Re: Era of the BBS

The TEXTFILES.COM Historical BBS List:
> An introduction by Jason Scott > As the age of the Dial-Up BBS draws to a close, I thought it necessary > to ensure a way to keep some understanding of the role of BBSes in the > growth of the Internet. More importantly, I thought it might be fun to > collect the phone numbers of every known dial-up BBS and find a way to > enshrine them in one easy-to-browse list. This way, people could look > back at the area codes and exchanges of their youth and remember all > these electronic places, these meeting houses and hangouts that formed > a part of so many people's youth.

I assume you've done it already. I've been forwarded that list several times in my history on the net.

I used to administer Syslink at 401-272-1138

And now for some history. You see, in 1982 I'd just gotten a sum of money and decided to buy a Radio Shack DC-1 modem. No automated features, but it was direct connect.

The only BBS in town at the time was NYBBLINK. Two months after I got my modem NYBBLINK ceased to exist. So with some pressure on the friend that convinced me to buy the modem, Syslink was born.

Originally written by Don Lambert with serious debugging by me it ran on a modified TRS-80 Model III. This machine had multiple serial ports, an ISAM disk operating system, etc.

Syslink begat PowerCor and PowerNet developed and run by Andy Green.

PowerCor begat Andy Green's dream -- Intelecom Data Systems (IDS)

IDS was sold by Andy Green and became Conversent Communications.

All because I bought a modem to connect to a bbs that disappeared soon after.

Tony

It's fun for me to see this history. I wrote Nybblink back in 1981. I was running a company named Human Computing Inc. at the time, and worked out a deal with "The Computer Store" in Providence, RI. I provided the code and support, and they provided the hardware (an Apple ][+, a DC Hayes 300 baud modem, and a phone line.) It was online for close a year before the store went out of business.

Nybblink was the first BBS in Rhode Island and introduced a new concept of allowing people to break out discussions into different topic areas instead of everything being in one endless thread. As I think back on it, I am amazed to remember that only about a dozen different areas were ever active at one time.

- Charlie Behrens

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