.NET

The next-generation BBS software

  • Old and new a 1980s computer can join
  • Real hardware a chip on your shelf
  • Free software GPL v3 or later
  • No internet needed a local network is enough
  • You write the rules and you are the appeal
  • No ads no one sells your time
  • No platforms nobody in the middle
  • No hosting fees it runs at your place
  • No outside costs your power, your Wi-Fi
  • No cloud nobody else's server

First login: become the sysop

First, become the sysop

A new board has one password, the sysop's, and it is unleashed. It only works from your own network, and only until you change it. The install page says why. On your first call from your own network, the board asks for it by itself, once you have signed up or logged in:

Welcome, Sparks!Connected to node 1 of 10 on Tue 29 Sep at 20:26. Time brought to you by NTP.You're the 1st caller today and have 60 minutes. This board is closed to callers.This board has not been set up yet.You are on its own network, so you can do it now. The sysop password is on the install page. Closed to callers until you open it in CONFIG board.Sysop password (ESC skips): Sysop password (ESC skips): Sysop password (ESC skips): Sysop password (ESC skips): Sysop password (ESC skips): Sysop password (ESC skips): after signing up, from the board's own network, firmware 1.2.0-link.17

The right password makes you the sysop, and the board says so:

YOU ARE THE SYSOP ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Welcome, Sparks. This board is yours to run. A real BBS on a chip. This used to take a whole PC and a bank of modems. FIRST, THE PASSWORDS You got in with the default password, and anybody can read that one on the install page. So the first job is your own: the next screen is the staff passwords form. ∙ Up and Down move between fields. F1 saves. ESC leaves without saving. ∙ The Sysop row's stars are the published default: change it now. Type your own straight over them, no need to delete them first. ∙ Co-sysop 1 and 2: leave them blank unless you want helpers. A blank level is one nobody can use. CLOSED UNTIL YOU OPEN IT Callers get a closed sign until you open the board: CONFIG board, then Stop taking calls, set to no. Do that after the passwords and settings. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT The passwords form, then a short tour of the rest of the settings. the default password, typed at that question, firmware 1.2.0-link.17

Then the staff passwords form opens by itself. Type a sysop password of your own and press F1 to save it. The board will not take unleashed here.

STAFF PASSWORDS───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────Sysop password ******** Co-sysop 1 password ........................................................Co-sysop 2 password ........................................................[ Save ] [ Cancel ]These stars are the published default from the install page. Change it now. then the staff passwords form, by itself, firmware 1.2.0-link.17

After that, a short tour of the settings, and then the sysop's prompt:

SETTING UP YOUR BOARD ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────CONFIG on its own lists the pages. CONFIG and a page name opens one: CONFIG board is the first. F1 saves a page and most changes apply at once. THE PAGES board the board's name, its hostname on the network, the timezone and NTP server, idle minutes, the LED pin, where callers land limits minutes per call and per day, the WHO refresh, the account cap accounts whether callers may sign up, whether guests may call, and for how many minutes backup the port, how long the window stays open, the button pin staff the passwords you just set wifi the network; a change is used from the next restart And one page for each plugin: chat, forums, files, info, announce and sd. Each starts with whether it is on and who may use it. Page 1 of 2Press SPACE to continuesaved: the tour, page 1, firmware 1.2.0-link.17

Until you open it, the board is closed to everybody else: other callers get the busy message. When you have finished setting it up, open it on the board page of CONFIG by turning Stop taking calls (Closed at 40 columns) off.

After that, on any call, you become the sysop by typing BYE and your password at the prompt. The board moves you to its sysop node, and the prompt starts with [S]. A wrong password is an ordinary log off, and three wrong from one address within fifteen minutes locks that address out for fifteen minutes.

Every setting after that is on the CONFIG page.

Back to Set up your BBS.