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45 lines
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45 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
---
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title: "Dialing Into BBSs with a Wi-Fi Modem on the Atari ST"
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section: "retro"
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tags: "retro"
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description: "Using dhansel's WifiModem on the Atari Mega ST 4 'Low' to dial into telnet bulletin board systems with terminal software, no real phone line required."
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layout: base.njk
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parent: "/retro/"
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---
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<h1>Dialing Into BBSs with a Wi-Fi Modem on the Atari ST</h1>
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<div class="detail-content">
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<p>My <a href="/retro/atari-mega-st-fleet/">Mega ST 4 "Low"</a> uses a ready-built Wi-Fi modem based on <a href="https://github.com/dhansel/WifiModem" target="_blank">dhansel's WifiModem</a> firmware, an ESP8266 module that connects a serial port to Wi-Fi. With it, the machine can dial into telnet-based bulletin board systems using its own terminal software, recreating the dial-up BBS experience without a real phone line.</p>
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<h2>The WifiModem</h2>
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<p>dhansel's WifiModem is firmware for the ESP8266 that makes a serial port talk to Wi-Fi. It does this in two ways, and they're mutually exclusive:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Modem emulation</strong>, the computer on the serial port talks to the module as if it were a Hayes-compatible modem, sending AT commands. It can "dial" an IP address or hostname, and the module connects to that host over Telnet. This is what lets a vintage computer dial into telnet BBSs.</li>
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<li><strong>Telnet server</strong>, a computer on the Wi-Fi network can connect to the module's port 23 and the module passes communication through to the serial connection, letting you reach the Atari itself over Wi-Fi.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>For dialing out to BBSs, the modem emulation mode is the relevant one. The module understands Hayes-style commands like <code>ATDT</code> followed by a hostname or IP address, and can even limit the line speed via the S37 register for an authentic slow-modem feel. Since the ESP8266 only has RX/TX pins, there are no hardware control lines, but the module handles the "+++" escape sequence to return to command mode during a call.</p>
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<h2>Dialing the DarkForce! BBS</h2>
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<p>To put it to the test, I dialed into <a href="https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/dark-force-bbs/" target="_blank">the DarkForce! BBS</a>, an Atari-centric system that has been running since the early 90s on a Mega ST4 with BBS Express! ST software. It's a fitting target for an Atari ST, since it's a fellow Atari machine at heart. With the terminal software on the Mega ST sending <code>ATDT</code> to the Wi-Fi modem, the connection to <code>darkforce-bbs.dyndns.org</code> over Telnet worked, and the ANSI login screen, message boards and file sections of a real BBS came up on the original hardware, no phone line involved.</p>
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<h2>Why do it</h2>
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<p>The obvious question is "why bother?", the Atari ST was never designed
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for networking, and a modern device does all this far more easily. But
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that's not the point. There's real satisfaction in making old hardware do
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things it was never meant to do, and in experiencing the dial-up era's BBS
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culture on original hardware, over Wi-Fi instead of a phone line.</p>
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<p class="note">If you're chasing BBS nostalgia on real hardware: budget far more patience for the networking layer than for the actual computer. The 1980s hardware is the easy part; convincing 2020s Wi-Fi and modern BBS ANSI dialects to cooperate is the real challenge.</p>
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<h2>Also worth noting</h2>
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<p>Jungsi tested a <a href="https://www.jungsi.de/wimodem232-oled-retro/" target="_blank">WiModem232 OLED</a> on his Atari ST and wrote about it on his blog. He used a different modem hardware than I did, but the idea is the same. He used "Connect" as his terminal software on the ST, but I used a different terminal program that could render ANSI graphics in ST Medium resolution, though I'd have to look up which one it was exactly.</p>
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<h2>Sources</h2>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="https://github.com/dhansel/WifiModem" target="_blank">dhansel's WifiModem - GitHub</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://www.jungsi.de/wimodem232-oled-retro/" target="_blank">WiModem232 OLED - Jungsi's Corner</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/" target="_blank">Telnet BBS Guide</a></li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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