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Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: stevee617 on December 28, 2010, 04:58:35 AM

Title: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: stevee617 on December 28, 2010, 04:58:35 AM
Back in the 80's and the early 90's BBSs ruled until the internet started becoming available in 1995 (in my area).

I miss those days. Computing used to be fun and educational. Now, they are really an appliance for the average home user.

Don't get me wrong, I am really happy that we have sites and forums to discuss issues, but how many wish we still had Amiga BBSs still up and running???
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: redrumloa on December 28, 2010, 05:08:30 AM
http://home.ica.net/~leifb/bbs/
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: hsv5000 on December 28, 2010, 09:53:22 AM
Yeah the old days....... waiting 5 minutes to down a picture!

lol... I know where you are coming from but dialup speed would kill me :)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: RazMATTaz on December 28, 2010, 09:53:52 AM
I don't really see what's so different between forums of today as compared to bbs's of days gone by.  Besides the obvious and inevitable graphical improvements, the two are essentially the same - post based discussions, online games, downloads, etc.  

So what exactly is it that you miss so much that today's forums don't offer?  All the busy signals? =)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: whabang on December 28, 2010, 10:00:01 AM
ANSI interface. ;)

To be honest, I think we should reduce the internet to text-based web browsing, Usenet, telnet, and direct IP connections.

Who needs graphics when you have a framebuffer terminal? ;)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Karlos on December 28, 2010, 10:01:42 AM
Lynx or W3M FTW :)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: whabang on December 28, 2010, 10:03:36 AM
I prefer links, for the speed. :D
Lynx colour scheme is prettier, though. :(
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: GadgetMaster on December 28, 2010, 02:08:53 PM
Quote from: whabang;602372
I prefer links, for the speed. :D
Lynx colour scheme is prettier, though. :(

That gives me an idea for a retro filter for the web, accessible via a proxy server?

Anyone want to code one?

Dont forget to add the lag effect and fake dial up modem noises and slow download speeds.

Then we can all hark back to the "good old days" for a spot of nostaligia or we could use it to educate the younger generation of what it was like before broadband.:lol:
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: whabang on December 28, 2010, 03:06:16 PM
Just throw Links in on the server, and make the proxy send Links' output with a monospace font. ;)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Duce on December 28, 2010, 03:13:20 PM
Still a fair number of BBS's around, though the days of dialup are long gone, so telnet/SSH are generally the means of connection now.  See:

http://www.bbsfinder.com/listing.asp

Most are non Amiga, obviously.

A few years back, the guys over at AmiZed Studios (http://www.amigaz.org/category/carrier-whistle/) had a audio podcast called Carrier Whistle that had a lot of us old Amiga sysops back running BBS's, but the podcast seems to have gone defunct, sadly.  I miss that podcast a great deal, even though they only cranked out like 8 episodes.

Still a number of Amiga BBS sysops here on A.org, most being Cnet guys, but there's a few of us Zeus BBS guys as well.  My BBS is down until Feb. 1st for an entire ARexx (running Zeus, which all customization is completely arexx) revamp on my SAM 440.  DLG BB/OS, a very popular Amiga commercial BBS program, was recently was released on Aminet and a few people are currently toying with setting up BBS's with it.

Activity isn't terribly high on most BBS's these days, but it's always nice to have guys you haven't spoken to since the mid 90's logon and say hello :)  It was a simpler time back then, and sadly the current generation just doesn't see the magic we did when we all discovered BBS systems.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Opus on December 28, 2010, 04:00:25 PM
I miss the community!  I dated quite a few women from the local BBS, had meetings at the park, partys at various homes, including mine.  yeah, I kinda miss those days...
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Ral-Clan on December 28, 2010, 06:25:19 PM
Well, there was until recently the Cottonwood BBS:

http://cottonwood.servebbs.com/

And it might be up again in a few years according to the website.  This is a real BBS you can dial up from a modem.

Also, didn't someone revive Quantum Link as Q-Link?
It's more internet connection based, but you can log onto it with a real Commodore 64.

