-filth лллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллнпллллллл
ллллллллАллллпллл олллллллллллллллллллллппппппппллллллллллллллллллллллл  ллл
ллплллпп ллллнлл  ллллллллллллппппппппл  пплллллллпллн   лл
л ллпп л    ллллппп мммммллллллллммммп ппппп  о лл
л Впммммллллллллллллллллллллллллммм
   м     ммлллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллм
    млллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллпм
  лллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллл    лллпп
ммммммл   лллллллллллВлллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллл    лВВпплл
ппп  пппллллллл  лллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллл    лллмммпп
лллллллммммлмм   лллллллллллВВВллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллл   лллллллл
 ммммм ппппллл  лАпллллппллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллл    п
ллплллВВмА плл  АВВААллллммллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллВлВВВлмммм
лВп  ппААВА     лААлллллллплллллллллллллллллллллллллллАААн   пВБВББ лм  млппААА
лмо п     ллллллллллл ллллллллллллмлАлллммллппмААВВВмААмм ААА  мВ олн м ВВ
лнп    А  оллпллллллнолллллллллллАллВлллААллААБББллллВВААл  ммп мм  п лВА
ВВм АнААА  Блл олААллллллмлллллллллллАВААлВААВВББАААААВВВВААлллн  ммлллВ ммВ  м
ББААллААВВВАл млАВВВ  АллллллллллллААВлВлллВВллВАполлмпАААмппп   лллВлВ ллВВ ББ
пАллААББноАБВ пАВллпААБААллллБллАААВВллллВВн Аплпп   пВ млллллн олВлБВБоВВБББАА
 пААББВВ ВВВлл  Впп оАлмплВллА лллАААВВВмппп    м   мВА оАллпВ   ВБВАБАВББАААлп
м  ппВллм плВлм  А  ппААм пллл ллплппп    мммппп   пВлммллпВА   м пАлАл ААлпп м
лллмм  ммлААлллВ   пАм    ппВВнп ммм м  пп   мммп млмлАААпл ммп  мм  пппп   ллл
ллллллм   ппВВВА  лмммм  А  мБмВплмВммлллллпппмммлмплн ммлАВАммппп п  А А   ллл
ллллллл А    АА   олллммВн лВлллнолллмммллммммВББААА  л л лАлммлВА  А Б Б А ллл
ллллллл Б А АлнплААБВВВллллммлллллллллллВВВВВБББАААА п пллнп  лБ В В Б ллл
ллллллл В Б Б А  АВллллпАААБВВлллллллВВВВВВВББББАппппп  пом  лАА  млВ л л В ллл
ллллллл л В В Блм  пппполллАВ ААВВВВБААААААпппп  мм м млнп  оАВВноллл л л л ллл
ллллллл л л л Вл  мпомм ммм   пп пп  пп  м Ал ВА оАно  п   оАлллн ллл л л л ллл
ллллллл А л л ллм    ВБнААн БА АА Ал АА АБ БАл п пм   пплВВм пм А л л ллл
ллллллл Б л л ллпллн  Ан  п п   п  п полмВп     ВББАл л Б л А ллл
ллллллл В л л л омплм  п лллм ппмм  м    м п  мВВАВ     мп    АААпн л В л Б ллл
ллллллл л л А ллмпллп ллллппмн  м пВ мВ ллВВВББАВпВВнм    АлВ ол л л В ллл
ллллллл л л Б ллллмппп ммммллмпммп  л А ВВБ ААББВА БА  олБ м п л л л ллл
ллллллл л л В ллмммллп мплллпмлл млнон  ББАмллААп мАВ  лА п мл л л л ллл
ллллллл л л л лллллп млллмпмлмпмлллн л оАА мАмл  плА лп млллп л л л ллл
ллллллл л л л лллп мллплллн лллмллл он лллАВппА    л млппммо л л л ллл
ллллллл л л л ллл  ллллмппмллллллп  В   ппп  мм    Вл мпмлллпм л л л ллл
ллллллл л л лммммммммммммммммм   м п мВоА    мн  ммлл ммммммммммл л л ллл
ллллллп л лммммм мАнм м мВ ом мАБнмВ п млпммпммммммл л плл
лллллл АВ плВп мммппппппппп  Вм ппп п   пп п  пммВп   ппппппммм пВВп лА лл
ллллллм А   Б пм  млллллллл   ппппАААААААААллллп  мпмп мллллллллмм мп Б м В млл
лллллллммм пА  он олллллллллмм пАВллллллВВВАнппллллпп лллллллллллнон  Ап мммллл
лллллллллллнон л  лллллллллллллноАлВллВВБББААлммлп млллллллллллллн л он ллллллл
ллллллллллл лмпл мллллллллллллл ллмАВВББАААллпп ммллллллпппппллллл лпмл ллллллл
ллл     ппп л  л    ппппплллллп пплАААААлпп  пппплппппл л  л    пллл
лл  мммл  лмммп  ммм    лллммм   л  л     ллл
лл ллмлллллллм лмллллллл ммм    олпм ммлллллллм ммлллмм   лмлппп   лммллллл плл
ллм лол  плллллмнллмллмллн лллнлллўлппллллнллллллл   Анломлнмлмлллллллл лл
ллл мом   оллнллллнммммммлмммллмллллммнмн   лпллмммлл лм  Бнллнл лллпп олллл лл
ллл олл    лмнммлммлпнллолллллллмммлллнолмлллммлллллл  лн ВлллллммлВ   лпп   лл
ммм ллл   олллллллллллмлоллллллллпллллноммллллллллллл   ллллллллолллн   мммм мм
    ллл  млллллллллллллллллл пллн ллллллллллллллллллл   оллллллл ллллмлллллл
   лллллллллпп ллллллллллллл  пп  лл пплллллллллппллл   п ллллллн плллллллллн
    пппппллллллллл   ппполл
лллп
% State Sanctioned News From El Presidente Phlash

