• Re: Am I the only one dum

    From Dr. What@21:1/126 to Bucko on Tue May 24 01:08:18 2022
    Bucko wrote to knightbbs <=-

    will stop and take it. I will then take it home clean it up, see what
    it is, if it is something less then say 7-10 years old I will add RAM
    and if there is no HD in it a HD. Then install Debian on it. I have

    We have a scrapper near by who does this. The local schools and school kids stop in frequently to get PCs. Very cheap and work very nice.


    ... Mail your ideas written on the back of a $20 bill to...
    ___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

    --- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Al's Geek Lab -=- bbs.alsgeeklab.com:2323 (21:1/126)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to boraxman on Mon May 23 17:14:00 2022
    On Tue May 24 09:59:00 2022, boraxman wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

    > pF> They'd all gone to e-waste, and he'd gotten nothing for them. He
    probably paid to have them hauled off and thought he'd gotten a favor
    because they were so old.

    I wept inside.

    20+ years ago...worked for a company which used old Toshiba satellite laptops. They were running DOS 6.22 for a Medicaid provider in Arizona. They just threw them out...rather than sell them to the employees. Going through a merger at the time...they just bought new.

    That is awful to read. The wastefulness of our society is nothing short of criminal. We like to pat ourselves on the back on how responsible we are, but
    really, we're not at all.

    Mentioned the Lenovo retail model they hang on a monitor in stores. Paid $50 for it...did some upgrades such as another SSD/more memory. Good ArcaOS/OS/2 box.

    ... You don't assign him to murder cases. You just turn him loose.
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  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to ACMEBBS on Tue May 24 16:37:00 2022
    20+ years ago...worked for a company which used old Toshiba satellite laptops. They were running DOS 6.22 for a Medicaid provider in Arizona. They just threw them out...rather than sell them to the employees. Going through a merger at the time...they just bought new.

    I don't know how it works over there, but here it was cheaper for a company
    to literally throw them out, rather than sell them to employees or otherwise, as it gave them a better tax write off, otherwise you had to declare what happened to the assets and what was realised on them and worry about having
    to fork out more tax on the sales.

    Slightly differently, a company I worked for briefly had a number of PDET's
    off hand not sure what that actually stands for but they were used to stock counting during stock takes. They appears to use either 8088 or 186
    processors, and loaded DR-DOS, 5.0 I think from memory.. also had the thing
    of being able to transfer settings from a functional one to one that'd
    dropped its settings for whatever reason.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Dr. What@21:1/126 to claw on Wed May 25 02:58:24 2022
    claw wrote to boraxman <=-

    Bank actually destroy them. Whole computer. Shred, boom gone. All
    when just the HD would be enough. They see it as risk mitigation.

    I see it as laziness. But I can't blame them too much.

    The companies that I worked for had such stupid rules for getting rid of equipment (obviously written by people who knew nothing about tech) that it was extremely painful for an employee to get old equipment.

    Tossing it into the trash compactor was the easiest way.

    At a place where I worked, they had a whole AT&T 3B2 system (servers, terminals, printers, cables, etc.) sitting on some palates for years. I had asked about buying it when they were going to scrap it but when we saw how much paper work was needed we both balked.

    Maybe it's worth getting a business license to be a tech scrapper then they can - without alot of paperwork - give it to me to "scrap".


    ... If I want your opinion I'll beat it out of you!
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    * Origin: Al's Geek Lab -=- bbs.alsgeeklab.com:2323 (21:1/126)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to Spectre on Tue May 24 19:42:00 2022
    On Tue May 24 16:37:00 2022, Spectre wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    20+ years ago...worked for a company which used old Toshiba satellite laptops. They were running DOS 6.22 for a Medicaid provider in Arizona. They just threw them out...rather than sell them to the employees. Going
    through a merger at the time...they just bought new.

    I don't know how it works over there, but here it was cheaper for a company to literally throw them out, rather than sell them to employees or otherwise,
    as it gave them a better tax write off, otherwise you had to declare what happened to the assets and what was realised on them and worry about having to fork out more tax on the sales.

    Looks like that was what happened.

    Forgot to mention they fired me at this same time. 2 weeks before this...they called a meeting where they talked about auditors were coming in...so get all the pirated software you have off the systems. They didn't want to loose a quarter of a million again that year. They fired me...changed the passcode to their help desk software as soon as I got home that evening from a pay phone on the way home. After that...made a call to the BSA (Business Software Alliance). Explained about the meeting 2 weeks earlier. Never heard what happened after this...but with their past...should be assured they went in there with a finer comb than the previous year.

    Slightly differently, a company I worked for briefly had a number of PDET's off hand not sure what that actually stands for but they were used to stock counting during stock takes. They appears to use either 8088 or 186 processors, and loaded DR-DOS, 5.0 I think from memory.. also had the thing of being able to transfer settings from a functional one to one that'd dropped its settings for whatever reason.

    Wonder how much the software cost originally...to then be replaced. Wouldn't surprise me if they went to Windows 3.1 & wondered why they kept erroring out so much. Too bad they didn't head to OS/2 with Win-OS/2 where this issue wouldn't happened or if so...as often.

    ... I'm not a complete idiot, some of the parts are missing!
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  • From claw@21:1/210 to Dr. What on Wed May 25 07:53:05 2022
    On 25 May 2022, Dr. What said the following...

    I see it as laziness. But I can't blame them too much.
    Maybe it's worth getting a business license to be a tech scrapper then they can - without alot of paperwork - give it to me to "scrap".

    Well thats one way to do it! I do know there are franchises of FreeGeek and that is one heck of a non-porfit org.

    |23|04Dr|16|12Claw
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    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Noverdu BBS (21:1/210)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Spectre on Tue May 24 07:05:00 2022
    Spectre wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    I don't know how it works over there, but here it was cheaper for a company to literally throw them out, rather than sell them to employees
    or otherwise, as it gave them a better tax write off, otherwise you had
    to declare what happened to the assets and what was realised on them
    and worry about having to fork out more tax on the sales.

    Around here, computer assets are normally depreciated - instead of
    being added to the books as an expense and the one-time cost included
    in operating expenses, they're treated as assets and the cost
    depreciated monthly over 3-4 years.

    At the end of the depreciation period (which, if you're smart,
    coincides with your service warranty period) you have a system that's
    off warranty and with a book value of 0 at the end.

    Most companies don't want to deal with either legal data retention
    issues by releasing old hardware, or licensing issues. Realistically,
    they'd need to wipe the drives before releasing them.

    I'm getting to be more of a fan of computer leases. That way, you
    don't muck around with depreciation, and at the end of three years,
    you roll the lease into a new one. The department obtaining the lease
    just needs to include the lease cost in their operating expense
    budget monthly and not have a big hit every 3 years.

    With laptops that aren't easily upgraded, it just makes sense.








    Slightly differently, a company I worked for briefly had a number of PDET's off hand not sure what that actually stands for but they were
    used to stock counting during stock takes. They appears to use either
    8088 or 186 processors, and loaded DR-DOS, 5.0 I think from memory..
    also had the thing of being able to transfer settings from a functional one to one that'd dropped its settings for whatever reason.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)

    ... UNPRISON YOUR THINK RHINO
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  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu May 26 12:11:20 2022

    Realistically, they'd need to wipe the drives before releasing

    them.

    And how hard is that, boot a usb memory stick with drive software on it
    (I use one called 'vivard") and write zero's to the drive.... Or even if
    more scared, just pull the drive and hit it with a indrustrial shredder
    or a sledge hammer....





    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to vorlon on Wed May 25 22:47:00 2022
    On Thu May 26 11:43:00 2022, vorlon wrote to claw <=-


    Bank actually destroy them. Whole computer. Shred, boom gone.
    All when just the HD would be enough. They see it as risk
    mitigation.
    Witch is rather stupid. It's not like the little ram chips will remember that Joe Blogs had $50000 in his account... &-;/

    Have seen some video in the past of hard drives being shot with a gun...bench grinder sawing them in half or put them in liquid nitrogen & such...smash them with a sledge hammer/run over them.

    ... Do not look into laser with remaining eyeball.

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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to vorlon on Thu May 26 06:41:00 2022
    vorlon wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-


    Realistically, they'd need to wipe the drives before releasing

    them.

    And how hard is that, boot a usb memory stick with drive software on it
    (I use one called 'vivard") and write zero's to the drive.... Or even
    if more scared, just pull the drive and hit it with a indrustrial
    shredder or a sledge hammer....

    Mind you, I've done this before at the corporate level - the only
    reasons not to are when finance and IT don't want "extra" work.
    Finance is especially good at claiming something's impossible, when
    it requires extra work.

    As soon as Management drives such an effort, everything is possible.

    Politics.




    ... Discover your formulas and abandon them
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu May 26 16:53:00 2022
    Re: Re: Am I the only one dum
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Spectre on Tue May 24 2022 07:05 am

    Most companies don't want to deal with either legal data retention
    issues by releasing old hardware, or licensing issues. Realistically,
    they'd need to wipe the drives before releasing them.


    There is no consistent way of wiping the drives, actually.

    I recently had to replace a bunch of drives with sensitive information in them. Just as I was trying to wipe one of them I got a SMART error. It turns out the drive is incapable of performing write operations on a bunch of blocks for some reason so the files living in them can't be wiped.

