One thing which I forgot to mention in my previous post is that there is a casualty with the arrival of my new iMac.

In order to fit the new iMac on my desk, I had to unplug and move my oldest
G4 mini-tower -- which is a 10-year-old 400 MHz unit -- and move it to the
end of the desk. I use it to run the Armageddon BBS, as well as our web
server, and some other stuff.

Well, after reconnecting the G4 to my APC 1200 watt voltage regulator, the
G4 refused to start up, and it has been that way for the past three days.
The power button light flickers for a second, but that is about it. I tried
the disconnect-the-power-cord trick numerous times, but to no avail.

I have had this problem with these old machines before. They have a mind of their own. The 400 MHz G4 may decide to start up again tomorrow, next week,
or in a few weeks or months. Who knows.

But that isn't quite the end of the story...

Today -- three days after the G4 died -- I decided to try one final trick.

I have another G4 mini-tower -- a 10-year-old 500 MHz DP unit -- that died a number of months ago. It's been sitting in a corner of my bedroom floor ever since. Not only that, but I took out its hard drives, RAM chips and graphics card, because I needed to use them in my other 733 MHz G4 Mini-Tower.

So, this afternoon, I took the hard drives, graphics card and RAM chips out
of the dead 400 MHz machine that died three days ago, and put them in the
500 MHz G4. I also removed the main fan assembly and gave it a thorough cleaning. It had to be the dirtiest fan that I've ever seen...and that may possibly be why the 500 MHz unit stopped working a number of months ago.

At any rate, after cleaning the fan, and putting the hard drives, RAM chips
and graphics card in, the 500 MHz DP G4 mini-tower is now working again. I
have an old ViewSonic 17" LCD monitor connected to it. The only problem is
that I cannot turn down the brightness, possibly because the graphics card
is so old -- 10 years -- and may not be fully compatible with the ViewSonic monitor. Who knows.

So, while the Armageddon BBS and Endtime Prophecy Org website and services
were down for three days, they are now back online...until the machine
decides to die again. :)


Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Download Center 4 Mac BBS Software & Christian Files. We Use Hermes II


--- Hermes Web Tosser 1.1
* Origin: Armageddon BBS -- Guam, Mariana Islands (1:345/3777.0)

Glad to hear you got things back up and running, Jeff!

Thanks Walter. Now if I can just get FidoNet traffic flowing again. Have you heard from Michael recently? Yesterday I reinstalled the Hermes application, in the hope that it might resolve the FidoNet issue, but it was to no avail. Until I hear from Michael, my BBS is dead in the water, insofar as FidoNet traffic is concerned.

No, I haven't.

He will eventually reply, but I know when things like this break, I know it is frustrating.

He may be away temporarily.

Walter


--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K
* Origin: MEZZANINE * Denton, TX * 940.565.9165 * Hermes II (1:393/11.0)

He will eventually reply, but I know when things like this break, I know it is frustrating.

He may be away temporarily.

Hello Walter. To make matters worse, for the second time in as many weeks, Hermes is again claiming that there are no messages in some of my echoes,
when in fact there are messages there. All of the data files are intact in
the "Messages" folders, and they do contain messages, so I have no idea
what is going on. This same problem also occurred around the same time that FidoNet traffic ceased. Whether or not these two problems are related, I do
not know, but I wouldn't be the least surprised if they are.

Anyway, I am feeling quite frustrated by this right now. Normally, Hermes
runs without a hitch. We really need a modern Unix-based BBS package that
will run on Panther to Snow Leopard.

That's just me grumbling! :)




--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K
* Origin: MEZZANINE * Denton, TX * 940.565.9165 * Hermes II (1:393/11.0)

So, while the Armageddon BBS and Endtime Prophecy Org website and services were down for three days, they are now back online...until the machine decides to die again. :)

Glad to hear you got things back up and running, Jeff!

Walter


--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K
* Origin: MEZZANINE * Denton, TX * 940.565.9165 * Hermes II (1:393/11.0)

He will eventually reply, but I know when things like this break, I
know it is frustrating.

He may be away temporarily.

Hello Walter. To make matters worse, for the second time in as many weeks, Hermes is again claiming that there are no messages in some of my echoes, when in fact there are messages there. All of the data files are intact in the "Messages" folders, and they do contain messages, so I have no idea what is going on. This same problem also occurred around the same time that FidoNet traffic ceased. Whether or not these two problems are related, I do not know, but I wouldn't be the least surprised if they are.

Anyway, I am feeling quite frustrated by this right now. Normally, Hermes runs without a hitch. We really need a modern Unix-based BBS package that will run on Panther to Snow Leopard.

