bigpete.net - Projects

BPBBS

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 03:41:55 +0000

At some point i'd like to spin up a BBS. If we do the MUD thing we could maybe link it there too.

Making a MUD

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 02:28:11 +0000

We've discussed this several times in the past, so I figured this would be a good place to document our findings and maybe actually start doing things.

In the meantime I'll edit the OP with details as we get them:

Info:

Server: mud.bigpete.net
Port: 4000

You can now access the MUD via a webclient: http://mud.bigpete.net:4001/webclient/

Proposal:

Protocols: TCP/IP, GMCP, MSSP
Codebase: evennia - https://github.com/evennia/evennia
Setting:
Plot synopsis:
Systems Overview:

Personnel/Roles: (I'm assuming for now)
[USER=4840]@BigPete[/USER] - Coding, Server Admin, ???
[USER=28507]@Digital Prophet[/USER] - design, systems, ???
[USER=28508]@Jim Rockford[/USER] - Coding, design, ???

To Do:

configure server (decide on self host or vps)
Spin up an install of evennia as a PoC
Install tutorial game
Set up web client
Read Documentation
game design and planning

Self hosted article archive?

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 20:14:40 +0000

Possible idea for the forum would be to add the ability to archive articles here. So like a local version of archive.is or whatever but it also reformats it and strips tracking/ads. So basically reader mode.

BigPete's dumb game ideas (that he'll never make) thread

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 18:47:46 +0000

A vehicle based golf game:

FOREmula 1.

Pete's Projects: V20-MBC

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 18:27:37 +0000

A few years ago I assembled a V20-MBC:

https://hackaday.io/project/170924-v20-m...w-computer

However I never managed to program the microcontroller that functions as glue logic and boot rom. While looking through my stash of components while planning a different project I stumbled upon my stash of v20 CPUs and since I never really tested them I figured now would be a good time to return to this project and finish it up.

So, a few purchases later (USB to Serial adapter, SD Card Module, AVR programmer) I now have a device that is up and running.

  IMG_3929.jpeg (Size: 2.99 MB / Downloads: 49)

Here it is running CPM:

  CPM86.png (Size: 78.03 KB / Downloads: 52)

And here we are running DOS 2.1 (newer versions require DMA which this board doesn't have):

  DOS.png (Size: 105.72 KB / Downloads: 53)

  DOS2.png (Size: 98.52 KB / Downloads: 53)

Obligatory Mandelbrot Set:

  Mandelbrot_set.png (Size: 142.31 KB / Downloads: 53)

PicoMac on a Pi Pico 2.

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:38:01 +0000

The PicoMac project has been around for a few years. It's based on an RP2040 and emulates a 128k mac. https://github.com/evansm7/pico-mac

I'm considering trying to get that running on a RP2350B (the one with the extra IO) and seeing if it could emulate a later 68k mac, or do some fun stuff with the extra I/O. (Serial Port? AppleTalk? USB floppy drive? BlueSCSI? i dunno)

Going to buy one of these next time I get paid: https://lectronz.com/products/rp2350-stamp-xl

Will also pick up some PSRAM. 2MB should be enough: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/AP-Memory/APS1604M-3SQR-SN?qs=IS%2B4QmGtzzpULD7HVv5Qww==

I'm sure others have done similar work already, so I'll be doing some recon first. I know that the PicoMicroMac is a thing that adds SD card support and a VGA output: https://github.com/TechByAndroda/pico-mac

In the mean time, I have a standard 2350 pi pico 2 so I'm going to start by getting the project running there.

Jim's Projects: Community Server

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:51:11 +0000

Since fixing the physical networking in my house (cables, routers, etc) a couple of years ago, I'd been planning to build a "project" server of some sort to consolidate the services running on raspberry pis and virtual machines on my desktop. It would also be a space where I could easily spin up a new VM to use as a dev environment or host a new service/website; a sort of catch-all utility box that would also provide network file sharing and other general server duties.

