that will likely eventually disappear, but still there are some cases where it's better suited to a task than JS (for now). We continue to enhance the JS object model however so the nails in the Baja coffin keep accumulating.
There's also msglist.js
Baja is the crappy legacy language that will likely eventually disappear, but still there are some cases where it's better suited to a task than JS (for now). We continue to enhance the JS object model however so the nails in the Baja coffin keep accumulating.
There's also msglist.js
Is msglist.js currently able to handle newscan and message reading?
Was
reading that was probably not where it's at yet? I also watched your YouTube video... Would make a lot of sense to have something native for that... If not, the DD Reader seems to fit the bill currently, yeah?
i never saw it on this scale with any other bbs software
i saw it a few times with wildcat!
I don't understand not wanting to customize it either. I always thought part of the whole point (and fun) of running a BBS was to make it different so you can offer something unique. I'm not sure why I'd run a BBS if I didn't have a desire to make something unique or an idea of some way to do so.
different so you can offer something unique. I'm not sure why I'd run a BBS if I didn't have a desire to make something unique or an idea of some way to do so.
Content. For me, custom menus and login matrix's aren't really "content". Back in the day, content that would draw callers was mainly messages, files, chat and games. If you don't have any content, a highly-customized BBS is just an empty house with fancy window dressing.
--
I don't understand not wanting to customize it either. I always
Content. For me, custom menus and login matrix's aren't really "content". Back in the day, content that would draw callers was mainly messages, files, chat and games. If you don't have any content, a highly-customized BBS is just an empty house with fancy window dressing.
in the dialup days we had a wildcat! bbs that was stock all the way down to sysop name being sysop.
it sat like that for like 5 or more years.
sadly, since 2000, half or more of synchronet's bbses have not had
any customization or very little. i dont understand it.
i never saw it on this scale with any other bbs software
i saw it a few times with wildcat!
I don't understand not wanting to customize it either. I always thought part of the whole point (and fun) of running a BBS was to make it different so you can offer something unique. I'm not sure why I'd run a BBS if I didn't have a desire to make something unique or an idea of some way to do so.
Re: Re: Synchronet questions
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Mon Mar 08 2021 02:05 pm
I don't understand not wanting to customize it either. I always
Content. For me, custom menus and login matrix's aren't really "content". Back in the day, content that would draw callers was mainly messages, files, chat and games. If you don't have any content, a highly-customized BBS is just an empty house with fancy window dressing.
Yes, you definitely need content too (I won't argue that). Although the look & feel isn't content, I tend to think it helps to have a BBS look unique. A unique look & feel can help someone remember your BBS; also, a sysop might have their own idea about what options they want on their menus and perhaps a unique idea about how they want their menu navigation to work, etc..
On 03-08-21 14:05, Digital Man wrote to Nightfox <=-
I don't understand not wanting to customize it either. I always thought part of the whole point (and fun) of running a BBS was to make it different so you can offer something unique. I'm not sure why I'd run a BBS if I didn't have a desire to make something unique or an idea of some way to do so.
Content. For me, custom menus and login matrix's aren't really
"content". Back in the day, content that would draw callers was mainly messages, files, chat and games. If you don't have any content, a highly-customized BBS is just an empty house with fancy window
dressing. --
digital man
On 03-08-21 19:09, Nightfox wrote to Digital Man <=-
Yes, you definitely need content too (I won't argue that). Although
the look & feel isn't content, I tend to think it helps to have a BBS
look unique. A unique look & feel can help someone remember your BBS; also, a sysop might have their own idea about what options they want on their menus and perhaps a unique idea about how they want their menu navigation to work, etc..
sadly, since 2000, half or more of synchronet's bbses have not had any customization or very little. i dont understand it.
My original BBS wasn't a work of art either, but what made it unique was the wide range of message networks that we carried - on pretty much any topic we could find, from general Fidonet and Othernet chats, to science, ham radio, the occult, Buddhism, LGBT, and many more. We also carried a wide range of gated Usenet newsgroups and Internet mailing lists. This diversity of messaging in one place was the BBS's unique attribute and drawcard. Any changes I made to the menus were purely for functional reasons, rather than aesthetic.
Content. For me, custom menus and login matrix's aren't really
"content". Back in the day, content that would draw callers was
mainly messages, files, chat and games. If you don't have any
content, a highly-customized BBS is just an empty house with fancy
window dressing.
Yes, you definitely need content too (I won't argue that). Although
the look & feel isn't content, I tend to think it helps to have a BBS
look unique. A unique look & feel can help someone remember your BBS;
also, a sysop might have their own idea about what options they want
on their menus and perhaps a unique idea about how they want their
menu navigation to work, etc..
The popular BBSes that I used to call the most were very "stock", but they had lots of users, tons of files, a message network or two that I didn't get anywhere else, or games that I wanted to play. And they were reliable. I never cared what ANSI may be displayed during/after login (frankly, the less the better). And apparently a lot of "callers" felt the same as me.
