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
On Tue May 24 09:59:00 2022, boraxman wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
probably paid to have them hauled off and thought he'd gotten a favor
because they were so old.
I wept inside.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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".
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.
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)
Realistically, they'd need to wipe the drives before releasing
them.
On Thu May 26 11:43:00 2022, vorlon wrote to claw <=-
Bank actually destroy them. Whole computer. Shred, boom gone.Witch is rather stupid. It's not like the little ram chips will remember that Joe Blogs had $50000 in his account... &-;/
All when just the HD would be enough. They see it as risk
mitigation.
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....
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.
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.
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.
Bank actually destroy them. Whole computer. Shred, boomWitch is rather stupid. It's not like the little ram chips will
gone. All when just the HD would be enough. They see it
as risk mitigation.
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.
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.
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. *->
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!
in liquid nitrogen & such...smash them with a sledgeDestroying a harddrive is a very fullfilling feeling. *->
hammer/run over them.
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.
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.
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.
On Mon May 30 11:51:00 2022, vorlon wrote to ACMEBBS <=-
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.! *-:)
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....
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
For that matter...would've paid a small fee...if needed...since II 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.
had bought a non-Win-OS/2 copy of Warp 3.0 from Wal-Mart in the mid-90's.
It was a joy to run, and very stable. It ran my BBS system for many
years.
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.
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.
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 ArcaI read all the hype etc, but just wasn't willing to spedn the money they wanted (I think it came to over $150AUD).
and was MUCH improved from the Warp 4 days.
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 ofYeah, it's a pitty that IBM shot them self's in the foot, and it also
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.
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 forThe hardware took leaps and bounds, yet IBM didn't do anything to keep up
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.
or market OS/2 correctly.
The hardware took leaps and bounds, yet IBM didn't do anything to keep up or market OS/2 correctly.
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.
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'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.
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 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?
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.
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 theYeah, it just wasn't worth the effort for such a neich product. The
money they wanted (I think it came to over $150AUD).
world of OS's had moved on.
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. #-)
Remember Sean D in Oklahoma City who used to run it. Having beenthere are some good maximus mods like the lite bar area changers.
roommates at the time...he tried to show me how fantastic Max was.
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.
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.
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.
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 forWow.. Lots of phone lines going into one house.
each of us.
Yeah...back in the past...we had a tightly knit group. Would hang out forThat's cool. I only ever met up with another BBS user once.
picnics/parties & go over to each others houses. Outside of work...these
were the friends we hung around with.
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.
That's cool. I only ever met up with another BBS user once.
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
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.
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
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. :(
But most of them were... interesting... to say the least.
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
Though I'm still hoping to get to VCF Midwest and meet DarklordWell, that sounds like some old school Pinky and the Brain stuff
and pla some world domination through ST BBSing.
right there. What are we going to do tonight? The same thing we do
every night - take over the world! --Matt
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.
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)
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... :)
On 08 Jul 22 04:52:56 Mhansel739 wrote...
Though I'm still hoping to get to VCF Midwest and meet DarklordWell, that sounds like some old school Pinky and the Brain stuff
and pla some world domination through ST BBSing.
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.
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
\/
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. :)
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. ;)
Commodore Clifford wrote to Dr. What <=-
Most of the get-togethers were interesting, or ... most of the women?
;)
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
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
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 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.
again I didn't start dialing into BBS's until early 1994, shortly before
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.
Probably fairer to say Victorians.. but you're right.. there are a number of us kicking around.
Commodore Clifford wrote to Dr. What <=-
Most of the get-togethers were interesting, or ... most of the
women? ;)
Both, actually. 8)
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
It is perhaps not too late for a meetup, I note there are quite a few Melbournians on fsxNet now.
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?
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.
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...
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.
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
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...
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.
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.
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)
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 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. ;)
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...
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 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... :)
After Easter I posted again to guage interest, but didn't get much
of a reply.
I should post the question again.
Even the Atari BBS community has an Aussie in it. ;)
It was all those free AOL startup disks they used to hand out I think. :(
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.
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...
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.
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)
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.
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...
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.
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...
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)
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)
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)
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)
Hmmmmm.... Thinking about it now, maybe one of you picked up his original 600xl from the dumpster?
When they started using CD's instead of disks, they made great coasters for drinks.
| Sysop: | altere |
|---|---|
| Location: | Houston, TX |
| Users: | 66 |
| Nodes: | 4 (0 / 4) |
| Uptime: | 09:23:17 |
| Calls: | 728 |
| Calls today: | 1 |
| Files: | 7,666 |
| Messages: | 295,325 |