remember BBS's?

[UrbanPoet]

I remember back in the day... There was no Internet. There was... but it wasnt popular like it was today.

We had things called 'bbs' a 'bulletin board system' someone would set this up in their home with a phone line and ppl could dial in to post on the msg board, or download files, and play simple games.

These BBS's were entirely TEXT based :-0
no pictures!
Does anyone know of any dial up BBS's that still exist in the GTA or have they become completely extinct?
I remember i ditched these once i got Cable internet.

[hagbard]

I remember back in the day... There was no Internet. There was... but it wasnt popular like it was today.

We had things called 'bbs' a 'bulletin board system' someone would set this up in their home with a phone line and ppl could dial in to post on the msg board, or download files, and play simple games.

These BBS's were entirely TEXT based :-0
no pictures!
Does anyone know of any dial up BBS's that still exist in the GTA or have they become completely extinct?
I remember i ditched these once i got Cable internet.

I certainly remember, logged into my first one in 1985. Helped run another.

[Daemar]

Tradewars!

[v00d00]

I remember being back on a 300bps modem on a C64, though the first modem I purchased was a Supra 2400bps, with error correction and data compression! Oooo AAaaa!

Little did I know I got ripped off on it, because to use those two new innovations, the modem you were connecting to also required error correction and data compression. That first modem was $300!!!!!

I used it on an Amiga 500.. then along the years upgraded modems and computers, Amiga 600, Amiga 1200..etc.

I always ran my BBS's on CNet.. though I connected to some others on Wildcat, Renegade, Excalibur, PCBoard and Spitfire.. and more that I can't recall off hand.

+++
NO CARRIER

[GreenWeenie]

Long time PCBoard sysop here. Still have my kick ass USRobotics Dual standard modem that I got on NFR. Sleek solid beast it was. 14.4k ripping speeds!

And ... ick ... why would you want to log onto one of those today? 56k max? How ... mid 90s.

[v00d00]

Long time PCBoard sysop here. Still have my kick ass USRobotics Dual standard modem that I got on NFR. Sleek solid beast it was. 14.4k ripping speeds!
Oh damn!

I bought a USRobotics 14.4 Dual Standard too! Friggin thing was and still is MASSIVE! Not to mention useless.. considering nobody I knew used the HST standard.. ahhahaha

Oh about current BBS's.. yes they are still out there, most are connected to the internet now though, you can telnet to them.. same effect as dialing up on your terminal program.

[tinlunlau]

L.O.R.D.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
btw, there's an online edition called "L.O.G.D."

i remember logging on Original Sin BBS and Mage.

[peterbrowne]

i think once i used one at my grandmothers old office on a 9600 Baud rate external modem - best modem i've ever used (talkuing about reliability - they used it for ~15 years)

[GreenWeenie]

I bought a USRobotics 14.4 Dual Standard too! Friggin thing was and still is MASSIVE! Not to mention useless.. considering nobody I knew used the HST standard.. ahhahaha14.4 HST was a helluva lot better than 9600! It's still a great performing fax modem. No cpu usage involved unlike the stupid winmodems.

BTW ... street price for this puppy back in the early 90s? US$800... for a MODEM!

http://usr.redcom.ru/images/courier56k.gif
(Image is actually the 56k version, released years later, but it's about the same profile)

Only BBS I can remember off the top of my head is FutureTron. A big PCBoard system that ran outta an office near Queen & Church. I knew the sysops there pretty well.

[Keelie]

L.O.R.D.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
btw, there's an online edition called "L.O.G.D."

i remember logging on Original Sin BBS and Mage.

i remember playing L.O.R.D! loved that game. trivia and another one i used to play, i cant remember the name, they were great.

there were only a few of us who used it and after a while we all met up for coffee to meet each other. 4 of us still get together and have formed a great friendship.

[zeroace]

BBS days were the greatest. I remember playing LORD the most cause I foudn that game to be the most entertaining.

[v00d00]

Pimp Wars
Tradewars
Dopewars

Hmmm lotta wars!

