Possibilities - Connecting TBBS to the Internet

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CONNECTING TBBS TO THE INTERNET
-------------------------------

*** From August 1993 Possibilities Newsletter ***
*** Copyright 1993 by eSoft, Inc.  All Rights Reserved ***

Connecting TBBS to the Internet
by Phil Becker

One of the hottest topics in the BBS world today is "how do I connect my BBS 
to the Internet"?  A lot of confusion and only a little information seems to 
accompany these discussions.  Part of the problem is that many who are 
asking the question have only a vague understanding of what the Internet is.

Internet Mail...

"The Internet" is really composed of two different parts.  The first part is 
an electronic mail system (which is usually called "Internet mail" or 
optionally UUCP mail) that is conceptually relatively similar to FidoNet.  
This is the part of the Internet that is really most exciting to most BBS 
users.

The Internet email addressing scheme (known as DNS or Domain Name System) 
has won the battle of universal email connectivity, and nearly everything 
that is email in any form is, or soon will be, reachable through this 
system.  For example, if you have access to Internet Mail you can send a 
message to me at "phil.becker@esoft.com", and the message will show up in my 
email box on the eSoft Support BBS.  This is the same concept as Fidonet 
mail, but the addresses are a bit easier to remember and the number of 
systems that are connected will soon be nearly everyone.

Like Fidonet, Internet mail has its "echomail" too.  This is called 
"newsgroups" and there are currently 4500+ subject areas and growing.  These 
echo areas are even available on a satellite link known as PageSat.  You can 
connect your TBBS to this Internet email system by using a third party 
option module called the Personal Internet Mail Processor (PIMP).  This 
option module is written and sold by Jack Rickard, editor of Boardwatch 
Magazine (303-973-6038), and has a price of $249.

Version 2 of PIMP has an integrated dialer and UUCPg protocol engine so that 
it can transfer mail between TBBS and your Internet host while your BBS is 
up.  PIMP handles all email, including newsgroups.  It even has a mailing 
list redirector built in so you may participate in or even create mailing 
lists.  It handles aliaising so you can assign TBBS user names to accounts 
such as "postmaster" that are standard and expected in an Internet mail 
environment.  PIMP Version 2 also understands enclosed files fully.  It will 
UUENCODE and UUDECODE them so that they will travel correctly to a non-TBBS 
host, but when mail is sent between TBBS systems, enclosed files will simply 
work as expected.  And PIMP can even handle PageSat "mail bags" directly and 
toss them into your running TBBS system.  PIMP also implements an FTPMAIL 
requester, which provides roughly the same functionality as a Fidonet file 
request.

Because so many systems on the Internet are only connected by email, it is 
the home of "the very large message".  It is common to publish long 
documents (or even programs) as a single message on the Internet.  PIMP 
overcomes the 9999 character TBBS online message entry size limit by 
detecting long messages and automatically placing the complete text in an 
enclosed file you can download when you read the message.

PIMP configuration has been kept to an absolute minimum, so that it is very 
easy to install.  You need only to modify the dialing script and identify 
your host logon name and machine name as well as telephone number.  Add the 
very few file directories and you have a running installation.  I managed to 
get PIMP running in 15 minutes without reading the manual, just by looking 
at the sample configuration files (I know, I yell at you if you attempt 
this).

The Host Thing...

The only real problem with using PIMP to connect Internet email to your TBBS 
is that you must have access to a host system that is already connected to 
Internet mail.  It is this point that is the sticky one.  There are several 
services that sell these connections on a monthly basis, and there is almost 
certainly one near you. The prices range all over the board from as little 
as $50 or so a month up to over $1000 per month.

This is a case at present of "where you are and who you know", and it isn't 
even remotely fairly distributed.  If you have any contacts at a business or 
university that has Internet mail connections (and nearly all of them do at 
this point) you may even be able to get a dial-in UUCP account set up for 
free.

This is an area where good old fashioned legwork is required to find out the 
best option for you based on where you are. I'm not really in a position to 
give you much help here, other than to say that you have to find a host 
system to obtain Internet mail.  I expect to learn a lot more at ONE BBSCON 
as several resellers of such connections will be at the show, telling us all 
what they've done to restructure their pricing and availability.

Setting up PIMP is much easier than setting up Fidonet since all of your 
incoming and outbound mail goes through the single system that is your host. 
So you drop in the software, write a short script to logon to your host 
computer and start the electronic transfer, set up a couple of directories 
and a list of newsgroups you want and you're done.  All of the hard part is 
finding a host system, getting an account, and then finding out what they 
REALLY named your machine (nearly everyone I've talked to had some problems 
with the human communications here, and we did too).  After that, everything 
just sort of works.

