|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| | ____ _ _ | | / __| __ _ _ ___| |_ ___ _ __| |_ _ _ _ __ _ _ | | | | / ^ | '_ | _|/ _ \ '__| \| || | '__| V | | | | |__| <> | | | | | | __/ | | <> | U | | \ | | | \____|\_/|_|_| |_|\_| \___|_| |___/ \___/_| |__/ | | ___ _ _ | | / _ \ _ __ | ||_| _ __ ___ | | | | | | '_ \| | _ | '_ \/ _ \ | | | |_| | | | || || || | | | __/ | | \___/|_| |_||_||_||_| |_|\___| | | | | | | (((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))))) | | ((( N O V E M B E R 2005 ))) | | ((( ))) | | ((( Expires 30th November 2005 ))) | | (((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))))) | | | |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =================== C O N T E N T S =================== 1. Introduction 2. Changes in this issue. 3. Where to get a new copy. 4. Where to send updates to. BBS Section ----------- 5. Short version of the list. 6. Long (detailed) version of the list 7. Beginners information. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========================== I N T R O D U C T I O N =========================== Welcome to Canterbury Online. This is a list of public BBSs in Canterbury. The majority of these BBSs are run by it's operator as a hobby from home, and therefore are free or cheap to access. This list is maintained by Dennis Collins in spare time. There is no charge for a BBS to be listed here, and the list is free. It is updated every month and released by the first of every month. Because of the rapidly changing situation in the online world, this list is only valid for one month, and MUST NOT be used in any way whatsoever after that time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================= C H A N G E S I N T H I S I S S U E ============================================= ADDED:- REMOVED:- UPDATED:- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ========================================= W H E R E T O G E T A C O P Y O F T H I S L I S T ========================================= This text list is updated monthly, and released by the 1st of every month. Canterbury Online is available from these BBS's (and many others) free of file charges... BBS Directory The Maze BBS CHCH BBS LIST The current Canterbury Online file can be FREQ'd from Fido Address Magic name 3:770/355 CANTYBBS The file is called CO-mmmyy.TXT (Where mmm=Month and yy=year, e.g. CO-AUG99.TXT) Email ===== Canterbury Online is mailed out on the Internet each month. If you wish to have your name added to this list please email themaze@slingshot.co.nz and ask. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================= W H E R E T O S E N D U P D A T E S ============================================= If there's any incorrect or missing information in this list that you know about, please contact me and let me know by one of the following means... Preferred:- EMail: Internet to themaze@slingshot.co.nz Not preferred, but there if you are unable to use the above:- Snail Mail: Dennis Collins 76 Warden Street Shirley Christchurch 8030. Updates are accepted from anyone, not just the sysop, but please send substantial information. Only send information on BBSs that you KNOW are available for public access. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================================== ============================================================================== B B S S e c t i o n ============================================================================== ============================================================================== The format of the listing is as follows... Name of the BBS (Sysops name, and helpers [alias]) Phone number [stepping] (speed of the modem) Hours: the hours the BBS operates (only present if not 24 hour) Fees: what it costs to access (only present if there is a charge) Files: O/Ss that they have programs available to download for Software: The software the BBS is running on. Nets: Networks they carry [see below for more information]. Notes: General notes about the BBS and offline readers available Address: where to send normal mail to. Voice: The operators home number (please remember s/he sleeps!) Fax: The BBSs Fax number CD's: CD-Roms that are online for you to download files from. Email: The sysops internet email address Advert: An advert from the BBS about itself. Tested: The date when it was last tested to see if it was still online. Where stepping is mentioned, that's Telecoms stepping, which means that if you call a number and it's busy, Telecoms computer diverts your call to another number. If all the numbers in the stepping are busy, you'll get the usual busy tone. ============= Network Key ============= There are many networks around that carry public messages, private