Hey Omnibrain!

On Wed, 08 Oct 2025 23:49:18 -0700, you wrote:

Will add it to the docs.

Some information for you, and I'm trying to be as descriptive in some of this as I can. If you have any questions or require more information, please feel free to reach out:

I created a Virtualbox VM, installed Omarchy and ran updates to the latest.

INSTALL.txt seems to be geared towards downloading an archive you've created. Cloning the repo there is no "bin" directory.

README.md took me to gettingstarted.md, in which "cargo build --release" worked without any issue, taking about 6 minutes and 40 seconds to complete (it downloaded and installed hundreds of packages probably needed by rust or something). More references to a 'bin' directory in gettingstarted.md as well, but after building, all of my binaries were in 'icy_board/target/release'.

I did notice the 'run.sh' you provide builds a debug version (I didn't notice this or look at this script until after I had already built the release version). If you want testers and help tracking down bugs, you may want to change the '--release' option in gettingstarted.md so early testers build a debug version, that way backtraces and the like can be done.

After finding the binaries, I ran './icbsetup /home/user/icb/' to get it out of needing to traverse into 6 directories deep (source was installed at '/home/user/src'). Worked as expected. I did have to create symlinks to all binaries in the 'icy_board/target/release' directory to the actual BBS directory, for ease of use, though. My preference, not necessary.

Just a quick list of what I've run into so far (so I don't forget):

- When applying as a new user, the "Please enter city/state" question currently does not allow commas or spaces. In my case, a normal answer there would be "Pewaukee, WI (or Wisconsin if not abbreviating the state)".

Also, the birthday field does not accept "/", even though the date format in icbsetup is set to "1) MM/DD/YY". I can see spaces not being allowed here (which they're not), but if "-" is indeed allowed and works (I didn't try it, just noticed "/" didn't work at the time), the formats should probably be changed to reflect that, and the default prompt should probably be changed to tell the applicant how to specifically format their birthday.

- When you login and are inputting your real name or alias, only capital letters are inputted. Anywhere else I've come across, including the application process.. lowercase can be used. This one is probably an outstanding limitation from the original PCBoard itself, as I remember not liking the name only using capitol letters.

- When you hit "B" for bulletins, you're essentially stuck there. I can't hit "Q" or "X" or even ENTER to go back to the main menu. After I hit something like "S" (I started hitting a bunch of letters to see how to get out of it), which is a search for text funcion (probably not needed from the bulletins menu) I was able hit enter to go back to the main menu.

- When listing users with "USER", if you're only allowing aliases (not real names) nothing is listed under "User Name", but my location and last on date were there.

- "V" to view your statistics doesn't seem to do anything.

- "WHO" command doesn't do anything for me (at the time I am the only one logged in, so maybe that's why - but shouldn't be the case as that command should probably always work).

- "icbsysmgr > edit users file > any user > gender" is listed twice.

This is about as far as I got so far. I'll continue to mess with it when I have time, and will try to plug in some PPEs to see how they work out. Definitely digging the old PCBoard vibes though!

Just so happens I have PCB installed in a Windows VM with PPEs already installed there. I didn't try importing old PCB stuff this time around since I had so much difficulty/resistance the last time. I just wanted to install this flashy new software and check it out right away. ;)

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

It's easier to handle bugs on github :). But using messages is ok as well. Better than no bug reports. It's a complex system so I think there are many issues here and there.

- When applying as a new user, the "Please enter city/state" question currently does not allow commas or spaces. In my case, a normal answer there would be "Pewaukee, WI (or Wisconsin if not abbreviating the state)".

fixed.

- When you login and are inputting your real name or alias, only capital letters are inputted. Anywhere else I've come across, including the application process.. lowercase can be used. This one is probably an outstanding limitation from the original PCBoard itself, as I remember
not liking the name only using capitol letters.

y it's a pcboard thing.

- When you hit "B" for bulletins, you're essentially stuck there. I
can't hit "Q" or "X" or even ENTER to go back to the main menu. After I hit something like "S" (I started hitting a bunch of letters to see how
to get out of it), which is a search for text funcion (probably not
needed from the bulletins menu) I was able hit enter to go back to the main menu.

fixed - was a side effect. Added test.

