It is hard today to grasp what Fidonet really was. But for me and many others it was such a life changing thing.
Do you know of any good articles, books or blog post written for outsiders to read?
Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History (1993)
71–80 of 96 posts
Re: Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History (1993)
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
WOW! Your FatalVision (1) is absolutely shiny! Wish I'd had it in the 90s. Respect for the file_id.diz (2)! I thought mine was the last one on GitHub. 1. https://github.com/ssg/fatalvision 2. https://github.com/ssg/fatalvision/blob/master/file_id.diz
I'm 100% going to add file_id.diz to anything I release, how could I forget!
I've wished to have a reason to create my own FILE_ID.DIZ file ever since the BBS era.
https://github.com/tirrenotechnologies/tirreno/blob/master/F...
Re: Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History (1993)
#735:7211/1.27 here - though I think this address is long long gone. I'm gobsmacked that I can remember it. :-) We got fidonet in Zimbabwe in the early 1990s. It was utterly revolutionary for us - more than the internet that came later really. For the first time we could communicate with my two brothers overseas without paying for extremely exorbitant international telephone calls that lasted a couple of minutes at best…
In Harare in 1998, I remember the pleasant surprise of finding a good "internet café" in some downtown office building... Was Fidonet still active in Zimbabwe at that time, or had Internet access supplanted it already ?
Re: Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History (1993)
#74It is the truth. The fact that it took some effort to get on there was a great filter of people.
I sometimes think there will be a renaissance for Fidonet-like networks, when our politicians have banned encryption, implemented complete surveillance and generally destroyed the internet.
It would be a great irony, if we then went back to the networks of our childhood in order to be free.
I guess the other option might be i2p or something similar, but that is probably too easily accessible to remain free when the authoritarians in power lock down the internet.
Re: Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History (1993)
#752:463/1161 here. Nostalgia is strong with this one.
2:410/3 here. These were some of the best days!
Re: Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History (1993)
#765:7211/1.27 here - though I think this address is long long gone. I'm gobsmacked that I can remember it. :-) We got fidonet in Zimbabwe in the early 1990s. It was utterly revolutionary for us - more than the internet that came later really. For the first time we could communicate with my two brothers overseas without paying for extremely exorbitant international telephone calls that lasted a couple of minutes at best…
In Harare in 1998, I remember the pleasant surprise of finding a good "internet café" in some downtown office building... Was Fidonet still active in Zimbabwe at that time, or had Internet access supplanted it already ?
"Mango", which was the name of the fidonet node, probably still existed but was on its way out. I was at university in SA by then. I know it was still around in 1996 but I cannot find all my backedup emails to see if my parents were still sending me emails from the mango fido/internet bridge after that time.
Re: Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History (1993)
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, I was around the same time and had a moderately popular local BBS. Reddit (and arguably HN) do feel like the closest thing we have to BBSes today.
This is very helpful to those of us who never experienced BBSes.
I'm the downvoted poster above, and I used to run a BBS. Mostly hosting info files and CP/M software (Thanks U.S. Robotics, couldn't have done it without HST). I am genuinely interested in know where (and if) such a network of people could ever exist again. For those who may be too young to get the joke... Reddit is certainly not it.
Re: Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History (1993)
#78For anyone that wants to experience fidonet or bbses, I can recommend the Synchronet client and their BBS List. They are very up to date. https://www.synchro.net/sbbslist.html
BBSes with fidonet are still available to connect to today (see the Network column in the previously linked list).
Re: Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History (1993)
#79I too remember. Where is the "FidoNet" of today?
Usenet. https://eternal-september.org/
Re: Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History (1993)
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is very helpful to those of us who never experienced BBSes.
I'm the downvoted poster above, and I used to run a BBS. Mostly hosting info files and CP/M software (Thanks U.S. Robotics, couldn't have done it without HST). I am genuinely interested in know where (and if) such a network of people could ever exist again. For those who may be too young to get the joke... Reddit is certainly not it.
One major thing missing with Reddit is the focus on geographic locality. BBSes had more of a community feel because 99% of the users were local, and this was enforced by financial reality. Few people in the 80's or 90's wanted to call long distance, unless they were distributing warez at someone else's expense (in which case they probably weren't reading and posting messages anyway!)
You can get "some" of this feel from the state / city focused subreddits... but... it's still not the same.