New Releases – November 2023

Announcing a largely overdue batch of new Demonic Productions releases for November, 2023.

Starting with the latest and working our way backwards, XQTR hits us up with another innovative release, the Inter BBS Database mod for Mystic. This Mystic Python-based mod allows users to browse a lightbar driven database of other connected BBSes, categorizing them by echo networks, BBS software, OSes, location, and more, but more interestingly, it gathers all of this information dynamically based on echomail origin lines as well as special “ping” packets it can send across echomail networks that support data exchange echos. Very cool, and it should be even cooler once more people install it and start exchanging data!

Browsing BBSes with XQTR's Inter BBS Database

Also released in November, I’ve (Jack Phlash) released another update to my REF scripting engine door, REFDoor. Previously REFDoor was released without any sort of group affiliation, and while nothing else has changed, I’m now considering REFDoor a Demonic release.

REFDoor 1.3 mostly contains a small selection of new feature ideas I had and fixes to bugs I found when working on REF scripts for my new Instinct BBS. Most of them center around ANSI parsing and other output issues, including a new “NOCODE” parameter to several commands to allow script authors to disable parsing of codes when outputting files using DISPLAY, DISPLAYFILE, and SHOW SCROLL. Other notable changes include bumping the number of available string variables up from 10 to 20, and the addition of the “READFILE IN 

v1.3.0 - Released 11/1/23
---
 ! Fixed a bug in "DISPLAY" in which label/header names are case sensitive.
   This has likely been there since the beginning but was never caught since
   the typical "style" for defining and calling labels is to write them in all
   uppercase.
 + Changed behavior of the way "DISPLAY" handles labels/headers - previously
   REFDoor would only match the first word of the label and output any text
   found after it on the same line (though it always assumed there wouldn't be
   any.) Now "DISPLAY" matches the entire line, which means any comments or
   extra text after a label definition will cause the label not to be found.
   While less flexible, this brings REFDoor's behavior more inline with
   RTReader's, as well as the behavior of normal labels/headers and "DO GOTO".
 ! Fixed a longstanding bug in REFDoor's ANSI parser's handling of of SethCodes
   which could rarely cause some parsing issues, most notably parsing a
   SethCode at the very end of a file resulting in a missing final CR. These
   changes would directly impact "SHOWFILE" and "SHOWLIBFILE" but of course
   parsing output is fundentmental to REFDoor, so fingers crossed that no
   new bugs were introduced.
 ! Fixed minor asthethic bug where "DO READYESNO" would display a black block
   after the yes/no string, which would look pretty bad when displayed against
   a background color other than black. This was originally done to hide the
   blinking cursor in certain terminals. I've left it in, but now the colors
   are dynamically based on the current background color.
 + Added "READFILE  IN

With some of these fixes in mind, I’ve also released updates to my two previous Demonic-released REF scripts to fix bugs I found when originally developing them. Neither of these new releases has any major functional changes, they simply remove the weird workarounds I used in lieu of the originally intended implementations, which I felt was worthwhile since these scripts are largely intended as examples for would-be REF script authors. Instinct Rumors v2.1 and TCEGraff/2.1. Both of these releases were completed in late July.

I’ve also released a new REFDoor script, BBS Pimp 1.0. While working on my new BBS, The Cursed Earth, I decided I wanted to display a random BBS ad screen at logoff. Since I’ve done most of the ASCII artwork on TCE myself, and I’ve drawn a lot of art for other boards over the years, I decided to compile all of the art I’ve done for BBSes that are still around as a basis for these ads. Wanting to avoid having to manually manage a bunch of random display files, I then decided to make it a more easily managed setup using REFDoor. It’s a fairly simple script, but I hope will serve as another good practical example of how REFDoor can be used. This was completed in late July and further tweaked right before this post to add some additional variables for easily adjusting output.