[zeroace]

Pimp Wars
Tradewars
Dopewars

Hmmm lotta wars!

And the Foodfight one!
That could be considered "war"

[Peter Pan]

I remember Beyond Akira was the most elite BBS in 905/416, until it got busted!

[v00d00]

Toronto BBS Charged With Piracy [August 15/96]

Software piracy charges have been laid against a Toronto bulletin board system (BBS) after a raid on July 30. Operators of the Beyond Akira board have been charged with distributing illegal copies of software from Symantec Corp., and its subsidiary Delrina (Canada) Corp., and from Microsoft Corp.

According to the charges, one of the operators of the BBS also sold, for C$70, a CD-ROM containing unauthorized copies of Microsoft, Delrina, and Symantec software packages.

[GreenWeenie]

I remember Beyond Akira was the most elite BBS in 905/416, until it got busted!Y u p ... I remember the scrambling that went on in the months afterwards as people purged their lists of anyone they weren't 150% sure of.

[robattoronto]

Yep, I purposely chose to live in 416 area code so that I can get all the 416+ some 905 BBSes without long distance charge.

Downloaded Doom, wolfenstein 3d, Commander Keen and a whole bunch of Apogee games. Man those were the days. 1 nekkid picture upload, 2 nekkid picture download. 1:2 credit. 16 colour or 256 colour bmp,gif files.

Wanna initiate download? choose xmodem, ymodem or zmodem protocol.

[Peter Pan]

Toronto BBS Charged With Piracy [August 15/96]

Software piracy charges have been laid against a Toronto bulletin board system (BBS) after a raid on July 30. Operators of the Beyond Akira board have been charged with distributing illegal copies of software from Symantec Corp., and its subsidiary Delrina (Canada) Corp., and from Microsoft Corp.

According to the charges, one of the operators of the BBS also sold, for C$70, a CD-ROM containing unauthorized copies of Microsoft, Delrina, and Symantec software packages.

:cry:

[Iron Chef Ajax]

That was long ago ... back in the IBM XT days.

[biosh]

Anybody on board remember Magic (http://www.tranquileye.com/magic/) with FirstClass software...

[v00d00]

1 nekkid picture upload, 2 nekkid picture download. 1:2 credit. 16 colour or 256 colour bmp,gif files.
LoL!

Those were the days.. I think the first picture I ever downloaded was Cindy Crawford in a swimsuit.. Oooo it was hot.

That's the funny part of looking back at BBS's compared to now.. back then you could only do one thing at a time.. it was either send OR receive.. not both.. and while you were either sending OR receiving something, you couldn't do anything else like browse the message board.. all you could do was sit and stare at the transfer progressing.. and boy was it slow!

Those old 30k pictures took fricken forever!

[sojiro]

I remember those days, Beyond Akira was quite busy and I didn't have tone so it took forever to login for me. Some others I remember are White Knight and Untouchables at the top of my head. Oh yea the time vault was precious, I had to save up my time to download DOOM on my 2400 modem.
The online games that I played were LORD, Tradewars, Global wars and on occasion Usurper. Though I mostly kept with the first two as they held the greatest interest, most people and my 2400 modem took forever to redraw the screen so time wasn't on my side. Those were great days, now with the Internet it's all downhill.

ATZ
ATDP#######
BUSY

[UrbanPoet]

I remember LORD II was the illest game!!! U could walk around and kill things.. i remember when i got the magic wand i was able to complete my missions so easily and rise tot he TOP OF LORD II!

oohh.. and for the early days of piracy.. I remember buying some games for $20 bucks a pop. hahah

[weedb0y]

PCBs! Back then I was in Middle East and I had my first modem on a IBM PS/1 2400 Baud modem! We had few BBSes there as well! PCBoard, Renegade etc etc..