(checking)

...oh it looks like it might be offline as well.  But here was a discussion about it in 2007:
http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24151
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: icbrkr on December 28, 2010, 11:34:49 PM
I ran my BBS, mostly continuously, from 1992-2008.  It's only down right now since I have a 2 year old kid that I have to attend to ;)  I'm looking into Amiga BBSs (last ones were C64/PC based) but so far I haven't found one I really liked yet.... or could get running for that matter.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: actung_bab on December 29, 2010, 12:01:51 AM
Quote from: stevee617;602316
Back in the 80's and the early 90's BBSs ruled until the internet started becoming available in 1995 (in my area).

I miss those days. Computing used to be fun and educational. Now, they are really an appliance for the average home user.

Don't get me wrong, I am really happy that we have sites and forums to discuss issues, but how many wish we still had Amiga BBSs still up and running???
there is mine theres better one called regin of fire http://telnet://dxrw.org
mine is http://telnet://midnight-blue.dyndns.org
both bbs run 24 seven most welcome to call or neeed any help with software let me know
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: actung_bab on December 29, 2010, 12:07:17 AM
Quote from: icbrkr;602538
I ran my BBS, mostly continuously, from 1992-2008.  It's only down right now since I have a 2 year old kid that I have to attend to ;)  I'm looking into Amiga BBSs (last ones were C64/PC based) but so far I haven't found one I really liked yet.... or could get running for that matter.
give my bbs a call have a look at amiga cnet bbs software can help you with settign it up as well
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: obscurepanic on December 29, 2010, 01:46:53 AM
Quote from: stevee617;602316
Don't get me wrong, I am really happy that we have sites and forums to discuss issues, but how many wish we still had Amiga BBSs still up and running???


Sorry if this is a threadjack. Any form of BBS is now mostly used in Japan and South Korea. Consider Twitter's influence today, would the concept of BBS revive in the near future? 50/50.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Duce on December 29, 2010, 02:22:58 AM
A documentary on BBS's was put out several years back, it's a must see.  Can likely find it out there for DL on the net (it's on TPB) or even on YouTube for those that don't wish to purchase it for their DVD collection but still wish to see it.  It's absolutely a terrific film from start to finish.

BBS - The Documentary

http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/

Split into sections on Google video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1731271864657931901#
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Selles on December 29, 2010, 03:55:15 AM
I do not miss them.  They were too slow and were usually run by jerks.  The internet is the way to go.  It is fast and there are so many sites to choose from.
 
People that actually miss BBS s are like people that still use the Commodore 64.  I just can not understand why.    :lol:
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: actung_bab on December 29, 2010, 04:08:35 AM
Quote from: Duce;602573
A documentary on BBS's was put out several years back, it's a must see.  Can likely find it out there for DL on the net (it's on TPB) or even on YouTube for those that don't wish to purchase it for their DVD collection but still wish to see it.  It's absolutely a terrific film from start to finish.

BBS - The Documentary

http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/

Split into sections on Google video:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1731271864657931901#
thanks for that never new exsited
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: actung_bab on December 29, 2010, 04:09:26 AM
Quote from: Selles;602598
I do not miss them.  They were too slow and were usually run by jerks.  The internet is the way to go.  It is fast and there are so many sites to choose from.
 
People that actually miss BBS s are like people that still use the Commodore 64.  I just can not understand why.    :lol:
charming l guess you be type to log of without loging of
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Lurch on December 29, 2010, 08:56:39 AM
Still plenty around, get yourself a copy of synchterm or Mtelnet and then look around for telnet BBS's :)

Mine is still running, although I dont do much with it now. http://telnet://www.taf.org.nz or you can try http://www.taf.org.nz and use the flashterm although it's kinda buggy and sometimes doesnt work ;)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: barney on December 29, 2010, 09:02:59 AM
People nowadays always say "There are still BBS's out there, just click on this link - http:\\xyz".  What they don't understand is that clicking a stinking link on the internet isn't the same thing.  I miss the good old days when I had to prepare my 1200 bps modem and enter the phone number myself.  I loved watching the cursor zip accross the screen displaying ASCII characters.  Back then, who really needed graphics online.  Numbers, letters and symbols were all we needed.  I remember when I was younger, back in Washington State, I was a member of an HP users group at a local Hewlett Packard HQ.  At night I would dial in with my Commodore Vic-20 and 300 bps modem and play a game called "Empire" for hours on end.  Boy those sure were the days.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Lurch on December 29, 2010, 09:10:53 AM
LOL Exactly the same, sure you dont get the wonderful modem connect noise other than that in full screen it's just as like the old days. Instead of putting a phone number you are putting a telnet address or IP ;P My BBS has been running off and on since the mid 90's so have been there since the beginning (Well Auckland Scene anyway).