Greetings BBS scene comrades!

Okay, elephant in the room time. This newsletter is way,  waaaaaaay
overdue. I've really and  truly blown my original goal of trying to
get 2-3 of these out a year out of the water now. Around the time I
*should have* had this out it just wasn't at the top of my priority
list.  The second  time, after  a second big  batch of releases  in
July, I started  preparing  some  notes and thinking about what I'd
want to write and... *that* never happened. Finally,  another batch
of releases in December and I made it my goal to get  it out by New
Years so we'd at least have *one* out in  2024 and...  yep, here we
are. It's now almost  half way through 2025  and I've just  now got
this thing put  together. What can  I  say  other  than that I'm an
utterly  undependable  sack  of shit  with  ADHD  and  poor  timing
management skills?

The  good news is that it's been so  long since our last newsletter
that things have actually happened in the scene.  I know, shocking,
right?

Starting out  with some Demonic news, we  somehow finally convinced
someone  else to join our ranks.  Opicron  (oP!)  hailing from  the
Netherlands has just joined us. oP!  runs a cool Mystic  board that
you  should check out and  has released some pretty  awesome Mystic
mods in the  past,  most  recently  with  Phenom  Productions.  Now
Demonic has gone from 1/3 to 1/2 European.  My god,  they're taking
over! I'm compelled to make some kind of a joke about tariffs here,
but  I'll  resist. Regardless,  I'm definitely excited to  see what
kind of cool stuff he releases next.

The official echomail network of Demonic,  Zer0net, went  through a
bit of a  mid-life (heh, really?) crisis and made some big changes.
Paulie420, beloved SysOp of the awesome 2o fOr beeRS has joined the
management team to help run  things, and our own Esc has officially
joined the team as well. The biggest change, however, is that we've
more or  less dropped our infamously harsh acceptance criteria  for
new  BBSes  and opened the flood  gates. If  you're  interested  in
possibly  joining,  check  out  zer0net.org  and  grab  the  latest
infopack for more details.

Speaking of Paulie420, he's been running these awesome Doom meetups
for  ages  now using  Zandronum and a  shitload of custom  mods and
maps. I've joined at least a couple of times  now and had a  ton of
fun. First Saturday of every month at 6:00PM PT. Call 2o fOr beeRS!
(20forbeers.com:1337) for more info.

Speaking of message  networks, I was going to report that Accession
announced  that he was closing  down Agoranet due to a general lack
of  activity but then,  oddly, some  of the regulars seemed to take
that  as a  personal challenge and started posting again. It's been
over a  year now, and Agoranet remains  up and, while  it's not the
busiest othernet out there, it  continues to see new posts and even
some impressive bursts  of  activity. Ha! Learn more about Agoranet
by calling the sexcellent Pharcyde (bbs.pharcyde.org).

