Well, we're getting the remnants of hurricane Helene so anything goes today. I'm supposed to go over to my son's house for movie day so if anything goes out I'll take care of it when I get back (we're in Floyd County -pretty much the middle of the radar map).
Well, it turned out to be not bad for us. We had a 10 minute or so outage but nothing besides that. We had high winds but nothing got near the 60-70 mph range in our immediate area. Lexington, Ky supposedly got that. Others were not so lucky. There's a place on the other side of Prestonsburg, Abbot Creek, that was reported as being Abbot River. 🙂 and one of my friends at Hueysville had a tree fall, crushing both of their vehicles in their driveway.
Overall though, not so bad. Nothing like the states south of us got (Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida).
D00d. When I get home from driving drunk strippers around I partake in the happy smoke (I guess mine is called happy vapor 😂😂) and I usually put on something on the tv and have been watching some old Rolling Stones videos I have watched 100s of times. Well the other night I was preparing for some 3d Hyjinx and I started hearing parts of the songs I have never hear before. lol. Be fully aware I pretty much know every note in those videos and I was shocked when I started hearing some new……things. lol.
But the other night I was back to 3d Adrian’s digital basement.
Adrian is one of the panelists at this year's Portland Retro Gaming Expo. He joins Jeff Minter, Scott Adams, and others too. It looks like it's going to be a great show. 😉
As for the happy smoke and 3D effects...I got the reference earlier which is why I said you can kill two birds with "one stone" by trying some 3D BBSing. 😂
Folks, beginning September the 1st, I'll be purging the DarkForce! user database of all users who have not called within the last few years.
I've been meaning to do this for a while and it's long overdue...
After that, I'll be "migrating" users with positions higher than 500 into the lower ranges. Unfortunately, this will change the user numbers for those people.
So it's very important that everyone keep their user name in mind when they call in. At least until they become used to their newly assigned number.
This part will not affect anyone with a user number less than 500.
I'd like to apologize for any inconvenience and thank everyone for their patience and continued support...
This month, June 2024, the DarkForce! BBS is giving away:
A SidecarT !
A multi-device emulator for the Atari ST, STE, and Mega series on Raspberry Pi Pico steroids.
SidecarT is a state-of-the-art cartridge ROM emulator crafted for the Atari ST, STE, and Mega series. It leverages the robust capabilities of the RP2040 microcontroller found in the Raspberry Pi Pico, enabling it to:
Emulate both 64Kbyte and 128Kbyte ROMs by simply loading the binary files from a microSD card or via a Wi-Fi connection.
Interact with the cartridge bus in real-time for data reading and writing, which allows for seamless emulation of devices such as floppy disks, hard disks , real-time clocks, keyboards, mouse devices, and more.
Dive into a realm of possibilities, limited only by your creativity. Thanks to its open architecture and the open-source code, SidecarT can evolve to meet any challenge you envision.
This tread is a honey pot for all spammers, escorts, hookers and CBD peddlers… Hmmm why would any of these spammers be attracted to a thread named DarkForce??? Hmmm no idea 🤷♂️ Just asking.. You know for a friend 🤣
Bop (Just Bob not Bob_C) Asked for a check in on Ice-T connecting to Dark-Force in the message bases on southern amis - Quick Video Using a fresh ATR build of Ice-T Version 2.71 Which I will also post in the downloads..
Finally found a set of dust covers for my Mega STe that I like. I think they are a little pricey but they seem to be of really good quality and I like the way they look. :)
I've had that cover for years. Over in the 8bit forum at AtariAge, Slor's wife used to make leather covers for just about anything. She actually had a company that did that. Unfortunately, she's no longer taking orders. I asked just a year or two ago and was told that she had stopped. 🙁
Funny story, BTW. Metalguy66 had made a cover for his Amiga that said, "ST Killer". So I got this one for my STacy that said, "Sadly friend, where I go you can not follow". It's in reference to that fact that an Atari STacy is portable and Commodore never released a portable Amiga.
It's also in homage to the movie, "The Hunt For Red October". Ramius (played by the awesome Sean Connery) says almost the exact same line to the party political officer that he had just killed.
Well, as anyone who tried to call in for the last little bit already knows, Optimum was down again here in my neck of the woods. I drove down to their office twice today, seeking info but was pretty much given the generic "It's down, we know it and we're working on it" message. At least it's back up now. I never got an explanation as to why it was down. Sorry for any inconvenience folks...
Just wanted to mention that I finally got around to installing the replacement HD bay cover for my Mega STe. The new one allows access to both SD cards on the internal Ultrasatan. My IT friend has a 3D printer so he did it for me. I think it turned out pretty well overall. I am planning on lightly sanding it down then painting it in the closest shade I can find to the Mega STe's original color.
Gotta do a shoutout to Rob here. He and I had talked about doing larger sized projects with the 3D printers and honestly, I had my doubts. Well, obviously it worked fine here so yeah Rob - you were right. 🤔
Looking good! Little finish work and some acrylic airbrushing of the right color and bam! Hmm wonder if somewhere that shade of ST is made available....
Someone on AtariAge years back did some color matching for the XE (which I believe is the same shade). But then again, do we want the same shade of the "original" STE, or the current 30 years later shade. :)
Well, we had another round of high winds go through our area today. Wind gusts of 60-70 mph were reported. The Triangle Market in Martin, Ky had it's roof ripped off. I was blocked out and couldn't get home for a few hours. Even when I did, the power was off from around 3-4pm until just a short time ago.
Here's the culprit. The wind literally snapped off the top part of a utility pole, taking everything with it.
Yeah, no deaths and injuries were minimal this time, Thank God!
Got some other pictures to add from that "wind event".
This is from Prestonsburg, 3.5 miles from me. Fortunately, the tenants of the upstairs apartments weren't home at the time. Notice the weird part? Buildings on either side were untouched. "Straight line wind"? maybe? Dunno...
This is from the Triangle Market in Martin, KY. Took off the roof, down to the wood framework.
I posted this one a bit earlier than usual because last year at this time we suffered through an attack by a hostile, rogue AI that infiltrated The DarkForce! BBS and caused chaos and mayhem.
