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Anyone here use BBSs back in the day?
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olePigeon
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Dec 9, 2010, 07:01 PM
 
I was just reminiscing about old school BBSs. I don't know why, but I enjoyed networking through the old BBSs more than I ever have using the modern internet. I liked the old games, especially Trade Wars. You'd get 3 turns a day on the game. I had something to look forward to after school.

We had regular get-to-gethers (gtg) about once a month when everyone on the BBS would meet up at a restaurant or something.

Good times. Back when your handle was an important decision.

Anyone else on the BBS scene before commercial internet?

A few I hung out on:

Apple Pirates
The Gnome's Guest House
Britannia
"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
     
bstone
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Dec 9, 2010, 07:25 PM
 
I used Ripco back in the day.
Emergency Medicine & Urgent Care.
     
ctt1wbw
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Dec 9, 2010, 07:51 PM
 
Oh yeah, the memories. Using an Apple //c and a blazing fast Hayes modem at 300/400/1200 baud. I used to have to type ATDT and then the phone number to get online. Mostly just local BBS systems that were in the county. Way way before CompuServe and eWorld and stuff like that.
     
Shaddim
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Dec 9, 2010, 08:08 PM
 
Yeah, I ran a WWIV based BBS way back in college. Lots of great fights and debates on there, rocking the FidoNet. Plus, there was Trade Wars, SRE, and LotRD!
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine
     
Eriamjh
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Dec 10, 2010, 08:57 AM
 
Ah, 1986, 300bps modem, Radio Shack color computer, 0.89MHz 6809 processor.

In the Detroit area, I accessed such BBSs as "The Demon's Web" run out of Lawrence Insutute of Technology (now Lawrence Technological University) and a place called the Apple Core.

Originally Posted by olePigeon View Post
Good times. Back when your handle was an important decision.
There's an old term!

The Demon's web was the first place I did online chatting (so-called CB mode). It's the reason I never did any chatting when the internet came along 13 years later. It was already old news to me.

I'm a bird. I am the 1% (of pets).
     
ort888
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Dec 10, 2010, 11:16 AM
 
Yes I did. Not a lot of gaming, but a lot of random chatting and talking with friends in other schools.

My sig is 1 pixel too big.
     
subego
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Dec 10, 2010, 11:17 AM
 
I vaguely remember something like this before Ultima IV came out.
     
Person Man
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Dec 10, 2010, 12:16 PM
 
BBS: The Documentary

This is a great look back at those days. It was made by Jason Scott, of Textfiles.com fame.

Have fun with those links.
     
andi*pandi
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Dec 10, 2010, 03:19 PM
 
nope, didn't have a computer/modem til much later.
     
exca1ibur
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Dec 10, 2010, 03:38 PM
 
Yup. and MUD servers were basically your free WoW thing then. C-64 w/1200 baud modem
     
olePigeon  (op)
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Dec 10, 2010, 04:50 PM
 
Originally Posted by exca1ibur View Post
Yup. and MUD servers were basically your free WoW thing then. C-64 w/1200 baud modem
My brother seemed to be on MUDs 24/7. I never got into them. I do play NetHack, though.
"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
     
Paco500
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Dec 10, 2010, 05:16 PM
 
I used to run a BBS back in the early 80's- based on fidonet. We called it "Tallahassee in the Sun." I can't remember where the name came from. Mostly chatting and trading software.
     
alligator
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Dec 10, 2010, 06:39 PM
 
What about those that required you to upload a certain amount before you could download files? I also still log into a MUD once in a while I played in 1992 at 2400 baud. Try it at kingdoms.se (telnet into "kingdoms.se 1812") That modem was an upgrade for me! Ahhhh, the good old days!
     
olePigeon  (op)
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Dec 10, 2010, 06:50 PM
 
I was on a few that required you to pay money for minutes of use. A few had some games that if you won high score, you won free minutes. There was a game called 1s and 5s, it was nearly identical to Yatzee. My brother found out (and consequently I found out) that after the server rebooted, the high score list reset. So at the beginning of the month I'd immediately log on, play a single game of 1s and 5s, get high score with only 50 points, get free minutes, play again, and again, etc. We must have had several months worth of free minutes, so I never had to pay.

