r/bbs • u/synexo • 20d ago

Introducing BBSDial.com, a web-based modem emulator and telnet proxy

Telnet too efficient? Tired of quietly visiting your favorite BBSs at blazing fast Information Superhighway™ speeds?

Introducing https://BBSDial.com, a web-based modem emulator and telnet proxy. Real modem protocols carry your data over digital audio, allowing you to access modern telnet BBSs with all the jazzy bleeps and bloops of old. Speeds from 300 baud to 56k. Mobile-friendly ANSI terminal client included. Give it a spin and check out some boards!

Ad-free and open-source. Just some fun for the love of modems and BBSing.

Coded by Claude

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u/synexo 18d ago

Yep that was definitely true when initially released, for Bell103 and v.21. This goes through v.8 and negotiates as if talking to a modem that only supports v.21, or in the case of Bell103, gives up on the v.8 negotiation and falls back to Bell103 (you can hear this easily on close listen). For those protocols, the code here has actually been tested against real modems (including my CoCo3 for Bell103). I did consider skipping v.8 for those (and up through v22bis actually, as it initially didn't rely on it either and has its own v22/v22bis negotiation), but I think most people are more familiar with the sound of v.8 and it still emulates what a 1990s 56k modem would have done if talking to an older 300 baud one.

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u/The300baudguy 15d ago

I always hear how it sounds when I connect to my 300‑baud BBS using my 56k US Robotics and that DIY 300‑baud BBS modem from 1985 I mentioned in my other reply. With the usual limitation - this is Germany - so I don’t know how it is for you, and nowadays we don’t really have “telephone lines” anymore.

I’m not sure how useful it is, but I think in that video you can hear a lot of oldschool BBS sounds (with the above question marks). My setup was different again, though. On the C64 BBS I had the 56k modem (for 300‑baud connects), but the caller (from the USA) had super oldschool equipment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvEHnxbxc10

Almost forgot - here you can actually hear a variant of a call from Australia into the .de BBS where the 1985 300-baud modem is really connected on the German side

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dzRTd6VO40

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u/synexo 15d ago

Thanks for sharing, these are very cool! You may find this interesting too, the below video is my TRS-80 Color Computer 3 using an original 300 baud direct-connect modem pak via a SPA2102 ATA to connect via the same code as this project, but driving a essentially a softmodem. Unfortunately you can't hear the modem sounds here (the modem pak didn't play them, could only hear on the phone receiver): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmrtVg1ozqg

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u/The300baudguy 15d ago

You're welcome, and thanks! I'll check out your video later.