Was at the point were I could tell what connect speed was by the noise of the modem.. sad I know ;) Ahh 2400 baud was when I first started, think I got to 28k towards the end before I disconnected the dialup.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: barney on December 29, 2010, 09:49:57 AM
Sorry Lurch, it just isn't the same.  If you don't  have to dial in with a POTS line, a slow modem and a 20 year old computer, then it isn't a true BBS.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: tone007 on December 29, 2010, 10:30:34 AM
It really isn't the same, in the past you needed the BBS to get "online," and as it was dialup you'd generally need to find one in your area, which had the added benefit of getting you onto a board with a bunch of locals.  Now, everyone is already online globally, and the BBSes capabilities are generally surpassed in all areas by the global Worldwide Web, making them not much more than a 5 minute nostalgia trip for the old BBSers.  Sure, everyone likes going back and playing an old door game, but that gets old pretty quick for most people, especially when the random 2 other people that may have played the game are on the other side of the world and will probably never log in again.

The Internet really did kill BBSes.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: vidarh on December 29, 2010, 12:06:30 PM
Quote from: Selles;602598
People that actually miss BBS s are like people that still use the Commodore 64.  I just can not understand why.    :lol:


I hope you see the irony of posting a comment like that on an Amiga board...
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: icbrkr on December 29, 2010, 05:50:01 PM
Quote from: vidarh;602642
I hope you see the irony of posting a comment like that on an Amiga board...


You said it before I did.  I still use a C64 - and gobs and gobs of other old computers.  Why?  I don't know.  I like playing with older systems and getting them to do things they weren't really meant to do.

Obviously it's not my main system but who cares if I still use it?
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: icbrkr on December 29, 2010, 05:51:06 PM
Quote from: actung_bab;602551
give my bbs a call have a look at amiga cnet bbs software can help you with settign it up as well


Sure, I'll check it out.  I'm looking at Cnet (I can only find 3.x on Aminet), DLG (what I used to run from 1993-1995), and some others.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: icbrkr on January 01, 2011, 10:51:20 PM
Quote from: actung_bab;602551
give my bbs a call have a look at amiga cnet bbs software can help you with settign it up as well


Checking it out right now, leeching via Zmodem on my A600.  Oldschool ftw! ;)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Duce on January 01, 2011, 11:48:38 PM
DLG is free now (with source available), and on Aminet now.  Give Zeus BBS a try as well, it's what I use on my SAM 440 and it works extremely well (and is only like $25 now).  FAME is also free now, along with a couple others.

CNet is still very popular, but I've had an extremely difficult time trying to get ahold of the darned thing in any modern 5.x version.  All emails I've sent have been ignored, even after stating I'd be happy to pay for the software, lol.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: icbrkr on January 02, 2011, 01:00:04 AM
Quote from: Duce;603300
DLG is free now (with source available), and on Aminet now.  Give Zeus BBS a try as well, it's what I use on my SAM 440 and it works extremely well (and is only like $25 now).  FAME is also free now, along with a couple others.

CNet is still very popular, but I've had an extremely difficult time trying to get ahold of the darned thing in any modern 5.x version.  All emails I've sent have been ignored, even after stating I'd be happy to pay for the software, lol.


DLG seems pretty fussy on what it requires to get it to run... I've pretty much given up on it at this point.

I've found the 3.x of CNET and 4.x, but yeah, 5.x has eluded me.  Cnet's familiar to me since I ran Image for years on the C64.  Does Zeus have a webpage?
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Duce on January 02, 2011, 02:18:29 AM
http://www.zeusdev.co.uk/

The site is well out of date, but the developer is still active and very easy to get ahold of.

