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  • Amstrad PPC512 and BBS

    From Alastair Frankland@1:124/5016 to All on Sun Aug 10 13:53:13 2025
    Hi all! Just to report some success running Mirror II software on Amstrad PPC512 with a Hayes modem. 2400 to 9600 seems acceptable. ANSI also looking good. The software is affordable which is more than I can say for a certain Amiga brand out there. The Amstrad seems more compatible with modern BBS than the Amiga. Take care!
    bye
    --- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (1:124/5016)
  • From Bob Worm@2:250/3 to Alastair Frankland on Wed Aug 13 12:58:07 2025
    Re: Amstrad PPC512 and BBS
    By: Alastair Frankland to All on Sun Aug 10 2025 13:53:13

    Hi, Alastair.

    Hi all! Just to report some success running Mirror II software on Amstrad PPC512 with a Hayes modem. 2400 to 9600 seems acceptable. ANSI also looking good.

    That sounds like a fun / unusual setup - is there a story behind it?

    Off to look up the PPC512 now :)

    BobW
    --- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
    * Origin: >>> Magnum BBS <<< - magnumbbs.net (2:250/3)
  • From Alastair Frankland@1:124/5016 to Bob Worm on Thu Aug 21 06:19:06 2025
    Re: Amstrad PPC512 and BBS
    By: Bob Worm to Alastair Frankland on Wed Aug 13 2025 12:58:07

    Bob hi yes a bit of a story in so much as the computer has been in the family for some years. This BBS is quite a new thing for me and is very enjoyable. Although this message is written for you on Windows XP Hyperterminal, dialup, it is just as much fun. What did you think of Amstrad PPC512? Take care and lovely to hear from you! tatty bye
    --- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (1:124/5016)
  • From Bob Worm@2:250/3 to Alastair Frankland on Thu Aug 21 14:32:00 2025
    Re: Amstrad PPC512 and BBS
    By: Alastair Frankland to Bob Worm on Thu Aug 21 2025 06:19:06

    Hi, Alastair.

    What did you think of Amstrad
    PPC512? Take care and lovely to hear from you! tatty bye

    To be honest I had to look it up - in my head I thought it might have been one of those desktop things that looked like a Mac and basically did word processing but no! It's a luggable!

    That looks very cool and I can see why you are so keen on it.

    Although this message is written for you on Windows XP
    Hyperterminal, dialup, it is just as much fun.

    I've also just started using a Windows XP netbook that my parents had no more use for. Man, it was effort to get a CP437 friendly terminal program downloaded onto that thing. Between out of date root certificates, lack of modern SSL / TLS ciphers and most of the good software being on github or sourceforge which requires SSL... I try to avoid browsing on it, to be fair, as it's probably vulnerable to a huge number of exploits.

    I'd love to get a bit more happening on it, though. I don't know how old it is (it tells me flash player was last updated in 2013) but it's a lovely small form factor with about 7 hours of battery capacity. I don't know how it's still holding charge but it is.

    The weekend is almost here - hope you have a good one!

    BobW
    --- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
    * Origin: >>> Magnum BBS <<< - magnumbbs.net (2:250/3)
  • From Alastair Frankland@1:124/5016 to Bob Worm on Mon Aug 25 07:12:37 2025
    Re: Amstrad PPC512 and BBS
    By: Bob Worm to Alastair Frankland on Thu Aug 21 2025 14:32:00

    Bob hi, yes thanks for looking it up! In the 1980's it was running dbase
    from floppy disk. Now you can connect an sd card etc. but that route is expensive. Do you think that keeping to the opriginal as it was intended
    has a certain charm? Take care and lovely to hear from you Alastair.
    --- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (1:124/5016)
  • From Bob Worm@2:250/3 to Alastair Frankland on Mon Aug 25 17:18:25 2025
    Re: Amstrad PPC512 and BBS
    By: Alastair Frankland to Bob Worm on Mon Aug 25 2025 07:12:37

    Hi, Alastair.

    thanks for looking it up!

