Subj : Clrghouz, calling for some test dummies...
To   : deon
From : Andrew Leary
Date : Fri Jun 23 2023 03:30 am


Hello deon!

23 Jun 23 10:10, you wrote to all:

 de> So over the last couple of years I've been chipping away at my owner
 de> mailer and tosser "clrghouz" - it's been an interesting exercise, and
 de> it's enabled me to put into practise some coding that I have used for
 de> other projects.

 de> I created clrghouz to leverage modern software and coding principles
 de> (since many of the software used in this hobby is old and the author's
 de> or their code is long gone), but to preserve the ability to continue
 de> to use that old software (warts 'an all) - which is kind of why many
 de> of us are here.

 de> Ultimately I'm wanting it to become the new Hub 3 - making it easier
 de> (for me at least) to manage an FTN network (or two), and make it
 de> easier for systems that use it? I'm at the stage now that I should get
 de> some real users testing it and to see how you can break it :)

 de> While I consider it still in development, if you are willing and would
 de> like to help me test it further, then please keep reading ...

 de> Clearing Houz supports both EMSI mailers over TCP (the old modem,
 de> dialup mailers like FrontDoor, Portal Of Power, ifcico, etc) and BINKP
 de> mailers. If you want to use an EMSI mailer with Windows, then I
 de> recommend Digital Man's SVDM which is what I've been using. For DOS
 de> you can use a serial cable and another device running tpcser.

 de> (While I've tested a few old EMSI mailers with success, I know
 de> D'Bridge with it's EMSI mode doesn't work - which I'll aim to fix one
 de> day and I'll happily prioritise that if there is interest.)

 de> For the EMSI mailers, I've only implemented ZModem with 1K block size,
 de> but in time I'll enable up to 8K and a sliding window as well as maybe
 de> Hydra (since that seems to also be common).

 de> For BINKP, I've not implemented all features (like Crypt, Compression)
 de> - but I'll do that too in time too. The current BINKP seems to be
 de> working well, as I've been feeding Clearing Houz from Hub 3 for quite
 de> some time now (and you may have noticed the test message replies in
 de> FSX_TST).

 de> At the moment, clrghouz will send out only uncompress packets (with up
 de> to 50 messages in a packet), but can accept both uncompressed and ZIP
 de> archives. Any other file type is not processed and remains in the
 de> inbound until I notice them.

 de> Packets are processed in real time (unless there are more than 50
 de> messages in it), so if your packet has a ping or a test message, you
 de> should get a reply in the same BINKP/EMSI session.

 de> I'm also happy to look at implementing other packet transfer formats
 de> if you want to try other things (eg: getting mail via a http API call,
 de> so you can feed a BBS directly without a mailer.)

 de> For testing, you could either:
 de> * For your current BBS, get a second feed via Clearing Houz - using
 de> your existing FSX address. Your mailer dupe processing should
 de> illiminate duplicates that you will receive, and the hubs should drop
 de> them for anything you send out. (If it doesn't please let me know). *
 de> Spin up a new BBS with a new address and feed it from Clearing Houz

 de> Ideally I'd like a few users in category :)

 de> I've still got a lot I want to do on clearing houz, and there is
 de> probably many bugs that need ironing out, so if you are interested in
 de> helping out let me know.

 de> You can start by heading to its web address clrghouz.bbs.dege.au and
 de> create a user account. Your BBS "should be there", and you should be
 de> able to claim it (although the claiming process it not that robust
 de> yet). If you find things out of place, not intuitive or could be
 de> improved let me know...

I'll send you netmail with the results of my trying to register and link my 
BBS.

Andrew

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