Is Macintosh BBS'ing Dead?

[MakTekniko]

If you are around 18 or younger, there is a good chance that you've never heard about this old thing called BBS'ing. Believe or not, there was life on the Internet prior to the arrival of the World Wide Web with all of its fancy graphics, flash animations, cool audio, etc.; and it's quite possible that your mom or dad spent hours engaged in the PC-ANSI graphics world of BBSing.

PC-ANSI graphics? What the heck is that? Well, if you look at my avatar over there, the computer part of the image was made with PC-ANSI characters using BBS software, and then converted into an avatar using PhotoShop. ANSI graphics usually had kind of a blocky style to it, but there were some really good ANSI artists back in the day.

On the other hand, maybe you have heard a little about BBS'ing, and your kind of curious about it, and wondering what it was like for dear old mom or dad...well...maybe not so old.

Well, guess what? If you've got a spare Macintosh sitting around that isn't serving any particular purpose at the moment, wouldn't it be cool if you could take a blast into the past and set up your own BBS?

"Well, sure! How do I get started?" you might say. There's only one problem...where do you find Macintosh BBS software? You've looked around a bit, but have for the most part come up empty-handed.

Well, maybe I can help. You see, I ran a Macintosh FidoNet-connected BBS during the early 1990's. Not only that, but just recently, I set up my BBS again. Over time, I've collected just about every BBS program that was ever written for the Mac. If you have a look at it, who knows...maybe you'll decide to take the plunge and set up your own Macintosh BBS...at least that is what I am hoping. Check out what I've got. You may not recognize it, but mom or dad will:

ANSI & ASCII Related
BBS'ing Info Documents
bbs100 3.0 OSX
FirstClass
Hermes External Writing
Hermes Externals
Hermes Program & Docs
Hermes Utilities
MacCitadel 1.3b 68K
Mailers Offline QWK Readers
Mansion BBS 9.5.6 68K
Misc. BBS Utilities
Modem Tools
MUBBS
Nally 1.2 Leopard
Novalink - NovaTerm
Pancake
Public Address
Red Ryder
Second Sight
StarBase7 1.3b 68K
TeleFinder
Telnet Clients
Terminal Emulators - ZTerm, GLterm, etc.
WWIV 3.0 - July 1988
Zonch

So, if you're interested in, and need, any of this hard-to-find software in order to start your own BBS, please consider logging on to my BBS, the Armageddon BBS, using your favorite telnet client. If you're a Mac OSX user, you definitely want to use the latest version of SyncTERM. Yeah, it's Windowish-looking, but it's the best telnet client out there for displaying real BBS ANSI graphics.

If you're still using Classic Mac, then the best deal is using the Public Address BBS software in telnet mode. If you don't have it, I have a special stripped down version available on our BBS.

If you stop by, I'll do all I can to help you to set up your own BBS. And while you're visiting us, please consider posting a few messages, or play an old game of LEECH 2000, or check out my icebreaker external called "Get-To-Know-You". If you know Python and/or Jython, I could REALLY use your help writing some new externals for the Hermes II BBS software. To access the Armageddon BBS, just use port 23 and telnet to: endtimeprophecy.org

In the words of the Beatles, "You say you wanna re-vo-lu-shu-un, oh well, you kno-o-w..." How about a BBS revolution?

Boy, are mom and dad ever gonna to be jealous!

Hope to see you soon!

[krissel]

to TS, Jeff.


Nice to see someone keeping some of the old stuff alive for nostalgia sake. But for me our BB software makes communication so easy I don't see the benefit to using the old method.  

[MakTekniko]

QUOTE(krissel @ Oct 20 2008, 05:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

to TS, Jeff.


Nice to see someone keeping some of the old stuff alive for nostalgia sake. But for me our BB software makes communication so easy I don't see the benefit to using the old method.  

Hello Krissel. Thanks for your response.

Actually, it's not about finding any particular benefit to using BBS software, as most people today would say that there is none. As you noted, setting up a BBS like the Armageddon BBS is more of a nostalgia thing, and just reminding the younger generation of the roots, and where the current technology all came from. It's just taking a cool blast to the past, and seeing how mom and pop did it before we all became so immersed in the current online world, which, at times, can be quite daunting with its sites, sounds, movement and colors.