    Olviously this drive has no longer a re-sell value. Still my point is that you can't assume you will be able to wipe a drive with sensitive information. This is the reason why I always recommend using full or pseudo-full disk encryption. Even if you don't need access security NOW, it will make it safer to get rid of the drive eventually.


    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
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  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to paulie420 on Thu May 26 23:44:00 2022
    On Thu May 26 17:43:00 2022, paulie420 wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    While living in Twin Falls about 10 years ago...found a 19" Dell CRT monitor at the Salvation Army thrift store for $5-10 US. Didn't want to haul it to Colorado...so just left it with my former roommate.

    Its been horrible seeing the thrift markets raise their prices on retro hardware once they figured out there was $ in it... Sally Ann (Salvation Army)
    is a bit better about it, but Goodwill is terrible IMO.

    Gotta pay that overhead for the "upscale" customers who are willing to throw money their way. On the other hand...if I find a hole-in-the-wall store...that's where I love to go. Many times...they have stuff on the shelves for a while & just want it gone. For instance...in non-computer items...been looking for a Presto Hot Dogger for years. Had one years ago & worked great. For computer items...cables & such are a god-send...since many aren't made anymore. Did find for $5 US...an Atari joystick with several built in games. Had 2 of them...but couldn't afford both of them.

    ... You summoned a WHAT with the Necronomicon?!
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  • From claw@21:1/210 to Arelor on Fri May 27 07:54:01 2022
    information. This is the reason why I always recommend using full or pseudo-full disk encryption. Even if you don't need access security NOW, it will make it safer to get rid of the drive eventually.

    Or destroy the drives and send the computer alone to the reuse/resycle center

    |23|04Dr|16|12Claw
    |16|14Sysop |12Noverdu |14BBS |04(|14Noverdu.com|04)
    |10Standard Ports for SSH/Telnet Web/HTTP://|14Noverdu.com:808
    |20|15fsxNet/MRC Chat/Registered Doors!/50Nodes/No Time Use! Stay On!|16|07

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Noverdu BBS (21:1/210)
  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to ACMEBBS on Sat May 28 19:47:36 2022
    Bank actually destroy them. Whole computer. Shred, boom
    gone. All when just the HD would be enough. They see it
    as risk mitigation.
    Witch is rather stupid. It's not like the little ram chips will
    remember that Joe Blogs had $50000 in his account... &-;/

    Have seen some video in the past of hard drives being shot with a gun...bench grinder sawing them in half or put them in liquid
    nitrogen & such...smash them with a sledge hammer/run over them.

    Destroying a harddrive is a very fullfilling feeling. *->




    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat May 28 20:40:12 2022
    And how hard is that, boot a usb memory stick with drive
    software on it (I use one called 'vivard") and write zero's to
    the drive.... Or even if more scared, just pull the drive and
    hit it with a indrustrial shredder or a sledge hammer....

    Mind you, I've done this before at the corporate level - the only
    reasons not to are when finance and IT don't want "extra" work.
    Finance is especially good at claiming something's impossible,
    when it requires extra work.

    It only takes a few minuite to do. The hardest part is getting the
    machine to boot from usb. With HP/Dell machines it's just a matter of
    pressing a function key to boot from usb.


    As soon as Management drives such an effort, everything is
    possible.

    Amazing that bit!.



    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to vorlon on Sat May 28 05:31:00 2022
    On Sat May 28 19:47:00 2022, vorlon wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    Have seen some video in the past of hard drives being shot with a gun...bench grinder sawing them in half or put them in liquid
    nitrogen & such...smash them with a sledge hammer/run over them.

    Destroying a harddrive is a very fullfilling feeling. *->

    Very true. Remember having a garage sale & had a guy buy every non-working hard drive off my roommate & me. He wanted the parts for other projects.

    ... Nepotism is ok as long as you keep it in the family.

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  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to vorlon on Sat May 28 05:35:00 2022
    On Sat May 28 20:05:00 2022, vorlon wrote to Spectre <=-

    Make him suffer with a 360K disk...... %->

    Chuckle... that is what I was thinking with an XT... I recall the
    first time I came across 360s... I was used to 140k on an Apple II floppy... and wondered why I couldn't make flippy disks, not
    realising that 360s were double sided...

    Used to use a disk notcher on the C= 64 and flip the disk!

    Did that as well & when I went to my 1st Tandy XT I bought on close out...just reformatted them to run in MS-DOS.

    ... RAMdisk is not an installation procedure!

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  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to ACMEBBS on Mon May 30 11:51:02 2022
    in liquid nitrogen & such...smash them with a sledge
    hammer/run over them.
    Destroying a harddrive is a very fullfilling feeling. *->

    Very true. Remember having a garage sale & had a guy buy every
    non-working hard drive off my roommate & me. He wanted the parts
    for other projects.

    The magnets make some really good things for other project. They are
    string buggers.! *-:)




    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to ACMEBBS on Mon May 30 11:53:36 2022
    Used to use a disk notcher on the C= 64 and flip the disk!

    Did that as well & when I went to my 1st Tandy XT I bought on close out...just reformatted them to run in MS-DOS.

    I just the other day got a heap of 3.2" DD disk's and have started
    re-forming them for the Amiga and turfing the bad ones into the bin....




    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to ACMEBBS on Mon May 30 12:06:08 2022
    Destroying a harddrive is a very fullfilling feeling. *->

    Very true. Remember having a garage sale & had a guy buy every
    non-working hard drive off my roommate & me. He wanted the parts
    for other projects.

    The magnets make some really good things for other project. They are
    strong buggers.! *-:)



    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to vorlon on Tue May 31 00:44:00 2022
    On Mon May 30 11:51:00 2022, vorlon wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    > AC> Very true. Remember having a garage sale & had a guy buy every
    non-working hard drive off my roommate & me. He wanted the parts
    for other projects.

    The magnets make some really good things for other project. They are
    string buggers.! *-:)

    Was shocked we made a few bucks from something we had no idea there was a use for these drives.

    ... Never Underestimate the Power of Stupid People in Large Groups

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  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to vorlon on Tue May 31 00:46:00 2022
    On Mon May 30 11:53:00 2022, vorlon wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    Did that as well & when I went to my 1st Tandy XT I bought on close out...just reformatted them to run in MS-DOS.

    I just the other day got a heap of 3.2" DD disk's and have started re-forming them for the Amiga and turfing the bad ones into the bin....

    Don't think I have anything older than some CDR's. There was a time when I had storage boxes of these. Now...none.

    ... First, listen to sermon, THEN eat missionary!

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  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to ACMEBBS on Sat Jun 4 22:24:44 2022
    The magnets make some really good things for other project. They
    are strong buggers.! *-:)

    Was shocked we made a few bucks from something we had no idea there
    was a use for these drives.

    The platters can also be used as wind chimes, and to keep birds of
    plants.





    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to ACMEBBS on Sat Jun 4 22:27:34 2022
    I just the other day got a heap of 3.5" DD disk's and have
    started re-forming them for the Amiga and turfing the bad ones
    into the bin....

    Don't think I have anything older than some CDR's. There was a time
    when I had storage boxes of these. Now...none.

    Yeah, us humans tend to think "I'll never need that again", and yet years
    down the track that is what we go searching for.

    I got lucky back in 2009, when a place I worked at shut down and a heap
    of IT gear just went into the bin. I grabbed what I wanted, and one was a
    heap of disk's etc... Cables, and tools.




    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to vorlon on Sun Jun 5 02:47:00 2022
    On Sat Jun 4 22:24:00 2022, vorlon wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    The magnets make some really good things for other project. They
    are strong buggers.! *-:)
    Was shocked we made a few bucks from something we had no idea there
    was a use for these drives.

    The platters can also be used as wind chimes, and to keep birds of
    plants.

    Have heard about that...as well as nice images from old CR/DVD's from the sun.

    ... Yield to temptation, it may not pass your way again.
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    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
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  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to vorlon on Sun Jun 5 02:54:00 2022
    On Sat Jun 4 22:27:00 2022, vorlon wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    I just the other day got a heap of 3.5" DD disk's and have
    started re-forming them for the Amiga and turfing the bad ones
    into the bin....
    Don't think I have anything older than some CDR's. There was a time when I had storage boxes of these. Now...none.

    Yeah, us humans tend to think "I'll never need that again", and yet years down the track that is what we go searching for.

    Very true! Bad thing is that unless I have an interdimensional storage bin...have no way of being able to keep the stuff. On the other hand...when CD's came along...compared to floppies...seemed like a god-send for not having a bad CD...compared to floppies.

    I got lucky back in 2009, when a place I worked at shut down and a heap
    of IT gear just went into the bin. I grabbed what I wanted, and one was a heap of disk's etc... Cables, and tools.

    In 2013...was working at an elementary school which threw a bunch of software away. Ended up with a shrink wrapped copy of OS/2 4 Warp/Win-OS/2 they were going to throw away. They had no idea of what it was or the use of it. Asked if I could have it & they were happy that I got it. Believe I still have it packed away in the shrink wrap.

    For that matter...would've paid a small fee...if needed...since I had bought a non-Win-OS/2 copy of Warp 3.0 from Wal-Mart in the mid-90's.