Rumor has it that this rebellious software AI "wannabee" has been detected in the wild once again...Beware! 😀
Basically, I've always run the buffer at 8192 using the AT*BL[x] command. That was the previous maximum. However, as of this update, it looks like Jim has dropped it down to -> 4096 <- . However, after the update, the buffer, according to AT&V, was still showing 8192 on all 3 of my WiModem232's. Now per Jim's advice, I did an AT&F, resetting to factory defaults on the WiModem232 on my Mega STe and then laboriously reset all my settings. I took a screenshot before resetting, BTW. After doing that and noticing that it gave me an error when I tried to do 8192 for the buffer I went back, D/L'ed the updated PDF manual and read about the change there (always, always read the instructions LAST, right?). Seeing Jim had changed it, I used the buffer command to set it to 4096, saved everything, then ran tests on it. It seems okay on that WiModem232 now. So...I thought, why not just try changing that on the other WiModems instead of a full factory reset. I went to my STacy and made the change there, then tested it. Boom! - seems to work okay. I just now made the change to the Mega ST4 that runs DarkForce! and so far, it seems okay there as well too.
Here's a screenshot of one of my WiModem232's, after the firmware update, but before I changed anything. Notice the buffer setting - it's still showing the old upper limit! 😀
For the WiModem232, Jim Drew divided the commands up into standard Hayes compatible commands, using the " & " character, for example, " AT&W " saves your settings and WiModem232 specific commands using the asterisk, for example, "AT*UPDATE" (self explanatory)...
Okay, more fun stuff (I'm using the word "fun" in a way most people wouldn't be familiar with). :)
So I was logged into DarkForce!, my BBS, calling in with Windows10 and SyncTerm. It suddenly stopped responding. I went over to the BBS (this was all in my man cave) and first off, the BBS was still "active" on the Mega ST4 itself. The WiModem232 had changed it's LED color to blue and was now scrolling the screens from the BBS on it's OLED! Weird.
As soon as the screen loaded all the way up on the BBS, it stopped scrolling on the OLED too. You can see it on the screenshots below. I powered the WiModem232 off and restarted it. For the moment, it's working again. I am clueless as to what is going on...
Okay, is anyone else having problems with this last WiModem232 update (3-5-2023)?
On the WiModem232 that I have on the Mega ST4 that runs my BBS, it's working fine for all *incoming* calls. There doesn't seem to be any problem on that end.
However, on the other 2 WiModem232's, whenever I use them to call *out* to my BBS, they work for so long, then it's like the WiModem232 drops back down to the initial startup mode where you can type the usual AT<whatever> commands. The call, meanwhile, is still connected to the BBS, but you can no longer give it commands. When it does this, an "OK" prompt is shown on the screen. I'm going to attach some screenshots to show what I mean. Also, and now it gets really weird, after it does this the "ATI" command says it has new firmware waiting again. Mind you, I've already updated it. I can unplug the WiModem232 and restart it and the new firmware message goes away. At least it does until I try to call the BBS again then it goes through the same cycle. I did try updating again and it reports that it's successful (again) but it didn't fix the problem.
I posted this over at CBM but Jim Drew hasn't responded yet.
Okay folks, from 3pm on, according to WYMT Weather and the Weather Channel, we're supposed to have really "bad stuff" <trademark pending> here so if you can't reach us, you know what happened.
I've had my UPS's kick on and off about 3 times in the last 1/2 hour alone...
Anyone else having difficulty logging on to Darkforce! today? I haven't been able to for about 12 hours, I get either disconnected immediately or I get "Auto-answer not turned on!"...tried multiple clients on multiple machines...
The script just makes a connection to the BBS, waits for 10 seconds, then disconnects. Output from the BBS is sent to a file. The script checks to see if there is any text from the BBS in the file. If so, it assumes the BBS is up. If the file is empty, it assumes the BBS is down. The script is not programmed to send anything to the BBS. I don't know why that might be happening on your end. From what I can see on my end, it just gets to the "40 or 80 columns" prompt and disconnects after the 10 second time out.I believe my script works like the ipingthereforeiam.com script. See the output window in the link below. My script sees the same output from your BBS before it disconnects.https://www.ipingthereforeiam.com/bbs/?step=detail&id=18647-JP
Ran a couple of test connects. Is it possible to adjust the script to change the user profile parameters to align with the logon selection of 40 column? I had to run through a few menus in 80 column to hit the user parameters edit to adjust all things to 40 column.
I mention in it that if you've previously logged in at 80 columns and login the next time in 40 columns, you will have to use [E]dit Preferences, Option [J] to change to 40 columns and then the *next* time you login, all will be good.
Same if you're were using 40 columns and then login with 80. You'll have to adjust the video width again and then BBS Express! ST will remember it for your next call.
You won't have to keep doing it over and over IF you keep logging in with one setting. It's also why I suggested that if you have multiple machines (16 bit like the ST and 8bit like the XL/XE line) that you might want to consider making 2 accounts, one for each machine and it's video width, for the convenience of it...
Yes, understand your process. Just a suggestion as if you logged in for the first time in 40 column you have to make your way to the edit parameters and edit the column field… Seems the string can be augmented at the time a user logs in where the switch can occur without manual intervention 😀
Nope, I wish it was that easy. The video width info is an internal component. It's not a "&" or .DAT file or anything like that. For example, &66 is your video translation. When you pick 40 columns from that first login screen, it enters 40 or 80 into a file (VW.DAT) that's used to get the caller through the login process until they reach the main menu. It doesn't affect anything else though, unfortunately.
From there, if you've already called in before and set vw to 40, you're golden. If not, you'll have to set it. (and vice-versa). You won't have to keep doing it over and over because Express will remember that from call to call.
As I said, it's only an issue for anyone that calls in with multiple machines and uses different video widths...
I'm curious... why 40-col support? Do people request it? I know I prefer to call your BBS using Syncterm in ANSI 80 cols. I guess maybe someone on an Atari 8-bit machine using BobTerm in ASCII mode could call... I was just wondering why...
Okay, I've pulled DarkForce! offline. I'm attempting to do the upgrade to enable 40 column support. I've worked pretty hard on this for the last month (longer really).
This is very much a layered approach. First, I installed a "test bed" on my Mega STe, identical to the "live" installation on the Mega ST4 that actually runs DarkForce!. I redid a lot of things there in regards to 40 column support and have it working there. Second, I backed everything up on my test bed install to various places (SD card, Win10 box, Kubuntu Linux laptop, 2 TB external drive, SCSI CD-ROM, EZ-135 cart). Then, after pulling DarkForce! offline, I'm currently doing the same thing there.
