My history goes back to about 1981 when I was 10 or so and my school got its first computer. A Video Genie, which is a TRS80 clone, sort of and I was fascinated by it. I got a ZX81 for Christmas and then upgraded to a VIC20.

At that time I started getting computer magazines and saw ads for online services like Prestel, which was intriguing. I was familiar with Teletext which is a one way data system but this Videotex service promises the ability to send electronic and telex messages, chat with other users, book holidays, conduct finanial business, download software and more.


I upgraded to a BBC Micro and found that a Prestel information provider (IP) was giving away free modems with subscriptions.

The Prestel service used to charge 6p per minute during peak times (8am-6pm I think) and then was free other times, except for certain per page charges. That was on top of the monthly subscription.

That's when I started hearing about other online services, called bulletin boards. Many of them run on similar BBC Micros but with better, auto answer, auto baud modems.

I was hooked. I was dialing into all sorts of local boards and running up a huge phone bill. Calls, even local calls, were not free and charged per minute and with few exeptions I think that's still the case.

I ran my own BBS, Modem Mania, for a while in the UK but ended up leaving my parents home, getting a job in another city and really forgot about them for maybe 5+ years unitl I discovered The Internet...and that's a whole 'nother story!
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nelgin wrote to All <=-

My history goes back to about 1981 when I was 10 or so and my school
got its first computer. A Video Genie, which is a TRS80 clone, sort of
and I was fascinated by it. I got a ZX81 for Christmas and then
upgraded to a VIC20.

It's a little fuzzy for me, but in 1983 I got a C64. I recall getting
an Anchor 300 baud modem, but think it was to get onto QuantumLink
(later AOL). It wasn't until I went to college in the fall that I
started using my modem to connect to university systems and hearing
about BBSes. That was about the time we had 2 big computer tabloids
distributed where I lived - MicroTimes and Computer Currents, and I saw
the BBS listings in the back.

In 1986 I got sick of trying to read 80 columns on a 12" black and
white TV, and got an XT clone and a 1200 baud modem. That's when BBSing
really took off for me.

Around 1987, I met Dr. Strangelove, who ran Just Say Yes, and over a
couple of years got to me his friend and co-sysop. I did most of the
administrative work on a 2-node Searchlight BBS and got the urge to
start my own BBS.



... Adding on
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Re: Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to nelgin on Tue Mar 26 2024 06:21:00

In 1986 I got sick of trying to read 80 columns on a 12" black and
white TV, and got an XT clone and a 1200 baud modem. That's when BBSing
really took off for me.

My first PC was given to me. It was a (c) 1982 Commodore PC with a green screen and 256K of memory and I think a 10mb hard drive or something stupid like that. I could play text adventure games on it and that was about it.

Around 1987, I met Dr. Strangelove, who ran Just Say Yes, and over a
couple of years got to me his friend and co-sysop. I did most of the
administrative work on a 2-node Searchlight BBS and got the urge to
start my own BBS.

My first BBS was home grown, I wrote it for the BBC Micro and pretty happy with it, but I ended up buying another BBS product and I wish I could remember what it was called and who it was from, it wasn't one of the mainstream ones at the time. But this one had more stuff than I could code up an was happy with it.
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Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: nelgin to All on Mon Mar 25 2024 05:40 pm

My dad was always into computers, so when I was a kid in the 80s, I often saw my dad using his computer at home.. He had a TRS-80 when I was born (I've only seen it in a photo). Later, he had an all-in-one computer he said he built as a kit computer, and later, he had an IBM PC-compatible along with a couple of Alpha Micro AM1000 computers:
https://ampm.floodgap.com/www/1000.htm

I never really knew what he used the AM1000 computers for (he had at least one in another room without a monitor attached), but I saw him use his IBM-compatible PC a lot, working on his own programming projects and dialing into services like CompuServe, Prodigy, etc..

In 1992, he gave me my own computer, a home-built PC with a 286 processor, along with a 2400 baud modem. He told me about bulletin boards and gave me a list of BBSes, along with a communications program (Procomm Plus). That's when I started using BBSes.. It was during the summer, so I wasn't in school, and I often started dialing into BBSes when my parents went to bed (after around 10:00PM). I thought it was really cool that you could have your computer connect to someone else's computer remotely over the phone line..

A couple years later, my parents agreed to get a second phone line for my computer that I could use any time and not worry about tying up the main phone line or having my modem answer the phone. I pretty much immediately set up my own BBS, which I enjoyed running, and it also made good use of that phone line.

