You can get software for BBS and some shareware CDs from BBSs
at
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A look at my BBS Software from '93
131–140 of 215 posts
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#132How old were you when you wrote this? Looks like a big system - was this your first major project? I seem to recall OS/2 and a C compiler cost money back? How did you get to be using those, through work or did you buy them? Why did you choose OS/2 - did you consider any other alternatives?
It was towards the end of middle school and through high school. So, my early to mid teens.
I had never worked on a larger project before that. It was great to have one single large project to work on, and to keep adding features to. I had messed around with code since I was about 7. It was based on the source code of something else which did the heaviest of lifting.
My dad taught computer science at a small college and was able to get OS/2 and C compilers for me. I forget which C compiler I used, I think I might have switched from Borland to something else at the time -- but I remember the one C compiler came with a set of books in a box that was about 4 feet long. I used the box as a footrest when I'd code. Haha.
I chose OS/2 because it was the first operating system that I knew of which allowed true multi-tasking. Two processes (instances of the BBS}) could actually run at the same time without one pausing the inactive one. It was also cool to try a new OS, to try something new.
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#133anyone recommends active telnet BBSs?
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do these numbers mean ? My Google-Fu is failing I was just a little bit too young to get access to BBS in my youth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet I was 2:201/274.9. My upstream node that I connected to was 2:201/274. He connected to his upstream hub, 2:201/200, who in turn connected to his upstream net coordinator, 2:201/0, whose upstream was the regional coordinator, 2:20/0, and finally up to the zone coordinator, who I think was 2:0/0 or something. A zone was a continent, 2 was Europe. Regions were countries in Europe, 2…
> Why weren't there separator characters between the region and the networks, or the hub and the nodes? Who knows, it worked. :-)
Because the original scheme didn't account for these intermediate levels. 2:201/274 was supposed to talk to 2:201/0, which was supposed to talk to 2:0/0. Doesn't scale, so they introduced the 10^n scheme for subdivision (whose precise limits differed between zones)
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#135This looks awesome. I was a little later to the game, spent most of my childhood time on AOL 2.5-4.0, writing "progz" in Visual Basic.
ahhh dude that was my scene too! private room theselectfew a bunch of others...jeez...some of my stuff is still up on lenshell.com. Cmon know you remember that site, it exists still. my handle was filter back then and a few others haha
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#136omfg! i was on many Dementia BBS' in SoCal back in the day. First board I sysop'ed was a WWiV 3.21 - I was very proud that I modded the Pascal source to support more than 9 discussion boards at the time.
That is amazing to hear!
Dementia's beta tester was in Modesto and he distributed the demo version (limited to 5 users) around CA.
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
What was your BBS handle? I was in the 609 area code and these ANSIs look familiar :) I might have been on your BBS or one using your software. Although it was most likely a long distance call to 908 so I don't think I called it that often. edit: Oh I guess it was Midnight Sun? I don't remember if we ever interacted, but the ANSIs look familiar!
Yes, it was Midnight Sun and my BBS was called The Night Light.
You were long distance in 609, so we might not have ever met. My only memory of the 609 area code was of a good Pascal developer named Ffejtable? (question mark included in the handle.) What was your handle?
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#138WWIV BBS and "doors" (games, basically) were my intro into system administration and further experience programming back then. I had so much fun setting that up. My parents even let me have 2 telephone lines so that I could have 2 users (plus someone in the house) on at the same time. I had exactly 1 multiplayer "door", but that was fine. My favorite door was Legend of the Red Dragon (LoRD) and I remember playing it…
I was surprised that there was no mention of door games. That was easily half the fun, IMO.
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#139Apparently WWIV is provided with an open source license and builds on modern OSs [1]. You can run it as a telnet server!
Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This was usually run by someone with money because their modems were making long-distance calls (including overseas) on a regular basis. It's amazing to me is how many people volunteered their time, hardware, and money to keep these systems running for free.
It is, but there was also a certain amount of vanity to it. If you had the cash, you were the dude . You could watch as an entire region's (or even entire countries') mail flowed through your system. You probably walked down into your office and watched your busy Fido server (or servers) and a sweet stack of USR Courier external modems blinking away (you never wasted time on cheap gear) and when you participated in g…
> sweet stack of USR Courier external modems blinking away (you never wasted time on cheap gear)
USR offered substantial discounts to BBS operators to keep us from buying cheap gear. I pre-ordered some pre-v.34 (upgradeable) Courier V.Everything for my board at BBSCon for $249/ea. I think that's about what a Sportster 14.4K was selling for at the time.