In fact, I have read where some BBS'ers have stated that they still prefer the world of BBS'ing for this very reason. It is more of a personal, intimate affair, without all of the blaring banners, and buy-me ads, and spam and potentially dangerous download warnings, etc. It's just you, and your friends and text for the most part. Some people still like that. Each has its place, I suppose.

[krissel]

Gotcha.  Actually it kind of mirrors a bit the texting of today's youth. Some time in the future they will be telling their kids of the 'way it used to be'.  


The flashing banners, ads, spam, etc. are the reasons we keep TS clear of that stuff. We do change our welcome banner about once a week to give our members a chance to contribute to the community but there is no commercialism here.

Hope you stop by often. I see you will be visiting when many of us are asleep. Though I'm often the exception...

[MakTekniko]

QUOTE(krissel @ Oct 20 2008, 07:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gotcha.  Actually it kind of mirrors a bit the texting of today's youth. Some time in the future they will be telling their kids of the 'way it used to be'.  

Ha! Now THAT'S funny!

QUOTE

The flashing banners, ads, spam, etc. are the reasons we keep TS clear of that stuff. We do change our welcome banner about once a week to give our members a chance to contribute to the community but there is no commercialism here.

I hear you. I am the same way with all of the sites and messageboards that I run. I absolutely detest commercial banners and the like, and I have absolutely none of that junk on my server. I pay everything out of my own pocket, as I have done for years. If I can't afford it, I just don't do. Man, I don't even own any credit cards, and never have!

QUOTE

Hope you stop by often. I see you will be visiting when many of us are asleep. Though I'm often the exception...

Well, I hope that you will return the favor in kind and join the Armageddon BBS, and post on occasion.

Concerning the hours, yes, you need to remember that we are GMT+10 here. That puts us 14 hours ahead of US EST time, and 17 hours ahead of US PCT time, or whatever they call it in California. For example, right now it is Monday 8:47 PM here, which means that it is Monday 6:47 AM on the US East Coast.

Sleep? What's that?  

[Highmac]

QUOTE(MakTekniko @ Oct 20 2008, 11:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Concerning the hours, yes, you need to remember that we are GMT+10 here. That puts us 14 hours ahead of US EST time, and 17 hours ahead of US PCT time, or whatever they call it in California. For example, right now it is Monday 8:47 PM here, which means that it is Monday 6:47 AM on the US East Coast.

Sleep? What's that?  

Welcome from me too.
FYI - There are a few Brits on here - as you can see, your post shows a time here of Monday 11.49am, so there's usually somebody awake besides Kris...  

[MakTekniko]

QUOTE(Highmac @ Oct 20 2008, 10:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Welcome from me too.
FYI - There are a few Brits on here - as you can see, your post shows a time here of Monday 11.49am, so there's usually somebody awake besides Kris...  

Hello Highmac. Thanks for the welcome. I am on my computer at all odd hours of the day. For example, I went to bed around five and a half hours ago, or around 9:00 PM Monday, our time, and here it is just after 2:30 AM early Tuesday morning, and I am up again. It's kind of hot here, and I couldn't sleep, so I figured I'd check to see if I had any email notifications from any of the boards that I visit. Sure enough, I already had four waiting for me, including this one.

Jeff

[Xairbusdriver]

First, a big Welcome Aboard, MakTekniko! We are definitely under represented in the Pacific! Your 'nearest' neighbor is probably in New Zealand! Might make a "TS Caucus" meeting a little difficult... How are your rowing skills?!

Made my mind clear a few cobwebs with the references to RedRyder and FirstClass! A fellow hear in town that refurbs really old Macs still runs a Telefinder BBS. Of course, those older Macs work great with a BBS and few graphics "flash" stuff. But to really get the 'benefit of a BBS, one should 'do it' with a 300baud modem! And Marconi thought his idea was 'neat!' Hope you had a great Tuesday afternoon, when you may read this, I'll be having a great Tuesday, tomorrow!