Not sure if he still have the Zeus support BBS up, but it used to be located at:

 telnet:tkgbbs.darktech.org
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: robo-ant on January 02, 2011, 05:34:33 AM
Quote from: stevee617;602316
Don't get me wrong, I am really happy that we have sites and forums to discuss issues, but how many wish we still had Amiga BBSs still up and running???

I miss BBSes, too.  And they don't have to be Amiga boards.  I wasn't into sharing software very much, I liked BBSes for the conversation.  I especially liked the chat functions on a couple of the multi-line boards, and all the homebrew and modified BBS software written by the sysops themselves.  I liked BBSes more before the "offline readers" were in vogue and you had to be connected to read/write messages.  I liked it more when there were "message pads" where you would respond to many posts in one post, and didn't have quoting, and where you were replying before you saw other replies.  I found that that actually resulted in the best BBSing experience.

It was great to go to a GT and meet everyone in real life, too, at a pub or a theatre for the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

One thing I can do without, though, is the busy signals, sometimes for hours at a time.  And if you had to be away for a while and couldn't BBS for a while, trying to catch up when there were maybe a hundred posts per day on a popular BBS (and I was a member of several)...

At one time I wanted to run my own single-line BBS on a VIC-20, though I didn't actually have an auto-answer modem for a VIC.  A hardware-savvy friend of mine made a serial interface for his VIC that could do 9600bps and I was going to try to write BBS software and put it on a cartridge.  I never got a round tuit, which is too bad.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: actung_bab on January 02, 2011, 07:44:12 AM
Quote from: Lurch;602627
LOL Exactly the same, sure you dont get the wonderful modem connect noise other than that in full screen it's just as like the old days. Instead of putting a phone number you are putting a telnet address or IP ;P My BBS has been running off and on since the mid 90's so have been there since the beginning (Well Auckland Scene anyway).

Was at the point were I could tell what connect speed was by the noise of the modem.. sad I know ;) Ahh 2400 baud was when I first started, think I got to 28k towards the end before I disconnected the dialup.


yeah l miss the modem sound myself well chould but the modem back on still got it supra 14.4k external and supra 56 k xt

gee your in auckland and my bbs is plamerston north
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: actung_bab on January 02, 2011, 07:47:46 AM
Quote from: icbrkr;603293
Checking it out right now, leeching via Zmodem on my A600.  Oldschool ftw! ;)


Nice pretty awsome the 600 rocks l was trilled to see someone dl something cool !!!!

made my week
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Lurch on January 02, 2011, 07:53:03 AM
Quote from: actung_bab;603346
yeah l miss the modem sound myself well chould but the modem back on still got it supra 14.4k external and supra 56 k xt

gee your in auckland and my bbs is plamerston north



Good to know there are afew NZ boards about :) Miss the BBS scene, just today was in the CBD Wendy's, havent been there for years. Use to have BBS gatherings there back in the day.. Knoddy's house/The Bath Tub... Wolf 359.. TAF on the odd occasion.

Have an old 56k internal modem somewhere can add another line for $7 through VOIP, but not sure if anyone would call it.

Telnet has another great advantage no toll calls :D
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: actung_bab on January 02, 2011, 08:02:26 AM
Quote from: Lurch;603348
Good to know there are afew NZ boards about :) Miss the BBS scene, just today was in the CBD Wendy's, havent been there for years. Use to have BBS gatherings there back in the day.. Knoddy's house/The Bath Tub... Wolf 359.. TAF on the odd occasion.

Have an old 56k internal modem somewhere can add another line for $7 through VOIP, but not sure if anyone would call it.

Telnet has another great advantage no toll calls :D
Yes thats why run telnet l chould not afford a second line and not sure anyone whould call it .. wolf 359 wqhere was that bbs it rings a bell , l used to live in christchurch as well
the trash can bbs is still going strong
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: MickJT on January 02, 2011, 10:36:34 AM
http://board.kohina.net/

:-)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: espskog on January 02, 2011, 02:22:39 PM
We're still running our Amiga Board, although we've moved from Modem dialup to Telnet connection. You can read out our BBS on http://silverhawk.ath.cx where the story of the BBS is told. Our board is reachable via your favourite telnet client. We prefer Putty, and you can download a preconfigured copy from our webside at http://silverhawh.ath.cx
where there is also some info on how to set up putty for best compatibilty.



