QWK Module

Add-on module development discussions, including non-Galacticomm branded modules
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robmich
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:41 am

QWK Module

Post by robmich »

I cannot remember, is there a QWK module for WG (or is it built in)? I want to try to import the Dove-Net feed so it can be side by side with MajorNet.

Rob

daniel_spain
Posts: 395
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:39 am

Re: QWK Module

Post by daniel_spain »

robmich wrote:
> I cannot remember, is there a QWK module for WG (or is it built in)? I
> want to try to import the Dove-Net feed so it can be side by side with
> MajorNet.
>
> Rob

QWK is built in. ive always wished we had QWK-net support if you have a synchronet server running this is what i did:

i created a connection to a synchronet system using my rlogin client and created a command shell that looked like wg
and it was a seemless look and thats how i offered QWK-based nets. Interesting to see this one start working.
What was that program we used all those years ago... MHS? i would love to see Worldgroup get good net support
again.

BadOPCode
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2020 3:29 pm

Re: QWK Module

Post by BadOPCode »

I have intentions to address this issue in Major BBS for both QWK net and Fidonet. To me it's pretty important that we have modern solutions to help consolidate to the BBS community as a whole. I'm currently working on and getting very close to a release on a OSS project... one that Major BBS operators will probably find useful. Once I have this project out of beta I'm going to turn my attention on tackling this issue.
I think step one will probably be adding JAM support. This is just theorizing without really digging into it. But technically that could solve both QWKnet and Fidonet all at once. Well for forums at least. This is just shooting from the hip without really digging into it though.

daniel_spain
Posts: 395
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:39 am

Re: QWK Module

Post by daniel_spain »

BadOPCode wrote:
> I have intentions to address this issue in Major BBS for both QWK net and
> Fidonet. To me it's pretty important that we have modern solutions to help
> consolidate to the BBS community as a whole. I'm currently working on and
> getting very close to a release on a OSS project... one that Major BBS
> operators will probably find useful. Once I have this project out of beta
> I'm going to turn my attention on tackling this issue.
> I think step one will probably be adding JAM support. This is just
> theorizing without really digging into it. But technically that could
> solve both QWKnet and Fidonet all at once. Well for forums at least. This
> is just shooting from the hip without really digging into it though.

there is a way to do it, while i personally never did it, there was a bbs years ago that migrated from VBBS to major bbs
and still ran "frontdoor 2.0" on node 50 that processed their messages and you could read them from within the
bbs without any trickery like i did. this bbs has since been sold and the owners cannot remember what they did
as we are talking 1995. there was a qwk type network back then called WWIVnet they had you reading from inside
the bbs. so how they did it i am unsure but it IS possible.

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Duckula
Posts: 359
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2020 1:19 am

Re: QWK Module

Post by Duckula »

FidoNet / FSXnet support is one of the items on our todo list.

Currently WG uses MHS and one of the proposals is to create an FidoNet tosser that converts to/from the WG format. Messages could be sent/received via Binkley.

There would be quite a lot of work involved but it would be great to have this capability and is a commonly requested feature.

A user started a project for this which might be of use as a reference: https://github.com/ftoledo/ftn2mhs
-- Duckula

// Site admin
// Galacticomm IP owner

daniel_spain
Posts: 395
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:39 am

Re: QWK Module

Post by daniel_spain »

Duckula wrote:
> FidoNet / FSXnet support is one of the items on our todo list.
>
> Currently WG uses MHS and one of the proposals is to create an FidoNet
> tosser that converts to/from the WG format. Messages could be sent/received
> via Binkley.
>
> There would be quite a lot of work involved but it would be great to have
> this capability and is a commonly requested feature.
>
> A user started a project for this which might be of use as a reference:
> https://github.com/ftoledo/ftn2mhs

any chance yoiu or rick got a source to major fido? could clean it up.

User avatar
Duckula
Posts: 359
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2020 1:19 am

Re: QWK Module

Post by Duckula »

Unfortunately not, neither MajorFido or DBSMail - seems to be lost.
-- Duckula

// Site admin
// Galacticomm IP owner

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enusbaum
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 4:47 pm
Location: Charlotte, NC
Contact:

Re: QWK Module

Post by enusbaum »

daniel_spain wrote:
> any chance yoiu or rick got a source to major fido? could clean it up.

Duckula wrote:
> Unfortunately not, neither MajorFido or DBSMail - seems to be lost.

I have a prototype linker (MBBSLink) that allows for updated code to be linked/patched into existing DLL files. The concept being you have an old/broken/buggy function in a module where the source is lost (FUNCTION A), and you want to re-write/fix/enhance it with a new function (FUNCTION B). MBBSLink appends the new CODE & DATA segments to the end of the file and patches the relocation table for any references to FUNCTION A and points them to FUNCTION B.

It currently takes hand-rolled x86_16 ASM, but we plan to enhance it to handle linking of OBJ files produced by TASM/NASM/TC++. This would allow new C++ static libraries to be essentially compiled against the MBBS/WG2 SDK and statically linked after the fact into an existing DLL, replacing an existing function.

There's still a bunch of manual work involved (knowing the CS:IP of the function you wish to replace, etc.) and some technical hurdles to overcome -- but it'll allow for Modules where the source is long lost to be fixed/enhanced/customized.
Developer, Reverse Engineer, MBBS/WG Enthusiast
Maintainer of The MajorBBS Emulation Project (MBBSEmu)

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