[Coco] How to Acess Internet Telnet BBS's & MUDS on a CoCo

[Derek]

I just wanted to pass along information on how I have been able to use my CoCo III to access BBS's  and Online MUD Games via Telnet on the Internet. You will need to have a serial cable with null modem adapter running between the coco serial port and your windows system's serial port.

1: Download the Internet Modem Application from here : http://boycot.no-ip.com/InternetModem This is a Windows XP Program that basically emulates a Modem and allows you to use your Windows System as a Gateway.

2: Edit the InternetModem .ini file and set the following items like this
SerDataBits=8
SerParity=None
SerStopBits=1
Handshake=XonXoff
Baud=19200 (You may have to adjust this down to the 2400, 9600 range if your  if your using the built Serial Port on the Coco (RS-232 Pack users should be able to leave this at 19200.) I am using the built in 4 pin DIN Serial Port on the CoCo  and I can not go above 9600 baud. I left all the other settings in the .ini file set to default.

3: Get a terminal program for your coco. For 512K Coco III users I recommend Sockmasters Twilight Terminal Software as it has ANSI support and works great. http://www.axess.com/twilight/sock/twi-term.html

128K Coco III or Coco I & II Users can find many good terminal programs from here ftp://os9archive.rtsi.com/RSDOS/TELECOM I was able to get GETerm from there to work just fine.

4: Once you get your coco terminal program configured go to terminal mode and you "dial" out by using the Hayes AT Command set. For example if you want to  access a telnet bbs you would type this ATDT vbarnet.org it can also access the bbs via a direct ip addresses so ATDT 216.62.20.217 is what you would type if you only have the BBS IP address (both of those are working BBS's I have accessed with my CoCo and this setup.) The Internet Modem software defaults to Port 23 but if the BBS uses a port other than 23 you would enter the "dial" command like this ATDT BBSNAME.COM:8801

Thats it. If anyone needs help getting the terminal programs onto a coco floppy let me know or if you have any questions I will do my best to answer. I have used this same method to access BBS'S and MUDS on my Apple IIE, Atari 800XL , Atari Mega ST 2 and Amiga 1000 so if you own other vintage systems the same instructions would basically apply.

You can find updated telnet bbs listings here : http://www.telnetbbsguide.com/

You can find a huge listing of online MUD, MUSH type of games you can play via telnet here http://www.mudconnect.com/

My Personal Favorite MUD Game is http://www.aardwolf.com/

Hope someone finds this useful

Derek

*  I posted this on coco3.com message forum but also wanted to post on the e-mail list as folks may find it useful and this message list gets archived online for future access.

** Mistrust Authority. Promote Decentralization **


 


       
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