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A look at my BBS Software from '93

mmccaff.github.io

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Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#4

Post by gus_massa »

Nice post, but it's not a "Show HN".

From https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html

> What to Submit

> Show HN is for something you've made that other people can play with. HN users can try it out, give you feedback, and ask questions in the thread.

> Blog posts, sign-up pages, and fundraisers can't be tried out, so they can't be Show HNs.

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#5

Post by mmccaff »

gus_massa wrote: post #4

Nice post, but it's not a "Show HN". From https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html > What to Submit > Show HN is for something you've made that other people can play with. HN users can try it out, give you feedback, and ask questions in the thread. > Blog posts, sign-up pages, and fundraisers can't be tried out, so they can't be Show HNs.

Ok, yes, I suppose I was a bit liberal with those rules.

It's something that I made but it is now impossible to play with because dialup BBSs have gone extinct. By converting the ANSI images to PNGs, I tried to show what it would have been like to play with in its time.

I removed 'Show HN' from title.

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#6

Post by cyberferret »

Nice! Way better than most BBS's that I used to frequent back in the 80's and 90's.

Great to see an OS/2 based one too - I remember switching to OS/2 for a small time "play" BBS that I set up in the early 90s... I was astounded at the ease of running multiple modem lines on OS/2 as compared to DOS or CP/M...

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#8

Post by j45 »

mmccaff wrote: post #5
gus_massa wrote: post #4

Nice post, but it's not a "Show HN". From https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html > What to Submit > Show HN is for something you've made that other people can play with. HN users can try it out, give you feedback, and ask questions in the thread. > Blog posts, sign-up pages, and fundraisers can't be tried out, so they can't be Show HNs.

Ok, yes, I suppose I was a bit liberal with those rules. It's something that I made but it is now impossible to play with because dialup BBSs have gone extinct. By converting the ANSI images to PNGs, I tried to show what it would have been like to play with in its time. I removed 'Show HN' from title.

Most BBS users had to use their imagination when navigating text based interfaces, ANSI interface design and all - I had no problem traversing the experience.

The WWIV BBS world reminded me of another Telegard based BBS software I used a lot - Renegade BBS. You may not be able to get Dementia back up, but maybe some of the ANSI artwork could come back to life, RG was pretty configurable in it's time.

https://renegadebbs.info/

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#9

Post by ghaff »

mmccaff wrote: post #3
Safety1stClyde wrote: post #2

Too bad you lost the source code.

I know. It was on a computer that burned down in a fire. So, it's very much gone. Both that and the message archives from the bbs itself would have been a treasure trove of nostalgia.

I'm sure the vast bulk of the message archives from BBSs are long gone. Many were local and vanished when the systems shut down. And I'm not sure how many archives there are from FidoNet, PC-Relay and the like.
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