Last year, I made the plan to put this project together in 2026...then fucking AI happened. At the same time, [USER=28507]@Digital Prophet[/USER] had a need for something similar - a machine he could put on the network share to drive his NAS. Then we started having notions of pulling our internet services in-house because of... :gestures around:

So last month I panic-bought everything I could afford instead of getting what I wanted by parceling it out through the year like I planned. As a result, I am completely unprepared to get everything set up - and there is a LOT to set up.

In this thread, I'm going to lay out my to-do list so interested parties know where I am - and it will keep me working on it by you guys keeping me honest

I plan to do this more or less in order. Let me know if you have any questions about the progress, or if you have suggestions.

Network/Physical Infrastructure COMPLETE!

Cut and assemble shelves
Hang server shelf
Hang shelf to mount UPS
Remove switch
- Alert DP so he can adjust his access point IP
Run new electric lead
- Install plug
- Remove old power strip
Make temp (long) network cable to assist during server assembly
Assemble server
Test
Cable clean up/management

Side Quest - FIX DP's INTERNET!!!! COMPLETE!

Diagnose
Replace cable run from router to upstairs

Software and Network COMPLETE!

Install host OS (Debian 13) on nvme
Assign IP address
- server IPv4 config
- router config
Create user for DP
Install:
- sudo (assign privileges to users)
- packages for QEMU/KVM (virsh et al)
- nfs
- samba
- ssh (configure for users as needed)
- ufw - allow ssh
Create and configure virtual network
- router config
Test ssh access

Jim's Storage[B] COMPLETE![/B]

Install drives
Format each with one ext4 volume
Create mount points, change owner and permissions
- /mnt/jim/Media
- /mnt/jim/Files
Update /etc/fstab to mount on boot
Transfer files from backup media
Configure nfs
- update /etc/exports with allowed client IPs
- allow nfs for client IPs in ufw
- on clients, update /etc/fstab with share mount points
Test nfs access on clients
Develop backup plan

DP's Storage COMPLETE!

Install drives
Create mount point(s), change owner and permissions
- /mnt/dp/
Update /etc/fstab to mount on boot
Configure samba
- For DP: samba is the file sharing tech that allows network file sharing to Linux and Windows clients from a Linux server.
- I have not done this in a while. I need to look up the steps, but I don't think it is that hard
- configure Windows clients with samba - again, haven't done this in a while, but I think Windows network discovery works with samba so its probably not that painful
Test samba access on clients

VM Setup COMPLETE!

Create "template" VMs from which to clone future VMs
- headless web server (Debian 13) - decided against this, there is no reason considering setup without a desktop is incredibly fast
- basic GUI "sandbox" (Debian 13/KDE)
Create two shell scripts
- vm_start.sh - accept one parameter for VM name
- vm_stop.sh - accept one parameter for VM name
Create template systemd service (to launch/shutdown/monitor VMs); each VM will have a service, using the shell scripts to start/stop the VMs gracefully when the host is booted/shutdown
Create systemd service for each VM
Test virtual network, make sure a VM is reachable from other nodes

Cleanup IN PROGRESS

Move server to closet
Tidy new cable runs
Sweep
Garbage

Hosted VMs
The following virtual machines will be part of internal network infrastructure

Audio (ben-audio) | CPU: 2 / RAM 4GB IN PROGRESS
Dedicated server for Navidrome and Audiobookshelf streaming services. Install services and migrate data from existing VM (will not be doing a lift-and-shift as planned, but will be preserving app data).

Nextcloud (ben-cloud) | CPU: 2 / RAM 8GB COMPLETE!
Web application platform, primarily used for file sharing. Will have a limited number of accounts available for others to use as storage (like Dropbox et al). Space will be determined by how much I actually have divided by the number of accounts.