Once upon a time I had mine customized, own shell, menus, modified text.dat, guru.dat, etc.. Unfortunately, it all got lost and I'm no good a designing ansi menus, nor do I have the time. I would probably find a few hours to write my own shell if I could find someone to do the menus, but that hasn't seemed to work with a few posts here and there, even on the FB groups hasn't worked. Currently I just update, test a few things, report bugs, and read some groups.
The popular BBSes that I used to call the most were very "stock", but they had lots of users, tons of files, a message network or two that I didn't get anywhere else, or games that I wanted to play. And they were reliable. I never cared what ANSI may be displayed during/after login (frankly, the less the better). And apparently a lot of "callers" felt the same as me.
Altere> [...] I'm no good a designing ansi menus, nor do I have the Altere> time. I would probably find a few hours to write my own shell Altere> if I could find someone to do the menus,
what's wrong with coding the menus into the shell instead of having a separate file that also has to be edited if/when things change?
what's wrong with coding the menus into the shell instead of
having a separate file that also has to be edited if/when things
change?
sadly, since 2000, half or more of synchronet's bbses have not had
any customization or very little. i dont understand it.
I'd guess it's a property of being easy to setup while not being particularly easy to customise.
I found it a bit of a chore to figure out how to make all my desired small tweaks & only really managed for having the source code on hand (maybe docs tell everything I wanted to know somewhere though I didn't find that). I could easily see someone not bothering.
Nightfox> You could have a shell output a menu screen, but if you want Nightfox> to change it, I think it would be more work to edit the Nightfox> command shell to change the menu screen. Normally, it's a
ummm... you still have to edit BOTH if you are adding a new option or changing keys...
i'm also thinking of like RA BBS where i used only the menu editor and never any external menu ANSI files... i edited the menus in the menu editor and RA drew everything as desired... no mucking about with ANSI editors at all...
Marisag wrote to Tony Langdon <=-How do we sign up ?
I have a new QWK network - WeedNet - https://weednet.baybuds.online
Altere> [...] I'm no good a designing ansi menus, nor do I have the Altere> time. I would probably find a few hours to write my own shell Altere> if I could find someone to do the menus,
what's wrong with coding the menus into the shell instead of having a separate file that also has to be edited if/when things change?
text.dat, guru.dat, etc.. Unfortunately, it all got lost and I'm no
good a designing ansi menus, nor do I have the time. I would
probably find a few hours to write my own shell if I could find
I've never been much of an artist myself. The menu ANSIs I've made are fairly simple.
Re: Re: Synchronet questions
By: Nightfox to Altere on Tue Mar 09 2021 08:25 am
text.dat, guru.dat, etc.. Unfortunately, it all got lost and I'm no
good a designing ansi menus, nor do I have the time. I would
probably find a few hours to write my own shell if I could find
I've never been much of an artist myself. The menu ANSIs I've made are fairly simple.
I'm absolutely horrible at it and get frustrated way to quick with ansi. If anyone knows someone that does good ANSI, I can jot down all the keys and wording if they can make a few spiffy customer ANSIs. I gave up on finding someone and it's not on my top list of things do to.
I'm absolutely horrible at it and get frustrated way to quick with
ansi. If anyone knows someone that does good ANSI, I can jot down all
the keys and wording if they can make a few spiffy customer ANSIs. I
gave up on finding someone and it's not on my top list of things do
to.
If/when it is again, see https://wiki.synchro.net/resource:ansi_artwork
MRO wrote to Nightfox <=-
@TZ: 4168
Re: Re: Synchronet questions
By: Nightfox to Tim Whitson on Mon Mar 08 2021 08:28 am
sadly, since 2000, half or more of synchronet's bbses have not had
any customization or very little. i dont understand it.
i never saw it on this scale with any other bbs software
i saw it a few times with wildcat!
Digital Man wrote to Nightfox <=-
@TZ: 41e0
Re: Re: Synchronet questions
By: Nightfox to MRO on Mon Mar 08 2021 12:55
pm
Re: Re: Synchronet questions
By: MRO to Nightfox on Mon Mar 08 2021 12:32 pm
Content. For me, custom menus and login matrix's aren't really
"content". Back in the day, content that would draw callers was
mainly messages, files, chat and games. If you don't have any
content, a highly-customized BBS is just an empty house with fancy
window dressing.
Re: Re: Synchronet questions
By: Digital Man to Altere on Tue Mar 09 2021 05:49 pm
I'm absolutely horrible at it and get frustrated way to quick with
ansi. If anyone knows someone that does good ANSI, I can jot down all
the keys and wording if they can make a few spiffy customer ANSIs. I
gave up on finding someone and it's not on my top list of things do
to.
If/when it is again, see https://wiki.synchro.net/resource:ansi_artwork
I haven't tried ansigarden but know I tried to contact blocktronics on fb, and even sent a msg to a few members direct with no luck on a response, there was another group as well that didn't get a response either. I might give it a go again soon and see what happens. I just want a single intro and custom menus so should be fairly easy for a seasoned ANSi artist. I'll circle back to this link when I have a little more time.