[tinlunlau]

i was a late bloomer. i didn't get my first computer with a modem until 1997 which i used until april 2004. (my first computer was some old green and black IBM antique computer....i think i threw it out)

i remember there was a BBS that was really really busy. and they had alot of anime-related material. i think it was Ranma BBS or something. not quite sure. and my friend had a BBS called "Thingamajig BBS". i also went to Mage BBS. sadly, i only talk to 1 friend whom i knew thru the BBS. well, maybe 2-3 other people.

it's also a bit of an irony cuz one BBS friend i talked to, is a girl who was apparently dating my cousin at the time. i told her childhood secrets of that cousin she was dating when i didn't even know she was dating my cousin. i got into a huge fight with my cousin when he found out.

[vancouverforsale]

I remember being back on a 300bps modem on a C64, +++
NO CARRIER

I was running a 300bps modem on a C128 in 1992.

[Shiifty]

I fondly remember the BBS days ... :cheesygri

There are still some people using dialup bbs's, however most bbs's (that have survived) now use telnet to connect to save long distance charges. End result is the same. Listing: http://www.dmine.com/telnet/

Here's a C64 one (there are many more, do a search): http://home.ica.net/~leifb/bbs/

And for those who want to sit back and relive the BBS days via dvd, you can get the massive BBS Documentary: http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/

[mbg]

And for those who want to sit back and relive the BBS days via dvd, you can get the massive BBS Documentary: http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/

This documentary is pretty good. It's a good summary of the "scene", but it's also a bit pathetic in parts. You have people in there who are crying (literally) about things related to the ARC vs. PKARC debate :)

[Yaowsers]

I was on all local bbs's and most well known long distances ones including over seas. I was also co-sysop of The Hideaway. Memories...

[Blunt]

I was a ruggie...
All those great C-64 games.

[duckdown]

I used to love TANGO BBS in the 416.. Strictly for gaming (online doom 2, descent, hexen, duke 3d)

TANGO = Toronto Area Network Gaming Organization

Nobody used to be a member!? They were HUGE!

[konfusion666]

boards i remember:

The Virtual Drive
Media 1210 / "the boardwalk"
The Crystal Gryphon
Artsy Fartsy
...
some others, i forget

all 416/905

[konfusion666]

Wanna initiate download? choose xmodem, ymodem or zmodem protocol.

how about BiModem? or Hydra? :lol:

Z-Modem was my all around fave though.

I think I used BiModem when updating my mail reader files (used the Blue Wave Offline Message Reader) ;)


Anybody on board remember Magic with FirstClass software...

rofl, yes. i think one of the admins or assistant admins went to grade school with me....


These BBS's were entirely TEXT based

enable support for ANSI.SYS in your DOS config.sys and you can see all the pretty pictures ;)

I think I used "The Draw" (?) to create the ansi login screens.

[GreenWeenie]

I think I used BiModem when updating my mail reader files (used the Blue Wave Offline Message Reader) ;)Catch the wave! Maximized dl/ul time, while still being able to mod/participate in the message boards.

[robattoronto]

Yep, I was a member with these guys. They were one of the more reliable ones.


I used to love TANGO BBS in the 416.. Strictly for gaming (online doom 2, descent, hexen, duke 3d)

TANGO = Toronto Area Network Gaming Organization

Nobody used to be a member!? They were HUGE!

[konfusion666]

Catch the wave!

best thing about the offline mail readers were the "taglines" it would add to the end of every msg. a random line from a file you specified. reading those lines were more fun than the message contents, often
:X

although, the signal to noise ratio back in those days was MUCH MUCH better than the "internet" now. for obvious reasons.

[robattoronto]

And guess what guys... I still might have a copy of the annual "the Big BBS list" issue of Toronto computes or The computer paper.... so just for hahas I can scan it and you guys can modem dial it to see who picks up. :lol:

And one of the mean prank I used to play on friends was, the call-back authentication thing. I'm sure you guys remember what that is.... You give them a number, they'll call you back, you authenticate your account.... I forget how it went exactly now... your computer had to pick it up.... man I used to be a wiz at the modem AT commands.... one ring pickup.... and then you enter in your password... anyways, I digress...