The Full IP Connection...

The second part of "the Internet" is known as a "full IP connection".  This 
is often talked about in hushed tones, as though something truly magical was 
happening.  It is really just an alternate form of an X.25 packet switched 
network.  In fact, TCP/IP was the FIRST packet network protocol ever 
developed that worked at all, and it really isn't quite as good at that job 
as X.25 (I've designed and written both X.25 and TCP/IP switches and so can 
compare the two at a technical level).  The underlying technology is a bit 
different, but when you use it, it all looks the same.  If you've used PC 
Pursuit, you know what using "The Internet" is like.

A TBBS which is hooked to the Internet may be "called" over the network by 
simply typing in the command TELNET <system name>.  It's just the same as 
X.25 in this respect.  There is also an alternate form of logging on that is 
just to get files and transfer them known as FTP.  Some systems allow file 
logons separately from full access logons -- much as you can allow file 
requests in Fidonet from systems that you don't allow to log all the way on 
to your BBS.  Because of these two program interfaces, a full IP connection 
is often referred to as "one that lets me do TELNET and FTP".

To hook up a BBS to this network takes an interface between the TBBS RS-232 
lines and the IP (packet) network.  With an X.25 network this is done with a 
device called a PAD (short for Packet Assembler/ Disassembler).  For TCP/IP 
the device is called a terminal server.  Because, until recently, all the 
machines that hooked to this network ran UNIX, there is some confusion on 
the part of long time users of the Internet about what is "the Internet" and 
what is UNIX (they all had both so it didn't matter).  When hooking up a BBS 
it matters a lot, and at this point you can either spend a lot of time or a 
lot of money (or usually both) to get the job done.  A few brave pioneers 
have done the job, and I'm really very proud to report almost all of the 
BBS's that have hooked to the Internet as "full IP" packet switched 
connections are TBBS systems.  But hooking up non-UNIX systems to the 
Internet is still a "wild and woolly" world in its infancy.

I'm doing a lot of research into the "full IP connection" at the present and 
hope to be able to publish some tech notes in the months to come on exactly 
how to configure equipment to do the job (I'll even be demonstrating a lab 
experiment at ONE BBSCON that may lead to a price reduction of several 
thousand dollars over the equipment now required to do the job).  But even 
after that happens, you will need access to an IP connection.  A direct IP 
connection can be made one of several ways:

1.  A dial-up SLIP connection.  This is the cheapest way, but it supports 
the fewest sessions.  This type of connection is easy to get, as there is no 
special wiring needed to your BBS's location.  It costs from $200 to $1000 
per month depending on where you buy it.

2.  A 56kbps leased line connection.  This would support more users at the 
same time, but is more expensive.  You have the installation cost and the 
lease cost of the line (about $400/mo) from the phone company, along with 
whatever your host charges you for the connection (about another $500/mo or 
more) in addition to the cost of the special 56kbps modems.

3.  A T1 high speed (1.6mbps) connection.  This is VERY expensive, and not 
realistic for most BBS installations at this time.

4.  An Ethernet connection to another system in your building that already 
has a T1 or 56kbps connection to the Internet.  This is only an option in a 
business or university that already has paid the "big bucks" to bring in the 
Internet "hose" to your location.

When you are done with all of this, you have access to a packet switched 
network that is one of the most primitive in the world.  Its only saving 
grace is that it has the most systems connected to it of any packet network 
in the world.  Is it for you?  Only you can tell, and only after you talk to 
people who use it.  Your evaluation should probably include renting some 
time on a system that is connected to experience it for yourself.  A full IP 
connection is a LOT of money, and you should know why you need one before 
you invest in it.

In Summary...

In the next year or two every public BBS will have to have Internet mail 
connections or be "behind the curve".  Thanks to the work of Jack Rickard, 
TBBS is lucky enough to have the best such solution available for any BBS 
today in the form of PIMP.

I think that the "direct IP connection" will be just like X.25, but with the 
twist that it is entering a "fashion fad" phase.  I think the "big boys" 
will play with this, a lot of money will be spent, and in the end it will 
all die down to those who always knew why they needed it and the rest of us 
will learn why we don't need it.  That's a bit of an editorial, I'll admit, 
but it's my opinion from what I've seen so far.  However, in a year or so 
TBBS should be able to make a full IP connection without the large 
investment in hardware now required.

- END -
PS0893-4
Rev. 8/93

Copyright (C) 1994 eSoft, Inc., All Rights Reserved.  Permission granted
to distribute this file in its entirety, without modification, to any
interested party.  Any other use requires the written permission of
eSoft, Inc.

IMPORTANT:  The information herein is subject to change without notice.
Please call or write to confirm factual information of importance to you
or your organization.

