Would you like to enter the exciting world of Commodore 64 BBS?
If you do not own an actual Commodore computer, you can visit a Commodore BBS with full Petscii (similar to ASCII) graphical support! The open source program SynchTerm allows you to do that.
If you are using a Windows or Mac OSX machine, you can download a binary here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/syncterm/
Windows and Mac users can skip to the part below titled, “To *use* SynchTerm”
If you are using Linux (preferably Ubuntu or something Debian based), you can install the program using these instructions.
First, the easiest method for Debian-based Linux:
curl -sSL https://git.io/JfAPE | bash Launch the program: cd /root/piKiss ./piKiss.sh Navigate to "Internet", then "SyncTERM"
Alternately, in a terminal:
wget 'http'://syncterm.bbsdev.net/syncterm-src.tgz (downloads the program)
tar xvzf syncterm-src.tgz (extracts the program)
cd syncterm-20200223/src/syncterm (enter into the program's directory; replace "20200223" with your directory name)
pwd (tells you what directory you are in)
sudo make SRC_DIR=/home/user/syncterm-20200223/src/syncterm (replace "20200223" with the number you see when you type "pwd") (replace "user" with your username)
In my case, the program refused to "make" because I was missing ncurses. If you run into this, install ncurses: sudo apt-get install libncurses-dev
Then install the program: sudo make install
If everything goes well, your computer will crunch away for a while and then install SynchTerm.
*SynchTerm homepage for more details:
http://syncterm.bbsdev.net/
For reference, here’s a list of BBSs: http://cbbsoutpost.servebbs.com/
Example of a BBS listing with name, address and port:
To *use* SynchTerm, click on the icon.
Click in the area of the “Directory” (First box)
Select your keyboard’s “insert” key and type in the BBS name
Select “Telnet” for connection type
Enter in the address of the BBS you want to visit. 
Select F2 to edit the entry you just created for fine tuning:
TCP Port: 6400 (that’s just an example)
Choose “C64” for Screen Mode
Esc to save
Now highlight the new entry and hit enter. If the BBS is available and you entered in the information properly, you should see something like this. You will need to create an account. Enjoy!
