BBS Server

Teletype Games BBS is a Telnet, Synchronet-style bulletin board: messaging, chat, news, guides and software in one retro hub.

Live at games.teletype.hu:2323

Overview

A Ruby app on the rubbs gem, our in-house BBS framework — it provides the ANSI interface, menubar, stacked modal windows, Telnet server and xterm mouse support. The bbs-server repo holds only the Teletype-specific parts: service wiring, window definitions, formatters.

On connect the user gives a name (blank = Anonymous), then the full-screen shell opens.

Features

Community

Multi-board messaging — General / Tech / Off-Topic / Sysop, one CSV per board under data/boards/. New posts use a multi-line TextArea, max 1000 chars.
Live chat — broadcast hub, ~1 Hz polling, history replay on join.
Online users and last callers — who is connected now, and a login log that also feeds the bulletin.
User profile — signature / location / homepage / notes per username.
Login bulletin — online count, total messages, recent callers.
Sysop console — stats and broadcast, only for usernames in BBS_SYSOPS.

Content

Wiki reader — Grav blog posts and HowTo guides in a split view: titles left, page right. Markdown becomes width-wrapped ANSI.
Game catalog — browses the Teletype Games API; each card shows the story and its play / download / source links.

Technical

xterm mouse — clickable menus, buttons and list items, wheel-scroll lists.
Desktop art — drop .ans / .ansi / .asc / .nfo / .txt files where BBS_DESKTOP_ART points. CP437 art is auto-decoded and SAUCE metadata stripped. A directory means a random file per session.
Idle disconnect at 10 minutes.
Persistent state — boards, last-callers log and profiles are CSV files under data/, a Docker volume, so they survive restarts.

Menus & keys

Menu	Items
File	Bulletin · System Info · Exit
Messages	Boards… · New Post…
Files	Blog Posts · HowTo Guides · Game Catalog
Users	Online · Last Callers · Profile…
Chat	Open chat
Sysop	Console (sysops only)
Help	About · Keys

Key	Action
`Alt+letter`	Open the matching top menu
`F10`	Open the leftmost menu
`F1`	Help
`F2`	Message Boards
`F3`	Quick post
`F4`	Chat
`Tab` / `Shift-Tab`	Move focus inside a window
`Enter`	Activate the focused button / submit
`Esc`	Close the top window or menu

Configuration

Copy env-example to .env:

Variable	Default	Description
`BBS_PORT`	`2323`	TCP port.
`BBS_SYSOPS`	empty	Comma-separated sysop usernames.
`WEBAPP_WIKIJS_TOKEN`	—	Bearer token for the Grav wiki API.
`BOARDS_PATH`	`data/boards`	Per-board CSV files.
`MESSAGES_PATH`	`data/messages.dat`	Legacy single-board file; migrated into General on first run.
`LAST_CALLERS_PATH`	`data/last_callers.csv`	Login log.
`PROFILE_PATH`	`data/profiles.csv`	User profiles.
`BBS_DESKTOP_ART`	`data/art/teletype.ansi`	One ANSI file, or a directory (random per session).

Running

BASH

docker compose up --build     # or, with Ruby 3.x: bundle install && ruby bbs.rb
telnet localhost 2323

Project structure

TEXT

bbs.rb                       entry point — service wiring + Application definition
lib/
  domain/
    repository/              online users, boards, wiki, catalog, last callers, profiles
    service/                 online, board, wiki, games, chat, last callers, profile
    model/                   value objects (MessageModel, GameModel, …)
  bbs/ui/                    per-window builders and formatters
data/
  boards/<id>.csv            per-board messages (auto-created)
  last_callers.csv           login log
  profiles.csv               user profiles

Repository

https://git.teletypegames.org/bbs/bbs-server