In the late 80's I ran a BBS on my C64 and the software was EBBS by Ed Parry. A few (well, 10++) years back I thought I could try to find the software and see if I could get it up and running again and accept "calls" from the internet. The software is coded in basic and I couldn't find it anywhere. There was also a free version which was compiled and that I managed to find, but I wanted the original basic version so I could try to make some changes to it like I did back then. I even messaged Ed Parry via LinkedIn, but he couldn't help. But he said if I ever find it I can do whatever I want with it so I've placed it here for download. It was 2014 when I made a post on Lemon64 telling people I'm looking for this software, and from that thread I can see I managed to find it in just over 5 years :-D I have made a few modifications to it (including settings for WiModem and Commodore Telnet BBS server "modems", more on those further on this page) and you can download the original and my version here. The changes I have made up to 1st of June 2026 are: 1) When the BBS is started, it asks for time. Originally this was done by going to the SysOp menu, but I find it better this way so you don't have to go to the SysOp menu every time you start the program - and you will start it many times while building and testing the system. The BBS remembers the last date so I haven't made an automation for that. Note 1: For some reason it doesn't accept times between 00:00 and 00:59. If you need to give a time between that, enter some other time and use the SysOp menu to set the correct time. Not going to troubleshoot this as it isn't a big problem. Note 2: If your modem settings are incorrect and the BBS detects a call instantly after it has loaded, the time won't be asked. Not going to troubleshoot this as you will need to fix your modem settings anyway. 2) After answering a call there was originally a 20 second pause before things started to happen, that has been reduced to 8 seconds. 3) When logging out, file "logout.seq" will be displayed. 4) For some modem types the hang-up string was originally ATH1, but that was probably a bug because ATH1 actually opens the line, not close it. 5) New user form has been changed to suit better today's BBS users. City has been changed to country, and state, area code and phone number questions are skipped automatically. 6) When entering the files section, file "bul x.seq" is shown automatically. 7) When setting the date, it now informs that the format expected is YYMMDD. 8) If the caller takes a look at the users list, he/she is informed that the operation takes up to one minute (a compiled EBBS running on normal hardware) so he/she knows the system is just doing it's thing and hasn't crashed. 9) Removed the "Validate disk?" question when SysOp logs out. 10) Uploads can now be denied. At least I couldn't get uploads to work in any way, and the uploads breaking caused all kinds of unwanted stuff so I made an option to disable uploads while still keeping the files section/downloads usable. 11) Filemaker program creates files "bul x.seq" and "logout.seq" which are needed for this new version. 12 Config program has WiModem and Commodore Telnet BBS Server "modems" as options. Also added a flag to enable/disable uploads. EBBS and WiModem My WiModem is the OLED version from maybe 2022, that one isn't sold any more and I don't know if the newer models work somehow different. First you need to set up the WiModem itself correctly. When you command your wimoden AT&V you will see all the current settings. EBBS will work with your WiModem when the settings are as follows: B0 C0 E1 L0 M1 N0 Q0 V1 X1 S0=1 S1=0 S2=43 S3=13 S4=10 S5=8 S6=2 S7=60 S8=2 S9=6 S10=15 S11=90 S12=50 S25=0 S30=30 S37=6 *B1200 *BL512 *C1 *D0 *L6400 *LED5 *P1541 *R0 *T0 &C1 &D2 &G0 &K0 &Q0 &S0 Not sure if all of that is needed, but that's how it at least works. Notice that the speed is set to 1200bps so if your terminal program is on another speed everything will get garbled up untill you set your terminal program to run at 1200 also. When you have checked and changed all the settings, write them in to the WiModem memory by AT&W Now choose the WiModem as modem in the "64 CONFIG42B" and write the settings and you should be good to go. It seems the first connection needs a few retries, looks like the modem and the EBBS are "out of sync" or something. But after the first connection gets done, it usually works just fine. When the call is disconnecting/disconnected, all kinds of stuff scroll through the WiModem's display before it finally ends up showing +++ATH while waiting for a call. One would think it should read "Ready.", but for now I will leave it like it is at it seems to ~work. Please note! For some reason EBBS 3.4 has ATH1 as hang-up command, it doesn't work with WiModem and I think it is wrong. In my opinion it should be ATH. It's fixed on my 42B version, but if you want to use the original 3.4 you need to fix it on line 1000. EBBS and Leif Bloomquist's BBS Server Like I wrote earlier, this is a piece of software running on a PC (Windows 98SE, XP and 10 tested by me) which is connected to the C64 via serial cable. Picture from the manual It can be used with different kinds of serial cables, I have built a specific "TelBBS Standard Cable" which is described in manual and the following settings are based on it. Seems to work also with USB-RS adapters if your PC doesn't have a serial port. The software can be found here, and if you need VB6.0-KB290887-X86 it's available here. On the EBBS side you need to set the modem type as 3 in the "64 CONFIG42B", and the TellBBS server should be set up as follows: Now, if everything is ok the BBS should wait for calls and answer when a call comes. If it doesn't work, I'd start with building the specific cable if you have some other cable in use. If you are experiencing problems with the BBS not hanging up the line, check out what I wrote about ATH1 up in the WiModem -section. Known problems: As the "internet calls" work a bit differently than real telephones, it is possible one could end up logging directly in to someone else's on going session that has disconnected. If the BBS is doing something that takes a while (like viewing the users list which takes almost a minute) and the user disconnects, a new call could be received and the BBS would continue like nothing had happened. If the caller disconnects on any other moment the BBS will notice it and reset the connection, but when it's busy doing it's stuff it doesn't notice the line going down. When the BBS is ready with it's long process, it will notice the line being down and restart everything so it won't stay stuck forever, waiting for someone to call in to someone's session. This could be fixed by letting the BBS answer the incoming call rather than using the modem's auto-answer, but for now I will use the current settings that rely on the modem to auto-answer. The caller sometimes gets garbled text whem some short and quick text - like "Searching..." is sent from the BBS. This happens with both of my connection types (WiModem/TelBBS) so I think the C64 just isn't up to the job not even at 1200bps. Should try 300bps but haven't done it yet. *** Solved! It's the Final Cartridge III that causes this. Disabling with the KILL command solves this problem. If the program crashes with "out of memory" when the user is logging out, I think it has to do with date set incorrectly. Maybe not this time, but previously. Testing something I noticed that also incorrect data in user file (can't happen normally but I was experimenting) causes this. Removing (or replacing with a backup) the callers -file fixes this problem. *** Solved! This has to do with the callers -file getting too long (6 blocks) and the basic version off EBBS runs out of memory. At least until now I haven't been able to reproduce this problem with the compiled version. There seems to be a problem with messages to SysOp getting deleted when a user logs out. This may be related for "regular user" having SysOp rights even he/she can't read messages to SysOp, but I'm not quite sure of that. So better not have SysOp access for other users. Also I noticed that the SysOp's name has to be in CAPS in the config. *** Update! I think this might not be the case after all, need to look further. It seems that when using WiModem the connection doesn't start every time. The caller only gets "DISCONNECTED" and that's that. One or few retries usually gets things going. Other: I have extracted a few of the files from the .D64's as .txt so you can easily view them on your pc. They are here: ebbs 64 docs.txt ebbs 64 notes.txt 64 config42b.txt I hope this is of any help to someone some day. I will update/improve "my version" of EBBS every now and then and place it here. If someone gets EBBS working by a direct internet connection to the C64 using Ultimate Elite II, Commodore 64 Ultimate, RR-Net or Ultimate II+L I would really be interested to know how it's done and maybe add the info here. porakone@hotmail.com Krisse @ lemon64 forum