Line open :: RING ANSI · 38400 8-N-1 · CP437

RING. RING. ATA. CONNECT 38400. Welcome to ATA BBS. Your classic DOS board, answering again. Coming soon.

ATA BBS · bulletin board system

ATDT dials. ATA answers.

Install a classic DOS board in one click. Anyone can call it from a browser.

Install a real 1980s and 1990s DOS bulletin board, the actual DOS software and not a lookalike, on the same shared hosting you already run WordPress on. Your callers reach it in a web browser, no Telnet and no terminal program, and it runs as many nodes at once as your host can carry. One click for a supported board, or import the one you already have. No VPS, no open ports, nothing left running at home.

[W]Why ATA [C]How a call goes [H]How it works [N]Get notified

In development · a sibling of ATDT BBS · press a key or scroll

What you do. Pick a board, name it, install.
What they see. A stock Renegade, in a browser tab.

▓▒░ Why ATA

A board nobody can visit is a tree in an empty forest.

Standing up a classic board the old way is a project. Keeping it reachable is a second project. And even then, almost nobody will install and configure a terminal program just to look around, so the callers never come. ATA removes both problems at once: it is effortless to set up, and effortless to call.

The Telnet way

  • A computer that never sleeps, at home or on a VPS you rent and maintain.
  • A fixed address or dynamic DNS, and ports opened on your router.
  • A DOS BBS configured by hand, plus a telnet bridge and a loader to feed it callers.
  • A visitor willing to find, install, and set up a terminal program before they can see a thing. Most give up here.

The ATA way

  • Install ATA on the shared hosting you already pay for. One folder, one web form.
  • One click installs a supported board, or import the one you already have. The real DOS software, laid out exactly as its own installer would.
  • Send people a link. They click, and they are on your board, in the browser they already have.

▓▒░ How a call goes

Someone opens your URL.

Read how it actually works: the emulator in the tab, the drive that is not there, the serial line, and the credential relay that keeps passwords off the wire.

▓▒░ What runs

Supported boards, one click to install.

ATA runs each board as a known quantity, and that is the point, not a limitation. Keeping callers' passwords off the wire and every caller inside their own lane means ATA knows exactly how a package lays out its files and its user records. So "supported" means a tested, packaged board, never a guess. The board's own software runs unchanged: its menus, its message bases, its user list, its door games.

RBBS-PC 17.4

Last releaseThe 1983 original.

Fido BBS v12u

Last releaseTom Jennings' own board.

Citadel-86e 2.19

Last releaseRooms instead of menus.

Asgard-86 1.49q

Last releaseThe Citadel line, extended.

Maximus 3.01

Last DOS releaseThe Fido-era workhorse.

T.A.G. 2.7d2

Last releaseMenus all the way down.

RemoteAccess 2.62.1

Last releaseThe QuickBBS line's best known.

Renegade 1.40

Still maintainedThe art-scene favorite.

more of the classics in progress want yours? ask, and it goes on the list

Each board ships at its last supported version, or its current one where the package is still in development.

Door games too: LORD, TradeWars, Usurper and the rest, because the board runs them, exactly as it did then.

▓▒░ Your side of it

A console, not a command line.

Everything a SysOp needs sits in a web page: who is on, calls today, the log, the nightly event, the node cap. And when the board wants its own tools, ATA knows what they are and puts them on buttons, with the machine's real screen underneath and a DOS prompt when you want one.

Dashboard. Lines, calls, and the log. One caller's address is blurred here.
The machine room. The board's own setup program, on a button.

▓▒░ Where it stands

In development.

ATA is built on the DOS machine that already runs door games in ATDT 1.7: the boot, the network drive, the record locks. It is being brought up one verified package at a time. Renegade is running on it now, flawlessly, and its author has given the go-ahead to distribute it as a ready-to-run pack.

The build
One build, free and MIT licensed, with as many lines as your host can carry. No license keys, no tiers, no crippled version.
Your existing board
Bring the one you already have. ATA checks its version against the tested profile and imports it, or tells you exactly what is needed first.
The library
Every supported board is a one-click install: the official archive, unchanged, laid out exactly as its own installer would.
The SysOp side
The console knows each package's own tools, config, index rebuilds, mail, and puts them on buttons, with a raw DOS prompt underneath for when you want it. Upgrades run from the same panel, with a snapshot taken first.
The rule
Everything the other approach requires, ATA skips. No DOSBox on a Windows box, no telnet port, no dynamic DNS, no machine left running.
The sibling
ATDT BBS is free, MIT licensed, and running today. ATA shares its terminal, its console, its DOS machine, and its license.

▓▒░ Be on the line

Get the RING when it opens.