Hi! Nick,

On 11/21/2018 11:42 PM, you wrote:

 NB> Why so many disappointments? There's always the turn of cheek method
 NB> where you can just not look at this stuff for like 10 months like I just
 NB> did. ;)

So did I.  For about 12 months.

 NB> What plights are you having?

Well it started with the demise of my 25 year-old MS-DOS/Windows 98SE system
due to an incompatible SVGA adapter driver after a VirtualBox (vBox) *update*,
on my 32-bit Xubuntu (X'u) desktop.  It works fine on my 8 year-old Dell
64-bit X'u desktop but cannot run with the same 24/7@365 reliability that I
require, due to its UPS battery being exhausted.  It's too late to bring it
back on-line now, and, considering its limited future IAC, it's really a lost
cause.

 NB> What are you looking for a decent replacement for, or what are you
 NB> currently using?

FMail32/lnx, which requires a Windows 32-bit FMail configuration program.  As
you may know, FMail is stuck in middle-90s Fidonet DOS think.  Its netmail
packer/router logic sux megakilos and is limited in basic functionality, so
I'm using CF-Route or Crashmail (still), requiring that both of those
configurations are updated in parallel with FMail's.  The scripting solutions
are a wonder of modern DOS-think.

Now, the maintainer has done the best he can in his own time to make the
system work in Linux but there are times where DOS or Linux paths simply do
not work with other Fido tools/utilities.  Thank the
'maker' for filebox functionality in modern mailers!  However there are times
when even that doesn't work.  E.g., I once had a netmail delivered fine but
the file I was sending went to an AKA of his was delivered in a separate
simultaneous session (fortunately, to a different co-located PC I believe).

 NB> What have you looked at so far? And what did you *not* like about them?

I don't keep a diary.  And we both don't really have the time to pick things
apart.  My operating requirements are a bit tight considering that my current
Fidonet vBox server is  a 32-bit X'u 14.04 LTS, with 4Gb RAM in the cheapest
HP 'junkbox' I could buy.  Its OS needs updating by April next year, according
to the warning I get when SSH-ing to it... or else.  ;)

I figure the best way to achieve minimum disruption to service is to migrate
the Fidonet desktop configuration to a vBox one, and then run it temporarily
on the old Dell.  You may appreciate that converting such a configuration to a
vBox may afford an opportunity to fine-tune the software mix.

After exhaustive research (both in Fido or on the WWW) and/or thought
experiments, I am currently playing with a limited Mystic BBS installation,
sufficient to feed the current pseudo-hub cross-up/down echomail links. 
Trial(s) will begin next week.  Frankly, I am unsure of its netmail routing
capability or even of its co-operation with a JamNNTPd configuration (/NB/ I
know it has its own _but_ do you know if JamNNTPd could work with it?).

In brief, I have discounted: other DOS vBox arrangements; HPT (based on
indirect advice from Tommi); various Windows vBox arrangements; an MBSE config
trashed; a theoretical Syncronet/lnx config; or, even an (unknown-capability)
hack of SBBSecho (I did make a nice PDF of its Wiki entry too... it looks
vaguely familiar and beaut).  Plus a -lot- of variations.

 PQ>> Such is life.  I need chocolate...
 NB> Seems to do the trick, albeit only temporarily. ;)

Apparently it works for astro/cosmo-nauts and antarctic research crews too,
with whom I share a similar solitary situation.  8-)

Cheers,
Paul.

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 * Origin: A system event?  Wow!  Can I get tickets? (3:640/1384.125)