Nightfox
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on 27 Mar 2024, Nightfox said...

In 1992, he gave me my own computer, a home-built PC with a 286
processor, along with a 2400 baud modem. He told me about bulletin
boards and gave me a list of BBSes, along with a communications program (Procomm Plus). That's when I started using BBSes.. It was during the

when i was probably in.. 5th grade i think? the teacher for the computer class gave me a 300 baud modem .. that's how i got my start. he wanted me to learn about the internet though, but instead i went and called a bunch of bbses.. worked out in the end anyways but :)

A couple years later, my parents agreed to get a second phone line for my computer that I could use any time and not worry about tying up the main phone line or having my modem answer the phone. I pretty much
immediately set up my own BBS, which I enjoyed running, and it also made good use of that phone line.

lucky.. by the time i had my own second line i was using it for dedicated dialup internet. bit weird having your own phone number at the ISP, but it was cool. i remember injoy dialer for OS/2 had a bunch of extra stuff in it for "professional" use including some stuff to rather aggressively keep it's connection going. i remember i had a backup ISP too .. geez. a bit ocd i guess :)

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Re: Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: fusion to Nightfox on Wed Mar 27 2024 04:49 pm

when i was probably in.. 5th grade i think? the teacher for the computer class gave me a 300 baud modem .. that's how i got my start. he wanted me to learn about the internet though, but instead i went and called a bunch of bbses.. worked out in the end anyways but :)

That's cool :) I'd think 300 baud would have been a bit slow for internet though, even in the mid 90s..

At the time I started (1992), the internet wasn't widely used yet. I didn't even know about the internet yet, and I'm not sure many people I knew did either.

lucky.. by the time i had my own second line i was using it for dedicated dialup internet. bit weird having your own phone number at the ISP, but it

What do you mean by "phone number at the ISP"? Your phone line wasn't at home?

Nightfox
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Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: Nightfox to nelgin on Wed Mar 27 2024 12:54:50

(after around 10:00PM). I thought it was really cool that you could have your computer connect to someone else's computer remotely over the phone line..

I think that's what fascinated me about it, too. All that stuff out there you could do over the phone. I wish I had found the internet sooner. I found out about it playing a MUD and was told about Demon Internet, a UK provider that offered dialup with static IP for "10 quid a month". It was a fantasic deal, if you could get into their modems.

A couple years later, my parents agreed to get a second phone line for my computer that I could use any time and not worry about tying up the main phone line or having my modem answer the phone. I pretty much immediately set up my own BBS, which I enjoyed running, and it also made good use of that phone line.

Yeah, I had a separate line for my BBS too, but it didn't last long since I moved out of my parents house. I did leave the BBS running for a time but I wanted my computer.
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on 27 Mar 2024, Nightfox said...

lucky.. by the time i had my own second line i was using it for dedic dialup internet. bit weird having your own phone number at the ISP, b

What do you mean by "phone number at the ISP"? Your phone line wasn't
at home?

what i meant is the number i called.. the line itself was just for me.

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nelgin wrote to Nightfox <=-

Yeah, I had a separate line for my BBS too, but it didn't last long
since I moved out of my parents house. I did leave the BBS running for
a time but I wanted my computer.

I remember all of those BBSes that opened up with delusions of grandeur
after christmas, but were only open from 10:00am until 5:00am, using
their parents' phone line.

Kinda ruins the mystique of "TH3 HAX0RZ H1DE0UT!!!!1" when mom answers
the BBS line...



... Allow an easement
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I don't know how I got so lucky when I started my BBS. I lived in an
apartment and just assumed I'd be able to use the outside pair of 4-wire
telco wire to run the BBS line.

The apartment building I was in was lath-and-plaster, built in the
1920s, with old school solid copper 3-conductor cloth-wrapped wire.

Pacific Bell had a flat rate interior installation charge, I think it
was $75. The installer must have liked me, because he brought a
4-conductor telco wire from the DMARC, up through the garbage chute to
the second floor, stapled up and over 3 doors, the elevator, then back
down to my apartment, drilled under the baseboard to get through the
wall, then into the walk-in closet that was my office space.

Had I known better, or known I would only stay there 2 years, common
sense might have prevailed. Luckily, I was a dumb kid and the rest is
history.



... Always the first steps
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Re: Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to nelgin on Fri Mar 29 2024 06:46:00

I remember all of those BBSes that opened up with delusions of grandeur
after christmas, but were only open from 10:00am until 5:00am, using
their parents' phone line.