- When listing users with "USER", if you're only allowing aliases (not
- "V" to view your statistics doesn't seem to do anything.
- "WHO" command doesn't do anything for me (at the time I am the only one

Can't repro it with current HEAD - may be something that happened between commits.

- "icbsysmgr > edit users file > any user > gender" is listed twice.

fixed.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Hey Omnibrain!

On Thu, 16 Oct 2025 12:11:18 -0700, you wrote:

It's easier to handle bugs on github :). But using messages is ok as
well. Better than no bug reports. It's a complex system so I think there
are many issues here and there.

Ok. Once I get past this conversation and dive deeper, including PPEs and whatnot, I'll go there, instead. I also switched to a debug build, just in case.

- When applying as a new user, the "Please enter city/state"
question currently does not allow commas or spaces. In my case, a
normal answer there would be "Pewaukee, WI (or Wisconsin if not
abbreviating the state)".

fixed.

Confirmed.

- When you login and are inputting your real name or alias, only
capital letters are inputted. Anywhere else I've come across,
including the application process.. lowercase can be used. This one
is probably an outstanding limitation from the original PCBoard
itself, as I remember not liking the name only using capitol
letters.

y it's a pcboard thing.

Would love to not have this restriction at all. Using all uppercase in this day and age is terrible. ;)

- When you hit "B" for bulletins, you're essentially stuck there. I
can't hit "Q" or "X" or even ENTER to go back to the main menu.
After I hit something like "S" (I started hitting a bunch of
letters to see how to get out of it), which is a search for text
funcion (probably not needed from the bulletins menu) I was able
hit enter to go back to the main menu.

fixed - was a side effect. Added test.

Confirmed working now.

- When listing users with "USER", if you're only allowing aliases
(not - "V" to view your statistics doesn't seem to do anything. -
"WHO" command doesn't do anything for me (at the time I am the only
one

Can't repro it with current HEAD - may be something that happened
between commits.

After testing again this time around:

"V" - doesn't do anything
"LANG" - doesn't do anything
"WHO" - doesn't do anything

"USER" - A bit more on this. I did not have a "Real Name" set, as I was only using aliases. So it originally only displayed my location and last on. Once I set a real name, it displays that. Maybe I can change that in mkpcbtxt (or not if the next paragraph is the best way to handle what I'm trying to do, then I wouldn't have to do anything here).

With this in mind, what would be the best way to eliminate real names and just use an alias that could be more than one word? I see the "What is your first name" prompt allows more than one word, so should I use that, while somehow eliminating the display/use of the "What is your last name" prompt and then just not allowing aliases? I think this is what I did with my PCBoard setup, but if there's a better way, I'd be glad to hear it.

Seems PCBoard has always put the "alias" category as a secondary, not so visable to the public, option.

- "icbsysmgr > edit users file > any user > gender" is listed
twice.

fixed.

Confirmed!

- I just realized "City" is listed twice, also.
- I can not set my birthday. If I save and exit, and then go back in it displays 01-01-00.
- Reg Ex Date seems to also be set permanently to 01-01-00.

Both of the above are also wierd, since I'm using "MM/DD/YY" format. But it doesn't matter how I write the date in those two fields, it always reverts.

Finally, what is an accounting file? My logs say it is not found, however it is not even enabled, nor is there any accounting files specified in icbsetup.

I'm digging this, but damn I'm just thinking about how much time I'm going to need to mess with PPEs. :)

Regards,
Nick


... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

Would love to not have this restriction at all. Using all uppercase in
this day and age is terrible. ;)

It's something I can look at. IcyBoard is not about copying PCBoard 1:1 just
to be PCBoard compatible. I want to extend/fix PCBoard as well.

But I need to start from PCBoard - in case of user names it can be difficult because PPEs are assuming the uppercase names and would need adjustments
when they compare names.

I need to look at that. I'm not really free to change anything. Like the passwords - had to do 1-2 hacks to make hashing possible and even then there
is a small chance that I broke something

After testing again this time around:

"V" - doesn't do anything
"LANG" - doesn't do anything
"WHO" - doesn't do anything

"USER" - A bit more on this. I did not have a "Real Name" set, as I was only using aliases. So it originally only displayed my location and last on. Once I set a real name, it displays that. Maybe I can change that in mkpcbtxt (or not if the next paragraph is the best way to handle what
I'm trying to do, then I wouldn't have to do anything here).