And speaking  of things dying,  but not *really*,  it's been over 3
years since  the last Blocktronics  pack,  yet we've seen  numerous
Blocktronics contributors  showing  up in  some damn impressive art
packs from the resurrected Fire and  resurrected just a bit earlier
Lazarus. No one really wants to call Blocktronics dead, and yet...

While  we're at it, enz0's ANSIGARDEN, which  has been a fixture in
the scene  since something like  2017 or  2018 cranking  our  ANSIs
specifically for use  for BBSes, including custom themes and logos,
appears  to be closed for  business. I've always been a big fan  of
enz0's  and he personally  helped encourage growing my own mediocre
ANSI skills, and was pretty bummed out when he more or less dropped
Blocktronics  and  the  rest  of   the  scene   years  ago.    Yet,
surprisingly, he still  kept  drawing  and  taking  commissions for
ANSIGARDEN. Now all  of the sudden ansigarden.com is down, so we're
assuming that too is over. :(  editors note: the front page is now 
back, so perhaps its return is a work in progress?  

Let's talk BBS software!

* g00r00 made a brief appearance last  year to  appease us  with  a
small offering  in the form of a new 1.12 pre-alpha of  Mystic BBS.
(https://www.mysticbbs.com)

*  Synchronet has had several  new  releases, including a couple of
full versions of 3.20 in 2025. (https://synchro.net) and indirectly
related, new versions of  SyncTERM have been rolling out with  some
regularity too. (https://syncterm.bbsdev.net)

* Talisman BBS  was  handed  over  to Lawrence  Stockman and a  new
version was released. (https://talismanbbs.org)

* Meanwhile, Apam  started work  on  yet  another new BBS  software
called   Envy,  described  as  starting  life  as  something  of  a
mini-Synchronet,  and  seemed  to be making  fast  progress  on it.
Unfortunately, rumor has it that  Apam has  since left that  scene.
Here's to hoping he returns! (https://envybbs.org, briefly)

* I can't even begin to make sense of the tumultuous history around
ProBoard, but I do know the Jason Bock took  it over at some point,
and got v2.30 released at the end of 2023 (https://proboardbbs.com)

* Omnibrain, the dude behind IcyTerm (and  now IcyDraw and IcyView)
has started  working  on... you  guessed  it, IcyBoard.  Initially,
IcyBoard is a clone of PCBoard after Omni's previous work on making
a pretty cool PPL decompiler which then morphed into a compiler and
an interpreter. Pretty damn cool.
(https://github.com/mkrueger/icy_board)

* There have been a couple of new releases of the classic Renegade.
(https://www.rgbbs.info) Go Exodos!  Also, check out that new site!

*  Speaking of Renegade, Ignatius  released  a quick  Linux port of
Renegade and some  follow-up updates,  and then  released  a  quick
Linux port of the scene classic, Impulse. Ignatius has also put out
his   own    BBS  orientated    terminal,   igTERM.    Busy   dude!
(http://www.catch22bbs.com)

* On an entirely  unrelated  note  (I promise)  Impulse's  original
author Nivenh has been seen reminiscing about his time in the scene
recently,  even playing  with the idea of coding a new BBS software
again. While I wouldn't hold my breath, it's still fun to think
about.

*  Speaking  modern takes on  old BBS software, a post appeared  on
Reddit showing off  a  demo and touting the features of a brand new
successor to Vision/2 called Vision/3. While  nothing  has actually
been released yet, it does appear  to  be reasonably far  along and
potentially quite cool.

Our friend  Smooth has  been MIA for  quite some time  now. Someone
leaving the scene isn't news at all these days, but Smooth has been
so incredibly involved in *everything* for years now, including his
art  contributions to numerous groups, and his own Legacy Krew,  he
runs one  of  the best  underground message  networks in the scene,
ArakNet, he runs  what  is pretty much our only  competition in the
modding  scene,  Phenom  Productions,  and  he  runs  some  awesome
systems, notably Ink/2. In the time that he's been gone  he's  been
mostly unreachable to those in the scene, but he has popped back in
a few times to fix the  odd issue with Araknet  and/or his BBS, and
he even made it seem like  he was back  for  good the last  time he
showed up (only  to  disappear again.) Here's  hoping he returns to
his normal insane levels  of activity  soon enough,  as his absence
has definitely left a hole.