So the prank was, you could enter in a time for them to call back. I would enter in my friends home number and specify, oh lets say.... 3am, 4am and 5am.... nice one hour intervals.... the parents would freak. Ok, maybe I did'nt do it many friends... Just a couple... but it was genius idea... an INGENIOUS IDEA I say! ;)

[UrbanPoet]

:arrowu:
hahaha! i remember when i was younger.. i would play this prank on ppl i didnt like.
Id post their phone numbers up on NEW BBS list and describe them as being so good and having so much warez.

a bunch of ppl would always modem dial up their house.
They'd get all confused when they pick up and hear all the internet noises.

[McLaren]

I downloaded Cobra Mission off a BBS, remember that game?? ooooh yeeeah - irkly irky.

[cOmAtOaSt]

Does anyone remember that gui called Ripterm or RIP? I remember when some BBS's were first implementing it, it was impressive.

[Spidey]

A compnay I worked for started on for the agricultural sector. Just before the Internet hit it big in 1996. I rmember seeing peeple dialing in with 300 baud modems and you could watch the characters type out.

[UrbanPoet]

Original Sin....
Howardbound
Rancid (i think that was the name of the sysop.. or the BBS)
I cant remember the exact names, but those were the BBS's i frequented.

[GreenWeenie]

Does anyone remember that gui called Ripterm or RIP? I remember when some BBS's were first implementing it, it was impressive.I do ... probably still have a copy saved on the archive floppy collection LOL

It always seemed to get in the way for me. Give me a command prompt and let me at it!!

[putty]

Yes, I remember BBSes and then along came Compuserve and Prodigy

[konfusion666]

It always seemed to get in the way for me. Give me a command prompt and let me at it!!

yeah, i was stuck @ 2400 for a while, so i even turned off ANSI at times.

[UrbanPoet]

||||||||||||||
____________
|___/\______|
......<
__________

[ephemera]

Too me the best was the c64 age. The graphics these guys can do. Some even had little movies. It wasn't ANSI, its was c64's graphic characters if you press the shift key.

I think there must have been hundreds of c64 bbs's... the tops where Eternity I,II,III, etc... and odies doghouse, old folks home, trading post, dragons den.
And it seemed everyone had some crazy alias that started with 'necro...'

Everyone back then where into TMNT, RC Cars, Comics, wrestling...
Good old days I guess, but I miss all the colourful and creative artwork in the messages.

[groo]

Anyone remember sites like Jolly Roger, LADS, Synchronicity?

I was one of the co-sysops of Synchronicity.

[GreenWeenie]

Anyone remember sites like Jolly Roger, LADS, Synchronicity?

I was one of the co-sysops of Synchronicity.Heheheeh I was a long time member of Synchronicity.

[UrbanPoet]

I started right @ the peak of the BBS's death.when i was in... grade 3? that was back in 1993. I remeber having the top of the line computer with a 14.4k modem. ooohh yeh!

[ill_mango]

me and my friend used to always play pimpwars on some BBS we used to go to all the time.

It was funny cause we were really young, probably about 9, so we always disconnected real quick when his mom cam ehome

[tinlunlau]

Original Sin....
Howardbound
Rancid (i think that was the name of the sysop.. or the BBS)
I cant remember the exact names, but those were the BBS's i frequented.


omg!!! i went to all these sites.
my username was Raditz

[akito925]

ohh mean thoses are were the days.

played lord with all my high school friends. playing doom 2 we all connect this popular bbs forgot what was it called.. but holodeck something. it was multi node bbs 8 lines. hehhe we all go there log in.. connected played doom 2 deathmatchs all day long thoses were the days.. lol

oohh puting up someones phone # so people would call the bbs.. lol thats was funny...



I'd upgrade many times with modems went from 2400 "Hayes" modem, to a cheapy 14.4k pine brand "rockwell chipset" lost in a lighting storm! the spend big bucks on a 28.8 USR yeah now that was kick ass modem! firmware upgraded to 33.6k, the downloads, the screens where so blazing fast! boo yeah

then the year 1994 or 1995 came around.. you all knew that year was about.. mircosoft.

staying up late waiting for the doors to open at futureshop for windows 95! I got a free windows 95 t-shirt with purchase of windows 95! woot woot lol.
a good $250 well spent.. lol

[Yaowsers]

I remember Beyond Akira was the most elite BBS in 905/416, until it got busted!
Akira was top of 416/905 at the time it got busted. Prior to Akira there were many other great boards in the same elite group like The Hood and Terrordome.
Soon after Akira went down the scene pretty much went dead.