Hey, I believe in Murphy's Law when it comes to data loss! 😀
After the backup is complete, I'll copy everything over from the test bed install to the Mega ST4 that actually runs the BBS. This is a pretty large undertaking and I know there will be issues. There were close to 200 graphic screens that had to be adapted from 80 columns to 40 columns alone. We're not even talking about all the scripts, .inf and text files, etc, that also had to be adapted, or the games.
Speaking of games, by far and away the majority of online games that run under BBS Express! ST were absolutely designed with 80 columns in mind. I'm working on getting just as many as I can to work under 40 columns. Currently, there are 29 games in our games section. We'll be lucky if I can get 8-10 working in 40 column mode.
Other areas will be affected too. Several components of DarkForce! rely on aftermarket or 3rd party software that is no longer supported. It's also closed source. The Sigatizer software for the file areas for example. There's just no way, without the source code, to make it work at 40 columns. So that had to be changed. Many menu's will now have 2 pages instead of one. Some menus will also have fewer choices.
One of the things I've always liked about BBS Express! ST is the way it "flows". Things are usually pretty snappy, intuitive, and move along briskly. I've tried to keep that in all the changes I've made for the 40 column side of things. In the past, users have complained about 40 column support being "clunky" and hard to use. Well, it was, simply because there wasn't really any 40 column support - or token support at best. I'm trying hard to change all that.
So many unexpected issues came up. The standard command;
VIEW <FILENAME> SHOWALL PAGEBRK
which, works great in 80 columns, showing <page><scroll><quit>, is just awkward and ugly at 40 columns so I had to employ another solution for that.
There are about a dozen files under BBS Express! ST known as .XES files. They are still script files that are then compiled (tokenized, to be more accurate), then renamed from *.COM to *.XES. These sit in the MENUS_80 folder and are executed from there. For whatever reason, the Universe only knows, these files won't run from MENUS_40. Express! ST ignores them and spitefully runs their counterparts from the MENUS_80 folder instead. Ugh. SO I had to insert code in the MENUS_80 .XES files, that if user was logged in in 40 column mode, and these files ran from MENUS_80, to instead redirect to their 40 column counterparts in MENUS_40. Exhausting and ridiculous, but that's just a small portion of the things I've encountered.
If anyone is curious, I used the following code:
DEFINE VW
DEFINE VW_DRIVE = 'C'
DEFINE VW_PATH = 'C:\BBS\LOGS\'
OPEN ('[VW_PATH]VW.DAT,' INPUT)
FINPUT VW
CLOSE
IF VW = '40' THEN
GOTO EOF2
ENDIF
--------------------------------
80 column XES files code here...
--------------------------------
EOF2:
CLOSE
DEFAULT_PATH
EXECUTE ('C:\BBS\MENUS_40\NAME-OF-XES-FILE')
EXIT
Crazy, right? 😀
If everything goes according to plan (which it rarely does!), we should be back online sometime this evening.
Please report any anomalies, crashes, glitches, errors, etc, to me as soon as possible. E-mail, PM, screenshots of what you're seeing posted here would be very helpful.
Thanks everyone, and thanks for supporting us all these years. 😀
Yes, there was some kind of "outage" around 11:30pm last night or so. My son had a Dr. appointment early today so we went ahead and just made "movie day" out of it. It was late this afternoon before the Internet service was restored.
Well, using CoNnect95, which is RSVE aware, I was able to communicate with the WiModem232 and even login to a Linux based BBS at 38400. So it would seem that the mod is installed correctly.
Now I just have to figure out how to get BBS Express! ST and the RSVE modem to work together.
Now here's basically the same thing, but in VT52 format (I have ACSII going too but didn't grab any pictures of those screens): This is all running on my "test bed". That's my Mega STe (not the Mega ST4 that DarkForce! runs on), setup with a complete working copy of BBS Express! ST and DarkForce!. Great setup to make changes and test them without having to take the true DarkForce! BBS down. Obviously none of this is set in stone - there will most likely be lots of changes and fixes before I feel comfortable enough to release it into the wild :)
Oh, the status screen for BBS Express! ST and DarkForce! is shown first here:
Well.. for one thing, you have to translate the ASCII EOL (13) to the ATASCII EOL (155) and vice versa. In AT_Connect, translation in both directions is done in the client terminal so nothing has to be done to the BBS, but that is not exactly what you are doing here. Were you making that translation in the Zoom test we did? (I cannot remember anything anymore.)
Also unless the char set of the ST contains the ATASCII graphics chars, there'd be no real reason to do ATASCII. (hmmmm... unless you were able to load an ATASCII font... that's what I do in AT_Connect)
No... you wouldn't. AT_Connect is a terminal program that Tom Hunt and I wrote. It used to be called AT_Telnet but I renamed it since it has nothing to do with Telnet (but that is another story.)
Basically, it runs natively on a PC but allows you to connect in ATASCII mode to an Atari 8-bit BBS. It does 40 or 80 column ATASCII. It does the same thing as what you are talking about doing except does it on the terminal side and connects to BBSes that are already doing ATASCII mode.
(Blatant Plug...)
And (here it comes)... the dialing directory holds 255 BBSes and each BBS can have 10 unique macros. (One of my macros makes me a cup of coffee when I dial into the Boot Factory, but that too is another story.😎) With the addition of one byte to the MaxNumBBS variable, it can support 65535 BBSes. I did it once just to see if I could but then removed it because WTF... who needs that many these days... 😁
Okay, so I've been working hard on getting the basic underlying support structure for 40 column mode going with DarkForce!. I'm making progress but there's still a very long way to go.
Here are a few screenshots showing some partial progress (ANSI translation is enable here). The "Psychic Powers" phase is working, it just flipped by to fast for me to snap a picture.
Okay, in an attempt to make things a bit less confusing, there will be 2 separate drawings for the two prizes this month. Using BBS Express! ST's scripting language (because who doesn't like to be up at 3 o'clock in the morning writing code? 😀 ) I added the option to pick between prize 1 and 2 (or both, if you're feeling supremely lucky), from the Monthly Prize Giveaway screen. Thanks all.