Utility (ben-utils) | CPU: 2 / RAM: 4GB COMPLETE!
While setting things up, I realized it would be handy to have an "auxiliary" computer that I could hand off tasks to, like one-off services I only need temporarily, or running a nextcloud client that syncs up my music files (for use on the music server) - essentially things that I'd like to run from time to time but would rather not run on my daily driver and don't belong on the server. This is also likely where I will do torrent-ing and be a development environment

Future VMs
After some workload testing of various VM configurations, I have been able to adjust CPU and RAM allowances to better reflect the work requirements for each machine. RAM will probably fluctuate as it's not easy to predict what the need is without knowing what is actually going to run, but for CPU I've settled on 1 or 2 CPUs depending on workload. Unless there is a plan to have a heavy service with more than a handful of simultaneous users (like video streaming or a gaming server) devoting any more than 2 CPUs is overkill. If the VM will be a headless web server for a blog no one reads, 1 CPU is just fine.

The host will need at least 2 CPUs and 4GB RAM for it's own use. With the existing VMs, this will leave 8 CPUs and 28GB RAM. Here is the plan for that space:

BenBS (working title) | CPU: 2 / RAM 4GB
Server to host personal blog, games, etc through a secure shell interface. This doesn't actually exist yet and is a project for another time.

Pete's Playground | CPU: 2 / RAM 8GB
A general purpose place for [USER=4840]@BigPete[/USER] to do things if he doesn't want to spin up something on a hosting service. I'll leave it up to him to do whatever (let me know what distro you want - if you don't have a preference, I would recommend Debian 13).

Webserver | CPU: 2 / RAM 2G
A headless general purpose web server with Apache/Node/SQLite to host internet sites.

Bartop Arcade / Retro Terminal

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 20:37:43 +0000

Just spitballing a bit here, but I came across this old hackaday article:

https://hackaday.com/2018/12/05/1970s-la...-terminal/

and a though occurred to me that terminals and bartop arcade cabinets are quite similar: A case with a display and control mechanism integrated into a similar shape:

  Arcade.jpg (Size: 356.6 KB / Downloads: 10)
  terminal.png (Size: 298.23 KB / Downloads: 11)

So it would be kind of cool to build a cabinet that has drop in control boards. Maybe powered by an SBC or old ITX PC.

choose whichever control board you need and plug it in via USB then drop it into the front of the case.

I dunno. Haven't thought it through or anything just putting the thoughts out into the world.

  Arcade.jpg (Size: 356.6 KB / Downloads: 10)

  terminal.png (Size: 298.23 KB / Downloads: 11)

DP's Projects: The Ferry (board game)

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 19:45:51 +0000

After thinking about this, i'm going to move this into active projects. It requires fairly minimal rules, drawing the map tiles would be the biggest time sink. I spent some time today looking at how much it costs to have map tiles and such printed, and I can get 24 double-sided, professionally printed tiles on heavy card stock for about 20 bucks (at minimum quantity order). Im wondering if 24 tiles is enough for a randomly constructed town. each tile would be 4.75 X 4.75 inches, so I could do a 4X4 inch grid on each one with some border elements. A building would be maybe 1-4 cards, and I would think a "town" map would consist of 5-8 buildings, but you would also need some connective bits like roads in between and whatnot. So that makes me think I would need to get maybe a double order of cards, so 48 double sided cards would cost around 37 dollars (Im now in the discount for larger orders) and would allow me to have a maximum of 8 or 10 buildings of 1-4 tiles each plus some connecting roads and maybe some extra tiles for town elements. Being double-sided, I would be able to use essentially 96 unique tiles to build a 48 tile map with. Also I wouldn't need to use all 48 tiles, maybe some towns are tiny. In fact the size of the town could be random. Maybe there's just 3 fisherman shacks. Also, I might want to reserve some of the 96 tile faces for set pieces that are not random.

Still thinking on this. Im also not sure I want this in japan because I would have to draw japanese architecture and scenery and i not confident I know that well enough. It would need to be some place with a lot of water connecting many towns and villages or the conceit doesn't work. I guess I could just make a place up.