I don't think it's possible only using aliases - how did you do that?
Remove real names in the sysmanager?

- Fixed alias display in 'who' there was a setting I didn't use for it.

Which "Real Name" setting do you mean? The one in sysop information is
just for the sysop.

Not sure about the commands - can you zip me the installation/config maybe I can find something. There are security settings that could prevent them from working.

With this in mind, what would be the best way to eliminate real names
and just use an alias that could be more than one word? I see the "What
is your first name" prompt allows more than one word, so should I use that, while somehow eliminating the display/use of the "What is your
last name" prompt and then just not allowing aliases? I think this is
what I did with my PCBoard setup, but if there's a better way, I'd be
glad to hear it.

There is always the same answer to such questions: Use a PPE.
In my test BBS I use PNAlogin.

There is no way to eliminate "real names". Forget about aliases that feature in
PCBoard is crap.
It's not a replacement for real names.

Seems PCBoard has always put the "alias" category as a secondary, not so visable to the public, option.

Y - and worse - aliases are a by conference setting.

- I just realized "City" is listed twice, also.

There are 2 separate city fields in the user records. I assume that they rework
ed the address at some point.

- I can not set my birthday. If I save and exit, and then go back in it displays 01-01-00.
- Reg Ex Date seems to also be set permanently to 01-01-00.

Date editor is not implemented atm. Need to work on that.

Finally, what is an accounting file? My logs say it is not found, however i

t is

not even enabled, nor is there any accounting files specified in icbsetup.

Removed the error message if it's disabled. It's ok not to have it. icbsetup now
creates the files.
Accounting is the idea to charge users for activities of some sort. So let's say
to introduce
an upload/download ratio.

ATM it's unused and not very well thought out in PCBoard - for example you can c
harge for messages written - lol.
And it conflicts a bit with the limits because you can charge for time as well.
Maybe the idea was to charge money.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Hey Omnibrain!

On Thu, 16 Oct 2025 21:41:54 -0700, you wrote:

But I need to start from PCBoard - in case of user names it can be
difficult because PPEs are assuming the uppercase names and would need adjustments when they compare names.

That's what the PPE decompiler is for! :D

I need to look at that. I'm not really free to change anything. Like the passwords - had to do 1-2 hacks to make hashing possible and even then
there is a small chance that I broke something

Did you take the original source and convert it to Rust?

After testing again this time around:

"V" - doesn't do anything
"LANG" - doesn't do anything
"WHO" - doesn't do anything

"USER" - A bit more on this. I did not have a "Real Name" set, as I
was only using aliases. So it originally only displayed my location
and last on. Once I set a real name, it displays that. Maybe I can
change that in mkpcbtxt (or not if the next paragraph is the best
way to handle what I'm trying to do, then I wouldn't have to do
anything here).

I don't think it's possible only using aliases - how did you do that?
Remove real names in the sysmanager?

No, I just didn't enter a real name for myself when I created my sysop account.

- Fixed alias display in 'who' there was a setting I didn't use for it.

Alias display in 'who' or 'user? Remember, 'who' isn't working at all for me, so I only noticed that listing users didn't display the alias.

Which "Real Name" setting do you mean? The one in sysop information is
just for the sysop.

No, the one in icbsysmgr > edit users file.

Not sure about the commands - can you zip me the installation/config
maybe I can find something. There are security settings that could
prevent them from working.

I haven't touched anything in the security settings.

There is always the same answer to such questions: Use a PPE.
In my test BBS I use PNAlogin.

I suppose that's probably what I originally did.

There is no way to eliminate "real names". Forget about aliases that feature in PCBoard is crap. It's not a replacement for real names.

Right, Now that I think of it, I disabled aliases, and just used aliases for real names with the something in the lines of using one word names setting enabled.

Y - and worse - aliases are a by conference setting.

Yep, then I'll stick with the original way I was going about it with PCBoard.

- I just realized "City" is listed twice, also.

There are 2 separate city fields in the user records. I assume that
they rework ed the address at some point.

Only one gets filled in when a user applies, though, which is why I mentioned it.