    ... One good thing about Alzheimer's is you get to meet new people every day. === TitanMail/winnt v1.1.5
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  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to ACMEBBS on Tue Jun 7 10:08:48 2022
    I got lucky back in 2009, when a place I worked at shut down and
    a heap of IT gear just went into the bin. I grabbed what I
    wanted, and one was a heap of disk's etc... Cables, and tools.

    In 2013...was working at an elementary school which threw a bunch
    of software away. Ended up with a shrink wrapped copy of OS/2 4 Warp/Win-OS/2 they were going to throw away. They had no idea of
    what it was or the use of it. Asked if I could have it & they were
    happy that I got it. Believe I still have it packed away in the
    shrink wrap.

    I still have the Warp4 CD, but that's it. If I had some PC hardware from
    that time, I'd be able to run it. But the things IBM did made it fail to install on newer hardware. I've not tried the new versions (Ecomm/Arca).
    One being the cost for the product, and the second being that I've now
    moved onto other OS's. (Linux, and &^%&^Doze for client support).


    For that matter...would've paid a small fee...if needed...since I
    had bought a non-Win-OS/2 copy of Warp 3.0 from Wal-Mart in the
    mid-90's.

    I never had to pay for OS/2, it was a requirement to learn how it worked/install at a place I worked at.. I started with Warp3.

    It was a joy to run, and very stable. It ran my BBS system for many
    years.




    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to vorlon on Tue Jun 7 01:22:00 2022
    On Tue Jun 7 10:08:00 2022, vorlon wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    Believe I still have it packed away in the shrink wrap.
    I still have the Warp4 CD, but that's it. If I had some PC hardware from that time, I'd be able to run it. But the things IBM did made it fail to install on newer hardware. I've not tried the new versions (Ecomm/Arca).
    One being the cost for the product, and the second being that I've now
    moved onto other OS's. (Linux, and &^%&^Doze for client support).

    Same here. Do have to say I had a subscription for 2 years to Arca and was MUCH improved from the Warp 4 days.

    For that matter...would've paid a small fee...if needed...since I
    had bought a non-Win-OS/2 copy of Warp 3.0 from Wal-Mart in the mid-90's.
    I never had to pay for OS/2, it was a requirement to learn how it worked/install at a place I worked at.. I started with Warp3.

    Remembered having ordered the 2.1 floppies from IBM for free to test it. Didn't have the hardware...so just used the floppies. When I did get the money/hardware...ended up getting Warp 3 on CD.

    A temp job I had for a day or two had me doing a move for Ford to another location. Set up their systems in a new office & all of them were running Token Ring with OS/2. Getting all the workstations set up/running without any of the Windows issues blew my mind...so got a copy of it when I could do so.

    It was a joy to run, and very stable. It ran my BBS system for many
    years.

    That was 1 thing I was most shocked about...compared to Windows. Never had any of the BS I would run into with older versions of Windows.

    ... If you pull the wings off a fly, does it become a walk?
    === TitanMail/winnt v1.1.5
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: fsxNet FTN<>QWK Gateway (21:4/10)
  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to ACMEBBS on Wed Jun 8 16:40:56 2022
    hardware from that time, I'd be able to run it. But the things
    IBM did made it fail to install on newer hardware. I've not
    tried the new versions (Ecomm/Arca). One being the cost for the
    product, and the second being that I've now moved onto other
    OS's. (Linux, and &^%&^Doze for client support).

    Same here. Do have to say I had a subscription for 2 years to Arca
    and was MUCH improved from the Warp 4 days.

    I read all the hype etc, but just wasn't willing to spedn the money they
    wanted (I think it came to over $150AUD).

    A temp job I had for a day or two had me doing a move for Ford to
    another location. Set up their systems in a new office & all of
    them were running Token Ring with OS/2. Getting all the
    workstations set up/running without any of the Windows issues blew
    my mind...so got a copy of it when I could do so.

    Yeah, it's a pitty that IBM shot them self's in the foot, and it also
    didn't help that MS screwed the pooch at the same time. Win NT/2000 could
    run OS/2 console programs for some time, untill MS removed that feature.

    It was a joy to run, and very stable. It ran my BBS system for
    many years.

    That was 1 thing I was most shocked about...compared to Windows.
    Never had any of the BS I would run into with older versions of
    Windows.

    The hardware took leaps and bounds, yet IBM didn't do anything to keep up
    or market OS/2 correctly.





    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to vorlon on Wed Jun 8 04:39:00 2022
    On Wed Jun 8 16:40:00 2022, vorlon wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    Same here. Do have to say I had a subscription for 2 years to Arca
    and was MUCH improved from the Warp 4 days.
    I read all the hype etc, but just wasn't willing to spedn the money they wanted (I think it came to over $150AUD).

    Decided it wasn't worth the money ($58 US a year). At one time...I was spending a ton of time setting up the former BBS under Warp 5...but was a bear to get working compared to Windows.

    A temp job I had for a day or two had me doing a move for Ford to another location. Set up their systems in a new office & all of
    them were running Token Ring with OS/2. Getting all the
    workstations set up/running without any of the Windows issues blew
    my mind...so got a copy of it when I could do so.
    Yeah, it's a pitty that IBM shot them self's in the foot, and it also
    didn't help that MS screwed the pooch at the same time. Win NT/2000 could run OS/2 console programs for some time, untill MS removed that feature.

    Very true. Blew away the corporate...but had no idea on how to deal with customers like us.

    It was a joy to run, and very stable. It ran my BBS system for
    many years.
    That was 1 thing I was most shocked about...compared to Windows.
    Never had any of the BS I would run into with older versions of Windows.
    The hardware took leaps and bounds, yet IBM didn't do anything to keep up
    or market OS/2 correctly.

    True. Even today...it was true of being a better DOS than DOS & making Win/OS/2 run like it should have.

    ... The 4 food groups: Fast, frozen, instant and microwaved.
    === TitanMail/winnt v1.1.5
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: fsxNet FTN<>QWK Gateway (21:4/10)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to vorlon on Wed Jun 8 22:04:00 2022
    The hardware took leaps and bounds, yet IBM didn't do anything to keep up or market OS/2 correctly.

    One of the problems with OS Who was the over compatibility with Windoze.. if you're writing software and your lowest common demoninator is to write for Winsloth and expect OS Who to cope with it, who'd write native applications?

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to vorlon on Wed Jun 8 09:17:44 2022
    Re: Re: Am I the only one dum
    By: vorlon to ACMEBBS on Wed Jun 08 2022 04:40 pm

    Yeah, it's a pitty that IBM shot them self's in the foot, and it also

    The hardware took leaps and bounds, yet IBM didn't do anything to keep up or market OS/2 correctly.

    Sometimes it seems like the product that becomes most popular did so because of its marketing, not because it's technically the best. I agree, IBM didn't seem to market OS/2 well enough compared to Microsoft with Windows.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to ACMEBBS on Mon Jun 13 12:25:56 2022
    I read all the hype etc, but just wasn't willing to spend the
    money they wanted (I think it came to over $150AUD).

    Decided it wasn't worth the money ($58 US a year). At one time...I
    was spending a ton of time setting up the former BBS under Warp
    5...but was a bear to get working compared to Windows.

    Yeah, it just wasn't worth the effort for such a neich product. The
    world of OS's had moved on.

    Yeah, it's a pitty that IBM shot them self's
    in the foot, and it also didn't help that MS screwed the pooch
    at the same time. Win NT/2000 could run OS/2 console programs
    for some time, untill MS removed that feature.

    Very true. Blew away the corporate...but had no idea on how to deal
    with customers like us.

    I never needed the support from IBM. When OS/2 was around, the bbs's with
    lot's of support were as well. People at the time put the effort into
    makeing things for OS/2 and enhancing things.

    The hardware took leaps and bounds, yet IBM didn't do anything
    to keep up or market OS/2 correctly.

    True. Even today...it was true of being a better DOS than DOS &
    making Win/OS/2 run like it should have.

    I didn't bother with the Win support, I was more intrested in the native
    OS/2 & DOS support. I ran Maximus/2 as the BBS, and went to the effort
    of customizing the look and feel of it. There was a stock system in town
    and users didn't think I was running the same software. #-)




    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to Spectre on Mon Jun 13 12:47:50 2022
    The hardware took leaps and bounds, yet IBM didn't do anything
    to keep up or market OS/2 correctly.

    One of the problems with OS Who was the over compatibility with
    Windoze.. if you're writing software and your lowest common
    demoninator is to write for Winsloth and expect OS Who to cope with
    it, who'd write native applications?

    Yes true, if IBM didn't get into bed with MS then it would have been all native. The outcome would have been very different.




    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From vorlon@21:1/195.1 to Nightfox on Mon Jun 13 12:50:16 2022
    Sometimes it seems like the product that becomes most popular did
    so because of its marketing, not because it's technically the best.
    I agree, IBM didn't seem to market OS/2 well enough compared to
    Microsoft with Windows.

    Yes. The same thing went on with the VHS vs Beta video world..... Even
    though the Beta standard was better, it failed.

    IBM was more inlline with serviced high price contract's and business...
    Plus each IBM department was compeating with eachother... That just makes
    it even harder....