[GreenWeenie]

I'd upgrade many times with modems went from 2400 "Hayes" modem, to a cheapy 14.4k pine brand "rockwell chipset" lost in a lighting storm! the spend big bucks on a 28.8 USR yeah now that was kick ass modem! firmware upgraded to 33.6k, the downloads, the screens where so blazing fast! boo yeahI sold hundreds of those sportster 28.8s. If memory serves me correctly they were $270 - $300 bux.... just for the 28.8 modem!!! But boooyeah 3 kbytes per second downloads... speeeed mon! SPPPPEEEDDD! (When you could get them to connect with a compatable modem etc etc)

[GTI]

Dunno how I survived the 300 baud days :cheesygri

[Hybrid88]

I had a 2 node 28.8 board.

DreamCity
System Admin - Predator (me)
Co-system admin - The Emperor (buddy of mine)

It was okay, mainly for the offline chats, games and warez.

[GTI]

the operators were called "Sysops"
trolls were called anklebiters or "Ankies"

[Hybrid88]

the operators were called "Sysops"
trolls were called anklebiters or "Ankies"

You're right.. that's how long it was ago.. sigh..

[Peter Pan]

http://www.defacto2.net/images/bbs-scenes/akira/ANSIVI01.gif (http://www.defacto2.net/bbs-captures-akira.cfm)

[james22]

Did anyone use to play the game Mutants? You could consider it a 'first person shooter' - entirely in text!!

[Gdog]

"Mom, DO NOT USE THE PHONE!!!!"

Hehe...I loved L.O.R.D. ...that was the best game ever!

[UrbanPoet]

haha i remember the secret trick to mastering Death night was that the odd/even number answer revolved around the day the game was on.

Id master Death Night so easily.. in a few days, and it would help me kill so many otehr members and monsters.

[MMMMMike]

My story...

In the early 80's I owned an Atari 800xl personal computer. For $60 I bought a used 300 baud modem and started surfing BBSes. A BBS (Bulletin Board System) is a computer that someone has allowed to be dialed into with text based menus, message bases, games and lots more. I would have my computer dial their computer and I could access these menus, message bases etc. My first enjoyable BBS was owned by Bilbo Baggins. I started off by helping him run his BBS on his Atari 1040 personal computer. In 1986 my wife bought us an Amiga 500 computer.

By the fall of 1989 the Daily Planet BBS was born.
Originally with 40 megs of hard drive space and 1 phone line. The main attraction was the heated discussions in our message bases. We had a couple games and some small files to download. The computer was expanded to an Amiga 2000 and we expanded to 3 lines (3 people could login at the same time). We also expanded the software to Amiga CNet. The message bases thrived and we expanded into games - lots of games.

By 1995 we had 10 lines (10 people could be on at the same time - chatting - OLMing (Online messages) - somewhat the same as ICQ on the Internet and the feel of a real community. Multiplayer Games, chats, message bases and tons of files to download. We had baseball games every other Sunday and would have as many as 40 people turn out. There were Global War (Risk) tournaments with prizes and trophies. We hooked with other CNet BBSes around North America and there users and our users could chat together. Voted Best BBS in Durham. All times of the day you could always find someone to chat with on The 'Ole DP.

Those were amazing days. I met many great people and am still close friends with a couple of them. Then as all great things do - had to come to an end. It was a blast and great part of my life.

http://www.mikemoon.net/dp/web-odds/dp030.jpg

http://www.mikemoon.net/dp/web-logon/ansi000b.gif

http://www.mikemoon.net/dp/web-games/games000a.gif

http://www.mikemoon.net/dp/web-games/games015.gif

http://www.mikemoon.net/dp/web-logon/dp006.gif

http://www.mikemoon.net/dp/web-menus/Skypix.002.gif
(Skypix)

http://www.mikemoon.net/dp/dplanet/dp009.jpg

[tinlunlau]

http://dualtranslations.org/logd


oh .....you guys are gonna love this.