Other things: Are the players plastic miniatures? Are the zombies/monsters? It would be cheaper to do cardboard tokens, and printplaygames has some nice ones. They also have some cardboard standee type things which I guess would work but im not sure that's better than tokens. Do i want 3D elements like doors and objects you can loot, such as dressers/chests/toolboxes etc that you place on the map? I think tokens for objects would be fine. A double sided token for "closed" and "open/looted" would be fine I think, you would just flip it over after looting it. 3D doors might be good so you can easily see where the openings for buildings are. Using tokens for doors might be harder to see. On the other hand, not only are tokens cheaper than 3D objects, but it keeps the overall size of the game down, too. Being able to pack the game easily into a bag would be a bonus. If everything is just a card or a flat token, that would make it a lot smaller of a box. I could do standees for doors rather than 3d printed objects. They would be mostly flat, once removed from the plastic base, but the bases would take up room in the box.

I can get 24 double-sided standees (with a rounded top) for $13.55 on the same 2mm cardboard used for tokens. I can use 10 of those for player characters you can choose from and then have 14 remaining for monsters. Is 14 monsters per map enough? I think probably? Assuming you aren't reusing monsters from the dead pile as you go. maybe 8 generic zombies, 4 tougher things, and 2 boss type things?

For doors, I can get 21 1x2 inch double-sided rectangle tokens that will fit in the plastic stands also just fine, made out of the same 2mm cardboard. I don't know that I would need 21 doors. I would need at least 10 external doors, and I could see having some internal doors maybe for larger buildings. I could use the remainder of these for larger objects to loot, or other things on the map. A sheet of those will also run 13.55.

I can get 70 double-sided 1-inch square tokens printed on 2mm thick cardboard for $13.55.

all told I would be at about $100.00 in tiles, tokens, and plastic bases for the standee things, and that doesn't include the printing for the box itself, plus an instruction book, plus cards for items and equipment and whatnot. That's not really a big deal for prototyping but its waaaaay out of bounds for a finished product. even with volume discounts I would have to probably charge $100.00 per game and that's a no go. I can probably find a cheaper printer (printplaygames is actually on the expensive side, but is known to be pretty high quality, and mostly used for prototyping). I might be able to get it down to $60 or $80 with a cheaper chinese printer, but its hard to say what kind of quality and consistency I would get.

https://www.printplaygames.com/product/c...ge-square/
https://www.printplaygames.com/product/1-00-squares/
https://www.printplaygames.com/product/1...ar-tokens/
https://www.printplaygames.com/product/1...stand-ups/
https://www.printplaygames.com/product/p...nds-small/

DP's Projects: Casefile Omega

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 18:48:49 +0000

Status: Core Book Complete, waiting for artwork.

33 images remaining.

I'll drop artwork in here as I get it.

DP's projects

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:41:20 +0000

Wherein I document the various projects I am working on in this tiny forum with almost no active users.

ACTIVE PROJECTS

Casefile Omega TTRPG. Status: Complete, waiting on artwork.

Casefile Omega Introductory Adventure Module. Status: 20% completed after several crash outs where I decided the story sucked and I just killed it and started over. Honestly, im starting to get tired of looking at CF:O stuff at this point. I've been working on it for two years. It's hard to force myself to write an actual module with the core rules I spent so much time and effort on. There's some kind of irony there but im not sure what variety.

Unnamed ASCII-based RPG creator. Status: 50% completed after a whole ass rewrite from scratch. The version 2 editor is mostly feature complete now, still lacking save function though. Still to do: build a client engine to actually read the map files you make with the builder software, and then implement the actual game part of the game. This is things like triggers and dialog trees and combat, etc. Im essentially just ripping off the way NWN1 did it, which is actually how most rpg games are built, though with less-developed in-house-only tools, usually. What set NWN1 apart from other rpgs that shipped with an editor is that the editor was intentionally designed to be a public product from the start, so it has a level of polish and QoL that most in-house rpg editors don't have. To see the difference, you only have to look at the NWN2 editor, or the editor that shipped with dragon age.

Martian Abyss TTRPG. Status: Planning and Design Phase. I know what I want it to eventually be, but I haven't really started on the actual content yet, just setting up the document design at the moment. The story here is that we have colonized a vast underground ocean far beneath the surface of mars.