    \/orlon



    --- MagickaBBS v0.15alpha (Linux/m68k)
    * Origin: Vorlon Empire (21:1/195.1)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to vorlon on Mon Jun 13 00:37:00 2022
    On Mon Jun 13 12:25:00 2022, vorlon wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    I read all the hype etc, but just wasn't willing to spend the
    money they wanted (I think it came to over $150AUD).
    Yeah, it just wasn't worth the effort for such a neich product. The
    world of OS's had moved on.

    True. Was/is a good product...but with other OS's there are...just not worth the money/time anymore.

    Very true. Blew away the corporate...but had no idea on how to deal with customers like us.
    I never needed the support from IBM. When OS/2 was around, the bbs's with lot's of support were as well. People at the time put the effort into makeing things for OS/2 and enhancing things.

    Remember those days.

    The hardware took leaps and bounds, yet IBM didn't do anything
    to keep up or market OS/2 correctly.
    True. Even today...it was true of being a better DOS than DOS &
    making Win/OS/2 run like it should have.

    I didn't bother with the Win support, I was more intrested in the native OS/2 & DOS support. I ran Maximus/2 as the BBS, and went to the effort
    of customizing the look and feel of it. There was a stock system in town
    and users didn't think I was running the same software. #-)

    Remember Sean D in Oklahoma City who used to run it. Having been roommates at the time...he tried to show me how fantastic Max was.

    ... Never put off till tomorrow what you can ignore entirely.
    === TitanMail/winnt v1.1.5
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: fsxNet FTN<>QWK Gateway (21:4/10)
  • From Utopian Galt@21:4/108 to Acmebbs on Mon Jun 13 14:03:32 2022
    BY: ACMEBBS(21:4/10)


    Remember Sean D in Oklahoma City who used to run it. Having been
    roommates at the time...he tried to show me how fantastic Max was.
    there are some good maximus mods like the lite bar area changers.


    --- WWIV 5.5.1.3261
    * Origin: inland utopia * california * iutopia.duckdns.org:2023 (21:4/108)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to Utopian Galt on Mon Jun 13 20:08:00 2022
    On Mon Jun 13 14:03:00 2022, Utopian Galt wrote to Acmebbs <=-

    Remember Sean D in Oklahoma City who used to run it. Having been roommates at the time...he tried to show me how fantastic Max was.
    there are some good maximus mods like the lite bar area changers.

    Having run Telegard/Renegade/TAG at the time...it seemed confusing on how to configure it compared to the 3 mentioned. One great thing that I liked about Max was Squish. Even used it when running my own BBS's.

    Worse part about this time in BBS'ing history is not being around many other sysops. Back in the day...had dozens around who lived in the same area who were happy to come over to help. Now...being out in BFE...miss having people down the street/same city...along with the picnics.

    ... Is it illegal to run into a crowded fire and yell "Theater!?"
    === TitanMail/winnt v1.1.5
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: fsxNet FTN<>QWK Gateway (21:4/10)
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to ACMEBBS on Tue Jun 14 09:30:31 2022
    Re: Re: Am I the only one dum
    By: ACMEBBS to Utopian Galt on Mon Jun 13 2022 08:08 pm

    Worse part about this time in BBS'ing history is not being around many other sysops. Back in the day...had dozens around who lived in the same area who were happy to come over to help. Now...being out in BFE...miss having people down the street/same city...along with the picnics.

    I didn't personally know many other sysops in the 90s when I ran my original BBS (though there were a lot of local BBSes in my area that I called). A few of my friends in high school knew what a BBS was and would call my BBS sometimes (though I had another friend who knew about computers, but he said "What's a BBS?" when I told him I ran one.)

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to Nightfox on Wed Jun 15 14:46:00 2022
    On Tue Jun 14 09:30:00 2022, Nightfox wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    Worse part about this time in BBS'ing history is not being around many other sysops. Back in the day...had dozens around who lived in the same area who were happy to come over to help. Now...being out in BFE...miss having people down the street/same city...along with the picnics.
    I didn't personally know many other sysops in the 90s when I ran my original
    BBS (though there were a lot of local BBSes in my area that I called). A few
    of my friends in high school knew what a BBS was and would call my BBS sometimes (though I had another friend who knew about computers, but he said
    "What's a BBS?" when I told him I ran one.)

    Used to live with several sysops in the same house with 4 phone lines for each of us.

    Yeah...back in the past...we had a tightly knit group. Would hang out for picnics/parties & go over to each others houses. Outside of work...these were the friends we hung around with.

    ... Do not look into laser with remaining eyeball.
    === TitanMail/winnt v1.1.5
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: fsxNet FTN<>QWK Gateway (21:4/10)
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to ACMEBBS on Wed Jun 15 15:02:19 2022
    Re: Re: Am I the only one dum
    By: ACMEBBS to Nightfox on Wed Jun 15 2022 02:46 pm

    Used to live with several sysops in the same house with 4 phone lines for each of us.

    Wow.. Lots of phone lines going into one house.

    Yeah...back in the past...we had a tightly knit group. Would hang out for picnics/parties & go over to each others houses. Outside of work...these were the friends we hung around with.

    That's cool. I only ever met up with another BBS user once.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to Nightfox on Fri Jun 17 05:09:00 2022
    On Wed Jun 15 15:02:00 2022, Nightfox wrote to ACMEBBS <=-

    Re: Re: Am I the only one dum
    By: ACMEBBS to Nightfox on Wed Jun 15 2022 02:46 pm

    Used to live with several sysops in the same house with 4 phone lines for
    each of us.
    Wow.. Lots of phone lines going into one house.

    Oh yeah! 3 of them were for the BBS's & 1 voice line.

    Yeah...back in the past...we had a tightly knit group. Would hang out for
    picnics/parties & go over to each others houses. Outside of work...these
    were the friends we hung around with.
    That's cool. I only ever met up with another BBS user once.

    Think I might have the picnic t-shirt somewhere. 30 years later...is probably threadbare.

    ... Hey Santa, how much for your list of naughty little boys?
    === TitanMail/winnt v1.1.5
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: fsxNet FTN<>QWK Gateway (21:4/10)
  • From Tim A@21:1/114 to Nightfox on Mon Jun 20 22:39:18 2022
    Yeah...back in the past...we had a tightly knit group. Would hang out picnics/parties & go over to each others houses. Outside of work...th were the friends we hung around with.

    That's cool. I only ever met up with another BBS user once.


    There was a local worldgroup board called Baudtown here in Los Angeles that i would call into all the time, multi-node live chat, highly active msg bases, trivia bot, ect. I shared the number (and what a bbs even was) with friends and got them hooked as well :)

    Every Wed they would have a meetup at a local Pizza spot and everyone would get to meet face to face. It was weird at first but became a great weekly thing for my group of friends.

    ... If you can't make it good, make it LOOK good. -Bill Gates.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/01 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: throwbackbbs.com -\- meriden, ct -\- (21:1/114)
  • From Dr. What@21:1/203 to Nightfox on Sun Jun 19 09:26:51 2022
    That's cool. I only ever met up with another BBS user once.

    Back when I was BBSing a **lot**, we would have at least a yearly BBS party. One of the BBS people had access to a really nice county recreation area and one of the places that could be checked out was effectively a small island with pavilion. So she did that for us.

    Later, someone set up a Saturday night BBS get together at a local restaurant. Things were usually slow then, so they didn't mind if 20 of us wondered in and out, having a meal and talking for 2-3 hours.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: Rocket Town BBS (21:1/203)
  • From ACMEBBS@21:4/10 to Dr. What on Tue Jun 21 12:58:00 2022
    On Sun Jun 19 09:26:00 2022, Dr. What wrote to Nightfox <=-

    That's cool. I only ever met up with another BBS user once.

    Back when I was BBSing a **lot**, we would have at least a yearly BBS party.
    One of the BBS people had access to a really nice county recreation area and
    one of the places that could be checked out was effectively a small island with
    pavilion. So she did that for us.

    Later, someone set up a Saturday night BBS get together at a local restaurant.
    Things were usually slow then, so they didn't mind if 20 of us wondered in and
    out, having a meal and talking for 2-3 hours

    Ham radio clubs still do this. Usually happens once a month at local restaurants. During the summer...there's the annual picnic.

    ... A man went looking for America, and he couldn't find it anywhere.
    === TitanMail/winnt v1.1.5
    --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
    * Origin: fsxNet FTN<>QWK Gateway (21:4/10)
  • From paulie420@21:2/150 to Dr. What on Tue Jun 21 20:08:14 2022
    Back when I was BBSing a **lot**, we would have at least a yearly BBS party. One of the BBS people had access to a really nice county recreation area and one of the places that could be checked out was effectively a small island with pavilion. So she did that for us.

    Later, someone set up a Saturday night BBS get together at a local restaurant. Things were usually slow then, so they didn't mind if 20 of us wondered in and out, having a meal and talking for 2-3 hours.

    In my High School days, bbSes were a huge part of my social group. I dated bbS chciks, went to bbS parties - even ran around to 3 bbS-person proms...

    bbSing was m0re to me than most; my friend circle was comprised of bbS friends. Some of whom I still know to this day. :P

    Rainman @ Never Never Land BBS still runs his board to this day, from 1992.



    |07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
    |08.........

