Some of you should remember what a BBS is (Bulletin Board System)…
I grew up a child of the 80’s and when I got my first computer (actually an Apple ][e)…all the rage for geeks was connecting to your local BBS and checking out the awesome text based games and reading messages from other users on the BBS (believe me, it was fun back then!). All of this was at a blazing 1200 baud…and that was if you were lucky to own the latest technology (I had started with a 300 baud modem…couldn’t fork out the cash for a 2400 baud modem…woo hoo)! Some of you in the Cleveland, Ohio area might remember the “Cleveland Free-Net” which was part of the Free-Net project. Cleveland Free-Net was the first community BBS of it’s kind in the country. Funny thing was that I got really into it and ended up running my own n00b BBS called “The Laughing Goblin Inn” with my own dedicated phone line that I convinced my parents that I needed!
“[Lief Bloomquist] was in need of some geeky nostalgia. He thought making a BBS server on a Commodore 64 would fill that need perfectly. He used a PC running some routing software to make the BBS server available over the net, without any long distance charges. Anyone with an Internet connection can telnet to the BBS and join the fun.”
The setup this guy is using is really simple. It’s basically a Windows PC that is used to bridge between the Internet and the Commodore 64. The PC and Commodore are connected through a null modem cable and a VIC-1011A Terminal adapter. A simple program runs on the PC, listening on tcp port 23. He has the software and links to everything you need via his web site.
So if you ever ran a BBS or was ever involved in that world back in the day you should check it out (even if you didn’t know what the hell a BBS was…check it out to see what it used to be like)…it brought back some memories for me. Even the slooowness of 1200 baud was there!
Fire up a terminal and connect to bbs.jammingsignal.com port: 23 Enjoy!
Heh – BBS’ rocked – my first introduction to computers and networking. I can remember dialing into any one we could find from my friends Commodore 64 and 300 baud modem. 😉
Hmmmm…wonder if Security Justice needs a BBS?
Wow this post takes me back. I remember spending hours online playing door games.
For those interested in the history of the BBS scene check out Jason Scott’s documentary. http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/ Its chuck full of information. Just be warned it a 3 DVD set with over five and half hours of footage. Well worth watching!
Cheers,
Matt