I recently saw an add for an Atari BBS and wanted to check it out. The ad said that "atari ascii" support was required to connect, so I set Syncterm up to use Atari XEP80.

The connection worked well overall. Not having done this before, I do have a few questions. Should I have expected to need to use CTRL-M instead of the Enter key on my linux PC? Also, should I have expected that the BKSP key would not work?

Been so long since I had used an Atari BBS I could not remember if that was thing back in the 1980s/90s, too, so I didn't want to assume that these quirks were/were not bugs without asking. Thanks!

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Re: Syncterm and Atari BBSes
By: Dumas Walker to All on Wed Sep 24 2025 10:47 am

Been so long since I had used an Atari BBS I could not remember if that was thing back in the 1980s/90s, too, so I didn't want to assume that these quirks were/were not bugs without asking. Thanks!

Syncterm does ATASCII which is the best way to access an AtariBBS. Mine has been running since 1984 and on the net since 1999. You can connect to mine in ASCII, ATASCII, or ANSI.

bfbbs.no-ip.com:8888

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Been so long since I had used an Atari BBS I could not remember if that was
thing back in the 1980s/90s, too, so I didn't want to assume that these quirks were/were not bugs without asking. Thanks!

Syncterm does ATASCII which is the best way to access an AtariBBS. Mine has been running since 1984 and on the net since 1999. You can connect to mine in
ASCII, ATASCII, or ANSI.

bfbbs.no-ip.com:8888

Yeah, it does ATASCII but, when you are connecting to a system that only supports ATASCII, should the syncterm linux user expect that the Return and Backspace keys won't work?


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I've heard of having that problem with Syncterm, but it's not expected. You should not be having them, and I'm not sure what causes it. What version of Syncterm are you using? Was it precompiled or did you compile it? Maybe something to try is to run it from the terminal and do a "stty erase ^V^H" (that's ctrl-V, ctrl-H) before running "syncterm".

I am using 1.1rc4. I am pretty sure I compiled it myself.

Also, XEP-80 is just if you want 80 column ATASCII. Most of the boards will look best in regular 40 columns. Can't remember if it's just called "Atari" or
what.

I think it is called Atari. I tried that one first and it didn't work well
for this particular BBS. I tried the XEP-80 next and the board displayed
quite well.

I remember using CTRL-M back in the old days on some boards (not sure they
were Atari) so I didn't think much of that one, but not having a working
BKSP key was a little more (minor) annoying. ;)


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Re: Syncterm and Atari BBSes
By: Dumas Walker to BF2K+ on Fri Sep 26 2025 10:49 am

Yeah, it does ATASCII but, when you are connecting to a system that only supports ATASCII, should the syncterm linux user expect that the Return and Backspace keys won't work?

I have not tried Syncterm on Linux so I don't know the answer to that now... maybe I will install it on my Mint laptop and see what happens.

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Yeah, it does ATASCII but, when you are connecting to a system that only supports ATASCII, should the syncterm linux user expect that the Return and
Backspace keys won't work?

I have not tried Syncterm on Linux so I don't know the answer to that now... maybe I will install it on my Mint laptop and see what happens.

Based on a post in the announce echo, I am a version or more behind. That could be my issue right there.


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Re: Syncterm and Atari BBSes
By: Dumas Walker to PHIGAN on Sat Sep 27 2025 09:03 am

I am using 1.1rc4. I am pretty sure I compiled it myself.

Like you said in another message, that version is pretty (very) old. Definitely try a newer one.

There are just a couple Atari BBSes (and one custom) that only allow ATASCII that I can think of... SouthernAMIS and Nite Lite. Both of those are 40 columns by default and should work fine with the "Atari" screen mode.
Also, area52.tk:5200 ;)

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