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/04/03 (Raspberry Pi/32)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)
  • From Mhansel739@21:3/171 to Dr. What on Sat Jun 25 06:26:56 2022
    I only met with a BBS person one time. He came over and picked me up and
    we hung out. But that was it. Nothing more than that. Once I got older
    and had access to a car (and girls), computers and BBSing were kind of
    second fiddle. :(
    --Matt

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Mhansel739 on Sat Jun 25 11:32:30 2022
    On 25 Jun 22 06:26:56 Mhansel739 wrote...

    I only met with a BBS person one time. He came over and picked me up
    and we hung out. But that was it. Nothing more than that. Once I got
    older and had access to a car (and girls), computers and BBSing were
    kind of second fiddle. :( --Matt

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    That's why I like the Atari BBS community chats. We can "kinda" hang out
    but we don't have to go anywhere.

    Though I'm still hoping to get to VCF Midwest and meet Darklord and plan
    some world domination through ST BBSing.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Dr. What@21:3/122 to Mhansel739 on Fri Jul 8 08:18:00 2022
    Mhansel739 wrote to Dr. What <=-

    I only met with a BBS person one time. He came over and picked me up
    and we hung out. But that was it. Nothing more than that. Once I got
    older and had access to a car (and girls), computers and BBSing were
    kind of second fiddle. :(

    I can understand that. Priorities. 8)

    When we did the BBS gettogethers, there were a good number of women who were on the BBS - some of them were sysops. They joked that they liked them because they could safely flirt with many guys at once.

    But most of them were... interesting... to say the least.


    ... I got everything but the part after "Now listen closely".
    === MultiMail/Linux v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
    * Origin: Final Zone BBS (21:3/122)
  • From Margaerynne@21:2/138 to Dr. What on Fri Jul 8 09:01:17 2022
    Re: Re: Am I the only one dum
    By: Dr. What to Mhansel739 on Fri Jul 08 2022 08:18 am

    But most of them were... interesting... to say the least.

    I miss having more time to hang out on the internet and meet interesting people.

    Would we be friends in person? Maybe not. But there's something wonderful about seeing a side of someone that they don't share anywhere else.
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Mhansel739@21:3/171 to Commodore Clifford on Fri Jul 8 04:52:56 2022
    Though I'm still hoping to get to VCF Midwest and meet Darklord and pla some world domination through ST BBSing.
    Well, that sounds like some old school Pinky and the Brain stuff right
    there. What are we going to do tonight? The same thing we do every night
    - take over the world!
    --Matt

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Mhansel739 on Fri Jul 8 10:11:56 2022
    On 08 Jul 22 04:52:56 Mhansel739 wrote...

    Though I'm still hoping to get to VCF Midwest and meet Darklord
    and pla some world domination through ST BBSing.
    Well, that sounds like some old school Pinky and the Brain stuff
    right there. What are we going to do tonight? The same thing we do
    every night - take over the world! --Matt

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    I'm working on it... Actually was just working on the press release.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Mhansel739 on Sat Jul 9 11:39:40 2022
    Way back in the day, we used to have "BBS" parties at the local Pizza
    Hut. We had crowds of 30-50 people show up, and it drove the PH workers
    nuts trying to arrange seating for us all. Those were really good times,
    we had older people, younger people, all thrown in the mix with good food
    and great conversation.

    I have to admit, I miss those days... :)


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Dr. What on Sat Jul 9 13:55:06 2022
    On 08 Jul 22 08:18:00 Dr. What wrote...

    I can understand that. Priorities. 8)

    When we did the BBS gettogethers, there were a good number of women
    who were on the BBS - some of them were sysops. They joked that they
    liked them because they could safely flirt with many guys at once.

    But most of them were... interesting... to say the least.

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Most of the get-togethers were interesting, or ... most of the women? ;)

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Margaerynne on Sat Jul 9 13:58:16 2022
    On 08 Jul 22 09:01:17 Margaerynne wrote...

    Re: Re: Am I the only one dum By: Dr. What to Mhansel739 on Fri
    Jul 08 2022 08:18 am

    But most of them were... interesting... to say the least.

    I miss having more time to hang out on the internet and meet
    interesting people.

    Would we be friends in person? Maybe not. But there's something
    wonderful about seeing a side of someone that they don't share
    anywhere else. --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    That's why I like our monthly meetings. We get a chance to talk to each
    other on a regular schedule... so far, we've stuck to it, even when we
    didn't really have a "plan" for what we wanted to talk about. Sometimes
    those end up being the most fun.

    But it's nice to set that time aside dedicated to spending it with like
    minded (and sometimes not so like minded) individuals from your
    "community".

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Darklord on Sat Jul 9 14:03:04 2022
    On 09 Jul 22 11:39:40 Darklord wrote...

    Way back in the day, we used to have "BBS" parties at the local Pizza
    Hut. We had crowds of 30-50 people show up, and it drove the PH
    workers nuts trying to arrange seating for us all. Those were really
    good times, we had older people, younger people, all thrown in the
    mix with good food and great conversation.

    I have to admit, I miss those days... :)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    I do wish I had been a little older in those days so I could have gone to
    stuff like that without relying on older friends or parents for
    transportation. My parents weren't really the kind to let me go hang out
    with strange adults (and meeting them only helped to confirm the
    "strange" part in many cases).

    And of course, let us not forget the "user group meetings" which we all
    know were swap-meets.... as in, we meet and swap disks in and out as
    we.... archive them (and of course, you need to archive off-site, so...
    each of my friend's homes were... off-site!)

    The one I went to a couple times (again, young, transportation, parents
    found out what was going on) was in the basement of a church of all
    places.

    I always wondered if they knew how many times that commandment was being broken.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Bikerbob@21:3/171 to Commodore Clifford on Sun Jul 10 11:32:10 2022
    On 08 Jul 22 10:11:56 Commodore Clifford wrote...

    On 08 Jul 22 04:52:56 Mhansel739 wrote...

    Though I'm still hoping to get to VCF Midwest and meet Darklord
    and pla some world domination through ST BBSing.
    Well, that sounds like some old school Pinky and the Brain stuff
    right there. What are we going to do tonight? The same thing we do every night - take over the world! --Matt

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    I'm working on it... Actually was just working on the press release.


    To which Bikerbob replies...

    Sounds good. I would like to be there for that meeting as well. Not sure
    I am going to make VCF Midwest this year, but still fun to talk about it.
    Love that there are still some networked msg bases that are still talking retro, and still exhcanging. :)

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Bikerbob@21:3/171 to Darklord on Sun Jul 10 11:34:20 2022
    On 09 Jul 22 11:39:40 Darklord wrote...

    Way back in the day, we used to have "BBS" parties at the local Pizza
    Hut. We had crowds of 30-50 people show up, and it drove the PH workers nuts trying to arrange seating for us all. Those were really good times
    we had older people, younger people, all thrown in the mix with good fo
    and great conversation.

    I have to admit, I miss those days... :)


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/


    To which Bikerbob replies...

    Yeah I did not go to a ton of them, but for us in this area, it was also
    a usergroup meeting and a Pirite soft exchanage meeting as well. :) I am
    not sure I ever really got out to BBS meetings when I was of drinking
    age.. I think I had moved on by then.. it was the dark days of 486+
    computing. ;)

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Bikerbob on Sun Jul 10 14:41:50 2022
    On 10 Jul 22 11:32:10 Bikerbob wrote...

    On 08 Jul 22 10:11:56 Commodore Clifford wrote...
    I'm working on it... Actually was just working on the press
    release.


    To which Bikerbob replies...

    Sounds good. I would like to be there for that meeting as well. Not
    sure I am going to make VCF Midwest this year, but still fun to talk
    about it. Love that there are still some networked msg bases that are
    still talking retro, and still exhcanging. :)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Well, I meant the press release about me taking over the world.

    But yes, I like fsxNet so far... as far as the messages still exchanging,
    there are still some technical hurdles to make it fully smooth and
    automated. I'm still doing some parts of it manually so far.

    But I'll have all that sorted out by the time you're ready to join.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Bikerbob on Sun Jul 10 14:46:34 2022
    On 10 Jul 22 11:34:20 Bikerbob wrote...

    On 09 Jul 22 11:39:40 Darklord wrote...

    I have to admit, I miss those days... :)

    To which Bikerbob replies...

    Yeah I did not go to a ton of them, but for us in this area, it was
    also a usergroup meeting and a Pirite soft exchanage meeting as well.
    :) I am not sure I ever really got out to BBS meetings when I was of drinking age.. I think I had moved on by then.. it was the dark days
    of 486+ computing. ;)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    It almost makes me just want to get some space at the local library and
    set up some 800xl's and some Happy 1050's and just start copying stuff.

    Heck, maybe someone else might even join me.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Dr. What@21:3/122 to Commodore Clifford on Mon Jul 11 08:01:00 2022
    Commodore Clifford wrote to Dr. What <=-

    Most of the get-togethers were interesting, or ... most of the women?
    ;)

    Both, actually. 8)


    ... Lead me not into temptation, I can find my own way
    === MultiMail/Linux v0.52
    --- SBBSecho 3.11-Win32
    * Origin: Final Zone BBS (21:3/122)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Dr. What on Tue Jul 12 16:11:00 2022
    Sorry Doc, this is really just a general reply... but being what it is, I
    can't reply and change who its going to. :)

    Here in Melbourne, Australia, we had super high density of BBS'. There were two really popular multiline boards followed by hundreds of others. Given the volume of systems, and their users we had meets fairly frequently, at one
    stage you virtually get yourself online and ask what was going on this
    weekend.