Date editor is not implemented atm. Need to work on that.

That would definitely explain that then! ;)

Removed the error message if it's disabled. It's ok not to have it.
icbsetup now creates the files. Accounting is the idea to charge users
for activities of some sort. So let's say to introduce an
upload/download ratio.

Ah, a "feature" I've never used. But thanks for fixing it anyways!

ATM it's unused and not very well thought out in PCBoard - for example
you can c harge for messages written - lol. And it conflicts a bit with
the limits because you can charge for time as well. Maybe the idea was
to charge money.

Most definitely. And this feature would also lead back to Clark Dev profiting, too, because if you were making any kind of money with your BBS, you would have to purchase a commercial license. ;)

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

Hey Omnibrain!

On Thu, 16 Oct 2025 21:41:54 -0700, you wrote:

Not sure about the commands - can you zip me the installation/config
maybe I can find something. There are security settings that could
prevent them from working.

Taking a look around, I don't see anything remotely close to a 'chat.pcb'. Is the 'chat' command supposed to display a menu?

This is another one that doesn't do anything for me currently, along with the others I've mentioned. Makes me wonder if those are supposed to display something also that may not be there.

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

Taking a look around, I don't see anything remotely close to a
'chat.pcb'. Is the 'chat' command supposed to display a menu?

chat is atm not implemented - the others are. That's why I need your installation to check on a newly created board they're working for me.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

But I need to start from PCBoard - in case of user names it can be difficult because PPEs are assuming the uppercase names and would need adjustments when they compare names.

That's what the PPE decompiler is for! :D

In theory y but I would prefer having them to work out of the box :). As said I need to look at that. ATM I'm thinking about adding an opt-in for that.

Did you take the original source and convert it to Rust?

No, doesn't make that much sense doing it. I started with converting C code - ppld. This was my first rust project to learn that language. Converting C is not something I really would recommend. Modern programs work differently.

Not much left of ppld these days I rewrote the decompiler. But without ppld I wouldn't have understood the PPE structure. After that I made a compiler just for fun.

But doesn't mean I don't use the source code these days. It's basically my reference on how the commands really work. So it's useful but not required.

In some ways IcyBoard and PCBoard source is similiar - but that's rooted in PPE. PPL exposes much of the PCBoard API.

Most definitely. And this feature would also lead back to Clark Dev profiting, too, because if you were making any kind of money with your BBS, you would have to purchase a commercial license. ;)

Ah these days when you could make money by selling software and not asking for donations... ha good old times.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Hey Omnibrain!

On Fri, 17 Oct 2025 21:01:10 -0700, you wrote:

chat is atm not implemented - the others are. That's why I need your installation to check on a newly created board they're working for me.

Where would you like me to send it after I zip it?

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

Hey Omnibrain!

On Fri, 17 Oct 2025 21:01:10 -0700, you wrote:

chat is atm not implemented - the others are. That's why I need your installation to check on a newly created board they're working for me.

Also, do you need/want everything zipped up? After cloning from git to '/home/user/src/icy_board', I installed the actual BBS to '/home/user/icb'. So the BBS is not in the same directory tree.

Would you like the two directories zipped up separately? Or do you just need the codebase, and can install your own BBS from that?

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

Hey Accession!

On Sat, 18 Oct 2025 06:57:14 -0500, I wrote:

Hey Omnibrain!

Also, do you need/want everything zipped up? After cloning from git to '/home/user/src/icy_board', I installed the actual BBS to
'/home/user/icb'. So the BBS is not in the same directory tree.

Would you like the two directories zipped up separately? Or do you just
need the codebase, and can install your own BBS from that?

Is there a special way you want this zipped up as well? I've started zipping up the icy_board directory and it's already over 3.0G. Most of the debug executables are almost a half a gigabyte each!

How in the world did a little dinky package like PCBoard get so huge? Is it because of Rust and the 800 dependencies and packages it pulled in when I installed icy_board? Was all of this seemingly pulled into the icy_board directory?

I'll wait to compress until you let me know a better way. lol

PCBoard 15.2 is on archive.org at 8.1M. ;)

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

Where would you like me to send it after I zip it?