Kinda ruins the mystique of "TH3 HAX0RZ H1DE0UT!!!!1" when mom answers
the BBS line...

Haha, yup. Another popular method that was used was call, let it ring then call back again. The system would answer if you called within so many seconds.
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Re: Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: poindexter FORTRAN to All on Fri Mar 29 2024 06:53:00

Pacific Bell had a flat rate interior installation charge, I think it
was $75. The installer must have liked me, because he brought a
4-conductor telco wire from the DMARC, up through the garbage chute to
the second floor, stapled up and over 3 doors, the elevator, then back
down to my apartment, drilled under the baseboard to get through the
wall, then into the walk-in closet that was my office space.

Sounds like he went above and beyond. I guess he couldn't just run it up the outside and through a hole in the window frame like they did with my phone install.

Had I known better, or known I would only stay there 2 years, common
sense might have prevailed. Luckily, I was a dumb kid and the rest is history.

What's $75 when you're young and stupid :)
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nelgin wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Haha, yup. Another popular method that was used was call, let it ring
then call back again. The system would answer if you called within so
many seconds.

Distinctive ring - I remember a couple of boards that used that and
Hello Direct sold boxes that could route calls based on the ring. Line
one would go to your phone, line 2 to the BBS.




... Adding on
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nelgin wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Sounds like he went above and beyond. I guess he couldn't just run it
up the outside and through a hole in the window frame like they did
with my phone install.

No, this was a beautiful 1930s deco apartment building, 6 floors and 50
or so units.

What's $75 when you're young and stupid :)

I made it up on savings by not having to call LD for files and in
beersbought for me at BBS gettogethers. :)



... Do you understand now, what the center represents?
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Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: Nightfox to nelgin on Wed Mar 27 2024 12:54:50

Hi, Nightfox.

In 1992, he gave me my own computer, a home-built PC with a 286 processor, along with a 2400 baud modem. He told me about bulletin boards and gave me a list of BBSes, along with a communications program (Procomm Plus).

Heha - wow... I had forgotten about Procomm Plus. This is just like my story, except for the bit where you got to play with it and dial into BBSes! In my case my dad brought home a 286 PC and 2400 baud modem from work, along with a list of BBSes a work colleague had given him. I got to watch while he called into a couple and downloaded some dopey EGA paint program but the phone calls cost so much (and I'd have been fairly young at the time) that he never entrusted me with it :)

BobW

Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: nelgin to Nightfox on Thu Mar 28 2024 10:39:18

Hi, Nelgin.

was told about Demon Internet, a UK provider
that offered dialup with static IP for "10 quid a month".

Oooh, I had definitely not forgotten about Demon Internet but the "tenner a month" slogan had well and truly left my brain! I (or more correctly, my parents) used Demon for a good while - not only a static IP but also a whatever.demon.co.uk subdomain, under which you could use as many e-mail addresses as you liked (in whoever@whatever.demon.co.uk format) and it would kick you SMTP when you came online... A really stand-out offering back in the day.

BobW

Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: Bob Worm to Nightfox on Mon Apr 01 2024 09:53 pm

In 1992, he gave me my own computer, a home-built PC with a 286 processor,
along with a 2400 baud modem. He told me about bulletin boards and gave me
a list of BBSes, along with a communications program (Procomm Plus).

Heha - wow... I had forgotten about Procomm Plus. This is just like my story, except for the bit where you got to play with it and dial into BBSes! In my case my dad brought home a 286 PC and 2400 baud modem from work, along with a list of BBSes a work colleague had given him. I got to watch while he called into a couple and downloaded some dopey EGA paint program but the phone calls cost so much (and I'd have been fairly young at the time) that he never entrusted me with it :)

:) Fun times.
I only called local BBSes, so it didn't add anything to the phone bill. Luckily, there were quite a lot of local BBSes in my area back then.

Nightfox
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Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: Nightfox to Bob Worm on Mon Apr 01 2024 14:45:31

Hi, Nightfox.

I only called local BBSes, so it didn't add anything to the phone bill. Luckily, there were quite a lot of local BBSes in my area back then.

Yeah, we didn't have free local calls in the UK... I suppose we still don't, most providers do unlimited calling bundles now but they're nationwide.

