Before the Internet were the BBS' (Bulletin Board Systems) you could dial-up into using your PC, Amiga, Commodore, TRS-80, etc...

Anybody here used to BBS and what boards did you call?

I used to go by the name Turbo6 back in the day and ran (I)ndustry BBS. Also dialed in Scimitar, The Michigan BBS, SkyNet, SafariNet and Serial Port.

 

I ran various different smaller bbs oriented sights.. Renegade, Tag, Iniquity (being my favorite) etc.

I used to have something like 200-300 members on my board alone. I only had 2 phone lines going in to it as well

I used to LOVE sending fake line noise to people i didnt like or file leachers!! I was one of the first people in my area to have windows 95 available for download

 

Hell yeah, I use to run one on a 8086 with a 10 meg HD. I used Tag BBS software and called it the Lunatic Fringe. I lived in Houghton Lake at the time, so traffic wasnt killer, but it was there. Use to have Usurper, and Trade Wars and a few other games on as well. ALOT of software trading went on in those days, and all at 2400 baud. In fact I still have a backup copy of it on disc somewhere. Maybe I will dig it up, and upload it for all to see. I still actually play Trade Wars too, you can find it all over the net, and being text based I can play it at work and not get caught.

Q

 

I ran one called "The Labyrinth" on a commodore 64 machine. Seems like I used TRIBBS, but I don't remember anymore

 

Here is the one I'm on - http://www.bbsmates.com

 

I ran the ? bbs

I was also a member on many in the area, like Crystallyne Caverns, and The Ultimate bbs.

Was also a member of Gateway online bbs since it first went in service.

 

I used to run a 'news program' called NOOZ out of an account called CYBERNET, that was on the IBM 370 mainframe at Saginaw Intermediate School District (SISD). I did that from somewhere in late 1980 until 1985. After that, I was a frequent user on Delta College's PDP-11 based news program. These were the forerunners of BBS programs.

I used my Commodore 64 mostly as a terminal. Played a *lot* of the text based game 'Dungeon' at night that way. Remember the magic word 'xyzzy' ?

After that, I joined the military, moved overseas, and when I got back in 1990, BBS software were all the rage. A buddy of mine got one going on his then-new 386 computer, but after posting a soft-**** picture, discovered that people would call up & trade **** pictures. Shortly thereafter, the computer was jammed full of very graphic & sick stuff, so he got disgusted, pulled the plug, had the phone disconnected, and formatted the hard drive.

 

Then he dug a hole in the basement, buried the computer, covered it over, burned the house down, moved to Tibet, and joined a monastery.

 

I never did anything like that, but I remember cruising on Compuserve somewhere around 1983 at a friends house on their commodore 64. That was a much different experience than now.

 

LMAO

Piece of interesting (to me) trivia:

I sold my Commodore 64 with 1541 floppy drive and modem for $500. I used the money as a down payment on my first Camaro, a '77 Camaro LT in light-blue mettallic.

 

Hell, I remember using a modem that required you to put the reciever of the phone into a cradle, just like the early 80's war movies did. I also remember playing a game where everyone created a character and you all were on a type of beach resort, where you walked around and talked to people.

Q

 

Gateway.. LOL

what was your handle?

 

RIP rocked! Nobody ever seemed to use it on our BBS though - too bad.

 

Its like I stumbled upon a different world. I remember hearing about this stuff a little but I have never actually seen this stuff or worked any of it. How long ago did they stop making this stuff?

 

I still have a copy of RIP, TAG, and a few other BBS boards software on disc. Might have to dig it up and see if I still remember how to use it