1. Forum
  2. fsxNet
  3. FSX BBS

  • Max Message Length

    From Analog@21:2/123 to All on Mon Feb 17 17:26:30 2020
    Gents,

    What's the socially acceptable maximum message length for BinkP/D FDN
    mailers? Not lines, but bytes.

    P.S. I'm working on a super secret MOD....

    |20|15��|16|08� |08De|07ad|15be|07a|08tz b|07b|15s
    |08����Ŀ |08:>.|07A|08rk |0710|08:|07101|08/|0714|08.
    |04� |08�|20|15�|16|08� |08:>.|10A|02gn |1046|08:|101|08/|10123|08.
    |04A|07n|15al|07o|08g |08:>.|12F|04sx |1221|08:|122|08/|12123|08.
    |08:>.|15S|07ci |1577|08:|151|08/|15131|08. |04���|08�����|08:>.|11T|03qw |111337|08:|113|08/|1113|08.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/09 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: deadbeatz.org (21:2/123)
  • From tenser@21:1/101 to Analog on Tue Feb 18 15:04:28 2020
    On 17 Feb 2020 at 05:26p, Analog pondered and said...

    What's the socially acceptable maximum message length for BinkP/D FDN mailers? Not lines, but bytes.

    That's going to be subjective. Technically speaking,
    binkd mailers can transmit files of almost any size,
    though I suspect a lot of software would have trouble
    with files over about 2GiB. But socially speaking?
    Most packets I see on my system are under a kilobyte;
    I figure 2K to 4K would be reasonable.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A44 2020/02/04 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Analog@21:2/123 to tenser on Mon Feb 17 19:43:18 2020
    That's going to be subjective. Technically speaking,
    binkd mailers can transmit files of almost any size,
    though I suspect a lot of software would have trouble
    with files over about 2GiB. But socially speaking?
    Most packets I see on my system are under a kilobyte;
    I figure 2K to 4K would be reasonable.

    Yeah I'm trying to figure out a way to pass a few megs of data via messages, not hatched files since we don't have hatch access to most message networks (not directly at least). I know I can zlib it up and base64 encode it then slice it into smaller packets for messages. 4k would be pretty flooding to
    pass a few megabytes. Maybe I need to re-think a better way for my mod. The initial flood would be a one time thing, then period updates of much smaller sizes. Still don't want to piss off the FDN admins.

    |20|15��|16|08� |08De|07ad|15be|07a|08tz b|07b|15s
    |08����Ŀ |08:>.|07A|08rk |0710|08:|07101|08/|0714|08.
    |04� |08�|20|15�|16|08� |08:>.|10A|02gn |1046|08:|101|08/|10123|08.
    |04A|07n|15al|07o|08g |08:>.|12F|04sx |1221|08:|122|08/|12123|08.
    |08:>.|15S|07ci |1577|08:|151|08/|15131|08. |04���|08�����|08:>.|11T|03qw |111337|08:|113|08/|1113|08.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/09 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: deadbeatz.org (21:2/123)
  • From g00r00@21:1/108 to Analog on Mon Feb 17 21:53:52 2020
    Gents,

    What's the socially acceptable maximum message length for BinkP/D FDN mailers? Not lines, but bytes.

    Mailers will send or receive any size file but I would imagine some might choke at 2 or 4 gigabyte per file.

    But if you are talking about posting a message to a base and having something circulate then it is going to vary wildly. Some software only allows 50-100 lines, others more (a lot of them calculate it by lines not total byte size when it comes to posting).

    Mystic allows 1000 and then will cut it although those limits are less needed these days. But back in the day someone could post a 500k document in a message and it gets sent across a network costing everyone a couple of dollars each just to push the message, so you can see why limits were needed.

    (Memory was also a limitation back then too when we were dealing with trying
    to get these things to run in like 400kb of memory).

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/15 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: Sector 7 (21:1/108)
  • From Analog@21:2/123 to g00r00 on Mon Feb 17 21:56:40 2020
    Mystic allows 1000 and then will cut it although those limits are less needed these days. But back in the day someone could post a 500k
    document in a message and it gets sent across a network costing everyone
    a couple of dollars each just to push the message, so you can see why limits were needed.