I was lucky enough to be in a town that somehow inherited an area code from the neighbouring capital city, so at least a good chunk of stuff counted as local. I seem to remember there was some not-local-but-not-long-distance setup between London and a few other key cities that I could piggyback onto. It was all by the minute, though :(

BobW

Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: Bob Worm to nelgin on Mon Apr 01 2024 21:58:44

Oooh, I had definitely not forgotten about Demon Internet but the "tenner a month" slogan had well and truly left my brain! I (or more correctly, my parents) used Demon for a good while - not only a static IP but also a whatever.demon.co.uk subdomain, under which you could use as many e-mail addresses as you liked (in whoever@whatever.demon.co.uk format) and it would kick you SMTP when you came online... A really stand-out offering back in the day.

I used their software, WINDIS, I think. I was fascinated watching the SMTP traffic come through when using debug mode, or maybe it did that all the time. Very smart system. I took a tour of Demon Internet while I was down in London for a job interview. Interesting stuff.
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Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: nelgin to Bob Worm on Wed May 01 2024 00:16:31

Hi, nelgin.

I used their software, WINDIS, I think. I was fascinated watching the SMTP traffic come through when using debug mode, or maybe it did that all the time. Very smart system. I took a tour of Demon Internet while I was down in London for a job interview. Interesting stuff.

Hmm - I vaguely remember them giving out Turnpike for a while but my recollection is *very* hazy! Soon after I started going online everything began to standardise so you didn't need weird custom stacks any more...

Was it an interesting tour? Maybe a couple of decades in telecoms has jaded me but possibly the first couple of times seeing a modem rack would be a fun time.

I once applied for a job at a company making network switches. That was absolutely fascinating because they made their own silicon and pretty much everyone there (I think less than 25 employees total) knew the product inside out. The way they thought about stuff was so different from how I'd ever approached it on the "consumer" side of the deal.

They did a proper role play in the interview where they played a customer with a problem in their production network and I had to support their product (which I'd never seen). It was a fun way to check whether candidates knew the fundamentals or just what vendor X tells you about their box. I still smile when I remember the guy asking me "is it safe to run that command?" to which I replied "go for it, it's just a lab box", then he came back with "No, this is my production network, remember?" :)

I remember being in one of Cisco's product awareness training sessions where they were getting all excited about their 1us fixed latency products and I was sat there thinking "they were doing 150ns when I interviewed at that place 3 years ago?!"

BobW

Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: Bob Worm to nelgin on Wed May 01 2024 14:01:36

Hmm - I vaguely remember them giving out Turnpike for a while but my recollection is *very* hazy! Soon after I started going online everything began to standardise so you didn't need weird custom stacks any more...

Not sure about that. Maybe that was after my time. I used Demon for a while in 1994/95 then I switched to Dircon. They seemed to be much after and had really good people. I was going to interview there for a job but I ended up moving to the US.

Was it an interesting tour? Maybe a couple of decades in telecoms has jaded me but possibly the first couple of times seeing a modem rack would be a fun time.

I saw cow.demon.net :)

Pretty neat to think it was a company that started out with 4 modems and leased line internet, if I remember.
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Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: nelgin to Bob Worm on Wed May 01 2024 09:51:58

Hi, nelgin.

I saw cow.demon.net :)

Well that just unlocked another memory... Now I'm sat here trying to remember hostnames that I haven't used in 20 years. Oh, wait... carry the one, 1995 was (nearly) 30 years ago now :\

Random aside, I used to work in a place that rented colo space (among other things) and always remember finding a customer who had set all their reverse DNS to <musician>.<company>.com. They had done a very good job of coming up with a list of top-flight names, starting at A and progressing through the alphabet until they hit the end of their IP block. When I branched out on my own I bought my business cards from them :)

BobW

Re: How did you find out about bulletin boards?
By: Bob Worm to nelgin on Wed May 01 2024 19:59:54

I saw cow.demon.net :)

Well that just unlocked another memory... Now I'm sat here trying to remember hostnames that I haven't used in 20 years. Oh, wait... carry the one, 1995 was (nearly) 30 years ago now :\

I remember when the internet would slow down when the US woke up. They had a T1 , I think, to the US which was fine while nobody was using it. Usenet was a great way to get files and ftpmail too.

Random aside, I used to work in a place that rented colo space (among other things) and always remember finding a customer who had set all their reverse DNS to <musician>.<company>.com. They had done a very good job of coming up with a list of top-flight names, starting at A and progressing through the alphabet until they hit the end of their IP block. When I branched out on my own I bought my business cards from them :)

I named my servers after drinks; gin, vodka, whiskey, tuaca... :)
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