SyncLinux FAQ

Welcome to SyncLinux FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS. If after reading this you've still got a question, please Ask In The Forums. Thanks!

INDEX

You will be able to click on the issue category to be able to sort the questions in priority order based on what you clicked... but, not just yet. Thats a future ability for this page :-)

Q: What are Synchronet Services?
A: Synchronet Services are based on and use most parts of Synchronet Bulletin Board System Software, which is a free software package that can turn your personal computer into your own custom online service supporting multiple simultaneous users with hierarchical message and file areas, multi-user chat, and the ever-popular BBS door games.

Synchronet development began as a personal hobby in 1990 for single-tasking MS-DOS compatible computers and Hayes compatible modems. The program was sold commercially from 1992-1996 after which time it was released (with source code) for both the 16-bit DOS and 32-bit OS/2 platforms to the public domain and development by the author was ceased.

In November of 1999, the author found a renewed interest in further developing Synchronet, specifically for the Internet community, embracing and integrating standard Internet protocols such as Telnet, FTP, SMTP, POP3, IRC, NNTP, and HTTP. Synchronet has since been substantially redesigned as an Internet-only BBS package for Win32 and Unix-x86 platforms and is an Open Source project under continuous development.

Synchronet Version 3.1x for Win32 and Unix (Intel-x86 architecture) is available for download now and can be previewed on Vertrauen (Home of Synchronet BBS Software) as well as many other Synchronet Systems.

Q: What is a BBS? What is "The BBS Scene"?
A:

Q: Why is the SyncLinux Logo a Penguin and a Fox?
A: Tux the Penguin is the Linux Mascott Logo. In the beginning, sometime in early 1996, several people were talking on the linux-kernel mailing list about a suitable logo/mascot for Linux. Of the many, many suggestions, many involved parodies of other operating system logo's - or were strong, noble beasts such as Sharks or Eagles. At some point (I'm not sure when), Linus Torvalds (the father of Linux) casually mentioned that he was rather fond of Penguins - which rather stopped the debate in its tracks.

Linux Torvalds further explained ""Linus likes penguins". That's it. There was even a headline on it in some Linux Journal some time ago (I was bitten by a Killer Penguin in Australia - I'm not kidding). Penguins are fun. As to why use a penguin as a logo? No good reason, really. But a logo doesn't really ave to _mean_ anything - it's the association that counts. And I can think of many worse things than have linux being associated with penguins. Having a penguin as a logo also gives more freedom to people wanting to use linux-related material: instead of being firmly fixed with a specific logo (the triangle, or just "Linux 2.0" or some other abstract thing), using something like a penguin gives people the chance to make modifications that are still recognizable. So you can have a real live penguin on a CD cover, for example, and people will get the association. Or you can have a penguin that does something specific (a Penguin writing on wordperfect for the WP Linux CD, whatever - you get the idea). Compare that to a more abstract logo (like the windows logo - it's not a bad logo in itself). You can't really do anything with a logo like that. It just "is".

You might ask yourself why he is called "Tux" of all things to name him. Most assume that "Tux" is short for "Tuxedo" - Penguins look like they are wearing tuxedo's and that seems like the most reasonable explanation.

But the real reaon is simply: (T)orvolds (U)ni(X) = TUX!

(Tux information adapted from: here)

There have been many variations of Tux. Everything from Cute and Cuddly Tux, getting it in the arse by the BSD Devil Tux, Fat Tux, Thin Tux, Sweet Tux, Crazy Tux and of course our own more "we kick ass" representation of Tux. There have been more offshoots of the Tux Logo than you can imagine.

Though The Synchronet Fox has no other name beyond just "The Synchronet Fox". For the longest time, Synchronet had no animal mascott what so ever. As best as we understand the facts -- one day out of the clear blue sky, Rob Swindell, the Synchronet Author, was approached by his brother who had drawn the mascott, just for fun. Swindell stuck it up on the website -- thinking it would just be a bit of a temporary gag -- but the Synchronet Community loved it so much that not only did it remain official -- but the head of the fox became the favicon.ico for the default web interface!

Being a BBSing Home Server Linux Operating System in which the services largely use Synchronet, this is where the names "Sync" and "Linux" come together, along with the melding of the penguin and fox into a single logo.

Q: How is a BBSing Operating System different from just pre-installing a BBS Software onto Linux?
A: SyncLinux is not the first Home Server Operating System. SyncLinux is not the first Linux OS to ever have Synchronet or any other BBS Software installed to it. SyncLinux is however the first BBSing Operating Systems geared towards Individuals, Hobbiests and Small Business -- where as Linux in general has neither the requirements of anything BBS Scene Related nor does it have to cater to anyone except Linux Enthusiasts. The goals of this OS are very specific and very unique.

This is not to be a BBS Software installed to a Linux OS. This is to be truly an integrated BBSing OS!

Q: What does "Ubuntu Based" mean?
A: In most cases, one Linux Distribution is based off of another. For example, Ubuntu Linux is based on Debian Linux. SyncLinux is based on Ubuntu Linux -- as is Freespire and Linspire.

Ubuntu is a community developed operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. Whether you use it at home, at school or at work Ubuntu contains all the applications you'll ever need, from word processing and email applications, to web server software and programming tools.

Ubuntu is and always will be free of charge. You do not pay any licensing fees. You can download, use and share Ubuntu with your friends, family, school or business for absolutely nothing.

They issue a new desktop and server release every six months. That means you'll always have the the latest and greatest applications that the open source world has to offer.

Ubuntu is designed with security in mind. You get free security updates for at least 18 months on the desktop and server. With the Long Term Support (LTS) version you get three years support on the desktop, and five years on the server. There is no extra fee for the LTS version, we make our very best work available to everyone on the same free terms. Upgrades to new versions of Ubuntu are and always will be free of charge.

