BBS Box

From: Roger Merchberger <zmerch_at_northernway.net>
Date: Fri Oct 31 09:46:11 1997

Due to massive amounts of caffeine & sleep deprivation, Hotze said:

> Oh, yeah, I have one more question. If I want to make a BBS (regardless
>or software), what type of hardware should I have to handle multiple
>connections? I believe that my computer is BBS-server-sufficent for DOS (2
>GB HDD, 28 MB RAM, 486/66 processor), as that's twice as fast as a server
>would be in 1990, with DOS at it's peak, before Windows started ruining the
>whole thing :-) .

How many multiple connections? What kind of speed per connection? Do you
also want to use the machine for yourself at the same time? These do make a
difference, for you could run 2 connections at 2400 baud on a 2Mhz CoCo 3
w/512K RAM. All you need is a way to interface the ports (or build your
own.) Under OS-9, you may even have enough CPU over to play Rogue (tho not
quickly). With a 6309 processor and NitrOS-9, you could most easily do this
setup and still use the machine for yourself.

(And yes, someone *has* designed an overclocking circuit to run a 6x09 at
4Mhz, except during memory accesses which does gain you a fair amount of
speed... ;-)

In the IBM world, I'd say for 4 dial up lines at 9600/14.4 you'd need a
minimum of a 386DX 25 w/8 Megs RAM, running Dos/Linux (Windows not spoken
here... too much overhead) and decent BBS software and you'd have no
problem whatsoever. (Again, with Linux, you may still be able to use the
machine for background tasks for yourself without harming that speed... but
not big jobs, of course.)

Anyway, YMMV, HTH, HSIYE (Here's Spit In Your Eye... ;-) and all that jazz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger Merchberger       | Why does Hershey's put nutritional
Programmer, NorthernWay | information on their candy bar wrappers
zmerch_at_northernway.net  | when there's no nutritional value within?
Received on Fri Oct 31 1997 - 09:46:11 GMT

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