    Thanks for bringing it to my attention :)

    Now you can connect an sd card etc. but that route is expensive.

    Yes, I feel like the first time I learned about Gotek they were reasonably priced but out of stock everywhere - I thought maybe I'd ask the wife to pick me one up for Christmas or a birthday, the usual thing I do when I see something that I want but can't bring myself to part with the cash just on a whim. Then they went up... Looking again now they seem to be cheap again so fingers crossed for Christmas...

    Do you think that keeping to the opriginal as it was intended
    has a certain charm?

    Definitely - my Acorn and Beeb are both original, though I do have an SD card pretending to be a hard disk inside the Acorn, but you can't see that from the outside. I do now have a quandary as the floppy drive is a bit "iffy" - usually reads, wouldn't trust it to write and seems to rub the magnetic pigment off some disks (though that might just be disks getting old). I have another drive I could put in but it wouldn't be original.

    I should probably try aligning the heads before I give up... look out...

    BobW
    --- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
    * Origin: >>> Magnum BBS <<< - magnumbbs.net (2:250/3)
  • From Alastair Frankland@1:124/5016 to Bob Worm on Tue Aug 26 13:34:09 2025
    Re: Amstrad PPC512 and BBS
    By: Bob Worm to Alastair Frankland on Mon Aug 25 2025 17:18:25

    Bob hi! That must be a 5.25" drive on the Beeb? I seem to remember a Ceefax service still runs on that one, dialup as well. But one that is maintained by
    a devoted fan and not the actual 'BBC' themselves. Take care and lovely to hear from you Alastair.
    --- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (1:124/5016)
  • From Bob Worm@2:250/3 to Alastair Frankland on Wed Aug 27 22:40:09 2025
    Re: Amstrad PPC512 and BBS
    By: Alastair Frankland to Bob Worm on Tue Aug 26 2025 13:34:09

    Hi, Alastair.

    That must be a 5.25" drive on the Beeb?

    I have a couple of 5.25" drives for the Beeb but, for sure, the rubber bands will have perished on those and I don't actually have any 5.25" floppies.

    The Acorn A3020 uses 3.5" disks and I've got *loads* of those - sadly most have been kept in a damp and dusty garage for at least a couple of decades so I'm seeing mixed results trying to read them!

    I seem to remember a Ceefax service still runs on that one, dialup as well. But one that is maintained by a devoted fan and not the actual 'BBC' themselves.

    It sounds like you might be talking about Nathan Media Services? nmsceefax.co.uk - that's the closest recreation of Ceefax I've seen. There are a couple of Viewdata BBSes around, Night Owl is a good one but that's on pause at the moment. CCL4 is another but I've never actually got around to signing up on that one. I'm not sure I know one with dial-in, though?

    BobW
    --- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
    * Origin: >>> Magnum BBS <<< - magnumbbs.net (2:250/3)
  • From Alastair Frankland@1:124/5016 to Bob Worm on Fri Aug 29 13:12:48 2025
    Re: Amstrad PPC512 and BBS
    By: Bob Worm to Alastair Frankland on Wed Aug 27 2025 22:40:09

    Bob hi! Haha yes twenty years in a garage sounds familiar, Iv'e definitely been there pardon the pun. I'm wracking (or is it wrecking?) my brains trying to think of where I saw the Ceefax video, it wasnt't on GlassyTTY but that is an interesting site, but I am sure that it was Viewdata because that rings a bell.

    I don't have much space at home so I spend a lot of my time inventing ways of fitting stuff in, at the moment my computer systems are patiently on a rotation, sitting around in pieces until their time to be dusted off. I'm still enjoying the windows xp experience on the conexant modem, it's a classic for me with sound of the dialing tone and the pulse dial. Take care and lovely to hear from you Alastair.
    --- SBBSecho 3.29-Linux
    * Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (1:124/5016)