Everything you need on one CD, which provides a complete working environment. Additional software is available online.

The graphical installer enables you to get up and running quickly and easily. A standard installation should take less than 25 minutes.

Once installed your system is immediately ready-to-use. On the desktop you have a full set of productivity, internet, drawing and graphics applications, and games.

Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'Humanity to others', or 'I am what I am because of who we all are'. The Ubuntu distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.

This is the exact same spirit of cooperation and free exchange of knowledge that has driven the BBS Scene since 1978! We think it is pretty clear as to why we have chosen Ubuntu as the Distro-Base for SyncLinux!

Q: What is KDE (Kubical Desktop Environment)?
A: KDE or the K Desktop Environment, is a network transparent contemporary desktop environment for UNIX workstations. KDE seeks to fulfill the need for an easy to use desktop for UNIX workstations, similar to desktop environments found on Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems. The UNIX operating system is according to us the best available today. When it comes to stability, scalability and openness UNIX has no competition. In fact UNIX has been the undisputed choice of information technology professionals for many years. The lack of an easy to use contemporary desktop environment, however, has prevented UNIX from finding its way onto desktops of typical computer users in offices and homes. UNIX today dominates the server market and is the preferred computing platform for computing professionals and scientists alike. The Internet, a household name traces its heritage to UNIX. Inspite of such ubiquitous creations from the UNIX community, average computer users still expect it to be difficult to use and often stay away. This fact is particularly unfortunate since a number of implementations of UNIX, all of which are of exceptional quality and stability (Debian GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD etc.) are freely available of the Internet.

The KDE project aims to change all that. KDE now provides an easy to use contemporary desktop environment available for UNIX and compatible systems. Together with a free implementation of UNIX such as GNU/Linux, UNIX/KDE constitutes a completely free and open computing platform available to anyone free of charge. Source code is available for anyone to look at, learn from, modify and improve. Whilst there is always room for improvement, KDE today delivers a viable feature packed alternative to the more commonly found commercial operating systems/desktops combinations available. It is our hope and continued ambition, that KDE will bring open, reliable, stable and monopoly free computing enjoyed by scientists and computing professionals world-wide to the everyday user.

Leveraging the KDE application development framework a great number of applications have been built for the K Desktop Environment. A selection of those applications is contained in the KDE base distribution. At this moment KDE is developing a complete office application suite based on KDE's innovative KParts technology. This modern day office suite offers spread-sheet applications, presentation creators, organizers, news clients and much more. KPresenter, a part of this application suite has already been successfully used for many presentations.

For more information, please see: http://www.kde.org/whatiskde/

Q: What is GDM (Gnome Desktop Manager)?
A: GNOME offers an easy to understand desktop for your GNU/Linux or UNIX computer. Learn more about GNOME as a whole, get our latest release, find help and support, join their great community, start to develop with GNOME, study their Foundation, or simply get in contact with them.

More information available here: http://www.gnome.org

Q: What is XFCE?
A: XFCE originally stood for XForms Common Environment. Since XFCE no longer uses XForms and is focused on speed, it is commonly refered to as "Xtra Fast Common Environment". After searching their website however, we were unable to locate any official documentation as to what the acryonym means at this stage.

XFCE is a Desktop Environment that makes slower systems fast and fast systems faster. It is not quite as full featured as KDE or GDM -- but it is a very light weight and speedy desktop.

Q: What is FreeDNS?
A: We hope to work with Josh on integrating a FreeDNS API directly into the Desktop of SyncLinux. FreeDNS provides Free DNS Hosting, Dynamic DNS Hosting, Static DNS Hosting, subdomain and domain hosting. Why is it free? It's quite simple. They wanted a challenge... that's it.

Possible Uses:

* Host your own site on your own connection from home/work/school/etc
* Access your computer with a name (like zeus.afraid.org or yourdomain.com) instead of a numeric IP address
* Run your own http server, ftp server, or anything you want to install on your computer/server
* Fetchable URL to update your IP instantly on our network if you have a dynamic address
* Hosts even work for your LAN. If you have a LAN connected to the internet you can point hosts to private IP addresses (even private IPv6 addresses) and they will work within your network
* Let your friends point theirname.yourdomain.com to their own connection
* Use web forwarding to transparently redirect a hostname to another URL. Let our servers handle the redirection
* afraid.org has been un-interrupted for hundreds of days at a time
* afraid.org is operated from multiple redundant high capacity well connected servers


Feature List:

* Free DNS, Dynamic DNS, Static DNS services
* Free subdomain hosting, free domain hosting, free backup dns, reverse IPv6 DNS hosting (forward/reverse)
* Free URL redirection [web forwarding]
* Paid services available for increased account capacity
* Unlimited number of domains per account (yes really)
* 5 free shared hostnames, use anywhere
* 20 free subdomains per domain, use on your own domains only
* INSTANTLY point yourname.afraid.org or yourname.com to any IP or URL
* Supports every TLD on the Internet
* Currently 39,840 other domains besides afraid.org in our shared domain pool
* Funding is supplied by the members who go premium. Funding goes directly to servers and high bandwidth connections they reside on
* Robust support for CNAME, A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, LOC, RP, HINFO, SRV records
* Are you a web developer? You can use nameserver branding to name our nameservers as your own! Let us worry about the maintenance/redundancy
* Round robin DNS supported (Multiple IP addresses for 1 hostname)
* IPv6 forward AND reverse (both .int and .arpa) supported
* Dynamic DNS supported, several clients for Win32 and UNIX available
* Forward your hosts to any existing URL on the internet (even to a different port if your ISP blocks 80) with the Web Forward system
* URL cloaking redirection supported, optionally hide real URL of your site in the address bar
* Allows you to change web hosting providers without messy DNS propigation delays
* Simple, fast, flexible and reliable interface, feedback is welcome
* Works with any existing web host you may already be using for both DNS and hosting
* If your web host goes down, visitors will see a "timeout" error instead of a "site does not exist" error, e-mail will also remain queued for 5 days
* If you put a domain in afraid.org, you can edit TTL, Minimum, Allow/Deny AXFR's, and approve/disapprove others from using hosts on your domain. You can also share your domain with the users of afraid.org, or your own web site visitors using our 'webclude' feature
* Support for vanity dns hosts (example: i.knew.you.were.afraid.org) currently 39,840 domains in the shared pool
* Fast and easy setup process. Setup an account in less then 5 minutes
* Extremely reliable, fast, and redundant hosting, and interface
* All updates go live instantaneously.