Espen Skog
CoSys SilverHawk BBS
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Gary McCulloch on January 13, 2011, 04:49:48 AM
Quote from: espskog;603392
We're still running our Amiga Board, although we've moved from Modem dialup to Telnet connection. You can read out our BBS on http://silverhawk.ath.cx where the story of the BBS is told. Our board is reachable via your favourite telnet client. We prefer Putty, and you can download a preconfigured copy from our webside at http://silverhawh.ath.cx
where there is also some info on how to set up putty for best compatibilty.
 
 
 
Espen Skog
CoSys SilverHawk BBS

That site doesn't seem to load for me.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Tuxon86 on January 13, 2011, 04:54:50 AM
I sure miss the good old BBS scene. I miss the local presence of the BBS community. If you had a problem you could meet most member in person. The Internet is too impersonal. Yes you can find everything on the web, once you filter the junk, it doesn't amount to that much though.

BBS via Telnet isn't the same thing.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: marcfrick2112 on January 13, 2011, 05:16:55 AM
I still call BBS' via Telnet, at least....

I miss the scene too... Once, calling a pop. BBS' here in Milw. (14.4K) I found out an 'online buddy' was a co-worker of mine! We became great friends...
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Tuxon86 on January 13, 2011, 05:20:30 AM
Quote from: marcfrick2112;606350
I still call BBS' via Telnet, at least....

I miss the scene too... Once, calling a pop. BBS' here in Milw. (14.4K) I found out an 'online buddy' was a co-worker of mine! We became great friends...

Made quite a few friend like that.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Gary McCulloch on January 14, 2011, 04:08:21 PM
Quote from: Tuxon86;606348
I sure miss the good old BBS scene. I miss the local presence of the BBS community. If you had a problem you could meet most member in person. The Internet is too impersonal. Yes you can find everything on the web, once you filter the junk, it doesn't amount to that much though.
 
BBS via Telnet isn't the same thing.

Your right, its not the same.  A good BBS would get many calls a day, but now everyone surfs the web.  If I could just get everyone here to call my BBS as much as they visit this site, it could spark the good old days.  Then again, visiting it via Telnet is just not the same.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: marcfrick2112 on January 17, 2011, 09:26:37 AM
Spitfire, sorry.. I promise I'll call your BBS more .. :) Been neglecting my miggy and the BBS's lately.

:afro:
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: beakster2 on January 17, 2011, 02:00:09 PM
Yes, I miss them loads.  I ran one myself for about a year using MaxsBBS.

One thing I really miss is split screen chat where you see each character as the user types it, rather than having to wait for them to press return then a whole line appears.  I know there are ways to do this now, but its not practical to get all your mates to install an SSH client when they already have msn/skype.

I don't miss the phone bills though.  When I was 14 and I got my first modem my mum was not impressed at the 350 pound phone bill we got at the end of the month.  I still remember when BT introduced 1p a minute weekend rate, it was amazing.  midnight on Friday night I'd be straight on the modem, but all the BBS's would be engaged.  The alternative was spending hours playing with the phone trying to find and get into PBX's, which I miss nostalgically but wouldn't want to waste all those hours pressing buttons again. :)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Gary McCulloch on February 25, 2011, 05:10:27 PM
Thats cool... its up and ready for callers! Thank goodness to Telnet, I do have multiple ports open!  :)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: trilobyte on February 25, 2011, 05:36:28 PM
Quote from: marcfrick2112;606350
I miss the scene too... Once, calling a pop. BBS' here in Milw. (14.4K) I found out an 'online buddy' was a co-worker of mine! We became great friends...