email (although it may be read by any sysop it passes through), and files (usually only able to be done by the sysop). These are local, national, and international. You can send email to a user on another BBS through these networks. The first part of the network number is listed here for Christchurch BBSs, and the last number significiant for each BBS is listed in each BBSs entry in the long list. NAME CHCH NODE NUMBER Fido Net - 3:770/ Amiganet - 41:643/ Local Net - 85:200/ AD-Net - 124:643/ BC-Net - 115:110/> BBSWorld - 23:6643/ RaceNet - 7723:9600/ JustaNet - 510:711/ JustaXnet - 510:711/ e.g. If a BBS has Nets: Fido 000, then it's address is 3:770/000 With some BBS software, e.g. SearchLight, it's then as easy as selecting to send email, then address it to user name@address e.g. Joe Bloggs@3:770/000 ============================================== C A N T E R B U R Y O N L I N E ( Short BBS List ) ============================================== >> November 2005 << Expires: 30th Novenber 2005 BBS PHONE SPEED NOTES First Choice Core 03-3085201 (14.4k) [Ashburton] Johnno's Retreat 3657575 (57k) Generations Online 3442208 (14.4k) The Maze BBS 3855391 (56.6k) COPYRIGHT Dennis Collins 2001-2005. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================== C A N T E R B U R Y O N L I N E ( Long BBS List ) ============================================== >> November 2005 << Expires: 30th November 2005 First Choice Core (Ian Segers) (03) 3085201 (14.4k V.32bis) [Ashburton] Fees: Free, Fido $35 p/a, Internet $35 p/a, both $60 p/a Files: DOS,Windows Software: Searchlight 4.0a Notes: LH-Blue & Valance QWK Offline readers. CDs: 1 Drive;[18 cds] Night Owl 11,13,14,15,16, Giga Games 2, all 4 Simtel Voice: (03) 308-8274 Fax: (03) 3085201 Tested: 29-10-05 Generations Online BBS (Danny Boskell) (03) 3442208 (33.6k) Files: Multimedia, DOS Games, Windows Apps, Windows Games, Sysop Utilities, CD-Rom Drivers,Drivers of all types, Chat facility, Educational Programs, HTML Editors, Screensavers & Much Much more.. Software: Searchlight 4.5b Nets: Fido 295 Familynet 295 CD's 2 Drives: + 4 CD Disk Changers for Quick downloads (6 CD's Online) NightOwl 27 Arsenal Files Vol 5 The Pier 10 More CD's Being added monthly Email: help@gol.gen.nz Notes: Free, Online door games,Local & Int'l Message Areas, Chat Facility, Private Mailbox, and password. New Users Login as NEW for validation "Access to BBS" Once logged in Send Mail to SysOp, as follows. To: Sysop Subject: (type in Validation) Then proceed with your request for access to this system. Tested: 29-10-05 No Answer Johnno's Retreat (John Larsen) (03) 3657575 Fees: Free Files: Latest files Tested: 29-10-05 The Maze BBS (Dennis Collins, Diane Crowe) (03) 3855391 (33.6k V.34+) Files: Music, MP3's, Multimedia, DOS, Windows, Games Cheats, Hacks & Cracks, BBS Support, Drivers, Adult areas (access with ID) Software: Remote access 2.62+ Voice: (03)980-5391 Nets: Fidonet 3:770/355 FamilyNet 8:9000/355 (NZ Hub) Bluenet 7:450/100 (NZ Hub) BCnet (NC) 115:110/5 (League 115) CD's 6 Drives: Cream of the Crop vol's 21,23,24,25,26 Night Owl vol's 17,18,22,23 Monster Medis vol's 17,18 Sprint Games Sound Midi & Music Vol-1 SoundMod Vol-2 Gamers Companion Vol-1 All Adult Vol-2 (access with ID) Just Females Vol-1 (access with ID) Email: themaze@slingshot.co.nz Notes: Inter-bbs door games (League 115) Adult door games 1000's Game Hints & Cheats Virus Software & Updates Music Files Hacks & cracks Windows App's NASA daily Pictures 20000+ Adult files Tested: 29-10-05 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ============================================================ I N F O R M A T I O N F O R T H E B E G I N N E R ============================================================ The first thing you need is a computer with a modem. A modem comes in two forms, either External which is in it's own box, or Internal which is a card that plugs into a PC. An external modem is connected to the comptuer by a serial cable into one of the computers serial ports. Modems are not all the same, but are mostly compatable. Nearly everyone uses modems supporting International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunications (ITU-T, formally CCITT) standards. This is the protocol of how a modem talks to your computer and how it talks to another modem. There are several standards in use for different modem speeds. Almost every modem supports the CCITT V.32bis 14400bps standard, so all modems will connect to each other at that speed if they are not compatable at a higher speed. There are two standards for 28800bps. The official ITU-T one, V.34, and the Rockwell one V.FC. Virtually no one is running V.FC modems any more. Next up is 33600bps, which is an improvement on the