Either open a github issue with it or my email mkrueger@posteo.de

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Also, do you need/want everything zipped up? After cloning from git to '/home/user/src/icy_board', I installed the actual BBS to '/home/user/icb'. So the BBS is not in the same directory tree.

I only need the BBS - I've the source code of icy_board :).

Thanks

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Hey Omnibrain!

On Sat, 18 Oct 2025 22:02:00 -0700, you wrote:

Where would you like me to send it after I zip it?

Either open a github issue with it or my email mkrueger@posteo.de

Github issue created.

That said, is telnet and/or ssh fully implemented? I load up the WFC, and am not able to connect to it via any of my attempts including Syncterm, or Linux console telnet/ssh.

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

That said, is telnet and/or ssh fully implemented? I load up the WFC,
and am not able to connect to it via any of my attempts including Syncterm, or Linux console telnet/ssh.

Not sure about syncterm but ssh/icyterm works for me. As well as telnet.
What are you trying?

ssh -p 1338 localhost

?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Hey Omnibrain!

On Sun, 19 Oct 2025 05:37:58 -0700, you wrote:

Not sure about syncterm but ssh/icyterm works for me. As well as telnet. What are you trying?

ssh -p 1338 localhost

?

This ssh command works, however:

telnet localhost 1337

.. does not. It is indeed enabled in icbsetup.

Also, when I used the ssh command, at the login prompt I hit enter a few times to disconnect, and it hung while disconnecting. I had to close out of the WFC to fully disconnect that session.

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

.. does not. It is indeed enabled in icbsetup.

you set"pharcyde.org" as binding address that doesn't work. Leave that empty that binds to 0.0.0.0 that's the default and ok.

Binding address is no DNS. If you've a server with more ip addresses this makes sense to set. 0.0.0.0 simply means listen on all ipv4 addresses on the local machine.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Hey Omnibrain!

On Sun, 19 Oct 2025 09:32:32 -0700, you wrote:

Binding address is no DNS. If you've a server with more ip addresses
this makes sense to set. 0.0.0.0 simply means listen on all ipv4
addresses on the local machine.

Gotchya. Removed that and it worked properly. Only one thing after this, once connected via ssh, and hitting enter at the "Enter your first name" prompt a few times, it sends the error that it disconnects, however it doesn't disconnect. I have to manually close the WFC and restart the BBS in order to get out of that session (CTRL-C doesn't even work). Telnet actually disconnects, though.

Other than that, everything else that is supposed to work from the main menu, now works. Thanks for the fixes! Will dive deeper when time permits.

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

Twas Sunday, October 19th when Accession said...

Gotchya. Removed that and it worked properly. Only one thing after this, once connected via ssh, and hitting enter at the "Enter your first name" prompt a few times, it sends the error that it disconnects, however it doesn't disconnect. I have to manually close the WFC and restart the BBS in order to get out of that session (CTRL-C doesn't even work). Telnet actually disconnects, though.

y saw that too - and utf8 wasn't handled well -fixed both. I only did testing with telnet. Will need to look at WebSockets too.


On Sunday, October 19th Accession muttered...

Other than that, everything else that is supposed to work from the main menu, now works. Thanks for the fixes! Will dive deeper when time permits.

y could repro with your installation.

--- ENiGMA 1/2 v0.0.14-beta (linux; x64; 22.18.0)
* Origin: Xibalba -+- xibalba.vip:44510 (21:1/121)

Hey Omnibrain!

On Sun, 19 Oct 2025 14:32:00 -0600, you wrote:

y saw that too - and utf8 wasn't handled well -fixed both. I only did testing with telnet. Will need to look at WebSockets too.

Not sure if when you close an issue, maybe you don't get notifications for it any more. So here's a bump for you to take a look at the most recent issue you closed, as it contains more information.

I maybe should have opened a new ticket, but I think it had to do with what we were currently discussing (or at least in the same realm). ;)

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

Hi

y open new ones otherwise it's easy to lose track.

Esp. for things that are completely unrelated - like FNEXT.

I look at the enhanced who one - there are some functions/statements not implemented but not many.

I'll take a look at that PPE.

You can scan ppes with ppld --check to see if one uses functions/statements that are not implemented.
For the missing ones I search PPEs to test out the implementation.