That's just me grumbling! :)

I've not experienced these symptoms here, but there have been times when my fidonet feeds have been cut off. My current uplinks are pretty stable now,
so I'm grateful for that. As with your experinece, Hermes has generally
hummed along on its own with few hiccups, most of which have had nothing to do with Hermes itself.

I know how frustrating this can be.

Walter


--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K
* Origin: MEZZANINE * Denton, TX * 940.565.9165 * Hermes II (1:393/11.0)

Quite frankly, considering how little traffic my BBS receives, I don't know if such an endeavor is worth my time and effort.

I understand. It sounds like Michael Alyn is the only lifeline in this situation.

Walter


--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K
* Origin: MEZZANINE * Denton, TX * 940.565.9165 * Hermes II (1:393/11.0)

Glad to hear you got things back up and running, Jeff!

Thanks Walter. Now if I can just get FidoNet traffic flowing again. Have you heard from Michael recently? Yesterday I reinstalled the Hermes application,
in the hope that it might resolve the FidoNet issue, but it was to no avail. Until I hear from Michael, my BBS is dead in the water, insofar as FidoNet traffic is concerned.



--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K
* Origin: MEZZANINE * Denton, TX * 940.565.9165 * Hermes II (1:393/11.0)

On 02/25/10, Jeff Snyder quoted Walter Bowen: Re: My G4's - A Tale Of
Woe And Wow!.

I understand. It sounds like Michael Alyn is the only lifeline in this situation.

Hello Walter. Well, after over three weeks of waiting, Michael finally came
to my rescue. According to what he told me, a piece of corrupted mail had jammed his system. Apparently, it had affected my system as well, as he instructed me to delete the data files in my "Messages" folder. I ended up deleting 22 of the 37 data files that are in there, which means that I
lost a lot of messages; but that's okay, as they will be replaced by new messages in the coming weeks and months.

For now, at least, it appears that this frustrating issue is behind me, and
my BBS will continue in operation.

On a related note, are you aware of any other Macintosh-based BBSes that are accessible via telnet? I mean BBSes that are run on Macs using Macintosh BBS software, Hermes or otherwise.

Right now, The Mezzanine, Olympus and Armageddon are the only BBSes that I
have listed on my board's BBS list. I don't list Windows-based BBSes.

Thanks!

Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Download Center 4 Mac BBS Software & Christian Files. We Use Hermes II


--- Hermes Web Tosser 1.1
* Origin: Armageddon BBS -- Guam, Mariana Islands (1:345/3777.0)

On a related note, are you aware of any other Macintosh-based BBSes that are accessible via telnet? I mean BBSes that are run on Macs using Macintosh BBS software, Hermes or otherwise.

KloneZone was run on a Mac, but I don't know if it's still online. The sysop ran a Telefinder board.

Walter


--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K
* Origin: MEZZANINE * Denton, TX * 940.565.9165 * Hermes II (1:393/11.0)

Hello Walter. So in all of your years of experience with Hermes, you have
never had the "No messages here" problem? And you have no idea why it might
be occurring?

The thing is, I don't know if other BBS visitors are experiencing it as well. In other words, I am wondering if perhaps there might just be some data corruption in my personal record, possibly from using the //catchup command
at the Main Menu. But that is just a guess on my part.

As I mentioned earlier, it doesn't occur in all of my echoes; just in some of them.

If you have the time, could you please log on to my BBS and see if you encounter the "No messages here" problem? Every single one of my message
forums has messages in them; anywhere from a few, to 990, depending on which one you visit.

Thanks!

Oh... the domain is endtimeprophecy.org. I use the standard port of 23.




--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K
* Origin: MEZZANINE * Denton, TX * 940.565.9165 * Hermes II (1:393/11.0)

On 02/26/10, Jeff Snyder quoted Walter Bowen: Re: My G4's - A Tale Of
Woe And Wow!.

KloneZone was run on a Mac, but I don't know if it's still online. The sysop ran a Telefinder board.

Hello Walter. I've never heard of it; but unless I am mistaken, in order to
log on to a Telefinder BBS, you need to be actually using the Telefinder client, correct? Also, if I recall correctly, when you purchase that BBS package, you also have to choose how many users you wish to purchase as well.

That is one reason why I personally have never been drawn to that kind of
BBS software; that is, because while it may have a nice non-PC ANSI type of interface, it also limits both the SysOp, as well as end users.

In other words, unless he is willing to pay more money, the SysOp is limited
by how many total users he can have, and a lot of end users are not going to
be willing to install a special piece of software -- the client -- just so
they can log on to one particular BBS. I was never inclined to do so.

As you know, with BBS software like Hermes -- and so many others in the PC
and Mac BBSing world -- anybody can log on from anywhere, and there is no
limit to how many users you can have. Personally, I find that approach much more appealing.