BBS Pimp pimpin' Another Droid

Last but definitely not least, way back in May, XQTR completed BBS Mail Demon. Quite an interesting release, this Python 3 script allows you to interact with your BBS via email. You can do things such as see your last callers, your oneliners, list message areas, and even post messages to those areas all via simple email messages with a syntax similar to AreaFix requests. The intention is to allow SysOps to have some ability to interact with their systems when direct access is otherwise difficult, such as when working in a heavily locked down corporate environment or a location with poor Internet connectivity. I know I would have personally loved something like this when working out of IBM’s tech support cubicle farms back in the 90s. This mod was largely developed for Mystic BBS, but also has support for Enigma½, and future releases may see expanded support for other BBS software as well.

Stay tuned for another Demonic Newsletter in the (relative) not too distant future!

September 2023 Update

It’s been disturbingly quiet around here, on all of my usual message networks, Discord servers, and the other scene related spots I frequent for a while now, so I thought I might give a quick update on what I’m currently working on just to let you all know I’m not, in fact, dead.

First and foremost, I’m very close to releasing some new stuff with Demonic: version 1.3 of REFDoor, which fixes several bugs and adds a couple of new features, along with a new REFDoor script and updates to my two previously released ones to take advantage of some of the changes in 1.3. Additionally, I’ve also been sitting on a cool new mod by Xqtr that is overdue for a release. I probably won’t follow these releases up with another Demonic newsletter until we’ve got a few more new releases out there, however.

After that, I plan on reviving two long overdue efforts. The first, directly related to my REFDoor work, will be finally completing and standing up my modded Instinct 3.0 board, The Cursed Earth, as well as releasing an ASCII colly devoted to it, and a series of articles and releases around Instinct BBS. Second, a much bigger project and perhaps the only thing on this list anyone is actually anticipating, is that I’m hoping to dive back into Darkness 2.1 soon. I’ve gotten changes to facilitate built-in, traditional InterBBS support approximately 60% done and working great, but beyond finishing that, there are a lot more features, fixes, and content planned.

Changing gears, I’m in the midst of dusting off my Getting Into Amiga series of articles with the addition of what will be numerous posts on my current efforts to finally build my “daily driver” Amiga 500, as well as trying to go back and back-fill everything that has happened since my last post way back in 2020, and then move on to some of the many other cool Amiga related projects I have planned.

Similarly, I’m planning on a couple of posts about some recent PC builds I’ve been working on. I picked up another 1990s DEC PC earlier in the year which turned into a pretty nice little Windows 95 box. I’ve also dusted off an old planned project of mine, another 90s DEC PC which I’m partially upgrading to be a fairly nice, 3D capable Windows 98SE machine not too dissimilar to what I was running in the early 2000s. I have a few other posts related to 90s PC hardware planned too.

I’ve recently started a new, stupidly ambitious effort to attempt to sort and organize all of my scene related files into one huge, cataloged archive. A lot of you know I’ve been something of an archivist (or at least, a collector and a hoarder) since the old days, but lately I’ve been frustrated by not being able to find certain files friends have been searching for since, apart from what is on my BBS, I can’t easily search more than filenames. Between that and a lot of recent unsorted additions to my collection, discovering I didn’t have things I felt sure I did, etc. it felt like something I’ve needed to do. I don’t know what articles might come from these efforts, but it is something I’m sure I’ll want to talk about. While I’ve already added a lot of my old backed up collections from the 1990s, adding EVERYTHING I have will likely take years, and after that I’ll start hunting and adding anything and everything I don’t have. Like I said, stupidly ambitious! That said, I’ve found reading through text and checking out old BBS ads from all kinds of random old files to be quite an unexpected nostalgia trip.

There’s also Zer0net. Apart from occasional bursts of activity, the network has been pretty dead lately and I’ve been tossing around revising it in some big ways for the last year or more. I think it’s almost time to pull the trigger on those changes to hopefully breathe some life back into it, though I still haven’t nailed down exactly what those changes will entail, but I fully acknowledge I’ve sat on the fence too long and need to act. Whatever happens, I’ll definitely be posting about it.