Not sure if when you close an issue, maybe you don't get notifications
for it any more. So here's a bump for you to take a look at the most recent issue you closed, as it contains more information.

I maybe should have opened a new ticket, but I think it had to do with what we were currently discussing (or at least in the same realm). ;)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

I maybe should have opened a new ticket, but I think it had to do wit what we were currently discussing (or at least in the same realm). ;)

Fixed the issues - didn't know the fnext function - it's one easy one to implement.

Can you check your ppes with:

find -name "*.PPE" | xargs -n 1 ppld --check

nice that someone finally tries to use icy board in a real world
pcboard->icy board transition scenario. I try to recreate it but pcboard is huge. Beside some easy functions I've missed like fnext there are two bigger things that are not implemented:

DOS things (registers/interupts) and DBASE. Haven't looked into the DBASE thing yet. There are dbase libraries for rust that could handle .dbf files.

DOS peeks&pokes may be simulated - did that with the nibbles game. For local display it seems that they vsynced the output for making the display smoother. That's something that was possible to fake. But I need the use cases for that.

But atm I consider the PPE engine almost complete and fix missing PPE functions on a by PPE basis :).

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Hey Omnibrain!

On Fri, 24 Oct 2025 00:30:44 -0700, you wrote:

Fixed the issues - didn't know the fnext function - it's one easy one to implement.

Thanks, that worked!

find -name "*.PPE" | xargs -n 1 ppld --check

For what it's worth, I got another error with another PPE (something to do with file access). Unfortunately, I ran the 'ppld --check' command and it told me the PPE was fine, even though I couldn't get it to run properly in the BBS. Even more unfortunate, when I was messing about with it, decompiling and trying to find an answer.. I deleted the contents of the directory that contained the last callers display and data.. so I deleted the whole directory and don't have the original zip of the PPE any more. I'll find another last callers PPE to try in the meantime.

nice that someone finally tries to use icy board in a real world pcboard->icy board transition scenario. I try to recreate it but pcboard
is huge. Beside some easy functions I've missed like fnext there are two bigger things that are not implemented:

DOS things (registers/interupts) and DBASE. Haven't looked into the
DBASE thing yet. There are dbase libraries for rust that could handle
.dbf files.

DOS peeks&pokes may be simulated - did that with the nibbles game. For
local display it seems that they vsynced the output for making the
display smoother. That's something that was possible to fake. But I need
the use cases for that.

I suppose I'm not familiar with the above. However, I've had issues with 'icbsetup' and a bunch of options that require input (not just a check mark or X) as far as backspace and delete is concerned, ie they don't work very well, and the text that is there disappears but it's still actually there.

But atm I consider the PPE engine almost complete and fix missing PPE functions on a by PPE basis :).

Yeah so far I have about 6 old PPEs from 1993-1995 installed and running fine. It was only the one you already fixed, and some random last callers mod that had a "LCO.PPE" that you needed to run when a user logs off. It doesn't display anything, but I think it added the current user to the last calls list or something. If I run into the same PPE again, I'll let you know - as it was one of the better last calls mods I found, so I'll probably be looking for it again.

The only real downfall to all of this is sifting through thousands of PPEs to find a decent one that does what you want, because there was sooo much garbage made back in those days, and I really don't have the patience to learn PPL, even though I may be able to learn that quicker than it would take me to find decent PPEs. ;)

For example, simple ideas like a login matrix PPE, made back then, includes the new user process and an entire new user voting system, as well as other parts of the login process that I wouldn't want as part of the matrix. Just a lightbar login matrix, that can point to other PPEs would be amazing. It doesn't need anything else (because I'd like to do everything else separately). Unfortunately, that means sifting through hundreds of trash PPEs for an hour and not actually accomplishing anything. ;)

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (21:1/200)

Not sure if when you close an issue, maybe you don't get notifications for it any more. So here's a bump for you to take a look at the most recent issue you closed, as it contains more information.

Opening new issues always is better - but I'll look at it. ATM I'm busy at work. So it may take a while.


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* Origin: Shurato's Heavenly Sphere telnet://shsbbs.net (21:2/148)

PNA Login is great :).


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* Origin: Shurato's Heavenly Sphere telnet://shsbbs.net (21:2/148)