Speaking of highly involved folks disappearing, Netsurge infamously
pulled  a  fairly  similar stunt a few years  ago, burning a lot of
bridges in his wake, it was reportedly because he'd started pouring
all  his  attention  into his  new retro computing  business  Retro
Rewind. While he hasn't come back to the scene, per se, the draw of
running a  BBS  again has  caught  back up  again, and one  of  his
systems, the Amiga based  Zeus board Hysteria  has been put back up
as   the  official  BBS  of  Retro  Rewind's   customer  community.
(https://bbs.retrorewind.ca)

This  is less a  piece of news and  more just something I wanted to
shout out, but ex-Demonic member and all around cool guy Sloop  has
teamed up with a friend and colleague of his to put  out The Serial
Port   (https://www.youtube.com/@theserialport)   and  its   sister
channel,  The Parallel  Port  (youtube.com/@theparallelport)   Both
channels  have  a  focus  on retro  communications  equipment,  and
include  some damn  cool videos related  directly  to BBSing. While
most of their content is more focused on enterprise equipment, like
server and network devices (particularly on the ISP side of things)
I'd think many people reading this would be interested.

While I'm  plugging YouTube channels,  did you  know that Paulie420
has a retro-computing focused  YouTube  channel?  Well, now you do!
(https://www.youtube.com/@techheart6090)

Well known hack/phreak  scene mainstays Phrack  put  out issue  #71
last summer. While  Phrack  has continued  to put out  very random,
sporadic issues  in the traditional all  text zine format for quite
sometime,  I still think its  incredibly fucking cool to see an old
school text zine popping  up in 2024, especially from a  group that
start  doing it  all the way back in the  mid 80s.  (phrack.org for 
more info!))

Speaking of zines, BBS scene e-mag (lately, also a text based zine)
NULL has put out their  first issue since 2022 this year. I've been
a long time  supporter of this mag since I first became aware of it
back in like 2018 or 2019, and I'm not just saying this because its
the brain child of our very own Xqtr either.
(https://github.com/Xqtr/null or call his sick BBS listed at bottom
of this newsletter.)

Outlaw Country music star,  devoted  SysOp,  and all around  badass
Shooter  Jennings  has  continued his inexplicable  obsession  with
writing  bizarre,  creative  WINSever  native door  games  with his
latest release,  Automatic Adventure: Los Angeles. I don't  believe
this  has shown up on his  BCR  Game Server quite yet, but you  can
check it out along with his other games at wizardsrainbow.com:23.

Speaking of overly productive door game creators (yes, I admit, I'm
projecting a  little) Amiga ASCII  badass and  SysOp of one  of  my
favorite boards,  aBSiNTHE,  aNACHRONiST,  has dropped  another new
exclusive  game  on the world. Joining  the ranks  of  the  awesome
Skyraiders and SkullHack comes  ATAXX, aNST's  colorful Amiga ASCII
filled adaption of the  1990 strategy game of the same name. While,
like  Shooter's  games,  aNST's  games are  exclusive  to  his  BBS
(absinthebbs.net:1940) he's stated recently  that he hopes to stand
up   a  game  server  to  finally  make  these  games  more  widely
accessible. While I'm giving him all this love, I'll also throw out
a recommendation to check out the very BBS centric talk he gave  at
Hackfest 2024 (https://youtu.be/GxKF681vI9U?si)

In much  sadder  news, the BBS  scene  lost  a  couple of  bonafide
legends since the last newsletter.

Ward  Christensen was celebrated  as  one of the co-creators of the
first ever BBS, as well as the author of the XMODEM protocol which,
probably shockingly to a lot of BBS hobbyists, is still widely used
today. There are tons of articles from  big publications about him,
but I'd  prefer to link this  quick  video on  him from AlsGreekLab
(who  many of  you will know from his  more recent Back to the  BBS
YouTube documentary series) as it's a little more up our collective
alley. (https://youtu.be/j2nkEuESNa4)

Much closer to home is the loss of Hawk Hubbard (AKA Captain Hood.)
Hawk  was  a  massive presence  in  the underground scene,  running
multiple  impressive art  scene centric  BBSes  (most  notably, the
celebrated  Black  Flag) and being a  huge supporter of various art
and modding groups. That's probably all  incredibly redundant since
surely almost everyone  reading  this  knew him,  at least to  some
degree. Thankfully most of his BBSes survive, but calling them will
never  be quite the same  without the extremely high  likelihood of
him pulling you into a  surprise SysOp chat.  I wrote a  little bit
more about him on my blog @ https://jackphla.sh/hawk-hubbard/. RIP,
Captain!

