Major BBS v6.25 Free Edition

Support for MBBS/WG for DOS
Alan
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2020 2:49 pm

Major BBS v6.25 Free Edition

Post by Alan »

Hello everyone! I'm a old BBS user and have been interested in Major BBS since I first called one in the mid-90's. I'm very excited to see that it is once available again and FOR FREE!

I downloaded and followed the instructions and everything went fine until I tried installing ICO. After installing ICO I get an error message at the screen where the instructions say to select GO! that says "The file GALME.MDF is require for this set-up to operate properly, but it is not present". Then when I select GO! there is another error message that says "File missing: ".\GALME.DLL" (while loading GALFINGD)."

Here are some screen shots:

https://i.imgur.com/HhVl4wL.png
https://i.imgur.com/q4FSlRk.png

I'm not 100% sure but I think this might be a problem with my packet driver? I searched online and found one that said it worked with virtualbox. It's been a long time since I used DOS and may have done something wrong.

Does anybody know how to fix this?

Questman
Posts: 160
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2020 2:12 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC
Contact:

Re: Major BBS v6.25 Free Edition

Post by Questman »

GALME is the messaging engine. I think that came with Worldgroup 2; we need to distribute ICOv1 for BBSv6/WG1
Founder, The Major BBS Restoration Project
Owner, Elwynor Technologies ISV
Former Owner, Galacticomm IP (2005-2020)
Contributor, Galacticomm IP baseline

Alan
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2020 2:49 pm

Re: Major BBS v6.25 Free Edition

Post by Alan »

This is my first time actually running Major BBS so I'm not sure what ICOv1 is or where to get it. I got the packet driver from: https://www.lazybrowndog.net/freedos/virtualbox/?page_id=321 it's the one named PCNTPK.COM.

I was mainly a BBS user and a huge fan of the Major BBS systems. I used DOS quite a bit years ago and I'm a little rusty but it's all coming back to me. My goal is to setup a Major BBS with Infinity Complex (our favorite game) and reconnect with some friends. We spent HOURS playing that game!

Questman
Posts: 160
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2020 2:12 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC
Contact:

Re: Major BBS v6.25 Free Edition

Post by Questman »

http://www.elwynor.com/worldgroup/galico.zip

Download that and use it instead of the ICO v2 that came with the free package.
Founder, The Major BBS Restoration Project
Owner, Elwynor Technologies ISV
Former Owner, Galacticomm IP (2005-2020)
Contributor, Galacticomm IP baseline

Alan
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2020 2:49 pm

Re: Major BBS v6.25 Free Edition

Post by Alan »

Thanks!

I downloaded the zip and put it in virtualbox then re-installed everything fresh but used those files you sent instead of the ones in GALICO2. There was no GALICOI.BAT to run this time but I copied the files to the BBSV6 directory (like I did with the GALICO2). When I loaded Major BBS it had the progress bars that go across the screen but when I selected GO! on the menu Major BBS loaded up, displayed something real quick at the bottom of the screen and then the VM rebooted?

I tried to screen shot it but it happens so fast I can't capture what it says.

Questman
Posts: 160
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2020 2:12 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC
Contact:

Re: Major BBS v6.25 Free Edition

Post by Questman »

Check the audit trail text file in the directory (do a DIR /OD)
Founder, The Major BBS Restoration Project
Owner, Elwynor Technologies ISV
Former Owner, Galacticomm IP (2005-2020)
Contributor, Galacticomm IP baseline

Alan
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2020 2:49 pm

Re: Major BBS v6.25 Free Edition

Post by Alan »

I kept trying to start Major BBS and focusing at the bottom of the screen where this message is and after a bunch of tries it says something about writing GP.OUT which your DIR command made it easy to find.

That audit trail file says this: https://pastebin.com/raw/3jwMNUaq

Sorry, not sure what any of that means :) Before this I did run Major BBS in a different VM somebody had sent me and it does work.

Kracken
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:12 pm

Re: Major BBS v6.25 Free Edition

Post by Kracken »

Thanks for the MajorBBS free version.
As other pointed it out, from README.TXT all looks good, until Step "8" (GALICO2)

In the past, I actually had the same issue with 6.25 vs galico2.zip (which works fine under WG). I assumed the module was not backward compatible.

Some details:

(the ZIP is extracted into C:\TEMP)

Step 8 - Run GALICOI.BAT from GALICO2 folder

AFter running the packet driver (ne2000.com in dosbox), I do:

CD\TEMP\GALICO2
GALICOI.BAT

And get this:

"CANNOT FIND MJRBBS.CFG Unexpected exit, no recovery method supplied."

So:
xcopy the "content" of C:\TEMP\GALICO2 onto C:\BBSV6
CD\BBSV6
GALICOI.BAT

This time, looks good, "Information has been successfully saved."

Next, run BBS.BAT
I get "galicoi.bat" setup pops up again (?).
Save again.
After that I get a "Warning": The file GALME.MDF is required for this set-up to operate properly, but it is not present."
Running "GO!"" would bring a "File missing GALME.DLL" in catastro.txt and exit.

Questman
Posts: 160
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2020 2:12 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC
Contact:

Re: Major BBS v6.25 Free Edition

Post by Questman »

ICO v2 is not compatible with Major BBS 6.25. It requires GALME, which is the Galacticomm Messaging Engine, a total rewrite of e-mail and forums that came out, I think, for WG2.

Anyway, GALICO should work fine. It looks like the OP's issue is GALTNTD initializing. Is port 23 available? Is the packet driver running?

You can try "RENAME GALTNTD.MDF GALTNTD.DMD" and firing it up and seeing if the BBS comes up -- that will disable telnetd, but it will tell us if there are any other issues.
Founder, The Major BBS Restoration Project
Owner, Elwynor Technologies ISV
Former Owner, Galacticomm IP (2005-2020)
Contributor, Galacticomm IP baseline

Kracken
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:12 pm

Re: Major BBS v6.25 Free Edition

Post by Kracken »

Questman wrote:
> http://www.elwynor.com/worldgroup/galico.zip
>
> Download that and use it instead of the ICO v2 that came with the free
> package.

- I installed that one instead of the GALICO2.ZIP (ie: from fresh install, copy all files onto C:\BBSV6)
- If you BBS GO, it will complains about missing \WEBPAGES folder along with INDEX.HTM and ERROR.HTM
- Creating them would fix the error, but there would be a "TCP Stack not installed" in Audit trail.
- If I run GALICOIN from that package (as I do in WG2), instead of the IP setup box, I get "The install utility is not meant to be run manually"
- Tried setting up some channels as TCP/IP, but apparently there's no IP setup in Configuration, or Hardware

Post Reply