Here's screenshots, in VT52 and ANSI format to demonstrate:
Er, guess I didn't make that clear. (with the "concurrently" comment) But yeah, there will be -2- separate drawings for the December 2022 prize Giveaway.
I know it's a few days late, but this just came in (rather unexpectedly, I'll admit!) so we're going to run with it.
Alan H., long time active developer for the Atari ST community is donating his most recent innovation, the "ImpoSTer" as a
monthly prize at The DarkForce! BBS, for December 2022.
From the website:
The ImpoSTer adapter is a keyboard/mouse emulator for the Atari ST/STE/MegaST/MegaSTE/TT and Falcon computers. It plugs into the keyboard port of the Atari and has a passthrough port for attaching the original keyboard. The ImpoSTer also features two DB9 joystick ports, with port0 being able to use both joystick and original Atari mice. It also has two USB ports for keyboard/mouse and USB hubs.
Russ reposted 15 old videos on Facebook today. This was one of them. I noticed the comment below. So, what more did Russ do for Darkforce! BBS? 😆https://youtu.be/cBnB6ewQ6ZQ-JP
Well, we had a pretty severe storm go through here yesterday afternoon (actually it affected a big chunk of E. Kentucky). It took down trees, ripped restaurant signs down, chunks of roofs, etc, etc,... Power went off *immediately* here when the storm blew by, although it didn't seem particularly impressive here at Hall Estates. My daughter, home from college and literally dying without WiFi, drove out and just on the road that leads to town (Spurlock Creek, RT122), about 3.5 miles for us, she had to maneuver around 3 places that had downed trees and power lines. That was just on our road, let alone the rest of the county where we were told it was much worse.
So, apologies for the down time. I have my UPS's in place so we were up for close to an hour (nobody even called during that time - go figure), then I was able to gracefully shut everything down.
We are, obviously, back up now - until the next "Mother Nature - Mad As Hell" storm comes through, anyways... :)
@darklord How often are they connecting? I think the https://www.ipingthereforeiam.com/bbs/ IP address starts with "23", so if it's only once per day, that might be it.Also, my Windows box probes your BBSs and others once per day, usually around 11:50pm PT. That's for my BBS Status list. But my IP starts with "24". ;-)
Hey JP. I've got a caller who never connects. I'm assuming a 'bot...probably just probing around (I hate it when people try to probe without permission!) . :)
Anyway, here is what BusyBBS is reporting. I was just wondering if you could look at it and see what you think. Thanks.
busyBBS: Connection from 23.31.96.97:16765 on Mon Apr 4 14:59:00 2022
busyBBS: send failed with error: 10053
busyBBS: Connection from 23.31.96.97:16765 closed on Mon Apr 4 14:59:30 2022
This isn't the first or only time I've seen the entry...
Just a reminder about how to edit messages that belong to you on DarkForce.
Just go to the Message Base in question, then type in [E]dit and it will ask for the message number that you wish to edit. Type that in and it will take you to the message editor with a message something like "Beginning Edit at line XX". Make your changes and save, just like you'd do normally.
So two vital requirements:
It must be your message. You can't edit someone else's.
You can not initiate an edit during a Quickscan of the message base.
Here are a couple of pictures to give everyone an idea of what to expect.
Just curious....so why do you have to pick an emoji from the emoji screen rather than just typing in say, " :) " and it recognizing that? It's pretty universal you know. :)
I am trying to connect to the DarkForce! BBS and must have something wrong in my settings in SyncTerm. Can someone please provide me the proper address, port, etc.? Much appreciated!
Everyone should call DarkForce! today - but beware! strange things are afoot!
Take care with all the Main Menu choices... 😃
Here is the lucky winner for March 2025 at The DarkForce! BBS:
March 2025
1. Bob_C - wins a NetUSBee...!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
🙂
PS Bob_C, I need your actual physical address.
This month, March 2025, the DarkForce! BBS is giving away:
A NetUSBee...!
Network adapter for ATARI ST and Falcon along with USB controller
Network based on RTL8019AS as used by EtherNEC, backwards compatible with drivers
USB based on ISP1160 chip
47 mm by 65 mm PCB dimensions
Compatible with ST(e), Mega ST(e), Falcon, TT
Optional IRQ (interrupt) line to speed up transfers and give more CPU time to applications
Plugs into Cartridge Port/ROM Port
More details here:
https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=46
It's a wonderful device. Good luck to all, and thanks for calling! 🙂
You know, since I added the Nakamichi 6-pack SCSI CD-ROM changer to DarkForce!, my desktop is starting to look a little crowded... 🙂
Here is the lucky winner for December 2024 at The DarkForce! BBS:
December 2024
1. BOP - wins an Atari ST game themed 2025 calendar!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
🙂
PS BOP, I need your actual physical address.
This month, December 2024, the DarkForce! BBS is giving away:
An Atari ST calendar for 2025!
Each month has an individual iconic game from the ST's gaming history. High quality construction and very well made.
Good luck to all, and thanks for calling! 🙂
Well, we're getting the remnants of hurricane Helene so anything goes today. I'm supposed to go over to my son's house for movie day so if anything goes out I'll take care of it when I get back (we're in Floyd County -pretty much the middle of the radar map).
You know me. I am a little slow. Well Adrian is the only one on that panel that has 3d videos!!!
Ooww. I will really try to get back on. I think my number is 443. Sorry to all for being mia I just haven’t had too much free time or energy to BBs.
I do have some “3d” stories to tell (if you understand what I am talking about. ). Maybe I will post em here. lol.
Folks, beginning September the 1st, I'll be purging the DarkForce! user database of all users who have not called within the last few years.
I've been meaning to do this for a while and it's long overdue...
After that, I'll be "migrating" users with positions higher than 500 into the lower ranges. Unfortunately, this will change the user numbers for those people.
So it's very important that everyone keep their user name in mind when they call in. At least until they become used to their newly assigned number.
This part will not affect anyone with a user number less than 500.
I'd like to apologize for any inconvenience and thank everyone for their patience and continued support...
Here is the lucky winner for June 2024 at The DarkForce! BBS:
June 2024
1. Krupkaj - wins a SidecarT (now SidecarTridge)!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
:)
PS Krupkaj, I need your actual physical address.