I'm sure  I  missed a ton  of stuff  here -  we'd  appreciate  some
contributions in the form of a quick email  to  let  us know  about
things that could be spotlighted in the next edition!

% Revolutionary's Handbook

New to this newsletter (and hopefully  going forward) we'll also be
including  some  articles,  both  from  myself  and  other  Demonic
members. In this edition, Xqtr, probably desperate to fill the NULL
shaped void  in his life at  the time he submitted these, brings us
numerous tutorial articles. We like putting out tutorials, but some
of these were a bit too small  to  justify  their  own releases, so
here they are!

--- Setting Up TP7 in DOSBox for Door Dev with XDoor

-------------------------------------------------------------------
  Setup
-------------------------------------------------------------------

 1. Install DOSBOX on your system. For Linux/Debian is as easy as:

  sudo apt install dosbox

 2. Create a directory, in which you will place all files. Lets
 name it tpdos.

 3. Download Turbo Pascal 7. You can get a copy at
 https://winworldpc.com. Inside the archive you file several .IMG
 files. Mount each one and copy the files into a common directory,
 inside our tpdos dir. Lets name it tp7s. In Linux, you can mount
 these image files, with just a right click and selecting Mount
 Image.

 4. Open your DOSBOX config file and at the bottom add these lines:

  [autoexec]
  # Lines in this section will be run at startup.
  # You can put your MOUNT lines here.
  mount c ~/tpdos
  c:

 5. Run DOSBOX, CD into the tp7s directory and install Turbo Pascal
 inside the TP7 directory.

  c:> cd tp7s
  c:> install

 6. Re-edit the DOSBOX config file and make the autoexec stanza loo
 like this now:

  [autoexec]
  # Lines in this section will be run at startup.
  # You can put your MOUNT lines here.
  mount c ~/tp7dos
  path c:\tp7\bin;c:\tp7\units;
  c:

 7. Inside the archive you downloaded from winworldpc there is a
 directory for a patch. Read the instructions on how to do the
 patch. It's a necessary step, don't skip it. After that, you can
 delete the tp7s directory.

 8. Now download the XDOOR KIT, from here:
 https://jackphla.sh/files/xdoor301.zip Unzip the archive in the
 directory XDOOR, under our original ./tpdos directory.

 9. Let's organize a bit... create another directory named
 PROJECTS, to keep all of our projects in one place and not in the
 main directory. You can also create another directory named
 SOURCE, where you can put various pieces of source code, you can
 find in the Internet, for TP7 and making DOORs specific.

 10. As a last step, include in the PATH, also the XDOOR directory.
 So the AUTOEXEC stanza inside the DOSBOX config file, will look
 like this:

  [autoexec]
  # Lines in this section will be run at startup.
  # You can put your MOUNT lines here.
  mount c ~/tp7dos
  path c:\tp7\bin;c:\tp7\units;c:\xdoor
  c:

 At the end your tree directory, should look something like this:

  .
  |-- projects
  |-- source
  |-- TP7
  |   |-- BGI
  |   |-- BIN
  |   |-- DOC
  |   |-- EXAMPLES
  |   |-- SOURCE
  |   `-- UNITS
  `-- xdoor

-------------------------------------------------------------------
  Sources
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Now you have to learn to use the XDOOR kit, which is not difficult,
unless you don't know how to program in Pascal, which is out of
scope of this guide.

As a resource, you can search the Internet for the source code of
other DOOR programs. You will find plenty, programmed in Pascal,
which is the main reason we chose TP7 on the first place.

Another great resource is the SWAG archive. You can find online
versions of it here:

https://wiki.freepascal.org/Page_Of_Code_Sites#SWAG_sites

Personally I prefer the old DOS version of SWAG. You can find a
version of it here:

http://www.retroarchive.org/garbo/pc/turbopas/index.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------
  Demo
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the XDOOR kit directory, there is a demo of a DOOR app. It's
a oneliner. Go into the xdoor directory and write:

  c:\tpc oneliner.pas -B

The -B is to build all units. Now you will see an executable file,
named ONELINER.EXE. Type:

  c:\oneliner -?

...to get some help. To run the DOOR locally just give the command:

  c:\oneliner -l

To setup the DOOR app to run under a BBS is a whole other guide ;)

Enjoy...

