DOS BBS client and server

This image is designed to let you run a DOS BBS inside Docker, or to connect to a remote BBS. It can be used standalone, or as a base for other images.

It is based upon:

• My DosEMU environment for Docker⁠. Please see this page for more documentation, including how to set the VNC password.
• tcpser⁠ to simulate a modem.

An additional environment variable, BBSNODES, can be set to indicate how many nodes to start. It defaults to 0 in this image, and can also be set within the image by modifying /dos/numnodes.

Dialing into DOS BBSs

From the VNC console with the default setup, you can dial into various BBSs. First, run dosconsole. Then, inside the DOS console, here is an example of what to type to get started:

g: cd \comm\tm tm

This starts Telemate. Now, close the blue phonebook with Esc and type:

ATDTbbs.starbase21.net

This will begin a Telnet session with the simulated modem. Note also that you can add a port number with :port at the end (eg, ATDTbbs.starbase21.net:23).

To connect to a BBS running locally, run ATDTlocalhost.

Alt-X exits Telemate.

Install and run

You can install with:

docker pull jgoerzen/dos-bbs

And run with:

docker run -d -p 5901:5901 -p 23:23 --name dos-bbs jgoerzen/dos-bbs

Installed files

Here's what you can find in this image.

• /dos/drive_* corresponds to particular DOS drives.
• Within the DOSEMU image:
  • H:\SCRIPTS is a convenient place to drop scripts as needed; also on the PATH
  • H:\STARTUP contains scripts generated by /usr/local/bin/startnode (for instance, NODE2.BAT contains the commands to fire up BBS node 2). startnode will call /dos/nodeprephook.sh to set up these files.
  • H:\ADF containts the ADF FOSSIL driver.
  • G:\COMM contains Telix and Telemate, nice DOS BBS clients.
  • G:\DOORS contains a few DOS DOOR games.
  • G:\ should contain the BBS.
  • E: is presented likea local filesystem, and contains the BOOTUP.BAT script
• Config files:
  • /dos/numnodes is the default number of nodes to start. This image sets it to 0, and by default supports 9 (more could be supported via additional supervisor scripts). The BBSNODES environment variable can override this setting.
  • /dos/nodeprephook.sh contains additional commands to run at the boot time of a node (but not the main console). This would be a place to fire up a BBS. It is called by /usr/local/bin/startnode and a nice example of its usage is in jgoerzen/bbs-renegade⁠.

See the jgoerzen/dosemu documentation for the recommendations on child image usage of these drives.

Note: this image provisions a number of files in /etc/supervisor.d/conf.d. Child images may want to modify them.

VNC Console

VNC is exposed on port 5901. You can connect to this port. You will see, by default, an xterm (white) running here, though child images may alter these defaults.

Middle-clicking on the background will open new terminals. Some commands you may try include:

• dosconsole to fire up a nice DOS console for you to play with

Telnet ports

Telnet is exposed on port 23, and runs the socat program.

Within the image, port 8000 will connect you to the emulated modem in the default console.

To be sure, the protocol running on port 23 is not actually telnet, but a raw TCP socket. The DOS BBS community refers to these as "telnet", even though generally they are not running the telnet protocol.

Source

This is prepared by John Goerzen jgoerzen@complete.org⁠ and the source can be found at https://github.com/jgoerzen/docker-qemu-dos⁠

More resources

• Telnet to a BBS within DosBOX⁠
• Telemate v4.2x under DOSBox Tutorial⁠
• Reddit: Using DosBox to Dial into Telnet boards⁠
• Configuring DOSBox to allow inbound and outbound telnet connections⁠
• DOS BBS files⁠

Copyright

Docker scripts, etc. are Copyright (c) 2017 John Goerzen All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Additional software copyrights as noted.