    Locations varied wildly, from City Square, an open park area in the middle of the CBD. Pool halls, Charltons.. also in the CBD... to open park areas in
    the suburbs, ice skating rinks, the Valhalla Cinema a low tech setup where initially you even had to take your own chairs and the whole way along you could get in free dressing up for the showing movie and act out parts in
    front of the screen. (Blues Brothers was terribly popular). Even the odd
    ones at someones place, these varied wildly in size and facilities depending
    on the pockets of the parents. Some were really basic, some were really up market.

    By about 1993-4 pretty much every bbs had some kind of connect to the "internet" being usenet for the most part. And the whole thing collapsed not long after as commercial access really took off sealing the fate of local systems. They just about disappeared overnight.

    At this point, I couldn't count how many I attended, only that the more interesting ones stand out in mind. I don't have a lot of regrets from the time, but I could probably had done with being a bit more mature at the time.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Spectre on Tue Jul 12 22:53:26 2022
    Sorry Doc, this is really just a general reply... but being what it is, I can't reply and change who its going to. :)

    Here in Melbourne, Australia, we had super high density of BBS'. There were two really popular multiline boards followed by hundreds of others. Given the volume of systems, and their users we had meets fairly frequently, at one stage you virtually get yourself online and ask what was going on this weekend.

    Locations varied wildly, from City Square, an open park area in the
    middle of the CBD. Pool halls, Charltons.. also in the CBD... to open park areas in the suburbs, ice skating rinks, the Valhalla Cinema a low tech setup where initially you even had to take your own chairs and the whole way along you could get in free dressing up for the showing movie and act out parts in front of the screen. (Blues Brothers was terribly popular). Even the odd ones at someones place, these varied wildly in size and facilities depending on the pockets of the parents. Some were really basic, some were really up market.

    By about 1993-4 pretty much every bbs had some kind of connect to the "internet" being usenet for the most part. And the whole thing collapsed not long after as commercial access really took off sealing the fate of local systems. They just about disappeared overnight.

    At this point, I couldn't count how many I attended, only that the more interesting ones stand out in mind. I don't have a lot of regrets from the time, but I could probably had done with being a bit more mature at the time.

    Spec

    I lived in Melbourne at that time, but never went to a meet up, but then again I didn't start dialing into BBS's until early 1994, shortly before they started disappearing.

    It is perhaps not too late for a meetup, I note there are quite a few Melbournians on fsxNet now.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Mhansel739@21:3/171 to Darklord on Tue Jul 12 07:12:42 2022
    BBS parties at Pizza Hut! Dang - I must have lived in a part of the world
    that was not as cool as you guys. But, I was also NOT running a BBS. I
    was just one of those damn "kids" dialing in, seeing what free warez I
    could get, and maybe posting a message or two.
    --Matt

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Mhansel739 on Tue Jul 12 09:36:36 2022
    On 12 Jul 22 07:12:42 Mhansel739 wrote...

    BBS parties at Pizza Hut! Dang - I must have lived in a part of the
    world that was not as cool as you guys. But, I was also NOT running a
    BBS. I was just one of those damn "kids" dialing in, seeing what free
    warez I could get, and maybe posting a message or two. --Matt

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    I didn't run one either, but if I had been of driving age, I would have
    gone to the BBS meets.

    We did have some meet-ups when I was college age, but those were mostly
    related to FidoNet. I was part of the group that brought net 2215 into
    Akron (separating from Cleveland). We were sooooo cool...we had the
    satellite linkup and everything!

    And now... I'm the last node standing in 2215 it seems. :(

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Darklord on Mon Jul 11 07:45:00 2022
    Darklord wrote to Mhansel739 <=-

    Way back in the day, we used to have "BBS" parties at the local Pizza
    Hut. We had crowds of 30-50 people show up, and it drove the PH workers nuts trying to arrange seating for us all. Those were really good
    times, we had older people, younger people, all thrown in the mix with good food and great conversation.

    I was in a well-known local othernet called NIRVANAnet, and we had quarterly gettogethers. Good times, those. Finding a restaurant that can handle a
    party of N, where N varies between 2 and 25 was a challenge.

    Being a sysop meant getting lots of drinks bought on our behalf, and we had
    a couple of relationships bloom online and at the gettogethers.




    ... This is it -- the center of the maze...
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to boraxman on Wed Jul 13 07:43:00 2022
    I lived in Melbourne at that time, but never went to a meet up, but then again I didn't start dialing into BBS's until early 1994, shortly before they started disappearing.

    Be interesting to know where in Melbourne.. South East it was pretty much all gone by about 93, early 94. Cafe folded after Cef's mother passed away, and Nemesis turned into an ISP... no idea what the setup was, it ran MBBS and support slip connections somehow.

    It is perhaps not too late for a meetup, I note there are quite a few Melbournians on fsxNet now.

    Probably fairer to say Victorians.. but you're right.. there are a number of
    us kicking around.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to boraxman on Wed Jul 13 07:51:00 2022
    again I didn't start dialing into BBS's until early 1994, shortly before

    I really don't recall the year or the month... but it was litterally like someone threw a switch, and all the users just disappeared. We went from I dunno..10-15 callers a day... to 0 in one week, and then they never came back... everyone was to busy getting slip and eventually ppp connects. Only thing that comes to mind, is that it was before I really got around to moving out of my parents.... ponder...maybe a little later than that...

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Margaerynne@21:2/138 to Spectre on Wed Jul 13 08:18:02 2022
    Re: Re: Am I the only one dum
    By: Spectre to Dr. What on Tue Jul 12 2022 04:11 pm

    At this point, I couldn't count how many I attended, only that the more interesting ones stand out in mind. I don't
    have a lot of regrets from the time, but I could probably had done with being a bit more mature at the time.

    Any particularly interesting ones? I'm sure the SysOp would be tickled to know someone is mentioning them all these years later.
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Margaerynne@21:2/138 to Spectre on Wed Jul 13 08:19:38 2022
    Re: Re: Am I the only one dum
    By: Spectre to boraxman on Wed Jul 13 2022 07:43 am

    Probably fairer to say Victorians.. but you're right.. there are a number of us kicking around.

    Not strictly related, but I'm jealous to no end that you get to call yourself
    a Victorian. Where else lets you still be associated with such a classy lady? --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Dr. What on Tue Jul 12 10:50:44 2022
    On 11 Jul 22 08:01:00 Dr. What wrote...

    Commodore Clifford wrote to Dr. What <=-

    Most of the get-togethers were interesting, or ... most of the
    women? ;)

    Both, actually. 8)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    We didn't have too many female BBSers in my area that I was aware of...
    The one or two that I did know about were way older than my "target
    interest level" at the time.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Spectre on Tue Jul 12 10:55:12 2022
    On 12 Jul 22 16:11:00 Spectre wrote...

    At this point, I couldn't count how many I attended, only that the
    more interesting ones stand out in mind. I don't have a lot of
    regrets from the time, but I could probably had done with being a bit
    more mature at the time.

    Spec

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Alas... to be young and stupid again....

    But I suppose as I've said, my biggest regrets from back then was not
    enjoying it as much as I should have. I look back at things like my
    archives and wondered why I only kept x messages when there was such a
    treasure trove of history there.

    Sadly, when the BBS resurgence started taking off again here (for me, it
    was around 2013 when I put SFHQ back up) I came to find that most of the
    local SysOps from back in the day from my area had passed away.

    So.... raise our glasses!!!!

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to boraxman on Tue Jul 12 10:58:06 2022
    On 12 Jul 22 22:53:26 boraxman wrote...

    It is perhaps not too late for a meetup, I note there are quite a few Melbournians on fsxNet now.

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Maybe we should all look to get some meets going in our areas.

    One last hurrah perhaps.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Margaerynne on Thu Jul 14 07:36:00 2022


    Hmmm probably 4 or 5 stick out...

    Allnut Park, because of course we were all nuts... ended up with the GF of
    the time there... so that was memorable...

    Black Rock beach.. there were a few there.. they started clamping down on
    fires on the beach though so they dwindled off...

    Go Karting of course we're all young and dumb and think we can drive...

    Charlton's pool hall was pretty nifty too... 3 level place, karaoke for those that wanted to sing, pool... I forget what was on the other floor now...

    And that ice skating effort...

    Go Karts and Ice Skating were pretty much one offs... If I sit here and think about it, I usually recall maybe 5 specifics and while I'm just puttering
    about others come to mind.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Margaerynne on Thu Jul 14 07:39:00 2022
    Not strictly related, but I'm jealous to no end that you get to call yourself a Victorian. Where else lets you still be associated
    with such a classy lady?

    Hmm well there's more than one Victoria... I know there's one in Seth
    Efrica... given the way the english named things there's probably more around out there I'm not to familiar with...

