Surfin' at 300 baud...

[Sniderman]

Hey gang!

Your first on-line experience? Did you cruise the BBS networks in town? Did you run one? Did you spend hours on-line downloading a 2K program? Did you just dial up your friends computers and "talk" ala a text-based CB radio? Tell us all about your first experience with "my computer talks to your computer."

I'll spare you any BBS tales, but I have a pretty good on-line story. Set-up: My pal Scott gets himself grounded just before our weekly D&D game. He has orders not to leave the house or make phone calls that weekend. All he's allowed to do is work on his term paper due next week.

Well, Scott gets an extension on the paper, so it's not due for TWO weeks. He goes into his room Saturday night and, as far as his mother's concerned, he's typing away on his C64, trying to finish term paper.

In actuality, we had set up my C64 next to the gaming table at my house and Scott had called in and was "tele-gaming" with us. It was kind of a pain to type in what was going on for him, then relaying what he was doing to the DM. But we all agreed it was a hell of a game, as we were still playing D&D (good dungeon crawl that night too); we were geeking out "on-line" (first time we had really put our modem to a test like this); and we were pulling something over on his mother. (I'm still stunned she never picked up the phone or wondered why there were no in-coming calls.)

Of course, this was back when parents were even less computer savvy. I'm sure she had no idea "computers can talk to each other?!?!"

So, who has a stone-age on-line story to tell?

[YoshiM]

Oh, I have one! A tale of exploration but ending in loss of money and deception.

Radio Shack was starting to clear out its stock of Color Computer stuff. One day I mosey in and find they have a 300 baud modem cartridge for $20. Interested, I buy it, take it home and string up a phone line into my bedroom. However I had nowhere to dial into, so the modem sat in its box.

Later when I was in Fond du Lac I stopped at ShopKo and picked up a magazine that dealt with online services. Out of the services available the only one that looked like it would work with the Color Computer was Delphi. The name was familiar as I saw it mentioned in both Rainbow magazine (there was a CoCo SIG) and VG&CE. And at the time they had a special- $4.95 for X amount of time. So I chose that.

Slapping in the modem cartridge (which meant any downloading meant straight to tape...oh well) I fired up the CoCo, set up my parameters and accessed a network for the first time. All text but that was okay. Soon I was perusing message boards and chatting with others. I even got to chat with some VG&CE people and one offered to sell me his Vectrex (VGDavid I think his handle was but I can't remember) when I inquired about VG&CE's mini article on the "Maltese Vectrex".

I tried to monitor my time not only because of the Delphi rate but the access number was "extended", meaning a 5 cent a minute charge. However being a teen one's sense of time drops away in the summer. So the first bill came-phone bill wasn't too much of a shock but the Delphi bill was like $80. I nearly crapped my pants. Found out I was being charged a rate of $7.99. So I called Delphi, which then had to talk to my parents (as I was a minor). Seems as though I had to ASK for the rate, but I had signed on using their service and didn't talk to a live person (if memory serves). No where in the ad did it mention that the special rate had to be mentioned. Thankfully they dropped the charge to the $4.95 but I still got a stern talking to. Needless to say I promptly removed the modem and shoved it back into its box never to be used again.

It would be about 3 years later, November of 1994, when I decided to go online with America Online when I moved out from home. The only other time I dialed a modem after the Delphi Incident was when my Dad brought home a couple DEC computers that were being tossed. I tried an experiment in sending a file to my school via modem and while the file transfer didn't work (the DEC was tried to do an ASCII file transfer to an Apple IIGS) the computers DID speak to each other and the the librarians were excited that such a thing was possible.

[scooterb23]

A four hour game of Battleship over Quantumlink back in about 1985 was my only experience.

Wow this is so incredible!! It's like this guy in New York is right here!!!! And he's really slow at Battleship!!!

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I got on my first BBS when I was in the 5th grade. I was in love. It's no lie to say that the BBS experience completely changed my expectations of what a computer was for. No one in my family grasped that right away. They figured I was going to play games, make games, do homework on the thing, not tie up the phone line to the point where they had to get a second line. When I was in 7th grade, I took over as the SysOp for the local Apple users' group BBS, which had no name other than the unenviable acronym of its software: Public Messaging System. You put it together. I went in and made extensive modifications to the software, adding some very crude online games, but the BBS was operated by the local Apple dealer, and the computer was at the store, and they didn't like (A) this kid hanging around the store all the time during summer vacation, or (B) me adding less-than-serious mods to the software. *snaps* You're so right, Dick (the guy who ran the store - his name really was Dick) - I should be out getting in trouble and picking up bad habits.

