Question...

This is nothing new, just wondering if it's a bug or just something in Windows
that we have to deal with...

On 32-bit Windows, you can log on locally to SBBS from the GUI by selecting
BBS, then Login. Works great, been using it for years.

On 64-bit Windows, this doesn't work. Every time I try to do it, it ignores it.

Doesn't matter what flavor of Windows (10 or 11) but it just never works. I
created an icon shortcut on the desktop to do a "telnet localhost" and that is
a good work around.

So just wondering if it's a setting I'm missing, or is 64-bit Windows just that
way and that's just an annoyance that I'll have to deal with?

*** Diamond Dave ***

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To: Diamond Dave
Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
By: Diamond Dave to All on Sun Apr 09 2023 01:58 pm

> Question...
>
> This is nothing new, just wondering if it's a bug or just something in
> Windows that we have to deal with...
>
> On 32-bit Windows, you can log on locally to SBBS from the GUI by selecting
> BBS, then Login. Works great, been using it for years.
>
> On 64-bit Windows, this doesn't work. Every time I try to do it, it ignores
> it.
>
> Doesn't matter what flavor of Windows (10 or 11) but it just never works. I
> created an icon shortcut on the desktop to do a "telnet localhost" and that
> is a good work around.
>
> So just wondering if it's a setting I'm missing, or is 64-bit Windows just
> that way and that's just an annoyance that I'll have to deal with?

Check your setting of File->Properties->Login Command. I'm guessing it's different between your 32-bit and 64-bit Windows systems?

If it's just "telnet://localhost" (which I think is still the default), then that used to run whatever program was registered to handle the "telnet:" scheme in a URI. You can test that with the Windows-key-R (and just type "telnet://localhost") and see what happens. If SyncTERM is registered as the "telnet:" handler, then it should run SyncTERM (and used to), but I think that stopped working on newere Windows systems. Nothing to do with 32-bit versus 64-bit.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #20:
DCE = Data Communications Equipment (or Deuce, Stephen Hurd)
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To: Digital Man
Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
By: Digital Man to Diamond Dave on Sun Apr 09 2023 11:50 am

> If it's just "telnet://localhost" (which I think is still the default), then
> that used to run whatever program was registered to handle the "telnet:"
> scheme in a URI. You can test that with the Windows-key-R (and just type
> "telnet://localhost") and see what happens. If SyncTERM is registered as the
> "telnet:" handler, then it should run SyncTERM (and used to), but I think
> that stopped working on newere Windows systems. Nothing to do with 32-bit
> versus 64-bit.

i'm not running windows 11 but i have 10. the telnet handler works.
also works in sbbs control panel.
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To: MRO
Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
By: MRO to Digital Man on Sun Apr 09 2023 09:30 pm

> Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
> By: Digital Man to Diamond Dave on Sun Apr 09 2023 11:50 am
>
> > If it's just "telnet://localhost" (which I think is still the default),
> > then that used to run whatever program was registered to handle the
> > "telnet:" scheme in a URI. You can test that with the Windows-key-R (and
> > just type "telnet://localhost") and see what happens. If SyncTERM is
> > registered as the "telnet:" handler, then it should run SyncTERM (and
> > used to), but I think that stopped working on newere Windows systems.
> > Nothing to do with 32-bit versus 64-bit.
>
> i'm not running windows 11 but i have 10. the telnet handler works.
> also works in sbbs control panel.

Cool, good to know not all hope is lost.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #64:
RIP = Remote Imaging Protocol (e.g. RIPscrip)
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To: Digital Man
Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
By: Digital Man to MRO on Sun Apr 09 2023 09:11 pm

>
> > i'm not running windows 11 but i have 10. the telnet handler works.
> > also works in sbbs control panel.
>
> Cool, good to know not all hope is lost.

dave can probably run the old syncterm with installer and that might fix his handler for it. that's if he doesn't want to do it via the registry or trying assoc.
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To: Digital Man
Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
By: Digital Man to Diamond Dave on Sun Apr 09 2023 11:50 am

> Check your setting of File->Properties->Login Command. I'm guessing it's dif
>
> If it's just "telnet://localhost" (which I think is still the default), then
> at happens. If SyncTERM is registered as the "telnet:" handler, then it shou

I did a fresh install of 3.19 on Windows 11 (which only comes in 64-bit). The
default was telnet://127.0.0.1. I changed it to telnet://localhost and still no
effect. Yet if I do telnet://localhost from the Run command, it works just
fine.

Still no idea why it doesn't work in 64-bit, but fine in 32-bit.