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Commodore Clifford on Thu Jul 14 09:48:00 2022
    Sadly, when the BBS resurgence started taking off again here (for me, it was around 2013 when I put SFHQ back up) I came to find that most of the local SysOps from back in the day from my area had passed away.

    Not sure about the sysops, they seem to generally be made of sterner stuff here, but any number of the user side of life have left the mortal coil. All sorts of things, degenerative brain conditions, cancer, heart attack, one recently had a stroke...

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Spectre on Fri Jul 15 00:24:40 2022
    Spectre wrote to boraxman <=-

    again I didn't start dialing into BBS's until early 1994, shortly before

    I really don't recall the year or the month... but it was litterally
    like someone threw a switch, and all the users just disappeared. We
    went from I dunno..10-15 callers a day... to 0 in one week, and then
    they never came back... everyone was to busy getting slip and
    eventually ppp connects. Only thing that comes to mind, is that it was before I really got around to moving out of my parents....
    ponder...maybe a little later than that...

    It was a sad day when the BBS I used the most, Paranoimia finally closed down due to lack of use. I still dialled into BBS's until 1999 or so, but there were only a few around in the late 90s. Wasn't the same after Paranoimia left.
    That was kind of the end of the BBS era for me.

    A new era is upon us.

    ___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

    --- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Commodore Clifford on Fri Jul 15 00:24:40 2022
    Commodore Clifford wrote to boraxman <=-

    On 12 Jul 22 22:53:26 boraxman wrote...

    It is perhaps not too late for a meetup, I note there are quite a few Melbournians on fsxNet now.

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Maybe we should all look to get some meets going in our areas.

    One last hurrah perhaps.

    Absolutely. There was discussion at the start of the year about a Melbourne meetup but the consensus was not until after Easter. After Easter I posted again to guage interest, but didn't get much of a reply.

    I should post the question again.

    ___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

    --- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From boraxman@21:1/101 to Spectre on Fri Jul 15 00:24:40 2022
    Spectre wrote to boraxman <=-

    I lived in Melbourne at that time, but never went to a meet up, but then again I didn't start dialing into BBS's until early 1994, shortly before they started disappearing.

    Be interesting to know where in Melbourne.. South East it was pretty
    much all gone by about 93, early 94. Cafe folded after Cef's mother passed away, and Nemesis turned into an ISP... no idea what the setup
    was, it ran MBBS and support slip connections somehow.

    It is perhaps not too late for a meetup, I note there are quite a few Melbournians on fsxNet now.

    Probably fairer to say Victorians.. but you're right.. there are a
    number of us kicking around.

    Spec

    I lived in the North West, around Essendon. I don't think it is too late either. The idea was floated about only half a year ago and I think most of those people are still here on fsxNet.

    I'm actually surprised how many Victorians are on fsxNet, kind of cool.


    ___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

    --- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
  • From Margaerynne@21:2/138 to Spectre on Thu Jul 14 08:23:27 2022
    Re: Re: Am I the only one dum
    By: Spectre to Margaerynne on Thu Jul 14 2022 07:39 am

    Hmm well there's more than one Victoria... I know there's one in Seth Efrica... given the way the english named things there's probably more around out there I'm not to familiar with...

    One or two up in the Great North as well.

    It's a little staggering to think about how important she was, even in her own time. Imagine a newly discovered land becoming the state of Albanese?

    Also, looks like Victoria was largely established by a Mr. Batman, who settled it via Batman's Treaty. I'm sure they have quite a bit of fun with that.
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Margaerynne@21:2/138 to Spectre on Thu Jul 14 08:24:42 2022
    Re: Re: Am I the only one dum
    By: Spectre to Margaerynne on Thu Jul 14 2022 07:36 am

    Go Karts and Ice Skating were pretty much one offs... If I sit here and think about it, I usually recall maybe 5
    specifics and while I'm just puttering
    about others come to mind.

    That sounds like a fun time! I know we'd always talked about doing forum meetups back in the early 2000s, but were too spread out. I wonder how many of my friends I would've met if I'd lived closer?

    Go Karting is unbeatable for an activity, especially before you get your license.
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Jul 13 14:55:24 2022
    On 11 Jul 22 07:45:00 poindexter FORTRAN wrote...

    I was in a well-known local othernet called NIRVANAnet, and we had quarterly gettogethers. Good times, those. Finding a restaurant that
    can handle a party of N, where N varies between 2 and 25 was a
    challenge.

    Being a sysop meant getting lots of drinks bought on our behalf, and
    we had a couple of relationships bloom online and at the
    gettogethers.

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    For us, the location was an event room at a local nursing home (for the
    Fidonet crowd).

    Our EC was a guy who was living there, who had been paralyzed due to an unfortunate accident in his youth (drunk skinny dipping and taking a full
    dive in a shallow pond). Tragic story, but the guy always kept good
    spirits about it and the nursing home was really great about supporting
    his computer hobbies... and all the visits from the "friends" who would
    attend the meetings.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Spectre on Wed Jul 13 14:56:26 2022
    On 13 Jul 22 07:43:00 Spectre wrote...

    I lived in Melbourne at that time, but never went to a meet up,
    but then again I didn't start dialing into BBS's until early
    1994, shortly before they started disappearing.

    Be interesting to know where in Melbourne.. South East it was pretty
    much all gone by about 93, early 94. Cafe folded after Cef's mother
    passed away, and Nemesis turned into an ISP... no idea what the setup
    was, it ran MBBS and support slip connections somehow.

    It is perhaps not too late for a meetup, I note there are quite
    a few Melbournians on fsxNet now.

    Probably fairer to say Victorians.. but you're right.. there are a
    number of us kicking around.

    Spec

    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware] --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval) *
    Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Even the Atari BBS community has an Aussie in it. ;)

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Spectre on Wed Jul 13 14:57:22 2022
    On 13 Jul 22 07:51:00 Spectre wrote...

    again I didn't start dialing into BBS's until early 1994,
    shortly before

    I really don't recall the year or the month... but it was litterally
    like someone threw a switch, and all the users just disappeared. We
    went from I dunno..10-15 callers a day... to 0 in one week, and then
    they never came back... everyone was to busy getting slip and
    eventually ppp connects. Only thing that comes to mind, is that it
    was before I really got around to moving out of my parents.... ponder...maybe a little later than that...

    Spec

    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware] --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval) *
    Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    It was all those free AOL startup disks they used to hand out I think. :(

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Bikerbob on Thu Jul 14 00:46:14 2022
    On 10 Jul 22 11:34:20 Bikerbob wrote...

    To which Bikerbob replies...

    Yeah I did not go to a ton of them, but for us in this area, it was
    also a usergroup meeting and a Pirite soft exchanage meeting as well.
    :) I am not sure I ever really got out to BBS meetings when I was of drinking age.. I think I had moved on by then.. it was the dark days
    of 486+ computing. ;)


    To which Darklord replies...

    I'm sure there was some "exchanges" that went on but I have to admit, I
    was never part of that (hard to believe, I know). IIRC, at that time,
    Floyd County was a "dry" county so there wasn't any alcohol involved. It
    was Pizza Hut, after all... :)


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Mhansel739 on Thu Jul 14 00:48:20 2022
    On 12 Jul 22 07:12:42 Mhansel739 wrote...

    BBS parties at Pizza Hut! Dang - I must have lived in a part of the
    world that was not as cool as you guys. But, I was also NOT running a
    BBS. I was just one of those damn "kids" dialing in, seeing what free
    warez I could get, and maybe posting a message or two. --Matt

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01] * Origin: STar Fleet HQ -
    Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)

    To which Darklord replies...

    It was cool, I have to admit. :)

    And as far as "one of those danged kids" goes, they were the majority of
    our callers, the cream of the crop... :)

    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Darklord on Thu Jul 14 09:04:06 2022
    On 14 Jul 22 00:46:14 Darklord wrote...

    To which Darklord replies...

    I'm sure there was some "exchanges" that went on but I have to admit,
    I was never part of that (hard to believe, I know). IIRC, at that
    time, Floyd County was a "dry" county so there wasn't any alcohol
    involved. It was Pizza Hut, after all... :)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...
    Well, most of the exchanges I went to (well, two total) were both dry
    events too.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Darklord on Thu Jul 14 09:06:04 2022
    On 14 Jul 22 00:48:20 Darklord wrote...

    To which Darklord replies...

    It was cool, I have to admit. :)

    And as far as "one of those danged kids" goes, they were the majority
    of our callers, the cream of the crop... :)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Funny thing is, I started out in the early days of it as one of those
    kids... and ended it in my college days, being annoyed at those kids.

    I had this one 12 year old I specifically recall as being quite annoying.

    His user account is still active though.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to boraxman on Fri Jul 15 09:27:00 2022
    After Easter I posted again to guage interest, but didn't get much
    of a reply.

    I should post the question again.

    Probably, I don't recall seeing any further posts...

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Commodore Clifford on Fri Jul 15 09:36:00 2022
    Even the Atari BBS community has an Aussie in it. ;)

    That doesn't surprise me in the slightest. We had everything under the sun
    down here. If there was a pooter someone was importing them. Early Ataris used to be sold through "Brashes" here, a nominal music and hifi store.

    To go with that we had all sorts of user groups kicking around too..