SyncLinux also supports Free Dynamic DNS in the form of yourname.synchro.net provided by the Synchronet Author.

Q: What is a Home Server?
A: Based on Ubuntu Linux and using Synchronet for most of its "core services", SyncLinux is an attempt to bridge the great divide between client and server.

You've probably heard the terms "client" and "server" before. You use them every day. Things like Instant Messengers and Web Broswers are "clients". Servers are the sites on the Internet that you connect to. The main stream would have you beleive that a "server" is some expensive, complicated, uber-elite piece of machinery only reserved for large corporations.

A server is simply a piece of software, just like any other. You probably don't realize that your computer performs server functions every day! A server is just a peice of software that "serves" content. When you send your friend a file by way of a direct connection via Instant Messenger, your computer is performing a server function. When someone connects to your Desktop using things like PCanywhere or VNC, thats a server function, too. When you enable file sharing on your ICQ Client, your PC is providing a server function. When you use a Peer-2-Peer (P2P) Network, your computer is yet again "serving" content to someone else.

To the dismay of the corporations, every day more and more people are discovering the freedom that home servers give you. The big boys don't want you to know that your PC is capable of absolutely everything they like to provide you on their ad-spammed psudeo-free hosts or expensive pay services. Their stomachs really start to become queezy when people find out that you don't need to have some phat coprorate internet pipe to securely and publically share content with the world directly from your home PC. Seeing as it's unlike that you're going to be the next Google (and if you did become the next Google, you'd also become flithy rich so theres really nothing to complain about either way), your Home Broadband Connection is all you need to provide for yourself all the services that you want and to be able to share whatever content you want to with the world -- even if you only have a Dynamic IP Address!

Q: What are D'Bridge Services?
A:

Q: What is WINE (WINdows Emulator)?
A: Wine is a software application which aims to allow Unix-like computer operating systems on the x86 architecture to execute programs that were originally written for Microsoft Windows. Wine also provides a software library known as Winelib which developers can compile Windows applications against in order to port them to Unix-like systems.

The name 'Wine' derives from the recursive acronym Wine Is Not an Emulator (obviously it IS an emulator because Windows Applications were made to run on Windows but who are we at SyncLinux to question the wisdom of the WINE Developers? lol). While the name sometimes appears in the forms "WINE" and "wine", the project developers have agreed to standardize on the form "Wine".

The Wine developers released the first beta version of Wine (version 0.9) on October 25, 2005 after 12 years of development. The Wine developers have listed approximately 90 bugs that need to be fixed before version 1.0 can be released. Released under terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), Wine is free software.

You can find more information on Wikipedia as well as check the Applications Database to see what Windows Applications were successfully functional under WINE.

For SyncLinux WINE Customization efforts, please also see this.

Q: What is Echomail (FTN / QWK / Etc)?
A:

Q: What are Door Games, GameServs and MUDs?
A:

Q: What is a Usenet Newsgroup (NNTP)?
A:

Q: Isn't running a Home Server just ASKING to be hacked?
A: Whether your running a home server or not, every computer is a device that when connected to the Internet, is broadcasting information all over the place sending up a digital signal flare indicating that it exists, it's available and it's online. There is no more risk of being hacked as a home server than there is as a regular user.

The only primary difference, is that Linux is far more secure than Microsoft Windows (though Linux is not by far the only uber-secure operating system available).

Q: Won't leaving my computer on hurt it and / or run up my electric bill?
A: Nope. In fact -- the constant electrical surges of frequently turning on and shutting down your PC is what tends to shorten the lifespan of it. Your computer sucks down the aproximate equivelent of two 9 volt batteries that you can buy at your local Radio Shack, because the PC itself uses DC (Direct Current) Electricity. So it is no more or less wasteful than your Broadband Modem or Internet Router.

It is the Computer Monitor that sucks down AC Power like an 800 pound fat guy at an all you can eat buffet. Leaving the monitor on is the equivelent of leaving your TV on all the time. So make sure you use the power saver feature that automatically shuts off your monitor for you!

The last apartment I (Time Warrior) lived in, I was running three computers (I run more than that now). Leaving those computers on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year -- my average electric bill (for the entire apartment, computers and all) was only about $35 per month. The power saver feature is your friend!

Q: What is Fidonet?
A:

Q: What is Xpresit Net?
A: Xpresit Net (also known as "The Xpresit Network") is a free speech syndicated echomail network created by Time Warrior (as well as The Third Rail) in protest of much of the former beaurocracy present within Fidonet (jokingly refered to as "Fight-O-Net" by some folks) at the time.

The focus of the Network is to instill the values of free speech as originally intended by the USA's forefathers, differentiating between freedom of speech and harassment that uses free speech as a guise to inflict opression and censorship.

