BBSlink
BBSlink is a service offered to sysops of bulletin board systems (BBSes) hosting online door games on a central server which allows to the games directly from individual BBSes. The service is offered to sysops at no charge relying on donations.
History
Traditionally, InterBBS leagues have allowed BBS users to play against players not only on the same BBS, but also others and have existed since the late 1980s. InterBBS league games were notoriously difficult to set up and configure and relied on the sysop to have each game installed on their local system.
BBSlink was developed by Mark Mearns in March 2014 as an alternative to InterBBS leagues. Each door game is hosted remotely on the BBSlink server removing the need for sysops to install games locally.
Functionality
The sysop's BBS software uses a script to first authenticate over HTTP using MD5 hashed credentials with time sensitive tokens. Once authentication is complete, the system connects to the BBSlink server by telnet and the user is dropped directly into the door of their choosing.
Compatibility
The BBSlink system was initially designed for Synchronet BBS software using a JavaScript connection client. Recently, extensive work has been undertaken by a number of members of the BBS community to port the connection client to other BBS software for both Microsoft Windows and Linux including, amongst others, Mystic BBS.
A C# client has been released for DOOR32.SYS systems, created in on Archaic Binary.
Games
BBSlink currently offers the following games:
* Legend of the Red Dragon
* Legend of the Red Dragon II: New World
* Planets: The Exploration of Space
* Operation: Overkill II
* TradeWars 2002
* PimpWars
* Lunatix
* BBS Crash
* Global War
History
Traditionally, InterBBS leagues have allowed BBS users to play against players not only on the same BBS, but also others and have existed since the late 1980s. InterBBS league games were notoriously difficult to set up and configure and relied on the sysop to have each game installed on their local system.
BBSlink was developed by Mark Mearns in March 2014 as an alternative to InterBBS leagues. Each door game is hosted remotely on the BBSlink server removing the need for sysops to install games locally.
Functionality
The sysop's BBS software uses a script to first authenticate over HTTP using MD5 hashed credentials with time sensitive tokens. Once authentication is complete, the system connects to the BBSlink server by telnet and the user is dropped directly into the door of their choosing.
Compatibility
The BBSlink system was initially designed for Synchronet BBS software using a JavaScript connection client. Recently, extensive work has been undertaken by a number of members of the BBS community to port the connection client to other BBS software for both Microsoft Windows and Linux including, amongst others, Mystic BBS.
A C# client has been released for DOOR32.SYS systems, created in on Archaic Binary.
Games
BBSlink currently offers the following games:
* Legend of the Red Dragon
* Legend of the Red Dragon II: New World
* Planets: The Exploration of Space
* Operation: Overkill II
* TradeWars 2002
* PimpWars
* Lunatix
* BBS Crash
* Global War
Comments