I bought my first Amiga from a local CNet BBS sysop in 815 (area code).  I was in high school, it was 1996, the computer was a rev 6.2 A2000HD, 68000, with a partially fried ICD AdRAM board :)

That Amiga replaced my 486sx/25 for all daily operations and eventually went with me to college!  (And followed me when I dropped out because I couldn't use it to do my Java homework :) )

So there you have it, if it wasn't for BBSes I wouldn't have bought an Amiga and thus wouldn't have dropped out of college.  Simple as that.  ;)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: desiv on February 25, 2011, 06:59:06 PM
For those who miss the feel of the old BBSes on dialup.. ATDT, slow speed, etc, there's a solution...

A serial to ethernet adapter for your Amiga!  I have one...  It has a "modem emulation" mode.
What that means is, if someone has a telnet bbs setup at 127.0.0.1, I can go into JRComm on my Amiga and type:
adtd 127.0.0.1

Yep..  It will "dial" and connect and I'm in at the speed my serial port is set to at the time...

For that TRUE retro feel!!

I've been meaning to try Amiga modem games (firepower, stunt track racer, etc) using that method at some time.  I do know someone else who got one of these adapters..  I just have to get the time...  ;-)

desiv
(p.s.  Yes, I realize that is the loopback address..  )
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: ChrisUnionNJ on February 25, 2011, 11:26:14 PM
Quote from: desiv;617968
For those who miss the feel of the old BBSes on dialup.. ATDT, slow speed, etc, there's a solution...

A serial to ethernet adapter for your Amiga!  I have one...  It has a "modem emulation" mode.
What that means is, if someone has a telnet bbs setup at 127.0.0.1, I can go into JRComm on my Amiga and type:
adtd 127.0.0.1

Yep..  It will "dial" and connect and I'm in at the speed my serial port is set to at the time...

For that TRUE retro feel!!

I've been meaning to try Amiga modem games (firepower, stunt track racer, etc) using that method at some time.  I do know someone else who got one of these adapters..  I just have to get the time...  ;-)

desiv
(p.s.  Yes, I realize that is the loopback address..  )

What model do you use?

Chris
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: desiv on February 26, 2011, 12:29:07 AM
Quote from: ChrisUnionNJ;618005
What model do you use?
Lantronix MSS-100

Admittedly, I haven't hooked it up to the Amiga 1200 since I got my PCMCIA ethernet working, but it's still back there in the mess of wires..  :-)

desiv
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: persia on February 26, 2011, 01:00:05 AM
I don't get the love for BBSs.  I ran one back in the day, but I always thought these kind of discussion boards are the modern equivalent.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Duce on February 26, 2011, 02:05:45 AM
BBS's back in the day just had a hell of a sense of community to them, for me.  The sysop behind the screen generally put a lot of hours into making his (or her) system appealing to the general public, and usually spent a good chunk of change running the damned thing in the process.   Modern forums lack the personality for the most part, but no doubt are easier to use.  People that didn't cut their teeth on BBS's prior to the 'net generally don't "get" the BBS concept at all and just say stuff like "why would I play Hack & Slash when I can fire up Crysis or CoD?".  Point is well made on their part, tbh, lol.

The Amiga sysop community was very strong way back when.  Sadly, since I got back into the Amiga a few years back, I have found that to have entirely gone away.  It's atrocious even amongst sysops here on A.org.  Way back when it was common for sysops to help each other out with software, and I've been waiting well over a year to hear back about one certain BBS package that's still being worked on, even after offering to pay for it a second time.  Dev and sysops of the one well known Amiga BBS program are absolutely of no help at all, so I stuck with running what I ran back in the mid 90's (Zeus BBS, runs OK on my SAM 440/4.1 rig).  

The Windows/Linux (Synchronet specifically) BBS community is very strong and I'm seeing a lot of Amiga BBS themed sysops simply considering running it rather than Amiga based systems.  Synchronet is a stunning piece of software if you can get past the fact it's not Amiga based.  Just something dirty feeling about running an Amiga themed BBS on a PC/Windows, lol.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Gary McCulloch on February 27, 2011, 06:11:01 PM
I placed the latest CNet up for download on RoF, but your still needing a BBSLICENSE to run it.  Now on another note...  Sharing software was the thing to do when you owned a Commodore.  Hacking them and getting them to work for all was our code. :)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: vk3heg on March 14, 2011, 08:23:17 AM
There are still amiga Sysop's runing around with fido style networks. Amiganet is still alive (just).