--- Creating Doors with BASH! 

BASHing... DOORS!!!  Part 1...

In Linux BBS software like Mystic and SynchroNet, you can run
almost any program and it will be able to be displayed to the
remote user, as if it was a "normal" DOS DOOR program. No need to
use any special libraries or DOOR kits.

This can be proven very useful, as we can use any BASH script and
display it to the user. We can write "DOOR" programs, just by using
BASH!

I will not dive into the why DO or DO NOT do that, cause each
choice has its dis/advantages and perhaps security issues? maybe?
For example, no one knows what will happen if someone presses
ctrl-c while using such a BASH DOOR... ;) Anyway... for those who
search for other ways to write DOOR stuff... lets continue...

The following instructions are meant for Mystic BBS, but it's the
same logic for SynchroNet or other BBS software.

To create such a DOOR, we need a) the script... obviously... b) to
create a new command entry in one of our menus. First create an
empty file, like: /home/pi/door.sh  <--- use the exact path and
filename. Make it executable with: chmod +x ...

Then enter your menu configuration editor, edit a menu and add a DD
command, for Mystic. In the DATA field add this:

              Command  | (DD) Exec external program
              Data  | /home/pi/door.sh %P

The %P is the folder that contains the drop files that we will use
for the DOOR. See a complete list of all parameters, at the link
below. Search for the EXTERNAL DOORS chapter.

http://wiki.mysticbbs.com/doku.php?id=menu_commands&s[]=dd

Don't forget to configure the Hotkey and display text, as you wish.
Now the script!

This is just the beginning, so our script will be as simple as it
gets. We just want to prove and test that it works. For a DOOR to
work, we need to get information from a dropfile, like DOOR.SYS, so
this will be our first task. To read the DOOR.SYS file, we use this
command:

DIR="$1"
DOOR=$(cat "$DIR/DOOR.SYS")

DIR contains the users temp directory and, DOOR now contains all
the contents of DOOR.SYS. But we don't want the whole file, we just
need specific data, like user name, sysop name, time, KBs etc. To
get those, we use a command like this:

ALIAS=$(echo -e "$DOOR" | sed '36q;d')

The number 36, in the above command, means to get the 36th line of
the DOOR file. With the same way, we can get all other values we
want, like:

ALIAS=$(echo -e "$DOOR" | sed '36q;d')
NAME=$(echo -e "$DOOR" | sed '10q;d')
SYSOP=$(echo -e "$DOOR" | sed '35q;d')

To display any data to the user we just echo them like:

echo $DIR
echo "$ALIAS"
echo "$NAME"
echo "$SYSOP"

...and we are ready to write our own BASH DOORs! The complete
script is below and contains a few additions. In the next chapter,
we will create a skeleton script with useful commands to use as a
base, when writing such BASH DOOR thingies... :p

===================================================================

#!/bin/bash

DIR="$1"
DOOR=$(cat "$DIR/DOOR.SYS")
ALIAS=$(echo -e "$DOOR" | sed '36q;d')
NAME=$(echo -e "$DOOR" | sed '10q;d')
SYSOP=$(echo -e "$DOOR" | sed '35q;d')

echo -ne "\033[0;31m"
echo $NODE
echo -ne "\033[0;33m"
echo $DIR
echo -ne "\033[0;32m"
echo "$ALIAS"
echo -ne "\033[0;34m"
echo "$NAME"
echo -ne "\033[0;35m"
echo "$SYSOP"

read -p "pause..."

#complete reference of the door.sys file
#http://wiki.synchro.net/ref:door.sys

===================================================================

--- 80 Columns? How about 72?

80 - 2 * tab... Should we?

Perhaps you don't even know it, but it's a good practice to write
72 characters per line. First... this number comes from subtracting
two times a 4 characters tab from a line of 80 chars. width. Thus:
80 -( 2 * 4 ) = 72. No one knows exactly how this became a reality,
but the most probable cause, would have to do with some old
technology ex. punch cards or typewriters... who knows.

The thing is that specially for us, BBS users, using this size of
width has some advantages and for sure, we shouldn't use the whole
80 chars. to write text in a line. The best advantage would be that
we can quote a 72 char line, 3 to 4 times and the text would be
readable and not truncated.