*** Diamond Dave ***

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To: Diamond Dave
Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
By: Diamond Dave to Digital Man on Mon Apr 10 2023 06:35 pm

> Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
> By: Digital Man to Diamond Dave on Sun Apr 09 2023 11:50 am
>
> > Check your setting of File->Properties->Login Command. I'm guessing it's
> > dif
>
> > If it's just "telnet://localhost"" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">telnet://localhost" (which I think is still the default),
> > then at happens. If SyncTERM is registered as the "telnet:" handler, then
> > it shou
>
> I did a fresh install of 3.19 on Windows 11 (which only comes in 64-bit).
> The default was telnet://127.0.0.1. I changed it to telnet://localhost and
> still no effect. Yet if I do telnet://localhost from the Run command, it
> works just fine.
>
> Still no idea why it doesn't work in 64-bit, but fine in 32-bit.

32-bit vs 64-bit isn't the issue. It's the protocol handler for the URIs that use the "telnet:" scheme. If you add/update your Windows associaton for the "telnet:" URI to point to a telnet/terminal program, it should work again. It has nothing to do with the OS being 64-bit.
--
digital man (rob)

Rush quote #25:
Throw off those chains of reason and your prison disappears
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To: Diamond Dave
Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
By: Diamond Dave to Digital Man on Mon Apr 10 2023 06:35 pm

> Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
> By: Digital Man to Diamond Dave on Sun Apr 09 2023 11:50 am
>
> > Check your setting of File->Properties->Login Command. I'm guessing it's
> > dif
>
> > If it's just "telnet://localhost"" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">telnet://localhost" (which I think is still the default),
> > then at happens. If SyncTERM is registered as the "telnet:" handler, then
> > it shou
>
> I did a fresh install of 3.19 on Windows 11 (which only comes in 64-bit).
> The default was telnet://127.0.0.1. I changed it to telnet://localhost and
> still no effect. Yet if I do telnet://localhost from the Run command, it
> works just fine.
>
> Still no idea why it doesn't work in 64-bit, but fine in 32-bit.

I wasn't suggesting changing the Login Command from "telnet://127.0.0.1" to "telnet://localhost". I would not expect that change to make any difference.

Changing the Login Command to "telnet localhost" or "syncterm telnet://localhost" however, I would expect to work. In other words, put an actual command-line in there and not just a URI.
--
digital man (rob)

Breaking Bad quote #39:
Vacuum cleaner repair? What did you expect? Haji's quick vanish? - Saul
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To: Digital Man
Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
By: Digital Man to Diamond Dave on Mon Apr 10 2023 04:23 pm

> I wasn't suggesting changing the Login Command from "telnet://127.0.0.1" to
>
> Changing the Login Command to "telnet localhost" or "syncterm telnet://local

I'll see if that works or not.

*** Diamond Dave ***

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To: Digital Man
Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
By: Digital Man to Diamond Dave on Mon Apr 10 2023 04:23 pm

> > The default was telnet://127.0.0.1. I changed it to telnet://localhost" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">telnet://localhost an
> > still no effect. Yet if I do telnet://localhost from the Run command, it
> > works just fine.
> >
> > Still no idea why it doesn't work in 64-bit, but fine in 32-bit.
>
> I wasn't suggesting changing the Login Command from "telnet://127.0.0.1" to
>
> Changing the Login Command to "telnet localhost" or "syncterm telnet://local

What I finally did to make it work was to find where Windows put the Telnet
executable (it was in a very weird place) and copy that to the EXEC directory
of SBBS. THEN it worked. It's that it didn't work, it's that Windows couldn't
find it. So it's probably how Windows does things with the paths. I could have
probably put it in c:\windows\system32 and it would have probably worked.

Something to remember in the future.

*** Diamond Dave ***

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To: Diamond Dave
> On 32-bit Windows, you can log on locally to SBBS from the GUI by selecting
> BBS, then Login. Works great, been using it for years.

> On 64-bit Windows, this doesn't work. Every time I try to do it, it ignores
> it.

I can confirm this behaviour on a 64bit install here. Some additional info:

- Win+R to run telnet://127.0.0.1 launches telnet.exe and connects to the BBS,
so telnet.exe is installed and setup as the default handler.
- Entering telnet://127.0.0.1 in Chrome also launches telnet.exe and connects
to the BBS
- These login commands do NOT work:
- telnet://127.0.0.1
- telnet 127.0.0.1
- C:\Windows\System32\telnet.exe 127.0.0.1
- These login commands DO work:
- C:\Program Files (x86)\SyncTERM\syncterm.exe 127.0.0.1
- notepad (of course by "work" I mean it opens notepad, not that it connects
to the BBS)

After confirming what did and didn't work with the default settings, I set
SyncTERM as the telnet handler (set HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\telnet\shell\open\command
to "C:\Program Files (x86)\SyncTERM\syncterm.exe" %1), and at that point the
default login command of telnet://127.0.0.1 works as expected (ie it opens
SyncTERM and connects to the BBS)

So it seems like Synchronet is unable to launch telnet.exe on at least some
64bit installs, not by the default telnet handler, or even by specifying the
full path to telnet.exe.