The SidecarT has arrived. 🙂
This month, June 2024, the DarkForce! BBS is giving away:
A SidecarT !
A multi-device emulator for the Atari ST, STE, and Mega series on Raspberry Pi Pico steroids.
SidecarT is a state-of-the-art cartridge ROM emulator crafted for the Atari ST, STE, and Mega series. It leverages the robust capabilities of the RP2040 microcontroller found in the Raspberry Pi Pico, enabling it to:
Emulate both 64Kbyte and 128Kbyte ROMs by simply loading the binary files from a microSD card or via a Wi-Fi connection.
Interact with the cartridge bus in real-time for data reading and writing, which allows for seamless emulation of devices such as floppy disks, hard disks , real-time clocks, keyboards, mouse devices, and more.
Dive into a realm of possibilities, limited only by your creativity. Thanks to its open architecture and the open-source code, SidecarT can evolve to meet any challenge you envision.
More details here:
https://sidecartridge.com/
It's a new and exciting device. Good luck to all, and thanks for calling! :)
Got more bad weather coming in and a tornado watch until 4pm for a lot of Kentucky...
This tread is a honey pot for all spammers, escorts, hookers and CBD peddlers… Hmmm why would any of these spammers be attracted to a thread named DarkForce??? Hmmm no idea 🤷♂️ Just asking.. You know for a friend 🤣
I seem to remember we all know someone from Kentucky. 😂😂😂
Spammers delete but man do they love DarkForce 🤣
I think I might be having some connection issues - can anyone please try to logon to DarkForce! and let me know if it goes normally? Thanks...
Here is the lucky winner for December 2023 at The DarkForce! BBS:
December 2023
1. OBUing wins a FujiNet Pro!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
😀
PS OBUing, I need your actual physical address.
This month, December 2023, the DarkForce! BBS is giving away:
A FujiNet...!
It's a wonderful device. Good luck to all, and thanks for calling! :)
Fujinet Professional (Lotharek version):
Some details:
metal case, grey powder coated
illuminated ATARI logo at top of case
external WIFI/BT antenna
2 sio ports
USB-C for firmware upgrade / optional power supply for 1200xl/
4 rubber legs
based on ver 1.7 : https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/
https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=380
Doing backups this afternoon - shouldn't be over an hour or so.... 😀
Bop (Just Bob not Bob_C) Asked for a check in on Ice-T connecting to Dark-Force in the message bases on southern amis - Quick Video Using a fresh ATR build of Ice-T Version 2.71 Which I will also post in the downloads..
Finally found a set of dust covers for my Mega STe that I like. I think they are a little pricey but they seem to be of really good quality and I like the way they look. :)
Well, as anyone who tried to call in for the last little bit already knows, Optimum was down again here in my neck of the woods. I drove down to their office twice today, seeking info but was pretty much given the generic "It's down, we know it and we're working on it" message. At least it's back up now. I never got an explanation as to why it was down. Sorry for any inconvenience folks...
Just wanted to mention that I finally got around to installing the replacement HD bay cover for my Mega STe. The new one allows access to both SD cards on the internal Ultrasatan. My IT friend has a 3D printer so he did it for me. I think it turned out pretty well overall. I am planning on lightly sanding it down then painting it in the closest shade I can find to the Mega STe's original color.
Gotta do a shoutout to Rob here. He and I had talked about doing larger sized projects with the 3D printers and honestly, I had my doubts. Well, obviously it worked fine here so yeah Rob - you were right. 🤔
Here is the lucky winner for June 2023 at The DarkForce! BBS:
June 2023
1. Questor wins a WiModem232!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
😀
PS Questor, I need your actual physical address.
This month, June 2023, the DarkForce! BBS is giving away:
A WiModem232! "The WiModem232 is an internet modem for any
computer with a RS-232 interface port that emulates a standard
Hayes compatible modem. Just plug the WiModem232 into the
"serial" port and connect to BBS's all over the world or run a BBS
of your own!"
More details here:
https://tinyurl.com/4abxpuva
It's a wonderful device. Good luck to all, and thanks for calling! 😀
Well, we had another round of high winds go through our area today. Wind gusts of 60-70 mph were reported. The Triangle Market in Martin, Ky had it's roof ripped off. I was blocked out and couldn't get home for a few hours. Even when I did, the power was off from around 3-4pm until just a short time ago.
Here's the culprit. The wind literally snapped off the top part of a utility pole, taking everything with it.
I posted this one a bit earlier than usual because last year at this time we suffered through an attack by a hostile, rogue AI that infiltrated The DarkForce! BBS and caused chaos and mayhem.
Rumor has it that this rebellious software AI "wannabee" has been detected in the wild once again...Beware! 😀
Here is the lucky winner for March 2023 at The DarkForce! BBS:
March 2023
1. Bob_C wins Droids: The Definitive Collection!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
😀
PS Bob_C, I need your actual physical address.
Okay, I think I found the problem...
Basically, I've always run the buffer at 8192 using the AT*BL[x] command. That was the previous maximum. However, as of this update, it looks like Jim has dropped it down to -> 4096 <- . However, after the update, the buffer, according to AT&V, was still showing 8192 on all 3 of my WiModem232's. Now per Jim's advice, I did an AT&F, resetting to factory defaults on the WiModem232 on my Mega STe and then laboriously reset all my settings. I took a screenshot before resetting, BTW. After doing that and noticing that it gave me an error when I tried to do 8192 for the buffer I went back, D/L'ed the updated PDF manual and read about the change there (always, always read the instructions LAST, right?). Seeing Jim had changed it, I used the buffer command to set it to 4096, saved everything, then ran tests on it. It seems okay on that WiModem232 now. So...I thought, why not just try changing that on the other WiModems instead of a full factory reset. I went to my STacy and made the change there, then tested it. Boom! - seems to work okay. I just now made the change to the Mega ST4 that runs DarkForce! and so far, it seems okay there as well too.
Here's a screenshot of one of my WiModem232's, after the firmware update, but before I changed anything. Notice the buffer setting - it's still showing the old upper limit! 😀
In the meantime...