Since I put the Armageddon BBS back online back in 2008, I have done a lot
to try to inspire others to set up their Macintosh-based BBS, but sadly, I haven't made very much progress. I advertise my board on FidoNet, in the alt.bbs.ads Usenet newsgroup, on a number of Macintosh-oriented message
forums on the web, etc., but while a few people take an interest, and will telnet into my board, to my knowledge, no one has set up their own Mac BBS.

Oh well...One can only do so much to try to revive this hobby.


Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Download Center 4 Mac BBS Software & Christian Files. We Use Hermes II


--- Hermes Web Tosser 1.1
* Origin: Armageddon BBS -- Guam, Mariana Islands (1:345/3777.0)

Oh well...One can only do so much to try to revive this hobby.

As I recall, TeleFinder had a simple command line interface at one time, in addition to the "Finder-like" graphic one. I don't know anything about it, never used it, and never investigated it.

Back in the days when I had time to actually spend with bbsing, Hermes did
fine for me.

These days, The Mezzanine is pretty much on autopilot as I rarely have time to even logon more than once a week or so.

Walter


--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K
* Origin: MEZZANINE * Denton, TX * 940.565.9165 * Hermes II (1:393/11.0)

Hello Walter. So in all of your years of experience with Hermes, you have never had the "No messages here" problem? And you have no idea why it might be occurring?

The thing is, I don't know if other BBS visitors are experiencing it as well. In other words, I am wondering if perhaps there might just be some data corruption in my personal record, possibly from using the //catchup command at the Main Menu. But that is just a guess on my part.

As I mentioned earlier, it doesn't occur in all of my echoes; just in some of them.

If you have the time, could you please log on to my BBS and see if you encounter the "No messages here" problem? Every single one of my message forums has messages in them; anywhere from a few, to 990, depending on which one you visit.

Thanks!

Oh... the domain is endtimeprophecy.org. I use the standard port of 23.

You might try checking if any of the most recent messages are missing a
subject line. I seem to recall that creating problems for navigating the message bases when a messages gets imported that way. To jump over it you
have to manually type the number of the preceding message if you're going backward, or the one beyond the next if you are going forward. Kinda strange, but that does happen occasionally. If it happens to be the most recent
message it might cause Hermes to think there are no messages. I'm just guessing, but a solution might be to look for messages missing subject lines and delete them manually. I really have no clue whether this is related to what you are experiencing, though.

Walter



--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K
* Origin: MEZZANINE * Denton, TX * 940.565.9165 * Hermes II (1:393/11.0)

Hello Walter,

Thanks for the tips, but I don't believe that you understand the full scope
of the problem.

In the forums that are giving me a problem, if I type "R" in order to read
the messages in that forum, I get the message "No messages here", even though there are messages in that forums TXT file in the "Messages" folder.

In other words, I am not even getting the option where the user is asked at what message number to start listing the messages.

I am not getting a list of messages to read.

I cannot read any messages.

I cannot see any message subject lines or other headers.

All I get upon typing "R" is "No messages here".

I used BBEdit to look at the various files that form a part of each forum in the "Messages" folder, but doing so wasn't much of a help.

In the forums that have this problem, I can post new messages, but when I
type "R" in them, all it lists are the new messages which have been posted since this problem began.

On top of all of this, as I noted before, FidoNet import and export ceased working several weeks ago.

At this point, unless Michael responds to my email of weeks ago, or makes an appearance in this echo, I will have no choice but to set up the BBS again
from scratch, and see if that resolves my issues.

Quite frankly, considering how little traffic my BBS receives, I don't know
if such an endeavor is worth my time and effort.




--- MacKennel 2.6.Y2K
* Origin: MEZZANINE * Denton, TX * 940.565.9165 * Hermes II (1:393/11.0)

On 02/28/10, Jeff Snyder quoted Walter Bowen: Re: My G4's - A Tale Of
Woe And Wow!.

These days, The Mezzanine is pretty much on autopilot as I rarely have time to even logon more than once a week or so.

I try to log on to my BBS everyday and post a few messages, primarily in my
own echo -- EDGE_ONLINE -- as well as in the AQUARIUM echo and the BBS_ADS echo. I also have some local forums on my board that I post in. The way that
I look at is, if I don't do my part to keep my BBS alive, nobody else will,
and if none of us Mac SysOps kept up our BBSes,then Macintosh-based BBSing would surely die...not that there is much left of it even now. :(


Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Download Center 4 Mac BBS Software & Christian Files. We Use Hermes II


--- Hermes Web Tosser 1.1
* Origin: Armageddon BBS -- Guam, Mariana Islands (1:345/3777.0)