> I created an icon shortcut on the desktop to do a "telnet
> ftelnet.synchro.net" and that is a good work around.

ftelnet.synchro.net is my dns name, which would cause the shortcut to connect
to my test system, so I'm guessing that was just a typo?

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To: Ree
Re: Login to SBBS from Windows GUI
By: Ree to Diamond Dave on Fri Apr 14 2023 10:11 am

Speaking of ftelnet, I'm trying to
self-host the js and the proxy.. It
seems like I -have- to use encryption
from the proxy to the BBS since my
incoming connection is HTTPS only (no
HTTP). Is there a way to use a self
signed certificate? It didn't work for
me at all unless I used the same VALID
certificate on both the web server and
the proxy... and unfortunately this
makes all incoming connections to the
BBS look like they are coming from a
local IP.

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To: Phigan
> Speaking of ftelnet, I'm trying to self-host the js and the proxy..

Synchronet comes with websocketservice.js, so the proxy is already self-hosted
(maybe that's what you are referring to, just wanted to be sure because running
fTelnetProxy locally would be overkill for a Synchronet system). And I'd
recommend not self-hosting the JS. It's hosted on GitHub and cached by
Cloudflare, so should be pretty reliable. If you do self-host it, you may want
to setup a cron job to download the latest files from the GitHub repo
periodically -- I don't regularly work on it, but every once in awhile I'll add
a feature or fix a bug.

> It seems like I -have- to use encryption from the proxy to the BBS since my
> incoming connection is HTTPS only (no HTTP). Is there a way to use a self
> signed certificate?

Correct, if the web visitor is using https, then the websocket connection from
the visitor to the proxy must be using the encrypted wss protocol. Using a
self signed certificate for wss would have the same drawbacks as using one for
https, primarily that each visitor would need to follow some steps before it
would be trusted by the browser.

> It didn't work for me at all unless I used the same VALID certificate on both
> the web server and the proxy... and unfortunately this makes all incoming
> connections to the BBS look like they are coming from a local IP.

Seeing a local IP doesn't have anything to do with using the same certificate
on both the web server and the proxy. When a visitor comes to your website and
connects via fTelnet, their computer connects to the proxy, and then the proxy
connects to the BBS. This means the BBS sees whatever IP the proxy is running
on, which will be the local IP if the BBS and proxy are on the same machine.

But Synchronet and fTelnet support a telnet option that will allow Synchronet
to get the visitor's true IP, so something must not be working correctly if
you're seeing the local IP. Do you have the latest version of Synchronet and
fTelnet? I just fixed a bug related to this feature recently, so that could be
the issue if you still have the bugged js.

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To: Ree
Re: ftelnet + ssl
By: Ree to Phigan on Fri Apr 14 2023 06:44 pm

> GitHub repo periodically -- I don't regularly work on it, but every once in
> awhile I'll add a feature or fix a bug.

Good idea, I'll get that set up to grab a fresh js once in a while.

> using one for https, primarily that each visitor would need to follow some
> steps before it would be trusted by the browser.

What would I have to do to use the self-signed cert internally? It wouldn't connect for me when I had it in place and unfortunately right now I don't remember if there was an error on the proxy side.

> Seeing a local IP doesn't have anything to do with using the same
> certificate on both the web server and the proxy. When a visitor comes to

Right, sorry that I ran those sentences together, I know they don't have anything to do with eachother. It's actually another BBS program that I'm talking about with the IP showing coming from local the local network. Since I have to configure it with the correct hostname that is in the server certificate (oh right, I forgot to mention even a valid cert doesn't with if the name doesn't match), the connection looks like it comes from the router.
The ftelnet on the Synchronet board's page seems to show the IP just fine. Also, my SSL cert on that doesn't match the hostname and it works fine, which I'm assuming is because of what you mentioned and how Synchronet has the proxy built in.

Another odd thing, the ftelnet client on the Synchronet board's page didn't want to connect when I loaded it in Android just now. The other one that I'm self-hosting worked fine, though. That's probably an issue to investigate on another day.

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