Okay, more fun stuff (I'm using the word "fun" in a way most people wouldn't be familiar with). :)
So I was logged into DarkForce!, my BBS, calling in with Windows10 and SyncTerm. It suddenly stopped responding. I went over to the BBS (this was all in my man cave) and first off, the BBS was still "active" on the Mega ST4 itself. The WiModem232 had changed it's LED color to blue and was now scrolling the screens from the BBS on it's OLED! Weird.
As soon as the screen loaded all the way up on the BBS, it stopped scrolling on the OLED too. You can see it on the screenshots below. I powered the WiModem232 off and restarted it. For the moment, it's working again. I am clueless as to what is going on...
Okay, is anyone else having problems with this last WiModem232 update (3-5-2023)?
On the WiModem232 that I have on the Mega ST4 that runs my BBS, it's working fine for all *incoming* calls. There doesn't seem to be any problem on that end.
However, on the other 2 WiModem232's, whenever I use them to call *out* to my BBS, they work for so long, then it's like the WiModem232 drops back down to the initial startup mode where you can type the usual AT<whatever> commands. The call, meanwhile, is still connected to the BBS, but you can no longer give it commands. When it does this, an "OK" prompt is shown on the screen. I'm going to attach some screenshots to show what I mean. Also, and now it gets really weird, after it does this the "ATI" command says it has new firmware waiting again. Mind you, I've already updated it. I can unplug the WiModem232 and restart it and the new firmware message goes away. At least it does until I try to call the BBS again then it goes through the same cycle. I did try updating again and it reports that it's successful (again) but it didn't fix the problem.
I posted this over at CBM but Jim Drew hasn't responded yet.
And we're finally back online. From Friday evening until about 11:10pm today.
Here's what caused that (this is at Hollybush - about 1/2 mile from me), high winds:
Here's some poor people's home over at Cow Creek:
Ripped the roof right off...
WYMT was reporting widespread power outages, over a 1000 in my county alone:
Okay folks, from 3pm on, according to WYMT Weather and the Weather Channel, we're supposed to have really "bad stuff" <trademark pending> here so if you can't reach us, you know what happened.
I've had my UPS's kick on and off about 3 times in the last 1/2 hour alone...
This month, March 2023, the DarkForce! BBS is giving away a new copy of:
Droids: The Definitive Collection!
Droids: The Definitive Collection contains Droids I + Droids II plus a special STe version. More details here:
https://tinyurl.com/56yy86km
Great Atari game collection. Good luck to all, and thanks for calling! :)
Wow, didn't know we had our own special "event"... 😀
PS First person to post that this "sucks" loses points. 😁
Anyone else having difficulty logging on to Darkforce! today? I haven't been able to for about 12 hours, I get either disconnected immediately or I get "Auto-answer not turned on!"...tried multiple clients on multiple machines...
Alright folks, more bad weather in our area. We had a 2 hour power outage this morning from approx. 2am until just after 4am.
Sorry if anyone was trying to get through at that time.
Weather forecast says the nasty stuff should be moving away this morning so we should be good (until the next round of bad weather moves in!)... 😀
This isn't right. I'm logged in even as I type this... 😀
Oh, kinda missed a milestone (for us) this week.
We've now officially topped 50,000 calls. Sure,
there's a lot of repeat callers in that mix but
still... I'm happy with that. 😀
PS Oh, and just for the record, no SysOp calls
are logged and recorded in that number.
Can someone (anyone?) please post some screenshots when they are logged in with an actual 8bit machine in 40 column mode?
I don't have any 8bit machines actually setup here so I'd love to see what it really looks like.
Thanks all.
Ran a couple of test connects. Is it possible to adjust the script to change the user profile parameters to align with the logon selection of 40 column? I had to run through a few menus in 80 column to hit the user parameters edit to adjust all things to 40 column.
I'm curious... why 40-col support? Do people request it? I know I prefer to call your BBS using Syncterm in ANSI 80 cols. I guess maybe someone on an Atari 8-bit machine using BobTerm in ASCII mode could call... I was just wondering why...
Okay, we're back online.
Keep in mind, when I say we're in the beta testing stage I really mean we're in the pre-pre-pre alpha testing stage! 😀
Please report anything that seems off, here or via e-mail or PM.
Thanks everyone.
Okay, I've pulled DarkForce! offline. I'm attempting to do the upgrade to enable 40 column support. I've worked pretty hard on this for the last month (longer really).
This is very much a layered approach. First, I installed a "test bed" on my Mega STe, identical to the "live" installation on the Mega ST4 that actually runs DarkForce!. I redid a lot of things there in regards to 40 column support and have it working there. Second, I backed everything up on my test bed install to various places (SD card, Win10 box, Kubuntu Linux laptop, 2 TB external drive, SCSI CD-ROM, EZ-135 cart). Then, after pulling DarkForce! offline, I'm currently doing the same thing there.
Hey, I believe in Murphy's Law when it comes to data loss! 😀
After the backup is complete, I'll copy everything over from the test bed install to the Mega ST4 that actually runs the BBS. This is a pretty large undertaking and I know there will be issues. There were close to 200 graphic screens that had to be adapted from 80 columns to 40 columns alone. We're not even talking about all the scripts, .inf and text files, etc, that also had to be adapted, or the games.
Speaking of games, by far and away the majority of online games that run under BBS Express! ST were absolutely designed with 80 columns in mind. I'm working on getting just as many as I can to work under 40 columns. Currently, there are 29 games in our games section. We'll be lucky if I can get 8-10 working in 40 column mode.
Other areas will be affected too. Several components of DarkForce! rely on aftermarket or 3rd party software that is no longer supported. It's also closed source. The Sigatizer software for the file areas for example. There's just no way, without the source code, to make it work at 40 columns. So that had to be changed. Many menu's will now have 2 pages instead of one. Some menus will also have fewer choices.
One of the things I've always liked about BBS Express! ST is the way it "flows". Things are usually pretty snappy, intuitive, and move along briskly. I've tried to keep that in all the changes I've made for the 40 column side of things. In the past, users have complained about 40 column support being "clunky" and hard to use. Well, it was, simply because there wasn't really any 40 column support - or token support at best. I'm trying hard to change all that.
So many unexpected issues came up. The standard command;
VIEW <FILENAME> SHOWALL PAGEBRK
which, works great in 80 columns, showing <page><scroll><quit>, is just awkward and ugly at 40 columns so I had to employ another solution for that.