V.34 ITU-T standard called V.34+. Then we have the big grey area of 56700bps modems. These modems send data at 33600bps (with the V.34+ standard), but receive at up to 56Kbps. The reason behind that is that normally data goes to the Telecom network and passes through an analog to digital converter,through the exchange, and is then converted back from digital to analog when it goes to the other end. Large ISP's are connected by digital lines to Telecom, hence there is no analog to digital conversion in the line from them to you. Normally this conversion to digital at the exchange limits the speed the data can be put through. Because this conversion doesn't exist from the ISP to you the data can be sent at up to 56Kbps. There are presently 3 standards for 56k. USR has it's x2, Rockwell, Lucent Technology & Motorola has K56flex, and the ITU-T has V.90 (which is a combination of x2 and K56flex). Out of x2 and K56flex, USR's x2 is the better standard, you'll get a better connect speed and faster data throughput. K56flex itself was a combination of 2 standards, Rockwells K56Plus and Lucent Technologies V.flex2. Rockwell and Lucent K56flex modems are not compatable! Which standard do you buy? To be honest I don't know. Your choice at this stage is somewhat limited by what your ISP is using. Buy something that has flashRAM. That means you'll be able to upgrade your modem with software that you download to your computer. Also note that our phone lines are only supplied to talk over, and the bandwidth required to do 28800bps is more than what is required to carry voice conversations. In most circumstances, there is spare bandwidth on your line, but if your modem won't go that fast, that could be why. That extra bandwidth is needed along all the lines from you to the other end. If it's not available, your modem will just step down in speed until it gets to a level that the phone line can handle. This is usually still over 20000bps. Okay, so now you've got your modem, plugged it all in as the manual instructs you, and you're wondering what to do next.... while facing a million different settings for the modem from it's manual. Don't worry about doing anything to the modem apart from turning it on. Hopefully you'll be able to get your software to do most of the work for you. To send and receive data from your modem, you need some communications software. Most modern Operating Systems (such as Windows) come with something basic supplied. If you haven't got any, try asking the shop you got the modem from. They may try to sell you some expensive package. There are many free (PD), or cheap shareware packages available for most computer systems. How you configure your modem is going to depend a lot on your operating system, the software you're using, and the modem you are using. A lot of programs thesedays have a list of modems that you can choose yours in. If it's not in there, well good luck! Just try using a few of the others listed until you find one that works. Once you've run your software, you'll probably have a menu named RS232, Modem, or Communications somewhere. This will have some settings that you'll only need to set once, if at all in them as all Christchurch BBSs use the same, and they are usually put into software as the defaults. (Don't forget to save any changes you make - it will have a "Save Settings" option there somewhere). These are... Baud - set this to the highest BPS your modem can do. Probably 57600bps at a minimum. Stop Bits - set to 1 Parity - set to none Flow - set this to RTS/CTS or Hardware Data Bits - set to 8 Mode - set to Full Terminal Emulation should be set to either ANSI, or if that's not available VT100 or higher. If it's not available don't panic, but do try and find another communications program as soon as possible! It makes life a lot easier and the screen looks nicer! Now you're ready to go! In your software, there will be a dialing directory to store your favourite BBS names and numbers. Enter some of the names and numbers from this list into it, and select to dial it. Your modem should dial the BBS you tell it to. Upon connection, on most BBSs, it will say Press ESCAPE twice. If it does, do it! Then it will want to know if you support ANSI. If you have ANSI or VT100 selected, you can tell it yes. Some BBSs automatically detect that you have it, but they don't know if you've got a colour screen or not, so they just ask you if you want colour or mono. Again, tell it what it wants to know. Next thing it will want to know if your user name. On some systems it will say type NEW if you're new, on others it won't. If it doesn't, just enter your first and last names. If it says enter your alias (or name), you can enter your nickname instead. If it does get you to