> Nristen's (g)log

> 2022-07-18

BBS with Gemtext Frontend (idea)

I run a BBS (Bulletin Board System) on the Mystic BBS software which I find fun because it brings back memories of connecting to BBS when I was much younger before the Internet was popular.

It is nostalgic to see the chuncky text and ansi graphics when I connect using a client like Netrunner or Syncterm however most of the time, I am not interested in the nostalgia but just to connect quickly to check for messages or any new activity.

Since discovering gemini, this has stolen some of the time that I previously would have spent working on the BBS or chatting there or other improvements.

An idea popped into my head that I have been poking at for a few days now...

A BBS server that serves gemini pages as the interface instead of ansi, text or html files.

Here are some of the features of this BBS server:

multi user - roles or permissions can be created and assigned to different pages on BBS

client cert authentication instead of usernames and passwords

File upload/download section (uploads could be done using Titan)

Secure chat (possibly riding on top of XMPP)

Insecure chat groups (IRC?)

Mail

Message Forums

Games

News/RSS etc

Blogs/Personal sites (this would be just another way to provide multi user gemini hosting)

One of the current problems that I find with BBS clients is the display on mobile devices. Gemini however does this very well, leaving the display up to the client.

Connecting to a BBS via telnet, brings back memories from the "ole days" but all connections now should either go over SSH or another type of encrypted tunnel which gemini would fit nicely.

Does anyone else have similar ideas?

Reference

https://mysticbbs.com

My BBS ssh://bbs.theharrisclan.net:2222 or telnet 34123

contact: nristen@ctrl-c.club

xmpp://karl@chat.theharrisclan.net

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