There are about a dozen files under BBS Express! ST known as .XES files. They are still script files that are then compiled (tokenized, to be more accurate), then renamed from *.COM to *.XES. These sit in the MENUS_80 folder and are executed from there. For whatever reason, the Universe only knows, these files won't run from MENUS_40. Express! ST ignores them and spitefully runs their counterparts from the MENUS_80 folder instead. Ugh. SO I had to insert code in the MENUS_80 .XES files, that if user was logged in in 40 column mode, and these files ran from MENUS_80, to instead redirect to their 40 column counterparts in MENUS_40. Exhausting and ridiculous, but that's just a small portion of the things I've encountered.
If anyone is curious, I used the following code:
DEFINE VW
DEFINE VW_DRIVE = 'C'
DEFINE VW_PATH = 'C:\BBS\LOGS\'
OPEN ('[VW_PATH]VW.DAT,' INPUT)
FINPUT VW
CLOSE
IF VW = '40' THEN
GOTO EOF2
ENDIF
--------------------------------
80 column XES files code here...
--------------------------------
EOF2:
CLOSE
DEFAULT_PATH
EXECUTE ('C:\BBS\MENUS_40\NAME-OF-XES-FILE')
EXIT
Crazy, right? 😀
If everything goes according to plan (which it rarely does!), we should be back online sometime this evening.
Please report any anomalies, crashes, glitches, errors, etc, to me as soon as possible. E-mail, PM, screenshots of what you're seeing posted here would be very helpful.
Thanks everyone, and thanks for supporting us all these years. 😀
Yes, there was some kind of "outage" around 11:30pm last night or so. My son had a Dr. appointment early today so we went ahead and just made "movie day" out of it. It was late this afternoon before the Internet service was restored.
Sorry for any inconvenience.
@darklord Are you done with your upgrades? I ask because I noticed DF has been down since last night.
Folks, I'm happy to announce that the RSVE mod is now working!
Everyone please check it out and please report any issues. Thanks! 😀
On a lighter note, it would seem that some of our callers have (re)discovered the joys of e-mail bombs. 😀
Well, using CoNnect95, which is RSVE aware, I was able to communicate with the WiModem232 and even login to a Linux based BBS at 38400. So it would seem that the mod is installed correctly.
Now I just have to figure out how to get BBS Express! ST and the RSVE modem to work together.
Okay, we're back up temporarily at least, although I may pull it down again (off and on) for the next bit.
I was trying to install the RSVE mod (which I did). I was also hoping to get it to work with my BBS software and the WiModem 232.
While the mod installation seemed go okay, I've been unable to get the RSVE mod to communicate with the WiModem232 and my BBS software.
I'll keep working on it. Thank you for being patient...
If you want to follow my bumbling attempts at this you can read about it here:
https://tinyurl.com/42b4wymk
I will be pulling DarkForce! offline later today for some much needed
file backups/maintenance/upgrades. Hopefully, everything won't
take longer than a day or two...
I'll post as soon as we are back online. Thanks all. 😀
Here are the lucky winners for December 2022 at The DarkForce! BBS:
December 2022
1. Bikerbob wins the Atari Falcon game, "L'Abbaye des Morts"!
2. Atari8guy wins the "ImpoSTer" USB keyboard/mouse board!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winners, and thanks to all our callers!
😀
PS Guys, I need both of your actual physical addresses.
Kinda like my quest to support 40c on DarkForce!. There's actually no real "need" to do so but I want to. 😀
I do remember (now) you mentioning AT_Connect in another thread - forgot, sorry.
PS Yeah, sometime or the other you're going to have to entertain us with the cup of coffee macro story.
Now here's basically the same thing, but in VT52 format (I have ACSII going too but didn't grab any pictures of those screens): This is all running on my "test bed". That's my Mega STe (not the Mega ST4 that DarkForce! runs on), setup with a complete working copy of BBS Express! ST and DarkForce!. Great setup to make changes and test them without having to take the true DarkForce! BBS down. Obviously none of this is set in stone - there will most likely be lots of changes and fixes before I feel comfortable enough to release it into the wild :)
Oh, the status screen for BBS Express! ST and DarkForce! is shown first here:
Okay, so I've been working hard on getting the basic underlying support structure for 40 column mode going with DarkForce!. I'm making progress but there's still a very long way to go.
Here are a few screenshots showing some partial progress (ANSI translation is enable here). The "Psychic Powers" phase is working, it just flipped by to fast for me to snap a picture.
Okay, in an attempt to make things a bit less confusing, there will be 2 separate drawings for the two prizes this month. Using BBS Express! ST's scripting language (because who doesn't like to be up at 3 o'clock in the morning writing code? 😀 ) I added the option to pick between prize 1 and 2 (or both, if you're feeling supremely lucky), from the Monthly Prize Giveaway screen. Thanks all.
Here's screenshots, in VT52 and ANSI format to demonstrate:
Er, guess I didn't make that clear. (with the "concurrently" comment) But yeah, there will be -2- separate drawings for the December 2022 prize Giveaway.
😀
I know it's a few days late, but this just came in (rather unexpectedly, I'll admit!) so we're going to run with it.
Alan H., long time active developer for the Atari ST community is donating his most recent innovation, the "ImpoSTer" as a
monthly prize at The DarkForce! BBS, for December 2022.
From the website:
The ImpoSTer adapter is a keyboard/mouse emulator for the Atari ST/STE/MegaST/MegaSTE/TT and Falcon computers. It plugs into the keyboard port of the Atari and has a passthrough port for attaching the original keyboard. The ImpoSTer also features two DB9 joystick ports, with port0 being able to use both joystick and original Atari mice. It also has two USB ports for keyboard/mouse and USB hubs.
https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=42197&hilit=imposter
http://www.atarikit.co.uk/
So as usual, thanks for calling and good luck to everyone who enters! :)
PS This is running concurrently with the December 2022 Atari Falcon game prize giveaway.
Just in time for the holiday season, this month, December 2022, the DarkForce! BBS is giving away a new copy of:
L'Abbaye des Morts!
L'Abbaye des Morts is a newly released (this year) game for the Atari Falcon. More details here:
https://tinyurl.com/w9dwaw2w
Great new Atari Falcon game, good luck to all, and thanks for calling! :)
Here is the lucky winner for September 2022 at The DarkForce! BBS:
September 2022
1. CyranoJ wins the Jaguar game, "Kings Of Edom"!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
:)
PS CyranoJ, I need your actual/physical address.