I'm absolutely horrible at it and get frustrated way to quick with ansi. If anyone knows someone that does good ANSI, I can jot down all the keys and wording if they can make a few spiffy customer ANSIs. I gave up on
On 03-09-21 04:17, Marisag wrote to Tony Langdon <=-
I have a new QWK network - WeedNet - https://weednet.baybuds.online
On 03-09-21 17:25, Boondock wrote to Marisag <=-
Marisag wrote to Tony Langdon <=-
I have a new QWK network - WeedNet - https://weednet.baybuds.online
How do we sign up ?
On 03-09-21 17:25, Boondock wrote to Marisag <=-
Marisag wrote to Tony Langdon <=-
I have a new QWK network - WeedNet - https://weednet.baybuds.online
How do we sign up ?
Follow the link, didn't take me long to find the instructions. :)
Tony Langdon wrote to Boondock <=-Gotcha!
Follow the link, didn't take me long to find the instructions. :)
I first found out about Synchronet in 2007, and it had
already been using JS at the time. My first couple mods
(including my custom command shell) were in Baja, but I
soon started using Synchronet's JS model and haven't
looked back. I also re-wrote my command shell in JS.
I thought it was a bit funny that a JS command shell
still needs a one-liner Baja module to run the JS script. :)
The popular BBSes that I used to call the most were very "stock", but they had lots of users, tons of files, a message network or two that I didn't get anywhere else, or games that I wanted to play. And they were reliable. I never cared what ANSI may be displayed during/after login (frankly, the less the better). And apparently a lot of "callers" felt the same as me.
sadly, since 2000, half or more of synchronet's bbses have not had any customization or very little. i dont understand it.
I'd guess it's a property of being easy to setup while not being particularly easy to customise.
I found it a bit of a chore to figure out how to make all my desired small tweaks & only really managed for having the source code on hand (maybe docs tell everything I wanted to know somewhere though I didn't find that). I could easily see someone not bothering.
ummm... you still have to edit BOTH if you are adding a new option or changing keys...
i'm also thinking of like RA BBS where i used only the menu editor and never any external menu ANSI files... i edited the menus in the menu editor and RA drew everything as desired... no mucking about with ANSI editors at
all...
I tend not to change the source code though. Any change you make to the source code on your system will have to be re-applied when you update to a newer version of Synchronet. I'd think that would be a hassle, especially if some part of Synchronet's code ever gets significantly re-written. Thankfully, Synchronet is fairly moddable with custom JS scripts, text.dat, etc.
I haven't tried ansigarden but know I tried to contact blocktronics on fb, and even sent a msg to a few members direct with no luck on a response, there was another group as well that didn't get a response either. I might give it a go again soon and see what happens. I just want a single intro and custom menus so should be fairly easy for a seasoned ANSi artist. I'll circle back to this link when I have a little more time.
Re: Re: Synchronet questions
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Mon Mar 08 2021 09:05 pm
The popular BBSes that I used to call the most were very "stock", but they had lots of users, tons of files, a message network or two that I didn't get anywhere else, or games that I wanted to play. And they were reliable. I never cared what ANSI may be displayed during/after login (frankly, the less the better). And apparently a lot of "callers" felt the same as me.
that's totally different than my experience with bbses from 91+
if bbses were stock they didnt get any calls.
infact, sinced the sysop didnt put any effort into customization, there was nothing else in regards to files, msgs or games.
On 03-10-21 08:04, Mortifis wrote to Tony Langdon <=-
yup, took all of 5 minutes to follow the link, read the instructions
and scfg everything to pull in 7 messages :-)
Looking forward to seeing what comes through
Jump (global) menus were pretty painful, and I don't think I have a copy of my chat menu mods from back then. Would like to get my system back
MRO wrote to Nightfox <=-
sadly, since 2000, half or more of synchronet's bbses have not had any customization or very little. i dont understand it.
Nightfox wrote to MRO <=-
I always enjoyed using <BBS name>, run by that well known guy, Sysop.
MRO wrote to Digital Man <=-
that's totally different than my experience with bbses from 91+
if bbses were stock they didnt get any calls.
infact, sinced the sysop didnt put any effort into customization, there was nothing else in regards to files, msgs or games.
I always enjoyed using <BBS name>, run by that well known guy,
Sysop.
The one run by Sye-Sop, or Siss-op?
Once upon a time I had mine customized, own shell, menus,
modified text.dat, guru.dat, etc.. Unfortunately, it all got
lost and I'm no good a designing ansi menus, nor do I have
the time. I would probably find a few hours to write my own
shell if I could find someone to do the menus, but that
hasn't seemed to work with a few posts here and there, even
on the FB groups hasn't worked. Currently I just update,
test a few things, report bugs, and read some groups.
what's wrong with coding the menus into the shell instead of
having a separate file that also has to be edited if/when
things change?
Sysop: | deepend |
---|---|
Location: | Calgary, Alberta |
Users: | 259 |
Nodes: | 10 (0 / 10) |
Uptime: | 73:33:00 |
Calls: | 1,808 |
Calls today: | 1 |
Files: | 4,186 |
D/L today: |
21 files (10,028K bytes) |
Messages: | 396,177 |