Hello again everyone,
If you have visited one of the few remaining Macintosh-based BBSes, and to be more specific, one that is utilizing the most recent version of the Hermes II software, that is, Hermes II 3.5.10b3, or if you are a Hermes SysOp yourself, one thing which you may have noticed is the serious lack of externals, (or doors, as they are called in the Windows BBS world). In other words, games, BBS enhancements, etc., that make a BBS more fun and interesting to visit. Most of us enjoy message posting, but having those extra treats, like games, really adds to the fun, right?
The primary reason for this absence of externals is that the old externals no longer work with the current version of Hermes II. Michael Alyn Miller, the current developer of Hermes II, has in fact made some internal changes to Hermes, and created a new way of writing externals, which he simply calls the "External Development System". Rather than being Pascal-based, like the old Hermes externals, the EDS is Python-based, or perhaps more correctly, Jython-based. I think that means that it is a hybrid of Python and Java.
I am sure that when Michael developed the EDS, he was hoping that some former Hermes external developers and SysOps would take up the torch, and begin to write new externals, based on the "External Development System". Sadly, that never happened. As a result, aside from a python-based version of the old BBS classic game LEECH, there are no externals for the last version of Hermes II, other than one which I wrote myself.
What is interesting about this, is that I am no programmer by any definition of the word. I don't know C, C++, Pascal, Java, Python, Jython, PHP, or anything else. I've dabbled a very tiny bit in some of these, but that's it. But, in spite of my lack of serious programming experience, about two years ago, I followed Michael's example code in LEECH, and hounded the guys on the Python/Jython mailng list, and created an "icebreaker" external called "Get-To-Know-You". It is basically an external which has 35 questions you can answer, (you only have to answer as many of them as you want), so that other BBS users can, well, get to know you a little better.
You can also get info on other users to see how they answered the questions.
As you can imagine, I put a lot of work into writing the external, and it was challenging for a non-programmer like myself, but I got it done, and it works great!
But, as I said, since Michael introduced the EDS, no one else has taken up the torch, and written any other externals for the last version of Hermes II. I actually did have a new game about 2/3 of the way done, but then I lost all of the code when a whole drive's worth of data was lost while using an earlier version of iPartion quite some time ago...and I wasn't about to write it again. Since then, I have even forgotten how I wrote "Get-To-Know-You", and everything I learned from the experience.
So here is my challenge, or request, or however you want to look at it. If you are a Macintosh user and know Python and/or Jython, and would like to help write some new games and enhancements for my BBS, and for the few other Hermes SysOps that still remain out there, please get touch with me. Even if you aren't a Macintosh user, or a Hermes SysOp, if you are just one who enjoys programming in Python and Jython, and would like to become involved in this project, please contact me here, or on my BBS, or via email, at
working_class_peon@yahoo.com.
Let me add one more thing. The reason why I mentioned the fact that I had written the "Get-To-Know-You" external, is to prove a point; and that is that even a person without any real programming experience, can write a Hermes external, using Michael's EDS system, if he puts his mind to it, and perseveres, as I did.
To help you get started, you will find some helpful files on our BBS in the "Hermes External Writing" file directory, which you can access from our File Transfer Menu. These are code examples and other files from Michael's website which I converted to plain text and PDF format, so that they are easily available on our Armageddon BBS.
You can also visit Michael's website to obtain even more information by going here:
http://www.hermesbbs.com/developer/
For additional help, you may also want to join, write to, or view the following Python and Jython related services, as I did at one time:
help@python.org
http://www.python.org/Help.html
http://www.python.org/doc/FAQ.html
http://www.python.org/search/
Mailing Lists:
http://www.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jython-users
jython-users@lists.sourceforge.net
I hope that you will take up the Hermes external challenge, and help to make Hermes II BBSes even more enjoyable. Will you? Thanks! Let's show the Windows world that Macintosh BBSing is not dead!