With both an online and offline (annual gatherings in Chicago, IL) presance, the primary goal of Xpresit Net is to bring together people of all ages, ethnicities, religions and viewpoints into an environment for both opinionated fun as well as cooperative research, development and knowledge exchange.

Xpresit Net is pre-installed onto SyncLinux. For more information: http://www.xpresit.net.

Q: What is Dovenet?
A: Dove-Net (DOmain-VErtrauen Network) is the Official Echomail Network for Synchronet BBS Software. DoveNet is pre-installed onto SyncLinux.

Q: What happens in the event of power failures or hardware / hard drive problems?
A: You're simply screwed. Just kidding. :-)

There are several measures you can take to avoid these sorts of nasty problems. For power outages, you can purchase a UPS Backup Power Supply for your computer. In the event the UPS Battery starts running too low and the outage is still not resolved yet -- it should (we can not vouche for every vender of every brand and make any guarentees, just a little covering our ass here as far as liability) shut the system down properly as opposed to just flipping off abruptly.

To avert data loss from drive failure we suggest the following possible options:

* Make sure you back up anything near and dear to you on to DVD-R Discs
* You can back up your data to an External USB or Firewire Hard Drive.
* You can use a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Devices) Controller to ensure your data is backed up (we will post a list of compatible RAID Controllers as soon as we can, as not all of them are Linux Compatible, unfortunately).
* You can use NAS (Network Archive Storage) to back up your data.
* You can use the GSpace Firefox Plugin to back up a limited amount of data to your GMail Account.

Q: What is Mozilla Firefox and what Firefox Plugins are pre-installed to SyncLinux?
A: There's a lot to do on the Web, and Firefox 2 is full of helpful features to make your time online more productive. Firefox 2 will open new web pages in tabs by default. Each of those tabs has its own close button, but don't worry - if you accidentally close a tab, just go to the History menu to bring it back from the list of "Recently Closed Tabs." You'll never be crunched for space anymore, either. When you have too many tabs open to comfortably fit in a single window, scroll arrows will appear on either side, and a button on the right side will always show you an easy-to-read list of all your open tabs.

Sometimes you're in a rush, and can't remember if it's "i" before "e" or the other way around. Firefox 2 has built-in spell checking to keep you from making any mistakes in your blog posts and Web-based email, so you can worry about more important things.

Some of the search engines in Firefox 2 can read your mind, and actually suggest search terms for what you're looking for. Just start typing into the Search bar, and a drop down list of suggestions will appear. (Works for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com.)

Losing your place while you're doing things on the Web is a pain. Now, with Session Restore, if Firefox has to restart or closes when it comes back you'll pick up exactly where you left off. The windows and tabs you were using, the text you typed into forms, and the in-progress downloads you had running will all be restored. You can even set Firefox 2 to always restore your previous session instead of loading a home page, so you’ll never lose your place again.

What do news headlines, indie rock podcasts, and pictures of kittens have in common? They're all things that you can subscribe to with Web feeds. Firefox 2 gives you full control over Web feeds, showing you a preview and letting you choose how you want to subscribe. You can use a Firefox Live Bookmark, or a feed reader that you've installed on your computer, or through a Web service such as My Yahoo!, Bloglines or Google Reader.

For the rest of this information, please see the page from which it was adopted: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/features.html

As for what Plugins will be included, those details are soon to be announced.

Q: What are D'Bridge Services?
A:

Q: What is Synchweb (Synchronet Web Interface)?
A: Synchweb or "Syncweb" is a web interface that has direct communication with Synchronet itself by way of the Synchronet JavaScript Object Model. Using SSJS (Server Side Java Script) which is fast and efficent server side (where as client side JS risks being sluggish) as well as an inc (includes) html template system -- the web end of the BBS (Bulletin Board System) Services provides an easy to use and efficent means of accessing most (but not all) of the aspects that can be delt with on the Telnet / SSH end of the BBS Services.

Including but not limited to: Message Forums, Chat, Internet Email, File Areas, etc..

It is also our hope to one day be able to integrate the Synchronet Web Server as a PHP Extension so that Server Services such as the Apache Web Server might be able to utilize the SSJS and allow PHP (and other platforms) to obtain direct communication with the Synchronet BBS Services.

Q: What is Apache Web Server?
A: The Apache HTTP Server Project is an effort to develop and maintain an open-source HTTP server for modern operating systems including UNIX and Windows NT. The goal of this project is to provide a secure, efficient and extensible server that provides HTTP services in sync with the current HTTP standards. Apache has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April 1996. The Apache HTTP Server is a project of the Apache Software Foundation.

Q: What do you mean by "Revenge on Spammers" feature?
A:

Q: What is a DNSBL?
A:

Q: What is a Virtual Machine?
A:

Q: Can I load my MS Office Documents in OpenOffice?
A: Of course. As well as a great many other document formats that MS Office can not support and most likely never will.

Q: Can I load PSD Files in GIMP?
A: Of course. Though Adobe Photoshop will work fine on the Linux Desktop using WINE, the GIMP Editor will load PSD Files just fine.

Q: Will I be able to use RA, WMV, WMA, ASF, etc.. formats?
A: Yep. Linux is able to utilize the vast 99.9% majority of existing proprietary audio and video codecs.

Q: Does Winamp work under Linux?
A:

Q: What is Audacity?
A:

Q: Will Adobe Audition work under Linux?
A:

Q: Will Windows Movie Maker work under Linux?
A:

Q: Can Linux Play MP3s, do Podcast and Shoutcast, etc?
A: Yep. Linux is able to utilize the vast 99.9% majority of existing proprietary audio and video codecs. Linux is no stranger to audio and video streaming.

