RETRO BBS VIA TELNET!

What?! You can call a BBS in this day and age, from a modern computer!?!?? Yes, you can! The URL for my BBS is -> "8bitjunkyard.dyndns.org:6400"

For starters, you can use telnet to log in (the actual URL ends with ".org", and the ":6400" signifies telnet must connect to host port 6400.) Typing "telnet://8bitjunkyard.dyndns.org:6400" works, but telnet has a local-echo issue, so you always end up seeing double your entered characters locally. A dedicated terminal program (google "cgterm", or even good old hyperterminal (go to start->help and search for it, Windows XP still has it!) works. Then there are super nerdy types like me, who use either a commodore emulator running actual terminal software, or actual vintage hardware connected to a modern PC running a telnet emulator via RS232 connection.

Here are some screen shots:

MY BBS HISTORY

Way back in the day, long before the World-Wide-Web, "The Internet", or AOL, there were BBS's. I first found out about BBS's when my family first got a computer- the venerable Commodore 64. This must have been around 1982 or so, and along with this new gadget that my sister and I just thought was for games like our Atari 2600, this computer also had a MODEM, for this computer it was a doo-dad that plugged into the back.

So, I don't really remember how we got the first BBS phone number- I think my dad got it from someone he worked with. We would first load our terminal program (a program that allowed the computer to communicate with the modem) then dial the phone number to the BBS on our phone. When we heard the high-pitched sound of the BBS's modem in the headset, you'd have to unplug the coiled wire from the headset and plug it into the back of the modem! If this worked, you'd see characters starting to go across the computer screen, and you were IN!

At this point, I should mention two things: 1)Our modem was 300 BPS (bits per second), so the speed of the characters going across our screen as the BBS was sending us messages was so slow, you got the sense that every single character was special! :-) You could literally see each line come through, one character at a time!!! 2)At this point, we only knew one BBS, which was an IBM PC Users Group from the local area, called "CPCUG", and it was in all ASCII (no graphics or colors). This was a good thing, since our terminal program, which came on a casette tape with the modem, could only handle ASCII characters!

As my sister and I became "seasoned" users, we figured out how to navigate through the system. You had to first create an account, which was usually free, and during this process you gave yourself a "handle" (or nickname) for a username. You also supplied a password, and a voice telephone number so the System Operator (or SYSOP) could call you back and verify that you were an actual person before they granted you access.

After logging in, you would be shown some welcome screens, and then you were dumped off at the main menu prompt. If you needed to see a list of available commands, you'd enter a "?" at the prompt. You could read through and post messages, much like the USENET newsgroups today. You could also read static text files, called "Bulletins", which is no doubt where the "Bulletin Board System" or BBS got it's name. It was here in the bulletins section where we found a list of other local BBS's in our local calling area. We were hooked!

SO WHAT HAPPENED? HISTORY PART II

Well, when the early BBS's were really popular, we certainly called a lot, got a lot of busy signals, redialed until we got in, etc. I never even seriously thought about running my own BBS, since I was too young in those days to have a serious job to earn real money to pay for a phone line, hard drive, etc. Later, I got out of BBS's and the old Commodore hardware all-together. When I got old enough to have a job, I got back into computers, and also started calling Color-ANSI PC BBS's. I eventually pieced together a 386sx25 PC, with a couple megs of RAM, and a 20Meg MFM drive (obsolete even then in the mid-1990's!) I ran a Wildcat!4.20SL BBS for about a year called "The Synapse!" The name was both an homage to the company "Synapse" that made some of my favorite games when I started with computers in the early 1980's, and also literally is a connection in the nervous system- which was kinda cool considering it was a BBS for connecting to people/conversation.

But, around the end of 1996, I started catching on to "THE NEW WAVE"- that was the "Internet"!! It all started with a free AOL trial subscription. Soon I was hooked, and like 99.9% of all sysops and BBS callers in that day and age, stopped running/calling the BBS's, and started dialing in and hearing "Welcome! You've got MAIL!". The BBS heyday was done.

RETURN TO BBS IN MODERN DAY

Well, after 10 years or so, the internet is still fun, and has brought information to our houses and offices like no one could have ever imagined! Now we can do our eBay, download pictures, music, videos, etc. Isn't it great! Along with the internet comes some not so great stuff, like more flamewars, adware and unwanted spam, anexponential increase in virus attacks, spyware, port scans, spoofing, etc. Sheesh! Wouldn't it be refreshing to go back to the day of BBSing, even if just temporarily? Well you can! People have made modem emulators, that use a telnet connection to simulate a modem connection. So, an emulator (or actual vintage hardware) running an old terminal program will think it is connected to a modem- only now instead of being limited to local calls (or paying crazy long distance charges!) the world is ours for the BBSing!

I am currently running the BBS that provided the screenshots shown above. This BBS software is called "Color64", and was very popular for Commodore 64 computers in the mid-to-late 1980's. Now it is running in a Commodore emulator, in the background of my Windows XP home computer. It is connected to a modem emulator, and takes calls- currently about 3 a day, from people all over the USA! Give the BBS a call, and try it for yourself!! It's pretty fun!

Here are a couple of screenshots of the BBS software in action: