A look at my BBS Software from '93 • Hacker News Board

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#191

Post by xenophonf » Thu, Apr 20, 2017, 5:19 PM UTC

hoodwink wrote: post #150

xenophonf wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, I still play TW2002! SWATH is the best modern helper I know about: http://swath.net/ My meagre collection of SWATH scripts: https://github.com/irtnog/swath-scripts/tree/master/src The ICE9 game server: http://www.oregonsouth.com/ice9/ I don't know if ICE9 still does this, but they used to have a bunch of interesting customizations, like where sectors 1-2000 were a lightly regulated federation space were connect…

Ah yes, I've seen SWATH before. Here's my issue: when I started playing, it was on a BBS where everyone played manually. There were no helpers or scripts. We'd manually keep track of sectors and port pairs and potential bubbles and so on. It was great. I belong to the camp that believes the scripts ruined the game :-/

You don't have to use the helper bits of SWATH! Just turn that stuff off and enjoy it's near-perfect terminal emulation. I've played several games like that (these were old school 5000-sector games with rate limits, like how God intended you to play).

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#192

Post by reiger » Thu, Apr 20, 2017, 5:35 PM UTC

Imagenuity wrote: post #58

djsumdog wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh the Nostalgia! My soul hurts. I was just a kid (teenager) so I didn't have the funds to run a BBS myself. But I remember the 60 minute limits, the long lists of local BBSes, the ANSI graphics, Maximus, RemoteAccess and others (I had played with a few in the hopes of starting a BBS, but that era was starting to end when I graduated in the early 2000s), Door games, RIP graphics (the very early days of vector art on…

Glad to hear someone still remembers RIPscrip graphics. I was a co-founder of TeleGrafix Communications, who made the RIPterm and RIPaint software for viewing and creating those graphics.

I spent days making RIPscript menu's - amazing technology for the time!

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#193

Post by codazoda » Thu, Apr 20, 2017, 5:39 PM UTC

apaprocki wrote: post #18

Re: losing BBS/source from the 90's -- I was fortunate enough to regularly back things up to QIC tape, and lo and behold, 22 years later a hacked up box restored the BBS perfectly and it ran in DosBox on my laptop. I was pleasantly surprised that it all worked immediately. Hardest part was finding parts for a floppy tape and installing the right Windows version. Seeing the ANSI art made it all worth it... https://twi…

I still have some 3.5" floppy disks with my BBS and the door's I wrote for it. My parents still use a USB floppy drive (and have several) because they have a sewing machine that uses it. Perhaps I'll give this a try.

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#194

Post by reiger » Thu, Apr 20, 2017, 5:39 PM UTC

X86BSD wrote: post #61

Maybe I missed it in the comments but was I the only one to run Wildcat! software for their board? I loved Wildcat!

I ran it too - could never afford MajorBBS or the successors and it was easy to scale from 1-24 nodes. I even ran the weird BBS/ISP hybrid WINS Server but wasn't good enough to be considered a real ISP.

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#195

Post by codazoda » Thu, Apr 20, 2017, 5:46 PM UTC

fiorix wrote: post #53

Just gonna drop this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PJcABbtvtA

You'll recall that the first iPhone was exclusive to AT&T so it feels a little like they came through on this promise. Apple might deserve a little of the credit, I suppose.

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#196

Post by nsxwolf » Thu, Apr 20, 2017, 5:46 PM UTC

tbyehl wrote: post #140

chrissnell wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

25-years-ago me is very angry that he never knew about these discounts!!

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#197

Post by EvanAnderson » Thu, Apr 20, 2017, 6:02 PM UTC

frandroid wrote: post #187

EvanAnderson wrote: post #156

Being involved in the late 80's / early 90's BBS "scene" was formative for me. I wrote and "sold" some unimaginative "Door" programs (even going to far as to register my copyright on one of them). I wracked-up a lot of long-distance bills! I always wanted to run a board, but never got my act together enough to do it. Since the audience here is very diverse I'll selfishly throw out a couple nostalgia requests: A frien…

You mean that guy? https://www.facebook.com/patrick.hunlock

No kidding. I guess it has been awhile since I tried to look them up. Thanks!

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#198

Post by Zaak » Thu, Apr 20, 2017, 6:47 PM UTC

matt_wulfeck wrote: post #174

adrianN wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ham radio doesn't allow for encrypted connections AFAIK, which makes it a lot less interesting to me.

Why wouldn't it allow encryption? Can't anything that sends and receives packets be able to be encrypted?

The restriction is because commercial activities are prohibited over amateur radio, and encrypted traffic would prevent that rule from being enforced.

I believe there's an exception for controlling remote devices when you need to make sure some rando doesn't brick your pricy gear.

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#199

Post by earlcp » Thu, Apr 20, 2017, 7:33 PM UTC

henrikschroder wrote: post #63

chrissnell wrote: post #40

The late 80s/early 90s BBS scene was an amazing time for me. I was in high school and I've never been as interested in computers and communications as I was then. I never ventured into the "dark" side like OP--I was too scared of my parents--so I ran a legit FidoNET BBS using the RemoteAccess BBS software and the Frontdoor mailer (and later, Maximus and BinkleyTerm). The most amazing thing about it all was that it wa…

> Doing Fido over TCP/IP just doesn't feel the same. It's way too easy. Do you remember ZMH? Zone Mail Hour? If you had a public BBS, you had to disallow logins during ZMH, so that your phone line was reserved for netmail and echomail delivery. I was just a lowly point, so I didn't have to bother with that crap. 2:201/274.9 representin', yo. The funniest part about the star-shaped network was that it was more of a fe…

I loved how relaying got around long distance charges.

Bowmanville would call Oshawa which was a local call.

Oshawa would call Pickering which was a local call.

Pickering would call Scarborough again a local call.

Scarborough would call Toronto and Toronto would call Mississauga.

All the message relays would just use local calls, but if you left any of the stop out you would need a long distance call. So all our local message did not cost us.

Re: A look at my BBS Software from '93

#200

Post by matt_wulfeck » Thu, Apr 20, 2017, 8:25 PM UTC

adrianN wrote: post #178

matt_wulfeck wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't it allow encryption? Can't anything that sends and receives packets be able to be encrypted?

Not if the law forbids encrypted connections over Ham frequencies :)

Oh I see. A policy restriction and not technical.