Q: Time Warrior the BBS Scene Anti-Christ STRIKES AGAIN! OH NO!
A: Psh.. not hardly. Though I've (Time Warrior) been accused by BBS Scene Elite Fundementalists over the years of some sort of "Scene Takeover Attempt" and other nonsense -- any idiot knows a single person or entity can not usurp an entire scene. The RIAA are finding this one out the hard way! :-)

In fact -- should our efforts with SyncLinux be successful I fully encourage others to do similar things! How about WWIVinux? Mystinux? Iniquitux? OBVnux? Renegadux? Maximinux? Teleginux? Please, people! GO FOR IT! :-)

Q: What is IRC (Internet Relay Chat)?
A:

Q: Whats a Fossil Driver & why does it have nothing to do with fossils or driving?
A: FOSSIL stands for "[F]ido [O]pus [S]tandard [S]erial [I]nterface [L]ibrary". You just got to love those crazy acronyms, right? It was originally designed by both Tom Jennings and Wynn Wagner. Originally designed to standardise Fidonet Mailer Software to work properly with different kinds of hardware configurations and lines, it was later adopted by the Online Gaming Community within the BBS Scene.

It provides proper COM2TCP direction for Door Games & Multi-User Dungeons over Telnet / SSH. Most of the more popular online Door Games and MUDs were created way back in the era of legacy computing. On the "if it works, don't fix it" policy, it is far easier to use a tiny light weight piece of software that gets rid of the "Dialup Modem" limitation rather than to re-write an entire game.

Legacy Fossil Drivers back in the heydays of the Dialup BBS Scene allowed the analog modem connection to pass from the BBS Software to the game. In more rescent times, this technology has been modified to allow games that were built to recognize analog modem connections to be able to use TCP / IP over The Internet.

Q: What is SEXYZ and is she really that hott?
A: Now that you're using the correct head designed for thinking -- SEXYZ is a Zmodem / YModem / XModem Protocol similar to CEXYZ to be used under Telnet ans SSH (though a Firefox Plugin that uses this would be pretty sweet!). The older legacy versions of these transfer protocols were slow, clunky and only supported 8x3 filenames (though back in the dialup days they really were damned efficient!). So, SEXYZ is the new 32-Bit version, fast as a horse race and stable as a mountian! :-)

Q: Can SyncLinux run other BBS Softwares besides Synchronet?
A: Because of it's integrated nature -- we really wouldn't recommend it. You can however run any BBS Software on other Linux Distro's such as Ununtu, sure. Linux Native BBS Softwares will run fine on Ubuntu and other Distros. Linux Applications can NOT run on Unix and vice versa. Some Windows BBS Softwares *might* be able to run under Linux in general. DOS Based Softwares can be run via DOSbox and / or DOSemu.

However, a bit of fair warning. TBBS and MajorBBS are not recommended for operation under Linux at all - those are the only two software packages (that we know of) that need to function on an MS-DOS specific platform. For Internet integration with TBBS, the Tipx driver (for the specifics, look here) must be installed and a Windows 2000 or higher workstation must act as a Telnet server to pass connections to TBBS via TIAD.

For those Sysops who still have their old boards that once ran TBBS or MajorBBS archived, DO NOT be under the impression that SynchLinux (or any other type of Linux for that mater) may be designed to run it. It will NOT work.

TBBS will NOT run on a Virtual Machine such as VMWare or Qemu. TBBS will break under a VM. The TBBS Author wrote it in 100% assembler language and it is entirely dependant on several undocumented cpu calls, timer trickery, and anti-piracy code exists to check for the presence of virtual machinery/protected mode such as Softice. Some people have successfully gotten TBBS to work under windows 2000 and os/2, but performance is so degraded that it renders an entire system (even a P4) completely useless for other tasks, and has caused bizarre problems on any distro of Linux.

It is a similar scenario with MajorBBS/Worldgroup - although not coded nearly as hardware-specific as TBBS was, it still renders an entire system useless for other tasks if ran in a virtual machine. The way that com ports are handled in both bbs programs is very unique and fails in emulation.

We feel that though these softwares have nothing directly to do with SyncLinux, that these might be common questions Sysops might have and we feel that it is fair to provide those answers when we have answers to give. This information has been provided courtasy of Nick Andre, D'Bridge Author.

We hope that in the future SyncLinux will be able to have the option of running other softwares (such as WWIV, Renegade, Iniquity, Maximus, Telegard, Mystic, etc) as replacements and / or additions to the Synchronet Telnet and SSH capabilities -- but this is still an idea for the distant future, pending any new talent voulenteering to help speed things up. We're looking to provide INTEGRATED support on a software-specific case-by-case basis to prevent any possible conflicts (and to allow the software direct communication with the Operating System).

Q: Can I use my NTFS (MS Windows) Hard Drives with SyncLinux?
A: Yep, you sure can! SyncLinux uses the ntfs-3g filesystem in userspace (FUSE) library to do exactly that! The ntfs-3g driver is an open source, GPL licensed, third generation Linux NTFS driver which was implemented by the Linux-NTFS project. It provides full read-write access to NTFS, excluding access to encrypted files, writing compressed files, changing file ownership, access right. Technically it's based on and a major improvement to the third generation Linux NTFS driver, ntfsmount. The improvements includes functionality, quality and performance enhancements.

ntfs-3g is based on FUSE (userspace filesystem framework for Linux), thus you will have to prepare fuse kernel module to be able to use it.

Fuse is available in any recent kernel. No need to prepare a kernel module if you are already running Debian Etch kernel or newer. (More info: here)

Q: Can I use FAT16 / FAT32 formatted drives (older drives, keychain drives, etc)?
A: Again, yep! SyncLinux also comes with GNU Parted pre-installed!