This actually became pretty important because we could use Lynx through the BBS, so I had internet access before I could get internet access. With all the free minutes I had accumulated, I could actually download files. Was really exciting at the time.

I could also take as long as I wanted to on some of the more advanced games like Empire, or do long sessions of Global Thermal Nuclear Warfare with sysops.
"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
     
Phileas
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Dec 10, 2010, 09:08 PM
 
The first time I was online was with compuserve. My girlfriend's dad was working as an economic advisor in the Ukraine, so the we got online to stay in touch with him. At the time I lived in the UK, where local calls weren't free, that, combined with the per minute charges that compuserve demanded, made it an expensive hobby.

About a year later we ditched CS and got ourselves a proper ISP with monthly billing. The next step for me was OrangeNet, one upfront payment of £150 (I think) was supposed to get you unlimited and unmetered time online. I think they went bust just after I broke even on the offer.
     
AKcrab
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Dec 10, 2010, 09:30 PM
 
I used to dial up to some BBS's back with my Apple ][e.. At 300 baud with my awesome acoustic coupler modem. And yes, from Alaska. My parents were very understanding..

I remember getting the 1200 baud internal modem card one Christmas, changed my life.
     
olePigeon  (op)
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Dec 10, 2010, 10:08 PM
 
Originally Posted by AKcrab View Post
I used to dial up to some BBS's back with my Apple ][e.. At 300 baud with my awesome acoustic coupler modem. And yes, from Alaska. My parents were very understanding..

I remember getting the 1200 baud internal modem card one Christmas, changed my life.
We had a coupler with our Apple //e as well. My dad would dial into work with it when he worked at ROLM. I remember distinctly my dad yelling at my brother and me to shut up because our squeals when laughing were the same tones as the coupler, so it would cause his connection to try and renegotiate in the middle of work.
"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
     
bstone
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Dec 12, 2010, 02:07 PM
 
Emergency Medicine & Urgent Care.
     
subego
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Dec 12, 2010, 02:38 PM
 
I was lucky enough to have a modem built into an actual phone hooked up to my ][e. It was sold by, wait for it...

DAK.
     
Dork.
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Dec 12, 2010, 02:53 PM
 
I recall dialing around (NYC area) each summer to see what was available, mostly looking for TradeWars games (and lists of other BBS's). I never stuck around on one board for too long, though.

I remember FidoNet. Did it have its own groups, or did they mirror the Usenet groups?

Originally Posted by olePigeon View Post
My brother seemed to be on MUDs 24/7. I never got into them. I do play NetHack, though.
I just found NetHack recently, and I am hooked. I am glad I didn't find it while I was younger -- I might never have graduated.
     
FireWire
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Dec 12, 2010, 05:34 PM
 
Haha, I used to get on a few local BBS' using my old Performa 6200 and the terminal application of ClarisWorks to connect!



After that I used HotLine and finally IRC. We too held GTs when we would meet at a fast food joint or a bowling alley

Reminds me of the time I bought an external GlobalVillage modem which gave me the option to place phone call with my computer with MegaPhone
     
Shaddim
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Dec 12, 2010, 11:57 PM
 
We'd have big gatherings of local users and sysops. Most were excuses to play AD&D and smoke large amounts of cannabis.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine
     
olePigeon  (op)
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Dec 13, 2010, 07:09 PM
 
Originally Posted by Shaddim View Post
We'd have big gatherings of local users and sysops. Most were excuses to play AD&D and smoke large amounts of cannabis.
Pretty much. All except one person in my gaming group knew each other from a BBS.
"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
     
Madison
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Dec 14, 2010, 06:06 AM
 
I got a Commodore-64 computer for Christmas when I was 13 or so (1980-1981), and used it, along with my 300 baud VIC modem to dial in to Compuserve Online. What a hoot, wasn't a lot to do, and it tied up the phone at home for hours, along with the call charges, so I didn't get to spend as much time on there as I would have liked to. I do remember having a lot of fun though.
     
   
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