Finally, I have numerous other interesting articles planned for this blog related to specific BBS software, specific BBSes, and some more semi-autobiographical stuff – a lot of the stuff I optimistically mentioned back in my 2022 update – and while I want to share more details about them, I don’t want to promise anything I’m not confident I’ll eventually deliver. I really, really want to work on some of these ideas, but many of them are massive time sinks which means I ultimately keep de-prioritizing them. I’m sure at least a few of these will slip out over time though!

Hopefully some of this is interesting to at least a portion of my visitors and you’ll keep checking back despite the sporadic nature of my posts here. Later!

Demonic Newsletter – 4/2023 Edition

Transcribed from an old school ANSI version of this newletter available here, or here in PNG format if you’re still old school, but also lazy.

Jack Phlash Speaks! No One Listens!

Demonic Header by Filth

As promised, we’re back with another randomly scheduled newsletter filled to the brim with interesting group and greater BBS scene news!

*crickets*

Okay, 2023 hasn’t been that exciting of a year so far. Since the last newsletter there have been some very cool art packs released by the usual suspects, but given the theme, I have to call out Rise of the Hierarchy, a killer Tradewars art pack/mod by Nitron and Warpus that’s definitely worth a look for fans of the game. A dude named Hollowone released a couple of cool PC demo scene retrospective packs (available to download from Absinthe.) The PC demo scene doesn’t get nearly enough love compared to the Amiga demo scene, which makes it all the more funny that these releases are affiliated with an Amiga board. Finally, let’s not forget Hyjinx releasing the eighth part of his “Back to the BBS” documentary series, this time focusing on the art scene. Easily one of the best episodes yet! There have, of course, been a slew of other releases, development updates, and the like, and I could go into a lot more detail about them, but these newsletters are supposed to be more about Demonic, so let’s ignore the fact that there isn’t a good central source for BBS news these days and move swiftly on…

Thanks in large part to our annual Girl Scout cookie sale, Demonic has met our financial goals for the first quarter of the fiscal year proving once again that no one can resist a box of Samoas. We’ve also continued to meet our stated goal releasing some pretty swell mods and doors, and if we keep a similar pace, this should be quite a productive year for us, likely having far more releases out than any of our peers despite our pathetically minuscule member list. Of course, exactly what we release will depend entirely on what each member is into at any particular time, and with at least two of our three members sporting some crippling ADHD tendencies, that will be as much of a surprise to us as to anyone reading this.

Still, what’s a group NFO file without spreading some bullshit rumors? I can at least say that esc has embarked on some sort of twisted crusade to update (and in some cases, remix) classic Daydream mods, so expect that to continue. jack phlash has a few bigger releases planned, including an impending update to his REFDoor door, and he might even get around to working on Darkness 2.1 and/or one of the 10 new door game ideas he has too. Meanwhile, xqtr will assuredly continue to spend his free time trying to find new and unusual ways to abuse MPL into making Mystic do a lot of funky shit it was never meant to do. Man, talking about yourself in third person feels kinda weird…

Speaking of bullshit, in an attempt to drum up some pointless scene drama, we’re throwing down the gauntlet. Phenom Productions, you have been challenged! In the grand tradition of the BBS modding scene, we will face off in a bout of competitive bog snorkeling to determine once and for all who the ultimate primarily USA-based modding group left in the scene in the first half of 2023 is. Consider it brought!

Schlongs

After rejecting exactly 370 membership applications since last September, I’m happy to announce our quality control team remains as vigilant as ever, and Demonic still consists of the same three incredible members we started with 6+ months ago. Take that!

Who are these amazing members? Well, allow me tell you all about them:

  • Name: esc – Location: Some liberal wasteland of a city in California. Pray for this man’s soul! – Specialties: Daydreaming, not drawing ASCII, Linux Combatives
  • Name: jack phlash – Location: Also a left coast city, but one with more pine trees and rain – Specialties: Pascalation, writing NFO files, declared conscientious objector in the great OS wars
  • Name: xqtr – Location: The cradle of western civilization – Specialties: Mystic fuckery, MS-DOS coding shenanigans, practitioner of the Linux Phalanx

We’re still looking for new members! Get in touch with us if you don’t mind probably being the 371th application we reject. Seriously though, we’re only interested in members who want to actually release, so mention what you’re working on and/or planning on working on if you do decide to apply.