type NEW, the next thing it will do is ask for your name. You'll then have to fill in a few details about yourself for the Operators records. Your phone number is always kept confidential, sometimes your computer system is made public, your name and location (i.e. City) almost always are. After filling in all the details, some BBSs will have what's called a "call back verifier", which will then disconnect you from the BBS and ring you back to make sure you gave a genuine phone number. If it does, all you have to do is wait for your phone to ring, then type ATA [RETURN] which tells your modem (AT)tention (A)nswer. You'll be then reconnected with the BBS. If a BBS doesn't have this verifier, you'll probably need to send a mail message to the SYStem OPerator, usually by going to mail and sending a message to SYSOP. This isn't necessary from the BBS software's point of view, it's just that most people running BBS's like you to ask for access, so they set it it up so that you don't get full access until you do ask them - it's just a bad (in my opinion) habit from past years that's still with us. The BBS should tell you how to ask for validation if it's required. Read the instructions on your screen and you can't go wrong. On most BBS's, until you're validated, you will have a very limited amount that you can actually see (and do) on the BBS. Once you are validated you will have much better access. So now that you know how to connect to a BBS, and you have an account there, you'll want to know what you can do there. Most likely like everyone else, you've got a distorted view of it all from the main media. A BBS consists of 3 main things, Email - which is private mail between users (warning: The Sysop can read your mail, and some probably do.), Public Messages - these will be in the message area, which will be divided up into different discussion areas named areas,subboards,echos, or newsgroups, and finally the Files section, where you can get from or send files to. The software you're using, is just showing the text you're receiving from the modem to your screen, sometimes obeying codes in the text that tell it to change colour or position on the screen. Whatever you type goes straight to the BBS and it acts on it. This is suitable for reading or writing both email and public messages. To transfer a file, you need another program to be run on your computer that's compatible with one at the BBS's end. This program is quite often built into your communications program, or comes with it. The main ones used are Kermit, XModem, Ymodem or Zmodem. If you have it (you should!), ZModem is the best one to use. You'll need to either make a setting on the BBS (if it has it) to ZModem for you, or tell it each time you want to transfer a file what to use. Most do it the former way in the form of a permanent setting for each user, which the user can change at any time. To transfer a file to the BBS, it's called Uploading, and transferring a file from the BBS to you is called Downloading. A lot of BBS's impose what is called a file ratio, which means you have to upload a certain amount for everything you download. Most BBS's will remove this limit if you subscribe. Most BBS's also give you a daily time limit. This is very small until you are validated, then ranges from 30mins to 1 hour on the BBS's in Christchurch usually. If you subscribe to a BBS, it's highly likely that your time limit will be increased, or removed altogether. Files ===== Most files you download from BBS's are in a compressed format. This is done mainly to save on storage space on the BBS, and in the past was done to speed up transferring files to you. The speed factor doesn't really matter any more because most modems of 14400bps or faster have V.42bis, which is a standard of error correction and data compression - i.e. your modem compresses the data before it sends it, and the modem at the other end de-compresses it. The most common forms of compression are ZIP,ARC,LZH(also called LHA), ARJ. To use these files after you download them, you need to decompress them first. You need the specific software for whatever type of archive it is to do this. If you don't have it, you should be able to download it from a BBS in an un-compressed state, or it might be in a self extracting archive which will uncompress when you run it. Conduct ======= You should conduct yourself on a BBS in the public messages areas, and in private mail just as you should in a normal public place. This means you should be pleasant and courteous to others using the system, don't go around making a nuisance of yourself and abusing others. Good Luck! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *** END OF CANTERBURY ONLINE. COPYRIGHT DENNIS COLLINS 2002,2005 ***