    Expensive.
    So assuming Mystic, 80 chars/line * 1000 lines of Base64 encoded payloads is around < 80k of payload data. So a Mb of payload would span around ~13
    messages running to the brim.

    I think my idea is too risky to run over embedded payloads. I'll conjure up something else. I don't even want to think of payloading 1Mb at 100 lines.

    Thanks again g00r00!

    Cheers,

    |20|15��|16|08� |08De|07ad|15be|07a|08tz b|07b|15s
    |08����Ŀ |08:>.|07A|08rk |0710|08:|07101|08/|0714|08.
    |04� |08�|20|15�|16|08� |08:>.|10A|02gn |1046|08:|101|08/|10123|08.
    |04A|07n|15al|07o|08g |08:>.|12F|04sx |1221|08:|122|08/|12123|08.
    |08:>.|15S|07ci |1577|08:|151|08/|15131|08. |04���|08�����|08:>.|11T|03qw |111337|08:|113|08/|1113|08.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/09 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: deadbeatz.org (21:2/123)
  • From g00r00@21:1/108 to Analog on Tue Feb 18 00:55:30 2020
    So assuming Mystic, 80 chars/line * 1000 lines of Base64 encoded
    payloads is around < 80k of payload data. So a Mb of payload would span around ~13 messages running to the brim.

    I think my idea is too risky to run over embedded payloads. I'll conjure up something else. I don't even want to think of payloading 1Mb at 100 lines.

    Yeah I kind of assumed you might be doing a payload through messages kind of thing. I think it can work there are just a lot of things to consider. Even at 1000 lines of base like you said 1MB is still a lot to push through a network for a single thing.

    Maybe a better solution could be to run a service that allows whatever script or function you want to enable on end point BBS systems to connect to the server and get the data they need. You could have a data file on a FTP or HTTP server that BBSes can pull down through a script or something instead of sending it through an echomail base.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/17 (Windows/64)
    * Origin: Sector 7 (21:1/108)
  • From Analog@21:2/123 to g00r00 on Tue Feb 18 10:29:30 2020
    Maybe a better solution could be to run a service that allows whatever script or function you want to enable on end point BBS systems to
    connect to the server and get the data they need. You could have a data file on a FTP or HTTP server that BBSes can pull down through a script
    or something instead of sending it through an echomail base.

    Yes this is a better option but I was trying to do distributed vs single server. It may end up this is the best option though.

    Thanks g00r00.

    |20|15��|16|08� |08De|07ad|15be|07a|08tz b|07b|15s
    |08����Ŀ |08:>.|07A|08rk |0710|08:|07101|08/|0714|08.
    |04� |08�|20|15�|16|08� |08:>.|10A|02gn |1046|08:|101|08/|10123|08.
    |04A|07n|15al|07o|08g |08:>.|12F|04sx |1221|08:|122|08/|12123|08.
    |08:>.|15S|07ci |1577|08:|151|08/|15131|08. |04���|08�����|08:>.|11T|03qw |111337|08:|113|08/|1113|08.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/09 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: deadbeatz.org (21:2/123)
  • From StackFault@21:1/172 to Analog on Tue Feb 18 22:22:38 2020
    Yeah I'm trying to figure out a way to pass a few megs of data via messages, not hatched files since we don't have hatch access to most

    Are those messages to be directed or broadcasted?

    Cheers!

    |15 � � |15StackFault |08<|03.|11.|15P|11h|03EN|11o|15M|11.|03.|08>
    |11 � � |11The Bottomless Abyss BBS
    |03 � �� |03ssh|08.|072222 |08/ |03telnet|08.|072023 |08/ |03https
    |08 ��� |08bbs|07.|08bottomlessabyss|07.|08net

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A44 2020/02/04 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: The Bottomless Abyss BBS * bbs.bottomlessabyss.net (21:1/172)