NULL mag Issue 06 17 sound in BBSes 

eZine lover (@eZine)

Published in 

null magazine

 · 26 Dec 2020

  

 

 

    as i have mentioned in previous articles, i think that the telnet 
    client programs we have today, haven't evolved since the 80s-90s, in 
    terms of added features/capabilities. If you check Syncterm and 
    Netrunner, which i think are the most used programs, are almost the 
    same as Terminate, Telix, Telemate etc. 

    one of these features i would love to see, in all modern telnet 
    clients, is music! yep... music! in a bbs... and not just any music, 
    but track music, like .mod, .it, .xm etc. so here i am explaining my 
    way of implementing music in a bbs, which i did implement in blocker 
    (my telnet client) and you find here: 

            https://github.com/xqtr/blocker_bbs_telnet_client 

    first of all... the bbs doesn't have any music files, that are 
    downloaded automatically, like in a browser. all music files should be 
    pre-installed (pre-downloaded) by the user who uses blocker or another 
    client. a bbs should only implement some special characters into the 
    ansi graphis/text and also a package with the tracks that wants to 
    have as music/sounds in the bbs. 

    so... the codes... it could be anything... simple text, special 
    characters or even escape sequences, like ANSI codes. For my 
    implementation i chose special characters. specifically i use 
    character 01d, which is called Start Of Header or SOH. i didn't choose 
    the bell character, in case some programs, do "translate" it as a 
    sound/beep and because SOH, means the start of packet, like in this 
    case. i used the SOH char. like pipe codes do. so any "music code" has 
    this format: SOHxx where xx can be any other character, even a special 
    one. 

    for blocker i used this codes: 

    SOHSOHSOH      : tells the program to use the kill process function 
    SOH00 to SOHFE : is the code for a track to be played, in hexademical 
                     format. SOH00 will play track 00, SOHFE will play 
                     track 254. all track numbers are stored in an ini 
                     file. 
    SOHFF          : i kept FF as a special function to play a random 
                     track from a specified directory. this way you can 
                     even have more than 254 tracks to play in a bbs, 
                     which are more than enough, i think. 

    for now, these codes are enough. there is space for even more codes, 
    if someone thinks some cool feature or this project goes well and is 
    accepted from the scene. 

                                  - x - x - x - 

    the terminal client, will interpret these codes, as soon as it gets 
    them, while getting data from a bbs and act accordingly. so, this 
    feature has to be built in the terminal client to be achieved. 

    i know, that perhaps all these seem awkward to you, but the end result 
    is awesome! being able to browse/navigate to a bbs, listening sound 
    effects or track music, it gets the whole bbs experience to another 
    level. test it, by getting blocker and connect to Another Droid BBS 
    [andr01d.zapto.org:9999], where i have implemented a sound scheme. i 
    am sure, others can do better work. 

                                  - x - x - x - 

    back to the project. when the terminal client gets a music code, it 
    must read an ini file, that contains info on what track to play and 
    where this track is. an example ini file is the following: 

    [music] 
    dir=|BDmusic/adbbs/ 
    01=modem.xm 
    02=shades.mod 
    03=programming.xm 
    04=ham.xm 
    05=transition.xm 
    06=logout.xm 
    07=droid1.xm 
    08=transform.xm 
    09=syndicate.mod 

    it's very simple. keys 01-09 are used in conjunction with the music 
    codes SOH00 to SOHFE, as we said earlier. in the example above we use 
    only tracks 01 to 09. the numbers doesn't have to be in a sequence. 
    you can use number 1A and then B2, without including the numbers 
    between. as long the music code from the bbs, has the key in the ini 
    file, with the same number, we are good to go and the track will be 
    played. each key/value has the filename of the track to play. only the 
    filename, no paths! 

    the "did" key, is the folder which contains all the music tracks, 
    which can be anywhere in your disk, but must be in the same place, 
    under the same directory. 

    you can also have a sub-directory named "random" in this directory. in 
    this directory you can have as many files you want. those files will 
    be played when the  SOHFF command will be executed. only one track 
    will be played each time, not all of them. this way, by using only the 
    SOHFF code, in the same position/menu in your bbs, you can play 
    different tracks and make things more intriguing :) 

    for my implementation in blocker, i use XMP as the track player. i 
    chose XMP, because it can play many track formats and it has a small 
    size. it lacks a way to interact with it, while running, so another 
    solution would be better and would give us the possibility to make 
    pause, play, next track etc. music codes. if you know one, inform me, 
    plz. 

    i hope you like the idea and if you have to make any suggestions about 
    how it would be better to implement this idea, just send an email or 
    leave a message to Another Droid BBS.