[MakTekniko]

Hello there Xairbusdriver. Thanks for the welcome and the humor. Actually, the kind of boat one would use is called a proa. It's sort of like a double canoe, you might say. I've never been in one myself. About ten to fifteen years ago though, I was into some very serious snorkeling. Our assortment of marine fish here is wonderful, and only bested by places like Indonesia the Great Barrier Reef, which are far larger, and more pristine, than the fringing reefs which surround our island. In fact, I was a local pet store manager, and then started my own aquarium design and maintenance business for a while. Sometimes I would go out snorkeling 3 to 5 times a week. What tropical fish hobbyists in the States would pay big money for, I used to catch for free...butterflyfishes, several varieties of angelfishes, such the Emperor Angel, Lemonpeel, and many other varieties of fish, eels, crabs, octopus, etc...all in 1 to 6 feet of water, mind you!

But getting back to BBS'ing...One thing I never liked about Mac BBS suites like FirstClass, TeleFinder, etc., is that you were required to use a particular proprietary client to connect to the BBS, which sometimes was not free. This created a real clickish BBS environment. With other BBS packages, such as what I have used, (Hermes II and Pubic Address), anyone can connect to the BBS, without the need for a special client, regardless of whether they are a Mac user, Windows user, Linux user, Unix user, or whatever. All you have to know how to do is to use a telnet client or terminal emulator.

Well, it is 2:12 PM Tuesday here, and my cup of Lipton's tea is done steeping, so I am off to stick some gobs of honey in it. I just l-o-o-v-e my Lipton's tea, and I am not British!

Anyway, I hope that some of you folks will stop by my BBS, as I have been working on it really hard the past few days, creating new help screens, and other such things, to make it as user-friendly, and as Mac-friendly, as possible, even though it is very much text and typing letter and number commands.

Take care fellows,

[Highmac]

QUOTE(MakTekniko @ Oct 21 2008, 05:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hello there Xairbusdriver. Thanks for the welcome and the humor. ...
Well, it is 2:12 PM Tuesday here, and my cup of Lipton's tea is done steeping, so I am off to stick some gobs of honey in it. I just l-o-o-v-e my Lipton's tea, and I am not British!
Take care fellows,

You'll get used to Jim's humour  

Surely, Jim, Al in Hawaii is closer than New Zealand, although I had a heck of a job finding Guam on Google maps - by the time it closed in enough to see the island, you couldn't see ANY neighbours, so it was difficult to work out the relationship with other parts of the region

I'd HEARD of Guam, of course - have a feeling John Wayne may have mentioned it once or twice in films - but had to go to Wikipedia to learn more about it.

PS - Glad you came in on community, MacTekniko; I would have felt more guilty going off topic in Tech

[MakTekniko]

QUOTE(Highmac @ Oct 21 2008, 05:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You'll get used to Jim's humour  

Oh, I don't mind his humor at all. The kind that I do mind, is when I don't understand it. A lot of British humor is like that for me. My daughter seems to understand it all, and enjoys British shows a lot. Me? I have to listen intently just to understand what they are saying, because I am not used to the British accent as much as she is. So obviously, a lot of British humor goes right over my head. I imagine that some of you Brits feel the exact same way about American humor. You probably go "Huh?!" half the time.

QUOTE

Surely, Jim, Al in Hawaii is closer than New Zealand, although I had a heck of a job finding Guam on Google maps - by the time it closed in enough to see the island, you couldn't see ANY neighbours, so it was difficult to work out the relationship with other parts of the region

Well, as I was just writing to Janis Kracht of FidoNet, you can get a grasp of our location this way:

We are about seven hours by air west of Hawaii, about three hours by air south of Japan, about three hours by air east of the Philippines, and I think about 5 to 7 hours by air northeast of Australia. I am not exactly sure of that last one. At any rate, we share a time zone with Japan and easternmost Australia.

QUOTE

I'd HEARD of Guam, of course - have a feeling John Wayne may have mentioned it once or twice in films - but had to go to Wikipedia to learn more about it.

Oh gosh...relying on John Wayne for a geography lesson?  

QUOTE

PS - Glad you came in on community, MacTekniko; I would have felt more guilty going off topic in Tech

Well, when I first joined this board, I very carefully read the descriptions for each forum, and then decided that this one seemed like the most appropriate...Kind of a little looser, with a bit more room for wandering.

[krissel]

QUOTE(MakTekniko @ Oct 21 2008, 04:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A lot of British humor is like that for me. My daughter seems to understand it all, and enjoys British shows a lot. Me? I have to listen intently just to understand what they are saying, because I am not used to the British accent as much as she is.