GNU Parted is a program that allows you to create, destroy, resize, move and copy hard disk partitions. This is useful for creating space for new operating systems, reorganising disk usage, and copying data to new hard disks. This package contains the Parted binary and manual page.

This package contains libparted, the required shared library used by Parted.

Parted currently supports DOS, Mac, Sun, BSD, GPT, MIPS and PC98 disklabels/partition tables, as well as a 'loop' (raw disk) type which allows use on RAID/LVM. Filesystems which are currently fully supported are ext2, ext3, fat (FAT16 and FAT32), ReiserFS (with libreiserfs) and linux-swap. Parted can also detect and remove HFS (Mac OS), JFS, NTFS, UFS (Sun and HP), XFS and ASFS/AFFS/APFS (Amiga) filesystems, but cannot create, resize or check these filesystems yet.

Note that ReiserFS support is only enabled if you install the libreiserfs0.3-0 package. Since libreiserfs0.3-0 has been removed from sarge, ReiserFS support is not compiled in the default package.

Q: I'm SICK of MAC OSX! Will SyncLinux run on my Macintosh Computer?
A: In theory -- yes. As long as it's the newer MAC's with the Intel Chipset, it *should*. We've never tested the theory so if someone wants to test it and let us know how it works out -- we'll post the results here!

Q: Will SyncLinux support all of my hardware?
A: It probably will, but we can't guarentee that. Any Operating System you might run -- including Microsoft Windows is NOT guarenteed to run your hardware and the manufacturer of your hardware is unfortunately not obligated to maintain driver support indefinately. It is a common problem. There are many instances where a hardware manufacturer will grandfather one of their products and discontinue driver support for it. So even if a few years later the hardware in question is still useful -- it might not work on the current Operating Systems.

For example: ATI All-In-Wonder Video Capture Cards made in 1998 -- though they are still absolutely AWESOME cards even to this day and still 100% up to standards -- driver support is DISCONTINUED for Windows 2000 and higher. Right now the Linux Community is putting pressure on ATI about this issue for Linux -- so we hope that in the near future the vast amounts of people who bought these cards can pull them out of their storage boxes and use them once again!

Q: Can I have my Echomail or NNTP Network Pre-Installed to SyncLinux?
A: Sure, no problem! Just drop us a line about it and we'll make it happen!

Q: How can I synchonize my SyncLinux and phpBB Forums?
A: Theres a nice little phpBB addon utility called Newssync made for people with exactly that need! You can exchange mail between your phpBB Forums and the Synchronet NNTP Server.

Q: I have a Mailing List / Yahoo Group. Can I get that pre-installed as an available default SyncLinux Feature?
A: Eventually, yes. That is still somewhat tricky to setup. We'd prefer to figure out a means of simplifying that first. However -- Synchronet does have a built in ListServ functions so people can use your forums by way of email! :-)

Q: What is CNR?
A: CNR (Click'N'Run) allows anyone with even a quarter of a brain to be able to painlessly locate and install Linux Applications, including tons of programs you're ALREADY used to using such as: Google Earth, Real Player, Firefox, Opera, Adobe Flash, Sun Java & tons more!

CNR.com is a free one-click software delivery service designed to standardize the process and eliminate the complexity of finding, installing and managing Linux software for the most popular desktop Linux distributions, both Debian and RPM based. Please note that CNR.com is currently in beta stage.

With CNR.com you get the most extensive free resource available anywhere for desktop Linux software. Search from tens of thousands of Linux software programs, packages and libraries by title, popularity, similar software, category, Who's Who, or function, and with just one click install the software on to your computer.

Q: Can Linux contract Spyware and Virus'?
A: Spyware is strictly a Microsoft problem. No other known Operating System is capable of contracting it. I suppose it might be possible to install a Spyware Application using WINE but it probably wouldn't work. That would be a concious attempt that no one would voulentarily make, though. You can visit a site that is loaded to the hilt with embeded Spyware and it will do no harm to Linux.

As for Virii, there is a very short list of Linux Virus' and you'd likely win the lottery before you'd win one of those.

Q: What web languages are supported (ie: PHP, Perl, etc)?
A:

Q: Will ASP and ASP.net work under SyncLinux?
A: For regular ASP there is a way and we will attempt to provide default support for it using an Apache Mod. ASP.net support is in the works by the general Linux Community at large -- but -- as it stands: Linux ASP.net Drivers seem to break more than they work.

Q: Will CFM (Cold Fusion) work under SyncLinux?
A: Unless some third party creates that sort of support without violating Trademarks and Copyrights (similar to how SyncLinux can support Microsoft NTFS Partitions) then, no. It is unlikely that any official Linux Version for Cold Fusion will ever be created. If you absolutely need to use CFM, then you're going to have to run Windows under a Virtual Machine such as VMWare.

Q: Why are some of the pages on this site so damn long?!
A: To make the website easier for us to manage without needing to have 10 billion sub-pages. Indexes are easier to deal with. This is also why that with the exception of the screen shots pages -- we've kept page graphics to a bare minimum.

Q: What is a LAN? What is a WAN?
A: The first LAN put into service occurred in 1964 at the Livermore Laboratory to support atomic weapons research. LANs spread to the public sector in the late 1970s and were used to create high-speed links between several large central computers at one site. Of many competing systems created at this time, Ethernet and ARCNET were the most popular.

The development and proliferation of CP/M and then DOS-based personal computers meant that a single site began to have dozens or even hundreds of computers. The initial attraction of networking these was generally to share disk space and laser printers, which were both very expensive at the time. There was much enthusiasm for the concept and for several years, from about 1983 onward, computer industry pundits would regularly declare the coming year to be "the year of the LAN".

