Lighting effects in Microsoft Flight Simulator are nothing short of breathtaking:
Lens flares in Microsoft Flight Simulator
New BBS documentary: Back to the BBS part 1
There is a new documentary about BBSes posted to YouTube this week, ‘Back to the BBS’. Rather than focusing on the history of the BBS such as Jason Scott’s awesome ‘BBS The Documentary’, this one looks at using BBSes in the current time, and why there is an increasing interest in using BBSes today.
Part 1 is 43 minutes and walks through using telnet based BBSes today, and includes a number of interviews with people looking back at when BBSes were in their height of popularity, and also interviews a number of Sysops of current day active BBSes and their users.
VT132 Using the AT Modem over WiFi
The VT132 includes a telnet/WiFi modem that supports AT commands to ‘dial’ online sites, such as BBSes that are accessible using telnet.
To connect to the modem, use the Alt-F1 menu and enable the ‘Enable modem locally’ option:
Useful commands:
AT$ – lists commands and help:
AT+W? – displays current WiFi status
AT+W=ssid,password : connect to WiFi ssid with password
AT+W$ – shows IP address when connected to WiFi:
AT+W+ : reconnects to WiFi using params last used and stored
AT+W- : disconnects from WiFi
Testing dialing up Retro Battlestations BBS: ATDbbs.fozztexx.com
Since VT132 also supports ANSI escape sequences, dialing up Blackflag BBS has some awesome ANSI graphics: ATDblackflag.acid.org :
VT132 assembly: USB add on board notes
There’s no explicit instructions on the VT132 website for how to attach the optional USB addon board instead of the default PS/2 connector but there is an extremely details step by step video here.
Summarizing the additional steps:
- trim the 4 back legs of the USB connector so that it sits flush to the red addon board and make sure the pins don’t protrude from the board, then solder the back pins to the add on board and make sure the soldering is flush so it will sit flush to the main board
- solder the 2 larger outer pins from the back first, then the inside 2 pins
- the addon board attaches to the main board component side up
- push the black spacer of the 6 pin header all the way down so the spacer is flush to the end of the pins
- attach the row of header pins though the top of addon baord to the back; there shouldn’t be any length of the header pins extending on the top
- solder the header pins on the back of the addon board
- put a small strip of electrical tape across the bottom side of the addon board before inserting to main board before soldering, to avoid any contact with the original PS/2 connector pads on the circuit board
- insert the addon board, turn over and solder the pins
- solder the two front structural legs on the usb connector