That's my problem.  I spend so much effort trying to understand the accent.  The canned laughter makes me realize I must have missed something.  Then again most sitcoms have a lot of 'laughter' for stuff that just isn't funny anyway.


Jeff, I dropped by your BBS and took a quick look but I'll have to get better glasses to read the small text in the input box or change the monitor resolution. When I'm more awake I'll give it another shot.  

I'm sooo jealous of your environment. I'm sitting here with a heavy sweater trying to stay warm without turning up the thermostat. I try to swim at the local Y in the evenings but coming out into 40º night air is not much fun. I envy my tropical (freshwater) fish because they are living in warm water year round and are not feeling cold like I am.

[MakTekniko]

QUOTE(krissel @ Oct 21 2008, 07:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's my problem.  I spend so much effort trying to understand the accent.  The canned laughter makes me realize I must have missed something.  Then again most sitcoms have a lot of 'laughter' for stuff that just isn't funny anyway.

Personally, I don't even waste my time on sitcoms anymore. Well, there is one that my daughter really likes..."Pushing Daisies". But most sitcoms are just too nonsensical, or too morally liberal, for my conservative taste. WHAT?! Is my age showing again?!

QUOTE

Jeff, I dropped by your BBS and took a quick look but I'll have to get better glasses to read the small text in the input box or change the monitor resolution. When I'm more awake I'll give it another shot.  

Great! I don't know what kind of a computer you are using, or what monitor resolution you are using, or even what telnet client you are using, but I would suggest the following:

1. Anything tighter than 1024x768, and yes, you probably will go blind.

2. If you are on OSX, use SyncTERM. You can get my latest official build for PPC here.

3. If, on the other hand, you are on an Intel Mac, then you will have to go here to get the UB version.

4. If you happen to be using a Classic Mac, then I have a special stripped down version of Public Address, which you can get here.

I've included Read Me/Help Files in both the SyncTERM PPC and Public Address archives.

QUOTE

I'm sooo jealous of your environment. I'm sitting here with a heavy sweater trying to stay warm without turning up the thermostat. I try to swim at the local Y in the evenings but coming out into 40º night air is not much fun. I envy my tropical (freshwater) fish because they are living in warm water year round and are not feeling cold like I am.

Ha! Well, I guess it is time to make you REALLY jealous. It never ever goes below the mid-seventies here. Well, it might dip to the very low seventies during a typhoon, (hurricane), but only then. The hottest it gets is probably in the low 90's during our dry season.

When I arrived here from northern-most Japan over 20 years ago, it was like 45 degrees during the daytime in April. We arrived here at night, and it was like 76 degrees. What a mind-blower that was!

Thankfully, our last big SuperTyphoon was in 2002. That was the monster of monsters...and I have lived here for over 22 years now, so I know. It was called Pongsona, a Korean name, as I recall. In our home, we were without power for 32 days. Others suffered even longer. Our water came back quicker. Again, others suffered longer. It took our landlord five months to replace the two windows in my bedroom, because there was an island-wide glass shortage due to so much damage. Cement telephone poles were knocked down like toothpicks in a row. Those 40' heavy shipping containers were thrown hundreds of yards through the air. I have never seen so much destruction as what resulted from Pongsona, and I've been through some powerful typhoons here.

The fact that we have not had a single typhoon in six years now makes one nervous. It means that the odds are growing against us.  

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

I just l-o-o-v-e my Lipton's tea, and I am not British!

Like so many American's, I 'assumed' "Lipton's was a mostly US brand! Of course, anything made with tea should always be associated with our history and our ancestors across the pond. It was even once associated with that icon of Mac support called Pepsico (well they did send one of their Mac 'supporters' to Apple a few years ago...)! Apparently, Sir Lipton was from Scotland, which may or may not be considered "British!" But surely one would not confuse "Lipton's" and "British tea" in many parts of the world. (How about that NASCAR licensed tea pitcher for your Lipton's?) Earl Grey, anyone? Maybe something from Davison Newman and Co.? Some of their imports may still be found in the Boston harbor area... Might be a great way to test those snorkeling skills...

[gunug]

I used to do a lot of this stuff in pre-PC days on my Kaypro CP/M computers; this was state of the art then.  Now, not so much; I guess it would be fun but maybe not as immediate as TS is right now!