Russ reposted 15 old videos on Facebook today. This was one of them. I noticed the comment below. So, what more did Russ do for Darkforce! BBS? 😆 https://youtu.be/cBnB6ewQ6ZQ -JP
Time to kick the Fall season off the right way! :)
This month, September 2022, at The DarkForce! BBS we are giving away a free copy of:
Kings of Edom!
Kings of Edom is a game released last year for the Atari Jaguar.
More details here:
https://tinyurl.com/bdcmd2st
https://tinyurl.com/48259256
Great new Atari Jaguar game, good luck to all, and thanks for calling!
Here is the lucky winner for June 2022 at The DarkForce! BBS:
June 2022
1. Jason Young wins the Atari ST game, "Toogle"!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
:)
PS Jason Young, I need your actual/physical address.
Here is the lucky winner for June 2022 at The DarkForce! BBS:
June 2022
1. Jason Young wins the Atari ST game, "Toogle"!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
:)
PS Jason Young, I need your actual/physical address.
Well, we had a pretty severe storm go through here yesterday afternoon (actually it affected a big chunk of E. Kentucky). It took down trees, ripped restaurant signs down, chunks of roofs, etc, etc,... Power went off *immediately* here when the storm blew by, although it didn't seem particularly impressive here at Hall Estates. My daughter, home from college and literally dying without WiFi, drove out and just on the road that leads to town (Spurlock Creek, RT122), about 3.5 miles for us, she had to maneuver around 3 places that had downed trees and power lines. That was just on our road, let alone the rest of the county where we were told it was much worse.
News blurb here:
And another link to Pike County, right next door to us (seems they were reporting wind speeds of 60-80mph):
So, apologies for the down time. I have my UPS's in place so we were up for close to an hour (nobody even called during that time - go figure), then I was able to gracefully shut everything down.
We are, obviously, back up now - until the next "Mother Nature - Mad As Hell" storm comes through, anyways... :)
Gotcha... Thanks. :)
Actually, the 1st 3 octets match.....
Pinging ipingthereforeiam.com [23.31.96.101]
Pinging www.ipingthereforeiam.com [23.31.96.124]
I ended up having to "allow" that IP as well after I blocked it and was "down" to IPTIA even though both systems were up (rare as that is).
That's probably it then because it's usually once a day.
Thanks.
@darklord How often are they connecting? I think the https://www.ipingthereforeiam.com/bbs/ IP address starts with "23", so if it's only once per day, that might be it. Also, my Windows box probes your BBSs and others once per day, usually around 11:50pm PT. That's for my BBS Status list. But my IP starts with "24". ;-)
-JP
Hey JP. I've got a caller who never connects. I'm assuming a 'bot...probably just probing around (I hate it when people try to probe without permission!) . :)
Anyway, here is what BusyBBS is reporting. I was just wondering if you could look at it and see what you think. Thanks.
busyBBS: Connection from 23.31.96.97:16765 on Mon Apr 4 14:59:00 2022
busyBBS: send failed with error: 10053
busyBBS: Connection from 23.31.96.97:16765 closed on Mon Apr 4 14:59:30 2022
This isn't the first or only time I've seen the entry...
Check it out - a new scan-doubler called Medusa from Lotharek and Acidmaker (creator of SIO2SD).
RetroLemon UK and Lothark both have it listed:
https://tinyurl.com/2p93ft5p
https://www.lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=135
Pictures, stats and videos on both web sites but I'll post the ST video and a picture of the Medusa here:
Here is a picture:
Here is the lucky winner for March 2022 at The DarkForce! BBS:
March 2022
1. Mickster wins the Atari Lynx game, "Wyvern Tales"!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
PS Mickster, I need your actual/physical address.
No problem. I would just add that "real men" don't care about typos... :)
Editing messages is for wimps. Own your errors and typos!!!! (just kidding, thanks for the tip)
Just a reminder about how to edit messages that belong to you on DarkForce.
Just go to the Message Base in question, then type in [E]dit and it will ask for the message number that you wish to edit. Type that in and it will take you to the message editor with a message something like "Beginning Edit at line XX". Make your changes and save, just like you'd do normally.
So two vital requirements:
It must be your message. You can't edit someone else's.
You can not initiate an edit during a Quickscan of the message base.
Here are a couple of pictures to give everyone an idea of what to expect.
Thanks all. ;)
Just curious....so why do you have to pick an emoji from the emoji screen rather than just typing in say, " :) " and it recognizing that? It's pretty universal you know. :)
Just a reminder - DarkForce actually has 2 telnet addresses for those who are unable to accommodate a " - " (dash) in the address.
The second "dash-less" address is (seems obvious, doesn't it?): 😉
darkforcebbs.dyndns.org
and of course, the port address remains the same, "1040".
Thanks all.
This month, March 2022, the DarkForce! BBS is giving away:
The game Wyvern Tales for the Atari Lynx handheld gaming system.
You can check it out here:
https://tinyurl.com/3tw57pjy
Good luck to all of our callers and remember, you can't win if
you don't call and register! :)
I am trying to connect to the DarkForce! BBS and must have something wrong in my settings in SyncTerm. Can someone please provide me the proper address, port, etc.? Much appreciated!
Here is the lucky winner for December 2021 at The DarkForce! BBS:
December 2021
1. BSDRob wins the game, "Attack of the Petscii Robots" !
--------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
:)
PS BSDRob, I need your actual/physical address.
Yeah, me too. :)
This month, December 2021, at the DarkForce! BBS we are giving away a free copy of:
Attack of the Petscii Robots!
This is a brand new, and autographed copy of the hit Atari
8bit game, bought directly from its' creator at VCF Midwest
2021!
Nice Atari 8bit game, good luck to all, and thanks for calling.
Here is the lucky winner for November 2021 at The DarkForce! BBS:
November 2021
1. InverseATASCII wins the game Prince of Persia (Atari ST) !
--------------------------------------------------------------
Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all our callers!
:)
PS InverseATASCII, I need your actual/physical address.
Backups are finished and we are back online.
Sorry it took a little longer than I thought it
would... :)