For the average small business/ home user - a LAN (Local Area Network) allows the sharing of content within the home or office similarly to how you might bookmark a website. It also allows for the sharing of other devices on the Network such as Printers (using Print Servers is the most efficent implimentation), scanners (not all scanners are "network aware") and even hard drives (either by sharing one of your folders -- ie: shared documents, etc -- or using NAS: Network Archive Storage -- which is a hard drive that connects to the Network rather than a computer).

Though you can create open unauthenticated shares (ie: the "Simple Sharing" as a Windows XP Default) we don't advise it seeing as it is a security risk. Network Shares should always require a username and password -- be it controlled by the computer you're connecting to -- and / or a server service that can allow or deny access to the content by way of the Internet.

Share permissions on most OSes -- including but not limited to Microsoft Windows, Linux and Unix -- are controlled by user / group systems -- where you can grant or deny access on a "per user" basis -- or -- "per group" basis -- where multiple users can be joined to a "group".

WANs (Wide Area Network) are used to connect LANs and other types of networks together, so that users and computers in one location can communicate with users and computers in other locations. Many WANs are built for one particular organization and are private. Others, built by Internet service providers, provide connections from an organization's LAN to the Internet. WANs are often built using leased lines. At each end of the leased line, a router connects to the LAN on one side and a hub within the WAN on the other. Leased lines can be very expensive. Instead of using leased lines, WANs can also be built using less costly circuit switching or packet switching methods. Network protocols including TCP/IP deliver transport and addressing functions. Protocols including Packet over SONET/SDH, MPLS, ATM and Frame relay are often used by service providers to deliver the links that are used in WANs. X.25 was an important early WANSACHMO protocol, and is often considered to be the "grandfather" of Frame Relay as many of the underlying protocols and functions of X.25 are still in use today (with upgrades) by Frame Relay.

Most WANs these days are formed using VPN (Virtual Private Network) Tunnels. Most OSes and even some Internet Routers support VPN by default -- though setting up a VPN can be a riggerous endeavor.

The Synchronet Services have something called "File Areas" which are directories that can be configured to allow access to an organized file tree (a structured system of sub-directories / sub-folders that is organized in such a way that makes what your looking for easy to find) that are available by way of FTP, Telnet and SSH.

The main branches of this "File Tree System" are called File Conferences or File Groups. Below them are File Areas or File Subs, which contain the files themselves. Hypothetical Example:

File Conference: Multimedia

Areas:

Audio - Clips (A-M)
Audio - Clips (N-Z)
Music - Independent Artists (A-M)
Music - Independent Artists (N-Z)
Video - Independent Films (A-M)
Video - Independent Films (N-Z)
Video - Clips (A-M)
Video - Clips (N-Z)
Pictures - Desktop Wallpapers
Pictures - Our Website Users

File Areas also tend to support some really cool extended functions. For example, you may have downloaded a file from a website and noticed a text file called FILE_ID.DIZ which contained a description of the application. Synchronet Services (as well as many other platforms in existance) can import the FILE_ID.DIZ Description and use it within the file area listings to help you to determine if the file is something that is a desired download.

Here is an example of a site that has FILE_ID.DIZ Import abilities. To remain objective in our explanations, the linked site is not running Synchronet.

Other features that are possible within various software (although in most cases, are made possible by addons and plugins -- not by feature defaults) include but are not limited to the import of: MP3 / OGG ID3 Tags, Module Music Description Data, Author Descriptions embeded in Midi Files, Image Files and Video Files, etc..

It is also our hope to take WAN / LAN abilities to a whole new level. It is our wish to blend APT-GET, BBS File Areas and VPN Tunneling into a secure WAN that allows for both public and private sharing of content -- with Desktop GUI Integration into the Documents System (Videos, Pictures, Music, My Documents, etc...).

Regardless of what Operating System you run or what sites and services you enjoy using, you should always be very careful as to what you make available to the world -- seeing as it does not mater if you were ignorant to the fact that copyright law prohibited you from legally sharing it.

Note: organizations such as the RIAA and MPAA are more than happy to give anyone -- the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the healthy and the disabled -- no end of legal harassment should you get caught making the unintesnsional mistake. More info on how to protect yourself from this sort of victimization can be found here.

Q: What is Webmin?
A: Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration for Unix. Using any modern web browser, you can setup user accounts, Apache, DNS, file sharing and much more. Webmin removes the need to manually edit Unix configuration files like /etc/passwd, and lets you manage a system from the console or remotely.

We're hoping to be able to use this to read / write / modify much of the text-based configurations that the Synchronet Services use that currently have no means of editing them beyond manually doing so by way of a text editor.

More information about Webmin can be found on their website.

Q: What is SSJS (Server Side Java Script)?
A: Server-side JavaScript (SSJS) refers to JavaScript that runs on server-side. This term was coined because the language was originally limited to just client-side, i.e. client-side JavaScript (CSJS).

Where as client-side JS tends to be a bit slow and clunky (ie: used as a web application), SSJS is fast, powerful and efficent.

The more boring technical information can be found on Wikipedia.

Q: What is DynDNS (aka "Dynamic DNS")?
A: Dynamic DNS is a system which allows the domain name data held in a name server to be updated in real time. The most common use for this is in allowing an Internet domain (ie: yourname.com -- or -- yourname.some-host.com) name to be assigned to a computer with a varying (dynamic) IP address. This makes it possible for other sites on the Internet to establish connections to the machine without needing to track the IP address themselves. A common use is for running server software on a computer that has a dynamic IP address, as is the case with many consumer Internet service providers.

To implement dynamic DNS it is necessary to set the maximum caching time of the domain to an unusually short period (typically a few minutes). This prevents other nodes on the Internet from retaining the old address in their DNS cache, so that they will typically contact the name server of the domain for each new connection.

