Retrocampus BBS

[sblendorio]

I have been maintaining and updating my BBS "Retrocampus" for retrocomputing enthusiasts since 2018. This effort includes developing its functionalities and identifying and publishing interesting content.

The service opens up numerous vintage platforms to the internet, such as Commodore 64, VIC-20, Olivetti M20, Apple-1 and Apple ][ - and many others.

Connect to the following coordinates:

• Server: bbs.retrocampus.com
• Port: 23 (generic, with system choice)
• Port: 6510 (specific PETSCII variant)

Most functionalities require no registration.

PETSCII variant is also accessible via web at http://bbs.retrocampus.com

This BBS was born mainly for being a use case for my developer-oriented framework for building BBses, called "PETSCII BBS Builder":

https://github.com/sblendorio/petscii-bbs

So it was born as a demo, but the feature number increased with the time. Initially it supported just PETSCII encoding for 8-bit Commodore computers, but later I added support for generic ASCII clients, and today I tailored the screen size and content for the following platforms:

• Commodore PETSCII 40 columns (C64, C128, plus/4)
• Apple-1 & Apple ][
• Pure ASCII 40 cols
• Pure ASCII 80 cols
• DOS CP 437
• Telnet - UTF8
• VIC-20 pure ASCII (22 cols)
• Olivetti M10 / Kyocera KC-85 (40 cols, 15 rows)
• Minitel (Teletel protocol)

Old machines like VIC-20, Kyocera, Minitel will just need a common and cheap "WiFi modem", and the BBS will be immediatly accessible (with a terminal emulation program) with commands like

ATDT bbs.retrocampus.com

TELNET/ASCII access is quite simple:

telnet bbs.retrocampus.com
(or use programs like PuTTY)

In order to receive support from the community, I have decided to open a Patreon account:

https://www.patreon.com/FrancescoSblendorio

I did it mainly for two reasons:

• funding the ongoing hosting costs, and
• supporting the development of new features
• offering exclusive contents to patrons

In the past few days I've released a Patreon-only feature (due to OpenAI API usage costs): “ChatGPT” integrated into the BBS. You can use the most advanced AI chatbot from your loved vintage devices. How cool is that?

Currently, I’m working on support for Minitel/Videotel terminals with the goal of having graphics similar to those of Videotex systems:

 

[na103]

How cool is that?

A lot cool and useful to use an AI from my IBM 5150 !

 

[Hugo Holden]

An AI, ChatGPT, via an IBM5150 ? Shades of 2001 Space Odyssey.

Watch out though, if you try to run a diagnostic on your IBM-5150 (HAL-5150) the Sentient Being that the AI has learned to become, might beat you to the diagnosis. Also if you issue a challenging command, it may not want to perform it and say "I'm sorry I cannot do that, na103"

Be cautious connecting a video camera to your computer via a vintage video capture card. The low resolution is more than enough for the AI to read your lips.

 

[Caluser2000]

Kwaaal maan. Now where is my hooch pouch?

 

[skate323k137]

It's a great BBS, I started using it mainly with P-Lab Apple 1 wifi modem, but I also "call in" from my RC2014 and Commodore 128. All the different terminal modes available make it pretty special.

 

[VERAULT]

Very cool. IT looks like a nice BBS and I will give it a try on the vic 20 I am restoring.

 

[sblendorio]

Here is the BBS on a VIC 20