Release’s Pieces

Peanut buttery BBS stuff in a ZIP filey shell, ready for your consumption. Yummmm!

  • JP!IR20.ZIP – jack phlash brings us another REF script for REFDoor 1.2+ that no one will care about, a rumors mod this time. This one is even less relevant, as it’s specifically intended for a release of Instinct BBS that doesn’t even exist. Like the last one of these, his justification for this is that its intended as more of a REF scripting example, and like the last one, you can fuck off!
  • ESC-HELL.ZIP – Helloween Sent v1.1 by esc is a remake of an old PVM mod for Daydream BBS/Linux. Some might be tempted to accuse esc of being lazy and unoriginal, but at least he didn’t code this using libc5 and never release the source code, now did he? Checkmate!
  • ESC-MLGN.ZIP – Maiden Login v1.1 is another remake of an old PVM for Daydream BBS/Linux by esc, and another opportunity for me to remind people that Daydream BBS exists and is pretty fucking rad. Oh yeah, it’s kind of a little quick logon type thing.
  • XQ!ANGRM.ZIP – Anagram^5 is a funky word puzzle game by xqtr that should be compatible with most systems that can support 16-bit fossil based doors. Once you figure it out it’s addictive as hell. Personally, I think you should play it at work and if the bossman gives you any shit, tell him that Demonic Productions says “shut the fuck up, old man!” and guess another letter. Man, why are these release descriptions so aggressive? I should probably get some counseling or something.
  • XQ!DOORS.ZIP – Not only does xqtr release DOS doors, he’s nice enough to tell you how to run them under Linux with a pair of guides covering DOSEMU and QEMU. These are kind of geared towards Raspberry Pi users, but no judgement here. It’s not the size that counts, or so I’ve heard…
  • XQ!NURF.ZIP – The Mystic New User Registration Form mod is a… new user registration form for Mystic. Don’t worry, the creative juices xqtr saved on naming this release he put into the mod itself. Besides, we can all agree that “NURF” is a top tier acronym. As you might come to expect, all kinds of MPL fuckery is to be had here as xqtr replaces the entire new user registration process with a lightbar-like infoform style form resembling the type of thing you might find in a group application program or something, and it even records a bunch of optional non-user data and tosses it in a text file for later, so you can actually use it as a group application too. Neato!

Yep, still feels weird!

Disposable Contacts

Need technical support? Have a mod request? Want to trade meatloaf recipes? You reach each of our respective spam folders by emailing esc at demonic.net, jp at demonic.net, and/or xqtr at demonic.net.

Of course, a much more elite thing to do would be to call our BBSes. You’re elite, aren’t you?

  • Another Droid (andr01d.zapto.org:9999) run by xqtr. Voted most likely to make you wonder if the SysOp also runs some kind of maniacal candy factory.
  • Distortion (d1st.org:23) run by jack phlash. Voted most likely to give you 1990s flashbacks if you accidentally call it at the same time as listening to a Nirvana record.
  • Monterey (not open for business yet) run by esc. Voted most exclusive BBS of 2022, and still pretty damn exclusive in 2023.

Another way to reach us on our BBSes without *gasp* having to actually call our BBSes, is all thanks to the wonders of echomail networking. If you find yourself on one of the millions of BBSes worldwide that belong to Zer0net, look for 0N-DPUB (or whatever the board you’re on called it) and prepare to have your face blown clean the fuck off. Daaaayamn!

As with last time, I’m legally obligated to mention that http://www.demonic.net still exists, but for now the real action is on my blog at https://jackphla.sh until one of eventually gets bored enough to redesign it. Don’t hold your breath.

There’s no greets section this time because it would be exactly the same as the last one. I really wasn’t lying about 2023 being boring.

Okay, I think I’ve just barely met the minimal word count specified in my contract. See you in the next newsletter!

EOF!?
—
1. Demonic Header by Filth, first released in Demonic #1 – 01/97 (1997)