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Commodore Clifford on Fri Jul 15 09:39:00 2022
    It was all those free AOL startup disks they used to hand out I think. :(

    I don't know that many people used them here... for a while they were a
    thing, lots of people would use the "demo" account and then move on. But
    near 50% of BBS systems became ISPs here until that shook out and they
    started buying each other out.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Commodore Clifford on Fri Jul 15 17:26:00 2022
    Commodore Clifford wrote to Spectre <=-

    But I suppose as I've said, my biggest regrets from back then was not enjoying it as much as I should have. I look back at things like my archives and wondered why I only kept x messages when there was such a treasure trove of history there.

    It's a shame that storage was expensive; I ran on a 320 mb drive for a long time, and I only have 2 backups from that time.


    ... HACK THE PLANET!
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Spectre on Fri Jul 15 17:27:00 2022
    Spectre wrote to Commodore Clifford <=-

    Not sure about the sysops, they seem to generally be made of sterner
    stuff here, but any number of the user side of life have left the
    mortal coil. All sorts of things, degenerative brain conditions,
    cancer, heart attack, one recently had a stroke...

    In Fidonet, it seems like at least one sysop a year goes NO CARRIER.


    ... HACK THE PLANET!
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to poindexter FORTRAN on Sun Jul 17 09:48:00 2022
    It's a shame that storage was expensive; I ran on a 320 mb drive for a long time, and I only have 2 backups from that time.

    I'm not sure what happened to my HD's from that time.. I had some 8 HD's networked of some 4 different 286 based systems, a colorado tape drive
    holding monolithic data, and a cd or two thrown in there as well...

    The last backup I had was the file areas.. that eventually went south, I
    didn't have any Apple II equipment and it was sitting on a 2GB SCSI drive in
    an HFS partition... not much I could do with it, do I handpassed it along to
    a friend, but it eventually got retired, I saw it leave the building in a trailer on its way to recycling.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Spectre on Fri Jul 15 09:03:02 2022
    On 14 Jul 22 09:48:00 Spectre wrote...

    Sadly, when the BBS resurgence started taking off again here
    (for me, it was around 2013 when I put SFHQ back up) I came to
    find that most of the local SysOps from back in the day from my
    area had passed away.

    Not sure about the sysops, they seem to generally be made of sterner
    stuff here, but any number of the user side of life have left the
    mortal coil. All sorts of things, degenerative brain conditions,
    cancer, heart attack, one recently had a stroke...

    Spec

    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware] --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval) *
    Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    It does seem that when you speak enough about the "retro greats" it sadly
    ends up as a memorial. But all the better that we remember them.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to boraxman on Fri Jul 15 09:05:44 2022
    On 15 Jul 22 00:24:40 boraxman wrote...

    It was a sad day when the BBS I used the most, Paranoimia finally
    closed down due to lack of use. I still dialled into BBS's until
    1999 or so, but there were only a few around in the late 90s. Wasn't
    the same after Paranoimia left. That was kind of the end of the BBS
    era for me.

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    I think for me it was when Rubber City Atari pulled the plug and my own
    BBS went down after a hard drive crash ruined a couple weeks of work of improvements I had made. It was heartbreaking and the only backup I had
    done was the pre-work one (I had literally just finished and hadn't done
    the post-work backup yet).

    Funny, this past week, (almost 30 years later) I finally got around to
    getting some of those improvements back in. (Seems like it was way
    easier this time, as if guided by a younger self).

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to boraxman on Fri Jul 15 09:07:40 2022
    On 15 Jul 22 00:24:40 boraxman wrote...

    Absolutely. There was discussion at the start of the year about a Melbourne meetup but the consensus was not until after Easter. After Easter I posted again to guage interest, but didn't get much of a
    reply.

    I should post the question again. ___ MultiMail/Linux v0.52

    --- Mystic BBS/QWK v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64) * Origin: Agency
    BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Certainly can't hurt. I know a couple of us are planning to get together
    at the Vintage Computer Festival (Midwest) here in the US, but you never
    know.

    Even if only a couple people attend, it can be fun for a day.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Commodore Clifford on Mon Jul 18 00:04:10 2022
    On 14 Jul 22 09:06:04 Commodore Clifford wrote...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Funny thing is, I started out in the early days of it as one of those kids... and ended it in my college days, being annoyed at those kids.

    I had this one 12 year old I specifically recall as being quite
    annoying.

    His user account is still active though.

    To which Darklord replies...

    Huh, how old is the 12 year old now? :)


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Darklord on Mon Jul 18 12:03:24 2022
    On 18 Jul 22 00:04:10 Darklord wrote...

    On 14 Jul 22 09:06:04 Commodore Clifford wrote...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Funny thing is, I started out in the early days of it as one of
    those kids... and ended it in my college days, being annoyed at
    those kids.

    I had this one 12 year old I specifically recall as being quite annoying.

    His user account is still active though.

    To which Darklord replies...

    Huh, how old is the 12 year old now? :)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Geeze... should be 40 now. Probably some rich CEO...

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Darklord@21:3/171 to Commodore Clifford on Tue Jul 19 18:28:16 2022
    On 18 Jul 22 12:03:24 Commodore Clifford wrote...

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Geeze... should be 40 now. Probably some rich CEO...

    To which Darklord replies...

    That would be about normal... :)


    /\
    Dark><Lord
    \/

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Bikerbob@21:3/171 to boraxman on Thu Jul 21 16:02:14 2022
    exactly - never too late for a meetup.. and to that point.. did the
    internet really create any type of community that the BBSs did? no I
    found it much easier to be on my own.. no need to socialize or be part of something.. pretty much everything you could or soon would be able to get
    by never having to leave your chair. Kind of sad really.

    James

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Bikerbob on Fri Jul 22 11:13:20 2022
    On 21 Jul 22 16:02:14 Bikerbob wrote...

    exactly - never too late for a meetup.. and to that point.. did the internet really create any type of community that the BBSs did? no I
    found it much easier to be on my own.. no need to socialize or be
    part of something.. pretty much everything you could or soon would be
    able to get by never having to leave your chair. Kind of sad really.

    James

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01] * Origin: STar Fleet HQ -
    Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Well, part of that is the distances involved. With BBS's you were likely dealing with people who were in the same local calling area, so you at
    least knew you all had that in common.

    I think that was probably most of it right there. If there was no such
    thing as "long distance charged" I think the BBS scene would be the same,
    as in ... not really "community".

    Whereas now, BBSing is kind of a community due to a shared love of
    something not widely shared.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Spectre on Mon Jul 25 11:12:40 2022
    On 15 Jul 22 09:36:00 Spectre wrote...

    Even the Atari BBS community has an Aussie in it. ;)

    That doesn't surprise me in the slightest. We had everything under
    the sun down here. If there was a pooter someone was importing them.
    Early Ataris used to be sold through "Brashes" here, a nominal music
    and hifi store.

    To go with that we had all sorts of user groups kicking around too..

    Spec

    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware] --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval) *
    Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    Hmmmmm.... Thinking about it now, maybe one of you picked up his original
    600xl from the dumpster?

    (Kind of a running joke how he regrets getting rid of his original 600xl
    back in the day).

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to Spectre on Mon Jul 25 11:13:32 2022
    On 15 Jul 22 09:39:00 Spectre wrote...

    It was all those free AOL startup disks they used to hand out I
    think. :(

    I don't know that many people used them here... for a while they were
    a thing, lots of people would use the "demo" account and then move
    on. But near 50% of BBS systems became ISPs here until that shook
    out and they started buying each other out.

    Spec

    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware] --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval) *
    Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    When they started using CD's instead of disks, they made great coasters
    for drinks.

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Commodore Clifford@21:3/171 to poindexter FORTRAN on Mon Jul 25 11:16:10 2022
    On 15 Jul 22 17:26:00 poindexter FORTRAN wrote...

    Commodore Clifford wrote to Spectre <=-

    But I suppose as I've said, my biggest regrets from back then
    was not enjoying it as much as I should have. I look back at
    things like my archives and wondered why I only kept x messages
    when there was such a treasure trove of history there.

    It's a shame that storage was expensive; I ran on a 320 mb drive for
    a long time, and I only have 2 backups from that time.

    ... HACK THE PLANET! --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52 * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

    To which Commodore Clifford replies...

    I actually had a 320mb and a 2.1gb SCSI drive setup. That 2.1gb was back
    when even new PC's barely had 500-800mb... Cost me $999 (it was a
    clearance item - a special order priced at $1299 but the guy never came
    to get it). 5.25" full height beast. Doesn't run the BBS anymore, but I
    still have it... still works (though it can be a bit touchy).

    --- RATSoft/FIDO v09.14.95 [JetMail 1.01]
    * Origin: STar Fleet HQ - Real Atari! bbs.sfhqbbs.org:5983 (21:3/171.0)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Commodore Clifford on Wed Jul 27 09:52:00 2022
    Hmmmmm.... Thinking about it now, maybe one of you picked up his original 600xl from the dumpster?

    Hehe, yeah... nah,I lost interest in Atari after about the 800... they disappeared after that here...

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Commodore Clifford on Wed Jul 27 09:56:00 2022
    When they started using CD's instead of disks, they made great coasters for drinks.

    My mother used to tie them into the fruit trees to help scare off the birds.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: A camel is a horse designed by a committee. (21:3/101)