So I handed the reins over to someone else in the club...and took a copy I'd made of my modified PMS software (go ahead and giggle), and started my own screamin' 300 baud BBS at home. My parents had gotten me a Franklin Ace 2200 for Christmas, with the understanding that the Ace 1000 - my first computer - would be going to college with my brother. Thing is, he didn't stay in college for long, so he was recalled by the mothership - and so was my old computer, which I used to run the bulletin board. Four floppy drives, no waiting, and this time the online games were still there, and this time they worked. The only problem was that the system kept crashing catastrophically - I was pushing it a little too hard, and all of my online games programmed in BASIC were pushing the limits of the memory. I'd frequently lose the entire message database and user database. Everytime this happened, on some level I thought it would cover my ass to change the name of the board (never mind that the phone number was the same). It went through an endless array of name changes - Scorpio Stargate, 10538 Overture, you name it. Eventually I ditched PMS and bought a new BBS package called SnAPP (which I found, intact, during my move!), which was much more amenable to a multi-drive setup and outboard programs like games. I continued running the BBS, and this is where the Logbooks were launched.

Then I reached high school and discovered the opposite sex. Suddenly I couldn't be bothered to maintain my BBS, I had a date, by golly. :P

That's my story. And I'm not so much sticking to it as I am stuck with it. ;)

[Flack]

BBS's were your lifeline to the outside world back then. We had a Franklin Ace 1000 as well, and that's the computer I started modeming on. For those of you who have never enjoying the priviledge of 300 baud, imagine a webpage loading so slow that you can read the text faster than it appears. I downloaded Summer Games (I think) at 300 baud on my Commodore; I started the download at 8am, went to school, came home at noon and the first side was finishing up, flipped the disk over, and started downloading the second half. It was just finishing up when I got home.

Back then, people on modems were computer literate. There was no chance you were going to run into the head cheerleader online. Hot Or Not back then would have consisted of a lot of Not's. So if nothing else, you knew you could talk to people about computers and software.

I first got online in '83 I believe, which would have made me 10. Like I said in my copyfest thread, I typed like an adult for the most part, so people usually had no idea of my true age. For a short while I was "Robbie Franklin", my first name and the last name came from my computer. That lasted until Cloak and Dagger came out -- I became Jack Flack, a nick I've used since then (20 years? Christ!).

My dad ran the FIRST IBM based BBS in OKC. Originally titled PC-X and later changed to The Backdoor (after the CCR song), that BBS is what got a lot of PC users in this area originally together. I had a lot of fun chatting with callers and whatnot, and knew I wanted to run my own BBS.

In 1985 I got my C64, and the modem game was on. I got it for my birthday in August, and by Christmas I had driven everyone so crazy that I had my own phoneline. That worked until my sister became a teenage. Then we had to share the line; if I remember right, she got even hours and I got odd ones. I even tried running a BBS where I told people, "only call during odd hours." That went over well. :roll:

I didn't get to run my own BBS until 1993, while I was in college. My wife and I were living in a mobile home with three phone lines. I had a data-in for the BBS, data-out for dialing out, and our voice line. My data-out line also connected to the BBS, so you could have *TWO* people online at once. Who would have ever thought you could have two people on a data system at once??? @_@

From 1993-1995 I was heavily involved in the local scene, belonging to several "groups" including Soulz At Zero (a lit group I founded), Razor 1911 (a warez group), and our little local scene, TBH405 (the brotherhood of 405) (our area code).

In late 1994 someone asked me if I had ever seen IRC. I hadn't, so I got online and found a chatroom with a hundred people in it. I knew that was the end of the BBS. When I saw my first online forum, I shut my BBS down -- not that it mattered, by then all my callers had migrated to the internet anyway. By mid-1995 I was doing good to get a couple of callers a day.

