Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Harber1
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Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by Harber1 »

Hey All,

Brand new to Mister. Just got mine yesterday. My issue is I am unable to get my C64 to connect to BBS’s. I have seen a few posts and videos where people speak to setting up their UART setting to use modem with 9600 Baud. I am trying to use CCGMS using those same settings and am unable to get it to work. Does anyone have a guide they can point me to that would help me get going? Thanks All!

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thera34
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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by thera34 »

Hello,

You might want to check this https://mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_M ... ion-on-c64

P.S. From core's page https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/C64_MiSTer :
"Note: DolphinDOS and SpeedDOS kernals have no RS232 routines so most RS232 software don't work with these kernals!"

Cheers,

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Aspie
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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by Aspie »

allyourbasekris did some great videos showing you how to connect to BBS with the C64. The watch the first vid and get the terminal program, then the second is the one you need to watch to get it to work since the update.
https://youtu.be/IwLdQ6P4Vh8
https://youtu.be/1Gk8pMkV1hk

Harber1
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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by Harber1 »

Thanks guys. Followed the docs and videos. Still not working but I think I am getting closer. I can at least issue the AT command and get an OK back now where that wasn’t working before.

The issue I am seeing is when I type is sporadically throws garbage characters to the screen. Everytime I go to connect to a DNS name it gives me an error saying “Unable to convert hostname to ip address”. When I try to connect to an IP directly it gives me a “Network is unreachable” error.

My Mister does appear to be connected to the Internet. I am getting an IP from my router in the System menu and can run the update scripts to pull down updates just fine.

Any thoughts?

jalbarracin
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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by jalbarracin »

Hi first try to connect using 2400 bauds settings in the terminal and on the mister menu.
This garbage seems to me as a baud issue

Harber1
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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by Harber1 »

Thanks for that. I switched to 2400 and it did get rid of the garbage characters, but still getting the same connection errors. The image below is what I am seeing.

H01JAvm.jpeg
H01JAvm.jpeg (381.84 KiB) Viewed 3539 times
bbond007
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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by bbond007 »

Harber1 wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:07 pm

Thanks for that. I switched to 2400 and it did get rid of the garbage characters, but still getting the same connection errors. The image below is what I am seeing.

What happens if you use the F9 Linux console and telnet to that hostname or IP & port?

Do you have both WiFi dongle and RJ45 Ethernet connected simultaneously? If so, try it with just one or the other. (Someone had that issue as I recall)

Harber1
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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by Harber1 »

I was able to get this working, or at least a workaround so for anyone else with this issue in the future, hopefully this helps.

I was finally able to connect over 2400 baud on the standard rom by changing the RS232 mode to VIC-1011. Every post and video I saw said this needs to be UP9600 but trial and error led me to trying this and it worked; however, even though I was able to connect I kept getting sporadic disconnections.

I saw a post where someone said they were using the JiffyDos Rom and had no issues. I built one and copied it to the Mister. Upon testing not only did 2400 baud work with no issues, but I was able to switch the settings to connect at 9600 with no issues as well. Hopefully this helps others!

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JamesH
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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by JamesH »

Sorry, but that's not the real root cause. There is something specific to your setup, something that forces you to use that weird workaround. I was playing with C64 core and various versions of ccgms for several days (actually testing some BBS software) and it all works as described.

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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by bbond007 »

JamesH wrote: Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:49 pm

Sorry, but that's not the real root cause. There is something specific to your setup, something that forces you to use that weird workaround. I was playing with C64 core and various versions of ccgms for several days (actually testing some BBS software) and it all works as described.

I agree... it more seems like a combination of issues.

The garbage could come from having Expansion set to Joystick vs RS232.

And the DNS issue and "Network is Unreachable" thing and disconnects seem more like general network connectivity issues.

I always thought that VIC-1011 mode was for 2400bps and below and UDP9600 was for 9600...

Harber1
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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by Harber1 »

Just did more testing. Same issues on standard rom. Everything working great on Jiffy. Also everything works fine from the Linux CLI. No idea what's going on, but Im brand new to the platform and not to the point I can do in depth troubleshooting. Happy to try anything anyone suggests, but it's working fine for me now with Jiffy so I'm happy.

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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by jalbarracin »

Can this be a wifi issue? Try ethernet also. Some wifi dongles are not good (energy draw)

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Re: Looking for help connecting to BBS’s on C64

Unread post by bbond007 »

Harber1 wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:34 am

it's working fine for me now with Jiffy so I'm happy.

That it good and I'm glad its working. Maybe something just needed a reboot.

Some of the alternate Kernal ROM replacements remove the serial routines (limited space) in favor of other features...

Some programs have their own serial drivers and are not effected.

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