A few Zeus BBS's:
The Zeus Auther (The Killing Ground): bbs.zeusdev.co.uk port: 23
Misery: miserybbs.com port 2323

My System is in betatest (It's only taken a year and ahalf)
Dragon's Lair: bbs.vk3heg.net port: 2323
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: actung_bab on July 31, 2012, 09:12:27 AM
my bbs is back online again

midnight-blue.dyndns.org
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: persia on July 31, 2012, 01:36:45 PM
@Duce

But putting up a BBS isn't going to revive the sense of community that existed back then.  It was a different time.  Without the community a BBS is just a poor CMS/Forum.
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Gary McCulloch on February 06, 2020, 12:35:49 AM
Now with WiFi modems for the C64/128 and Amiga, Calling a BBS and leaving the web behind is better now than ever.  Let me list the terms, and please add any you use...

Amiga...

Term v4.8
DCTelnet
JR-Comm

C64/128..

CCGMS
DesTerm
NovaTerm

PC...

SyncTerm
Netrunner
CGTerm
CBMTerm
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: sean_sk on February 07, 2020, 08:46:46 PM
I've been meaning to try Amiga modem games (firepower, stunt track racer, etc) using that method at some time.  I do know someone else who got one of these adapters..  I just have to get the time...  ;-)

This is probably a long shot since the post is so old, and sorry for going off-topic here, but Desiv did you ever get a chance to play any of those modem games over the internet with the Lantronix MS100?
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: blakespot on March 19, 2020, 12:44:39 PM
There are telnet BBSs all over the place today. Go BBS -- I do every day, mainly on my vintage machines, of which I most frequently use the Amiga.

I setup a BBS resource / guide page quite recently. Have a look:

https://bytecellar.com/bbsing/

Also, I talk about this on episode 208 of Retrocomputing Roundtable (podcast I just joined).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YjUKh_jNg0

BBS!



bp
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: giZmo350 on March 19, 2020, 01:09:06 PM
This is dang cool! Thanks for all your contributions to all things vintage Blake!!! I would love to get my Apple //c on a BBS however, I see that the WiFi232 device is sold out. This is the first time I been to Paul Rickards' site. Does he by chance still build these devices? Doing some googling it looks like the device may be hard to come by now. I see various things on eBay... anything you might recommend from eBay? Thanks much for the post! 

BTW, I've always been a big fan of the BYTECellar!  ;D

@amigakit - You guyz sell any WiFi232 devices?   ;)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: blakespot on March 19, 2020, 05:29:31 PM
This is dang cool! Thanks for all your contributions to all things vintage Blake!!! I would love to get my Apple //c on a BBS however, I see that the WiFi232 device is sold out. This is the first time I been to Paul Rickards' site. Does he by chance still build these devices? Doing some googling it looks like the device may be hard to come by now. I see various things on eBay... anything you might recommend from eBay? Thanks much for the post! 

BTW, I've always been a big fan of the BYTECellar!  ;D

@amigakit - You guyz sell any WiFi232 devices?   ;)

Many thanks. Glad you have enjoyed!

The //c (and some other systems I've BBSed with, like the eMate 300 (https://bytecellar.com/2020/02/29/emate-300-out-in-front-for-bbs-week-v/)) is going from serial port to USB-to-serial adapter into a Raspberry Pi which serves as a bridge. You can then telnet from the Pi out to a BBS, with the //c or whatever serving as a regular UNIX serial terminal to the Pi. It's as if the //c is another Terminal / Shell window, simply. So that's one easy way to go.

Paul is no longer making WiFi232s, but I have listed a number of other devices (https://bytecellar.com/bbsing) that are being made that would fit the bill, likely.

Good luck!


bp
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: giZmo350 on March 19, 2020, 07:45:43 PM
Ooooops, I missed your "List of “WiFi modem” devices (probably/possibly) available today:" Thanks for the alternate suggestion Blake.   :)
Title: Re: I miss BBS's!!!
Post by: Gary McCulloch on March 29, 2020, 04:13:32 PM
There are still many sites making WiFi modems for the retro systems.  I am sure there is one out there for yours.