[TNTPLUST]

My first Modem experience was in the early 80's with a 300 baud Volksmodem on a vintage C64. I enjoyed Quantumlink until my father got the phone bill and I was grounded for a week. I used to play Modem Wars on the C64 with a few friends and that was really cool. One guy I played with though would always get mysterious phone connection problems if I was about to win :angry:

When my girlfriend got grounded for staying to out too late she used to connect up with me and chat one to one. That's when I experienced my first Cyber Sex LOL

I owned a BBS in 1990-1993. The board was called Wah-Fah? I put it together by trading friends some of my most prized possesions (Set of Samurai swords, Medievel Mace, 16lbs. Octagon nunchucks, Star Wars collectible plate, Several rare Magic: the gathering cards). In return I got a 386 16mhz, EGA, 8mb ram, 3 2x Scsi drive cd-roms, two 500mb disk drives, mounted in a homemade wood box running Mustangs Wildcat! software. When my three year old son saw this mess he said, "Wah-fah? (What is that). My BBS supported 4 lines and was supported by donations. I had many door games (over 50) like Pimp Wars, Trade Wars, Galactic Overlord, Vampires, and Kannons and Katapults. I would look forward to COMDEX every year when Mustang would have their BBS party! Free Beer and Food with BBS nerds! Sigh...then the the Web became popular the BBS became pointless and I pulled the plug.

[TheSmirk]

I didn't get online until about 1990 with the blazing 2400 baud, and yes BBSes were still in force (Central NJ) and in some cases a gateway to the internet. I loved BBSes since they usually had a real sense of community since many were local to you, great for games,file trades and just BSing, not to mention the rocking ANSI art! Then there was the BBS "underground" for your warez and naughtyness, but with most of those it was a closed membership or you had to have someone thats on the board vouch for you to get in. :D hahhaha funny times...

Many people still run BBSes traditional modem and web based as well....and alot use this http://www.synchro.net/

[Captain Wrong]

We had a 300 baud and Compuserve for the Apple ][c, but I was never allowed on. BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chunky]

Apple ][e i think with s grappler+ card and some i think 600 baud modem. My Buddys Father ran the Apple Tree BBS, it should be in any old BBS book or Apple book. I remember he saying he bought his 10 meg HD for $10k.
When i got my mac classic when they came out i tried Prodigy, Blah. then started BBSing to play BRE, LORD, some BBS war game, man there were some good ones.

[Flack]

I forgot to mention, I eventually bought a 2400 baud modem for my C64 for I think $400. It was $200 for the modem and $200 for the RS-232 interface to make it work.

[WiseSalesman]

I didn't start with the BBS scene until I had a 2400 baud modem. I don't have many interesting stories, though. The BBS I used was called simply TMN (the modem network).

[SpasticFuctard]

I ran not one but 2 c64 BBS's in my time, first the Sorcerer's Scroll and then the Game Shoppe. They ruled, My dad, older brother and I all were sysops and we handled many many gigabytes of stolen software. Ahhh, those were the days. Eventually we got the old Bullet Proof Hayes 9600 baud modem for our Cnet amiga BBS. We were |33t. But my first online experience was The Source on my Ti-99/4A with a 150 baud little grey POS modem. My dad and I ran up 600$ on the phone bill calling central jersey to play Adventure!. Ahhhh, the good old days.

Interesting Sidebar. My dad is looking at his credit card statement and sees a 9.95$ charge from AOL on it. He's all, WTF? so he calls them up. apparently, AOL acquired Qlink ages ago and his Quantumlink account was still 'active'. They tried to give him a hard time, but as their service wasn't even up they didn't exactly have a leg to stand on about the billing and credited him with about a decade of charges. Heh.

SF - 0|d 5c400|

[calthaer]

I didn't start BBSing until the late 80s myself - probably 89 or so - when I hooked up a 300 baud to my Laser 128. Used to go on the Big Apple and other places nearby to play the games. I never got into the messaging, though - not until we got AOL.

[Rev. Link]

It was the early/mid 90s when I got my first modem, a 2400 baud. Man, those were the days, messing around with BBSes and playing door games.

I remember a few BBSes in the Cincinnati area that had full-on chat rooms. Apparently they had like 20 phone lines. About the time we moved up to a 14.4 modem, we discovered CompuServe, and I ran up massive charges in their "CB" chat rooms. :)

[Ze_ro]

My first modem experience was with a 1200 baud modem on my C-64... at the same time, my brother had a smokin' fast 2400 baud modem for his Amiga, and you better believe I was envious of that!

