Cyber Sword is a modern Bulletin Board System built around the text-based environment that defined online communities before the World Wide Web. It runs Synchronet on Linux while preserving the terminal interface, message boards, door games, and networked communication traditionally associated with a BBS.
The system combines those traditional BBS features with services made practical by modern hardware and Internet connectivity. In addition to local message areas and BBS networks, Cyber Sword provides access to USENET, classic DOS door games, UNIX and Linux terminal games, and interactive fiction through the same BBS interface.
Users can connect with an ANSI-capable terminal client through Telnet, SSH, or RLogin. A browser-based terminal is also available on this page for connecting without a separate BBS client.
How to Connect
Cyber Sword supports several connection methods. For the traditional BBS experience, use an ANSI-capable terminal client such as SyncTERM.
-
Telnet:
bbs.excalibursheath.comport23 -
SSH:
ssh bbs@bbs.excalibursheath.comport22 -
RLogin:
rlogin bbs.excalibursheath.comport5513
SyncTERM is a good choice for connecting from a modern computer because it supports ANSI graphics and the terminal features commonly used by BBS software. Other ANSI-capable terminal clients can also be used.
If you do not have a terminal client installed, the web terminal at the bottom of this page can connect directly from a browser.
What Is a BBS?
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is an online system that users connect to directly through terminal software. Before widespread Internet access and the World Wide Web, BBSes provided places to exchange messages, download files, play games, and participate in online communities.
Instead of navigating pages with a web browser, you interact with a BBS through a text-based terminal interface. Menus, ANSI graphics, message areas, games, and other services are presented through that connection. Modern BBSes can use the Internet for connections while retaining the same basic terminal-based environment.
Cyber Sword uses this model while also connecting to message networks and services beyond the local BBS. Once logged in, the same interface provides access to local discussions, networked messages, USENET, games, and other terminal-based software.
Inside Cyber Sword
Cyber Sword includes both local content and connections to larger message networks. Local areas provide discussion focused on the interests of the BBS, while networked areas exchange messages with other systems.
Local Message Areas
Local message boards provide space for discussions centered around the subjects Cyber Sword was built to support. Current areas include:
- General
- Linux & Unix
- Retro Computing
- Vintage Office
- Ham Radio
- Analog Lifestyle
BBS Networks
Cyber Sword participates in several BBS message networks. These networks allow messages to move between participating systems, extending discussions beyond the users of a single BBS.
- Fidonet
- fsxNet
- C64Net
- RetroNet
- PiNet
- DOVE-Net
USENET
USENET newsgroups are also available from within Cyber Sword. The selected groups focus primarily on Linux and Unix, system administration, retro computing, and amateur radio, providing another source of networked discussion alongside the traditional BBS networks.
Games & Doors
Door programs extend a BBS beyond its built-in message and file services. Cyber Sword provides both doors hosted locally on the BBS and access to remote door services hosted on other systems.
Local Doors
Local doors run directly on Cyber Sword. These include traditional DOS BBS games as well as terminal software that has been adapted to work through the BBS door interface.
Traditional BBS Door Games
Cyber Sword hosts its own installations of classic DOS BBS door games, including TradeWars 2002 Gold and Legend of the Red Dragon. These games run locally, so their worlds, players, and saved data belong to Cyber Sword rather than to an external door server.
UNIX & Linux Games
Cyber Sword also makes command-line games from UNIX and Linux available as local doors. These programs were not necessarily written as traditional BBS door games, but are launched through the BBS so they can be used from the same terminal session as the rest of the system.
The collection includes roguelikes, puzzle and strategy games, arcade-style terminal games, card games, and board games.
Interactive Fiction
Z-Code interactive fiction is available through local doors as well. This includes classic Infocom titles and other works of interactive fiction. Cyber Sword provides individual save support so each user can maintain progress in games that were originally designed to run as standalone programs.
Remote Doors
Cyber Sword also provides access to remote door services, including DoorParty. Unlike the local doors, these games run on another system and are reached through Cyber Sword. This makes a larger collection of BBS games available without requiring every game and its data to be hosted locally.
Remote doors can also provide access to games whose player communities extend beyond Cyber Sword, allowing users from multiple BBSes to participate in the same games.
About the System
Cyber Sword runs Synchronet BBS software on Linux and supports up to 10 simultaneous nodes. Synchronet provides the core BBS services, while additional software and scripts integrate DOS doors, UNIX and Linux programs, interactive fiction, message networks, and other services into the system.
The BBS is maintained as part of Excalibur's Sheath and continues to evolve as new software, networks, games, and experiments are added.
Web Terminal
The web terminal provides direct access to Cyber Sword from a browser. Connect below to reach the same BBS available through Telnet, SSH, and RLogin.