Dynamic DNS is an integral part of Active Directory, due in part to the fact that domain controllers register their SRV resource records in DNS so that other computers in the Domain (or Forest) can find them.

Some common examples of the usage of Dynamic DNS for the average Joe or Jane include but are not limited to: Allowing people to help you repair computer issues by connecting directly to your Desktop (ie: VNC, PCanywhere, etc..), Home Servers, Video Teleconferencing (web cams), etc... without needing to go "look up what your current ip address is".
See also: Wikipedia

Q: What is a GUI (Graphical User Interface)?
A: A graphical user interface or GUI is a type of user interface which allows people to interact with a computer and computer-controlled devices. Instead of offering only text menus, or requiring typed commands: graphical icons, visual indicators or special graphical elements called "widgets", are presented. Often the icons are used in conjunction with text, labels or text navigation to fully represent the information and actions available to a user. The actions are usually performed through direct manipulation of the graphical elements.

The term GUI is historically restricted to the scope of flat display screens with display resolutions capable of describing generic information, in the tradition of the research at Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) (formerly Xerox PARC and still a subsidiary of Xerox). The term does not apply to other high resolution types of interfaces that are non-generic, such as videogames, or not restricted to flat screens, like volumetric displays.

More information can be found on Wikipedia.

Q: What is FOSS?
A: FOSS means Free and Open Source Software. In computing, free and open source software, also F/OSS, FOSS, or FLOSS (for Free/Libre/Open Source Software) is software which is liberally licensed to grant the right of users to study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code. This approach has gained both momentum and acceptance as the potential benefits have been increasingly recognized by both individuals and corporate players.

'F/OSS' is an inclusive term generally synonymous with both free software and open source software which describe similar development models, but with differing cultures and philosophies. 'Free software' focuses on the philosophical freedoms it gives to users and 'open source' focuses on the perceived strengths of its peer-to-peer development model. However many people relate to both aspects and so 'F/OSS' is a term that can be used without particular bias towards either camp.

Free software licenses and Open-source licenses are used by many software packages. The licenses have important differences, which mirror the differences in the ways the two kinds of software can be used and distributed and reflect differences in the philosophy behind the two.

The F/OSS culture and F/OSS community stem from hacker culture.

Though FOSS is by no means limited to just software, but universal standards as well as Creative Commons License.



Q: What is the Synchronet Matchmaker?
A: Now this one has some uber serious potential but there are a few modifications that we need to make to it. Of course, a free and open source dating service is not only unheard of, but a very welcome change of pace in light of Match dot Cum and eWhores that make you spend a lot of money to jump through a lot of hoops. It's pretty rediculous.

Not to mention, this sucker is networked to every Synchronet BBS in existance. So you've got countless amounts of sites to reach the same people on the same service, also increasing visibility -- which is important for a dating service.

Before we get into the other pro's, we need to mention the one and only con that we need to eliminate. The interface, seeing as it dates back to the early 1990's, is purely text based. Though interfaces such as Telnet and SSH are easy to use -- it makes things like profile pictures and extended profile information a total hassle. How much of a hassle? Thousands of systems connected to a dating service that nobody uses. Does't that seem like such a waste?
One of our missions will be to impliment a web interface into this sucker! Then, we can give the main stream a run for it's money! Without you needing to spend any of yours! :-)

The Synchronet Match Maker uses Myers Briggs personality Testing to calculate your personality type! This implimentation is scarily accurate! When I (Time Warrior) answered the questions, it told me "about myself" and came within 90% accuracy! I was pretty amazed.

With this, you get the accuracy the main stream claims they have but without needing to be damned to an eternal hell of being bombarded by never-ending questions!

A Myers Briggs personality test works out your personality type. It is the most widely used psychological instrument for career planning, career counseling, employee training, team building efforts and personal development. More than 2 million people pass through this, every year, for screening purposes. The government and private organizations have generally made it a permanent feature of their career assessment sessions.

Myers Briggs personality test assess your preferred options to handle a given situation. The results depict what patterns of action you prefer when given a free choice.

The concept is normally illustrated with an analogy. You can write your resume with either of your hands. But you shall prefer the hand which is more convenient to you. Likewise, you may behave in a particular fashion under precise working conditions. However, when you are given a free choice, you shall always prefer to behave what you feel more comfortable with.

The philosophers and psychologists have been articulating since centuries that human personalities don’t differ on temporary bases. However, Swiss psychologist Carl Jung was the first one to theorize that you don’t behave randomly but instead follow certain identifiable patterns. These patterns are categorized as personality types.

This theory didn’t get practical importance until Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers used it to differentiate types around them. They had a noble cause; to help people to live a peaceful, harmonious and happier life. Since then the concept has been getting refined and the usability of the Meyers Briggs personality test has been growing.

There are four mutually exclusive pairs of Myers Briggs personality types.

1- Extroverts vs. Introverts (E1)
2- Sensing vs. Intuitive (SN)
3- Thinking vs. Feeling (TF)
4- Judgers vs. Perceivers (JP)

For more information on Myers Briggs Personality Testing, go here.
Now why eWhores and Match dot Cum couldn't use this efficent a system, is beyond our ability to understand. We can only chalk it up to an educated guess of incompotance :-)

Q: What is the BBS Crawler Exchange?
A: The BBS Crawler Exchange is a BBS Scene Information Syndication Service geared towards providing quality content rather than useless annoying crap. This service is supported both on the SyncLinux Website as well as within the Syncweb Intrerface itself. We think that the sharing of knowledge is very important and that benneficial information should be made available in a very discreet and polite way.

For more info, also see the Special Services Page.

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