Bobterm, Atari 800xl and Fujinet question.

Sorry to be a bother, but figured I'd reach out here since this is my first time using an Atari to dial BBS. I have dialed other BBSs on other platforms such as the Commodore 64. When reading an article I was able to hit key combos to stop the text from outputing too fast. Do you guys have a resource or a cheat sheet that would help with learning this new platform? If this has been answered a million times before, I'd be happy to delete my post, but figured I'd start here. Edit: I figured I'd say I'm dialing into southern amis. Thanks for helping a n00b!

-Csolo

8 comments

8 Comments

southernamis

Dec 14, 2023

Hey Csolo - very much appreciate your visits to southern amis! Yes, there is an issue between the BBS, BobTerm and FujiNet for the CNTR-S to pause reading text.

Here is the issues::

The BBS, unlike back in the day with a modem has the throttle wide open at 9600 baud. With FujiNet you have to log on at 4800 due to the loss character issue on the FujiNet.. So here is what's happening, on my side, the BBS has already pushed the text and BobTerm is slowing the text to 4800 baud on your receiving end so when you hit CNTR-S the BBS has already pushed the text out..

We found solutions in using Express Cart and some have found other DOS with BobTerm works. For me Amodem works well, 850 express and just about anything else in my testing.

Hope this helps with your experience

-Amis

Csolo

Dec 14, 2023

Replying to

Ahhhhh, that makes a lot more sense. I definitely remember key combos working when dialing into other BBS with my Commodore. Thanks for clearing this up for me. I'll look into the express cart the other solutions you mentioned above.

Thanks again!

-Csolo

southernamis

Dec 14, 2023

Replying to

On the Download page of this site, a bunch of ATR's with term programs, etc. And of couse, either here or on the bbs, ask questions. Great crew online to help!

Ripjetski

Dec 12, 2023

I think it is CTRL-S and CTRL-Q. And with BobTerm and FujiNet combo, dont press BREAK!

bf2k+

Dec 12, 2023

Replying to

Ctrl-S is a BBS pause thing... nothing to do with BobTerm - it works with all terminals. Any other key will resume. As for the baud rate, no way to slow the BBS down... it spits it out as fast as it can. You have to hit Ctrl-S as soon as you hit the [A]gain to redisplay in order to interrupt it.

Some BBSes (like mine) have a page length setting that you set in your user record. I keep mine set at 22 so it pauses every 22 lines allowing my slow-reading self to catch up. Try it: Boot Factory BBS - bfbbs.no-ip.com port 8888

Edited

Csolo

Dec 14, 2023

Replying to

I gave it a try and still had no luck. I'm holding down the control key on the left side of the keyboard and hitting S. But I do really appreciate you trying to help. Maybe I'll see if anyone on discord can help. Again sorry for my ignorance, I'm sure I'm doing something incorrect. If I figure it out, I'll drop a line in here with what I was doing incorrectly.

Thanks!

-Csolo

bf2k+

Dec 14, 2023

Replying to

You're not doing anything incorrectly... the data comes across too fast on these internet BBSes for you to pause it manually...

I added a new feature to AT_Connect that is specifically designed to thwart this issue... and it works perfectly... proving that the problem is, in fact, that by the time you hit the Ctrl-S, the data is already on your machine thus preventing the pause from occurring.

But these computer things are very fast... and the computer can send the Ctrl-S much faster than you can hit the keyboard. This new feature allows you to click a button ([A]gain + Ctrl-S) which redisplays the current message and then a few milliseconds later, sends the Ctrl-S for you which interrupts the message at the beginning of the display and then allows you to restart and stop it using ctrl-s at your leisure. Ctrl-S both stops and restarts it.

This new version of AT_Connect 3.12 will be released this coming weekend (12/15 at the Zoom meeting). It should be available shortly after on this website under the AT_Connect section which is where you can read all about AT_Connect. It has only been tested under Windows 7 or 10. No versions available for Linux or Mac.