Anyways, two of the main BBS's I used were local ones called "The Land" and "Stalker's Guild". I remember a local publication called simply "The Computer Paper" that would publish lists of local BBS's as well as their capabilities and focus... I tried pretty much all the ones that used auto-callback instead of voice authentication... I always found that to be a huge pain in the ass. My main activity was downloading pirated games of course. I remember connecting overnight and then hopefully having a new game to play when I woke up in the morning (assuming I didn't screw up the transfer or get disconnected or something). Ah, the days of protocols like X Modem, Y Modem, Z Modem, Kermit, Punter, and so on.

I never really ventured much into the FIDOnet stuff... I really didn't have anything to contribute. I did read some stuff occaisionally, but I was pretty young, and I didn't have a good understanding of what was really going on in this area of BBS's.

I played door games from time to time... always at 11:45 PM so that I could get two turns in a row as midnight approached. I never really got anywhere in these games, but they were lots of fun.

When we finally got a PC and a 14,400 modem, man was that ever fast... gone were the days where you could watch the text redraw itself. Of course, my #1 activity was still downloading games... although since shareware was so popular at the time, most of my downloads were actually legitimate. One thing that always annoyed me is that I was never able to find a high quality terminal program for the PC... Nothing that could match my beloved DesTerm or NovaTerm on the C-64 anyways. Every PC modem seemed to come with that horrid "BitWare" garbage instead. Lordy, was that an awful program.

Shortly after that, the internet came around and pretty much destroyed the whole BBS scene.

--Zero

[Rev. Link]

I'm trying to remember the name of the program I always used to dial in to BBSes.

It was somethingoranother on DOS, then when we got the upgrade for Win 3.1 it was somethingoranother Gold. Can't remember it, though. I do remember it was a pretty good program.

[TNTPLUST]

Hmmmmm....Wildcat! had Xpress Gold dial up software. Could that be it?

[sniperCCJVQ]

Terminate 5 was the program i used to call BBSes. Great piece of software.

Most BBSes i call was running on Remote Access or Renegade and i always heard that rumour about Renegade was easy to hack to get Admin access.

[Rev. Link]

Hmmmmm....Wildcat! had Xpress Gold dial up software. Could that be it?

No, that's not it. I'll have to go looking through our old computer drawers. I bet we still have the program lying around somewhere. This is gonna bug me now until I figure it out.

[Jorpho]

Aw, I started out with a 14400 baud modem on my 286. (Actually, that's how I found the 100 Mhz 486 that replaced it.) Can I still play? ;)

I'm glad I had access to BBSs, because that way only a limited area was exposed to my boundless youthful stupidity instead of the whole wide world. Towards the end of the era, though, I became caught up in the engaging technical challenge of accessing the Internet through E-mail. Good useless fun!

[icbrkr]

My BBS experiences first started back in 1988 and a C64 with a handed to me, Vicmodem. I agree wtih PDF, I never quite knew how much it would change my life. I met tons of people around the area, downloaded way more games than I should have, and found new things to do with the computer (coding mostly).

I put my first BBS up in 1989 on a few 1541 drives, but the big one for me happened in 1992 when I opened up Particles! BBS running Image 1.2 on a C64 w/20MB HD. The BBS started off local, but soon after a change of software (C*Base) was a large C64 Warez HQ. For the time, I was home to groups such as: DWI (my group), Device (German Demogroup), Trance, Sunrise, Armageddon, Epic, Motiv8, and others that I no longer remember. I believe I had about a 95% usage at that time (ie, good luck not getting a busy signal). I became "legal" in '94 due to a few friends being raided by the authorities. Particles! switched to Amiga based software in 1994, Renegade from 1995-2000 (off and on, telnet and modem lines too) and to Synchronet from 2000-2002. It's currently down due to a crash back in '02 but I'm working on putting back online (telnet of course).

My current webpage, particles.org, is a homage to the BBS I founded in 1992. Though I get a lot of interesting looks on the name of the website when I give my email addy to people, I'll cut and paste the reason for the BBS name (taken from the page):

The name "Particles!" is actually a play on a theme that was common for BBS's back then - name everything "board". In other words, we had BBS's called "Surf Board" and "Circuit Board" so we thought "Particle Board" would be a nice play on the theme. Of course, instead of continuing with just that, we figured we would change it to "Particles!" so people would just be dumbfounded by the name