[konfusion666]

My story...

In the early 80's I owned an Atari 800xl personal computer.

haha, I still have my Atari 130XE. It was better than yours because it had 128KB of RAM. ;)


By the fall of 1989 the Daily Planet BBS was born.

I remember that name, but not much else about it.

[deity_me]

Does anyone know where i can go play tradewars for free?

[UrbanPoet]

when did daily planet go offline? what year?
What area/city was it in?

[j3fan]

"Mom, DO NOT USE THE PHONE!!!!"

Hehe...I loved L.O.R.D. ...that was the best game ever!

I remember LORD....i used to play that game all the time late in the night (like at midnight) cuz we only had one phone line and didn't want to tie up the phone line...

[tinlunlau]

I remember LORD....i used to play that game all the time late in the night (like at midnight) cuz we only had one phone line and didn't want to tie up the phone line...

try the online edition, LOGD.
i think they upgraded. i remember the old version of LOGD was much closer to the original LORD game.

[MMMMMike]

when did daily planet go offline? what year?
What area/city was it in?
It went offline in 1995. I fell in love...with the internet.

Sold the whole thing and got a *cough* PC. . That single Amiga 4000 was doing what some buddies were using 10 machines to do; all on one desk.

Anyhow, that was then.

Mike

[vancouverforsale]

This documentary is pretty good. It's a good summary of the "scene", but it's also a bit pathetic in parts. You have people in there who are crying (literally) about things related to the ARC vs. PKARC debate :)

Weird.

[jed]

mrs. jed was living in YEG, I'd haul up my 8088 with a 2400 baud modem and connect up, playing "online" all night. I remember when you uploaded files, the BBS would unzip it, scan it and rezip it right in front of you. There was one BBS had a 386, and Man would that thing SMOKE going thru that!

I'm pretty sure I've got some 5.25" discs here somewhere with some software on it....

[RastaManMax]

Man i thought this thread was gonna be about old school BBS wheels :(

[deal_lurker]

Yes.. I loved going to the 'Doors' and playing the games.. my favourite was Tradewars.. it was cool back then... I miss those days.


Pimp Wars
Tradewars
Dopewars

Hmmm lotta wars!

[UrbanPoet]

Yes.. I loved going to the 'Doors' and playing the games.. my favourite was Tradewars.. it was cool back then... I miss those days.

doors.. that sounds soo familar... is that a game? or an acronym for the games section?

[amberjill]

When I was in high school I used to play LORD. It was so much fun. I got a couple of my girlfriends into it and we'd be such geeks. At the end of the school day, we'd be like "See ya later in LORD! I'm gonna kill your ass!" We'd get so many messages from different guys on the board b/c they'd be like "Woah, girls!". I was even traumatized once when I wanted to join a new bbs but it didn't have auto-validation. The sysop actually had to call your house for validation. Once he heard that I was a girl, he got all weird on me and started asking me what I was wearing and stuff. That was the day my innocence died. :cry:

[konfusion666]

doors.. that sounds soo familar... is that a game? or an acronym for the games section?

No. Because most BBS'es ran DOS, which was a very basic single-tasking operating system, they could only run 1 program at once. If a user wanted to play a game, the computer had to temporarily unload the BBS software, load the gaming software, and put the user into that. That's why they called them "door games". It was like they were putting users through doors.

Of course, the high-end boards used some sort of multitasking DOS extender... like QEMM/386. :twisted:


Once he heard that I was a girl, he got all weird on me and started asking me what I was wearing and stuff. That was the day my innocence died.

Err... oopsie! :o

[biosh]

The sysop actually had to call your house for validation. Once he heard that I was a girl, he got all weird on me and started asking me what I was wearing and stuff. That was the day my innocence died. :cry:
BTW, now that your innocence is dead, what are you wearing?

;)