INACTIVE PROJECTS

Shrouded Earth (tentative name) TTRPG. Status: Concept Phase. I have a text file with ideas for this that i've jotted down over the last 5-10 years or so, but I don't know if I want it to be a game or a book or both. The story is that the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki weaken the fabric of our reality, which creates several holes in different locations on the planet (Naturally in places where the wall of reality was already weak due to other events) that connect to a sort of "bridge" or "crossroad" place, which in turn connects to other alien worlds. The "crossroads" is a formless void full of a sentient fog, which immediately pours out from these holes and begins covering the planet. In addition to the fog, the crossroads allows alien creatures to cross through from their world to ours, if they're capable of utilizing the crossroads. Some of these worlds are also covered in the same fog because they did the same shit we did, some of them are not, and they just know how to open a controlled door. Over time humanity eventually learns how to wall off areas from the fog, which are called freeholds, but it takes long enough that technology has essentially stagnated at the 1930s/1940s, and society has fractured into desperate groups huddled in these freeholds. The players would be "Wardens" (or possibly Roadwardens?) who have learned how to survive within the fog, and travel between the freeholds. This is basically the films "The Mist" and "The Postman" merged with a kind of WW2-based post apocalypse. Except with intelligent alien species in addition to the monsters.

Shadows Of A Fallen Empire TTRPG. Status: Concept Phase. I have way less notes for this one as I have only been thinking about it for a couple years. Essentially a game that takes place during the last stages of the collapse of a Roman empire fantasy analog. The players would be the last vestiges of a legion company, returning home after crushing defeat at the hands of invading... I dunno, barbarians? orcs? returning home to find out that the reason they received no resupply or fresh troops on the front line was because the entire government had collapsed except for the capitol city and its immediate region, where decadent nobles still insist on behaving as if they rule the known world. The idea is that the players would have to decide if they throw in their lot with one of the surviving city/states that is now independent (though not according to the capitol, of course, but who cares?) in the face of the oncoming horde, or flee to the capitol (where there is still a standing army... sort of) or become bandits in the chaos of collapsing civilization. Bonus points if the invaders were actually a sovereign nation the Rome analog invaded first. The game would start with a harrowing retreat back from the front line, being chased by enemy forces the whole time, where the players can choose whether or not to make alliances with other, separate units who are also fleeing (like cavalry or siege engineers) and maybe rebuild the company, or go it alone and be fast and sneaky.

The Ferry board game. Status: Concept/Design phase. This one is a board game that operates similarly to heroes quest, but is set in the modern day during a zombie outbreak. The titular ferry is a Japanese ferry where the players are when the outbreak hits. The ship becomes essentially a floating HQ, and the game takes place when the ship docks at ports in Japan, and the players have to go out and scavenge food and supplies. the starting squares would be the docks each time, and the town/city would be randomly created each time the ship "docks" out of grided cards that are placed on the table to form the map. Zombies and probably bigger faster stronger zombie things would be controlled by the game master, similar to heroes quest. In addition to supplies, the players can find equipment that can be brought back to the ship, and used to upgrade weaponry and such, provided they also have the right materials. They can also rescue survivors who are either required to operate the upgrade machinery, or can be assigned to job slots on the ship, which grant bonuses and maybe once-per-map abilities, like, I dunno, artillery bombardment. I'm not sure what the end-game looks like for this, but you could do set pieces for special maps with story elements in between randomly generated maps. The game loop would be to scavenge enough food/water to feed everyone on board the ferry, so it gets progressively harder as you rescue people, but also your abilities and weaponry get better.

They Feed At Night gameboy ROM. Status: 30-40%? I haven't worked on this in a year or so, I don't know why other than I just haven't. This one is massive as its hundreds of screens I have to draw, but I enjoy doing that so its not bad. Part of the issue is that between new versions of GB-Studio and me forgetting what the fuck I was doing, I would probably have to redo most of the guts of it, though I can of course reuse all the artwork, which is the most labor/time intensive part. Maybe I'll dig this out on the weekend.