Connecting to Telnet BBSes the most awesome way: Via Telemate in DOSBox

Use the exact same software to dial BBSes at 28.8 in 1995... and to telnet to BBSes in 2021.

Connecting to (and using) old-school style BBSes is a unique experience. One that I heartily recommend, even now in 2021. Heck, maybe more so now, in 2021, than any year before.

It’s just fun.

There is an excellent article, at the “StarBase” 11 BBS website, detailing how to accomplish exactly that. Highly recommended.

In a nutshell:

Step 1) Get DOSBox (I use DOSBox-X).

Step 2) Find a copy of a BBS communication program (like Telemate or QModem). Something super old-school. There are a few options over at the StarBase 11 tutorial. I recommend Telemate. It’s classic.

Step 3) Edit the DOSBox.conf file to enable “modem listenport 23” for serial 1 (chage “serial1=dummy” to “modem listenport 23”). Or use the DOSBox-x Configuration tool like this:

That basically sets “serial1” (COM Port 1) to pretend to be a real modem. You can then use any software that used traditional dial-up modems. Which is crazy rad.

Step 19) Run TM.EXE.

Step 47) Configure Telemate to use COM 1, 57.6k, 8N1 (Data 8, Parity None, Stop bits 1).

Step … 50k?) Type “atdtbbs.lunduke.com”. This issues the atdt command to dial a phone number… with “bbs.lunduke.com” as the phone number. DOSBox then does a neat trick where it connects via telnet to that address. It just works. It’s freaking magic.

ANSI login screens! Huzzah! The House of Lunduke BBS is awesome, but there are tons of great systems out there to check out.

… like bbs.erb.pw. That bad mama jama is a Telnet BBS run by a member of the Lunduke Journal community. Which instantly makes it just a little more awesome. There’s others too. Just ask around.

With menus! Look! Menus! In ANSI! Just like the good lord intended.

Anyway, you get the point. It all just looks and behaves… right. Like it did in Ye Olden Times. Best possible way to play Trade Wars. :)

There are some good terminals out there for modern systems — ones that do a reasonably good job of emulating the terminals of the 1980s and 1990s — such as SyncTerm and Netrunner…

… but there’s nothing quite like using Telemate to connect to a BBS over 56k. In DOS.

Sure. It’s missing some of the experience of using an actual dial-up POTS line and a really-real modem (preferably one with a good speaker so you could really enjoy the connection tones)… but it’s about as close as most of us can get nowadays. Which is pretty darn close.

Beautiful, I tells ya.

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