Perhaps you already have seen some cases where quoted messages in
echonets are truncated at the end, when quoted, because the width
of them, with the added quote chars " >" exceeds the 80char limit.
Honestly this is a frustrating situation when it happens, cause
most of the times the most meaningful word or something you want to
read is at the truncated text.

The thing is, that in most BBS text editors, if not all, you can't
put a specific width, to wrap the line, except the default 80char
one. So, we have to write our message in another editor that
supports it and then copy/paste it into the post, which I don't
think anyone will do and it is a pity.

BBSes and text mode come with limits, that we have to respect and
find or use methods to make them more readable. It's a surprise for
me, that we haven't (as BBS scene) adopted this restriction of
72chars per line, which will, in my opinion, increase by a lot the
readability of posts, in the echonets.

As a bonus, some ANSI graphics for quoting text... :) 
First Level
 нLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
 нtempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim
 нveniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea

Second Level
 н нLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
 н нtempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim
 н нveniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea

Third Level
 н н нLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
 н н нtempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim
 н н нveniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea   
 нLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod 
 нtempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim    
 нveniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea 

 Warning
 Ч Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
 Ч tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim
 Ч veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea  

 Note
 Г Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
 Г tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim
 Г veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea
 
 Code
 № Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
 № tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim
 № veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea

 Warning
 > Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod
 < tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim
 > veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea

Source:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/4m2kp7/where_does_the_72_co
lumn_linewrap_convention_come/

% Heroes of the Unpopular Front

Believe  it  or not,  after  the  last newsletter  someone actually
contacted me  to point out that if we're going to  be elitist dicks
with extremely high  membership  requirements  and reject  so  many
applicants, we probably shouldn't even bother trying to recruit new
members. I guess my attempts at humor went way, waaay  over some of
your  heads.  As  such,  for  this  edition, this  section  of  the
newsletter will be entirely serious.

* Esc (US) -  has been in  the scene for ages,  and was a member of
original  90s Demonic. He also used to draw ASCII  for the likes of
Impure and Mimic  back in the day. While Esc dabbles with all kinds
of BBS  software, as the maintainer of Daydream/Linux, a lot of his
releases revolve around it, along with Mystic BBS.

* Jack Phlash (US) - original  founder and president of Demonic, JP
dabbles with a little bit of everything, but mostly concentrates on
the BBS software he runs, Mystic BBS,  as well as  coding doors and
applications  in  Pascal.  JP is also  an  active artist, currently
drawing ASCII with Impure.

* Opicron (NL) - Our newest recruit, Opicron has been making a name
for himself  in  the  scene for a while  now  with Mystic BBS mods,
particularly those reliant on heavy Python scripting, like his well
known iChat IRC client.

* Xqtr (GR) - Xqtr is known for his creative Mystic BBS  mods  (and
his  BBS, Another Droid, where you can  see  them in action)  along
with numerous coding projects, and his e-mag/e-zine NULL. Check out
his blog @ https://cp737.net

We're always on the lookout for more  members. Are you  working  on
some cool, creative mods, doors, or other relevant code and want to
do it with  the backing and support  of a group? Even if you  don't
need a group,  it's more fun, trust  us!  We're  only interested in
members  who  want  to actually  release,  so  mention what  you're
working on and/or planning on working on if you do decide to apply.

% Products of Labor

ESC-BB11.ZIP - A quick fix for Esc's previous pre-login bot blocker
for Daydream/Linux. Yes, sometimes we need to fix our fixes.

ESC-DDTX.ZIP -  An  update to  the  classic  ddtext  string  editor
utility for Daydream/Linux, by Esc,  because no  SysOp alive should
have to live with stock strings!

ESC-HNWS.ZIP  - Hinews v0.2 by Esc. A simple news/announcement door
for Daydream BBS/Linux. Another  entry in Esc's  series  of classic
Daydream mod updates/fixes.

ESC-LMSG.ZIP -  An updated/fix  release of the classic  dd_listmsgs
message lister mod/door for Daydream/Linux.

ESC-LSTG.ZIP - Last 100 ULS Grouped v1.2 for Daydream/Linux by Esc.
Displays a grouped listing  of  the  last 100  uploads.  Are  warez
boards still a thing?!

ESC-VPS.ZIP -  It seems like there's always questions about hosting
a BBS in the cloud. With this release,  Esc brings  us a tutorial /
guide on how to build  and  setup a hosted 32-bit Windows 7  server
droplet for running a BBS, doors, etc. on DigitalOcean.

