BBS and 80's Computing Memories
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Any one have great memories from the BBS days? I remember running my first BBS. On a Vic-20, I wrote it myself. It was extremely linear, per se, but did offer menus and options. I was using the original Vic-Modem, 300 baud, and people had to call me first to say they wanted to connect to it. Then they would call me back with their modem, I would disconnect the handset and plug the cord into the modem (it wasn't auto dial/answer)...I eventually got a Commodore 64 with 4 1541 Drives and a 1 Meg drive that held tons of stuff. I mostly ran Ivory Joe BBS but did try CNET for a while until I just wanted something simple. I remember, sleeping in my room as a teen, hearing the drives access if someone called it during the night. Great times...
I eventually moved to an Amiga but never ran a BBS then. Just called them!
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I still have a VIC20, a C64 and an Amiga 1000. Never used a BBS though because I grew up in the Rochester LATA so the cost to dial one would have been insane.
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@scottalanmiller said:
I still have a VIC20, a C64 and an Amiga 1000. Never used a BBS though because I grew up in the Rochester LATA so the cost to dial one would have been insane.
I had an Amiga 2000 (2500 actually) for many years until the Emulation become so good that I didn't need the clutter of them in my office. Amiga and C64 forever plus the ROMS work great. A part of me still kind of wants an Amiga 4000 with a Video Toaster Flyer just for nostalgic reasons. I have an Amiga 500 in the attic with most of my floppies. There are some word processing documents I'd love to get off of there and convert somehow.
I do, however, have over 100 boxed, classic Atari 2600 games and a mini 2600 and an Atari 7800. I may never part with them.
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@garak0410 Yep, used to use them all the time in High School. Had my own BBS but I couldn't bring it online until after 6pm--after that my parents were fine with it
Wrote it myself too... actually got so large that I used up all the memory on my C64--never said I wrote it well! To initialize the disk database took HOURS on a single 5 1/4 floppy. Loved that. I can remember someone dialing in late late at night and I'd bounce out of bed (it was in my room) and watch what they were doing. How cool was that!! -
I did a lot if MUD gaming and NTG maintains a production MUD server today just because we can.
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@garak0410 @scottalanmiller Check out BBS: The Documentary—
As the Wikipedia bit notes, it can be downloaded for free, though the DVD is recommended.
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@scottalanmiller said:
I did a lot if MUD gaming and NTG maintains a production MUD server today just because we can.
+1 rep just for that!
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I grew up in a LATA with no local BBS and like @scottalanmiller I was not going to pay the phone bill to my parents to dial elsewhere.
When I moved to St. Louis in 1994, I went out and bought a 56K modem immediately and got online to a number of BBS. Spent way too many hours in there.. I remember when we first got SLIP access to the internet.
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@JaredBusch said:
@scottalanmiller said:
I did a lot if MUD gaming and NTG maintains a production MUD server today just because we can.
+1 rep just for that!
MUD gaming was (is) the best. I used to help mod the U of Iowa MUD around 1994. Started running my own, on Linux, around 1998 and have nearly always had one since then.
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I've never played on a MUD, what's involved?
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@Dashrender said:
I've never played on a MUD, what's involved?
It's an old school text adventure platform, but multiplayer. It's the parent of all multiplayer, online games. It was pure text, no graphics but that made it really powerful, much like books compared to movies.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
I've never played on a MUD, what's involved?
It's an old school text adventure platform, but multiplayer. It's the parent of all multiplayer, online games. It was pure text, no graphics but that made it really powerful, much like books compared to movies.
Text Adventures...still my favorite genre but a good graphic adventure is my favorite too. So pumped a new Text Murphy will be released soon!
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I love text adventures because you use your imagination and the story can really develop.
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@scottalanmiller said:
I love text adventures because you use your imagination and the story can really develop.
One of my favorites was DEADLINE because, well, you had a deadline to solve a murder. The problem was, you often had to be at the right place at the right time and type "wait" for something to happen. I never did solve it...and I don't like walkthroughs...
While only old school for being one of the first CD-ROM games, I still like Myst and am excited another one is coming out this year...though this game SCREAMS touch and would love to see it on a smartphone or tablet.
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I was a CircleMUD player from 1994 - 2012. Switched to CoffeeMUD now.