JP!G11R.ZIP - Ever want to know  how to use REFDoor to make a full,
online e-mag but hate figuring things out on your own? Well, here's
a full conversion of Gutter e-mag #11 to a REFDoor  script, by Jack
Phlash.

JP!PMP1.ZIP -  A quick but stylish random BBS advertisement  script
for REFDoor 1.3+ by Jack Phlash. Pimp your favorite BBSes!

JP!PNTS1.ZIP - A  quick  tutorial/guide about who to set up and use
point nodes in an echomail network, by Jack Phlash. Now stop asking
me how to do this!

JP!IQNL1.ZIP  -  Jack  Phlash brings  us  an  IPL  mod  to  replace
Iniquity's "XL" command replacement to show all nodes, not just the
ones that are currently up/online. Perfect for all 2 people who run
Iniquity in 2025!

JP!IR21.ZIP - Instinct Rumors 2.1 by Jack Phlash. A quick update to
his  previously  released  Instinct BBS +  REFDoor  script to  take
advantage of some new features/fixes in REFDoor 1.3.

JP!TCG21.ZIP  -  TCEGraff/2.1 by Jack  Phlash.  An  update  to  the
previous TCEGraff/2  REFDoor script  to take  advantage of some new
features/fixes in REFDoor 1.3.

REFD130.ZIP - REFDoor v1.3 by Jack Phlash - yet another new version
of  JP's  unpopular  REF  scripting engine door containing numerous
additions and updates.

REFD141.ZIP - REFDoor v1.4.1 by Jack Phlash. Another new version of
REFDoor, focusing  on editions  and  fixes for e-mag creation. This
update made REFDoor's single user, Jack Phlash, quite happy.

XQBBSDB.ZIP - An interactive, self-populating database of connected
BBSes for Mystic BBS by Xqtr. This is  pretty cool, and more people
should use it.  It  does require some sort of  network  with a data
transport echo to get the most out of it though!

XQEMDMN.ZIP - Xqtr brings us  a mail  daemon that allows  SysOps to
post and  even interact  with  their  BBSes  via  Internet  e-mail.
Currently  supports Mystic BBS and Enimga Н. Both neat  and kind of
weird, an Xqtr staple!

XQ!SCRSV.ZIP - Xqtr brings us a slew of cool MPL based screensavers
for  Mystic.  Perfect  for all of  you  lamers whose BBSes  are  so
goddamn boring they put your users to sleep.

XQ!SYSBR.ZIP - a quick tutorial  on modding Mystic using ACS & menu
commands, using a cool status  bar mod as an example, by Xqtr. This
might  be the  rare  case  where  the  example  is  cooler than the
tutorial it's in.

% Clandestine Contact

Need technical  support? Have  a mod request? Just  feeling lonely?
You  reach  us   each  by  emailing  esc  at   demonic.net,  jp  at
demonic.net, opicron at demonic.net, and/or xqtr at demonic.net.

Another  method much more in line  with the spirit of Demonic would
be to call our BBSes.  We all  run boards which, with the exception
of Esc's, are semi-publicly accessible. Call them up and e-mail the
SysOp!

* Another  Droid  (andr01d.zapto.org:9999)  run by  Xqtr.  Awesome,
experimentally modded  Mystic  BBS themed around evil robots. Maybe
I'm just projecting the evil part?

* Distortion (d1st.org:23)  run  by Jack Phlash.  Modded Mystic old
school art board stylee.

* The Forze (bbs.opicron.eu:23) run by Opicron. Modded Mystic  with
a sleek, minimalist style (and check out  that cool  screen saver!)

* Monterey (not  open  for business  yet)  run by Esc.  Amiga ASCII
laden Daydream/Linux or Mystic (changes weekly) - not  yet open for
public consumption.

You can  also reach us via the 0N-DPUB  (AKA  something  related to
"Demonic Productions") echo on most boards that carry Zer0net.

We also kind  of have a website  @  http://www.demonic.net but it's
mostly  a  placeholder  for  now,  with  updates and  other content
currently appearing at JP's blog at https://jackphla.sh.

Hopefully  the next newsletter comes out a bit sooner, at the  very
least  so  I have less news to  sift through and fewer releases  to
try to describe. Ugghh.

% EOF!?
SAUCE00Demonic Newsletter 05/2025         Jack Phlash         Demonic Productions 20250525žО

Pќ