@quickymart unfortunately not, I only used Auckland based ones

sleemanj:

 

Ahh BBS, thems were the days.  I still have the Amiga 3k which originally ran Abacab and later my own Project Amiga out in the shed that I can't bring myself to part with, along with (I think I still have it) the boxed DLGPro that originally ran Equinox and later Project Amiga.  In fact, there is a full height scsi drive out there somewhere which might well still have the last incarnation of PABBS on it, Fidonet Trapdoor and all.  One of these days I will see if it still spins after, 20 some years.

 

I was fido 3:770/380.0 , sadly I had to google it, the most I could remember now was 3 and 7 something :-)  Protip, don't google yourself if you were ever a usenet user, self imposed cringefest.

 

The arrival of $5 an hour (from memory) internet by Voyager was the death knell really, I distinctly remember reading the ad for it in TV Guide and the next day cadjolling mum's credit card to sign up, all downhill for the BBS from there.

 

 

 

I remember Abacab ;)

I've still got my original Amiga SCSI Quantum drive, connected it to a SCSI controller and fired up WinUAE a few years back - it fired up straight away off the disk and took me straight into my old environment :D Quickly copied everything off it (the massive 120MB) ;)

sleemanj:

 

Ahh BBS, thems were the days.  I still have the Amiga 3k which originally ran Abacab and later my own Project Amiga out in the shed that I can't bring myself to part with, along with (I think I still have it) the boxed DLGPro that originally ran Equinox and later Project Amiga.  In fact, there is a full height scsi drive out there somewhere which might well still have the last incarnation of PABBS on it, Fidonet Trapdoor and all.  One of these days I will see if it still spins after, 20 some years.

 

I was fido 3:770/380.0 , sadly I had to google it, the most I could remember now was 3 and 7 something :-)  Protip, don't google yourself if you were ever a usenet user, self imposed cringefest.

 

The arrival of $5 an hour (from memory) internet by Voyager was the death knell really, I distinctly remember reading the ad for it in TV Guide and the next day cadjolling mum's credit card to sign up, all downhill for the BBS from there.

 

 

 

Well there' s a few familiar names .... Hi James!

NickMack:

 

Well there' s a few familiar names .... Hi James!

 

Yeah GZ tends to be haunted by quite a few of us I think :-)

I'm in danger of falling down a rabbit hole here, Chch BBS list from December 97...

https://groups.google.com/g/alt.bbs.lists/c/TRpjSCj9dNY/m/TPJyWHC3p_IJ

I don't know what the first BBS I ever dialled would have been, but it was on a Zoom Telephonics 2400, bought secondhand from some guy living the nursing hostel out the back of Princess Margaret, they just don't make peripherals this cool looking any more...

I still have my $250-odd 56k modem I purchased from DSE back in 1998 somewhere.

I really got into BBS's in 1994, when living in Wellington. Had a cheap-as 2400 baud modem and used my flatmate's computer in the evenings to dial in. Stayed at my stepbro's one weekend and he had a 14.4k one - holy crap the speed was amazing! :D

Last time I bought a dialup modem (just in case, as my most recent laptop didn't have one), I picked up something like this:
https://www.startech.com/en-nz/networking-io/usb56kemh2

Oh WOW that Welly BBS list brought back some memories.

My first modem was a 14.4k USR Courier - bought off some guy out Botany way. He was tied up with some group bringing in the "warez" back in the day ;) $300.

Awesome modem, after some tweaking, I found I could leave the phone off the hook and this thing wouldn't let go of the line :D

Speaking of going back in time - anyone ever have one of these? (or was I the only one)

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/hardware/reviews/old/61-dlink-dsl200

quickymart:

 

Speaking of going back in time - anyone ever have one of these? (or was I the only one)

 

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/hardware/reviews/old/61-dlink-dsl200

 

 

 

(Hiss) Evil things the early DLink stuff :D

NickMack:

 

:-) Paul and i know each other - http://bbs.thenet.gen.nz - The Trashcan BBS.

 

Nick

 

Hi Nick :)

One day I hope to see you on fsxNet as well as Fidonet - ha!

Hope all is well with you.

Best, Paul.

Golly what a lot of nice chatter about BBS memories 🙂

I'll try to make some time tonight to post a bit of an update about what the scene is like in 2020 for those of you who are curious.

I have been active in BBS since rejoining the scene again in late 2012 and despite what some wiki articles may suggest about the scenes death, I would argue it's actually enjoying a resurgence of popularity in recent years as folks turn off social media channels and seek something simpler and less programmatically targeted with ads etc.

Any-who more on that later. Got to do some outdoor chores now.. the joys of my wife's 'to-do' list.

Best, Paul.

My first modem was a weird 1200/75 baud thing, but I can't remember the manufacturer. Later I progressed to a 2400 Hayes modem then on to a 14.4K.

When I was working on Videotex systems back in the late 80's I used one of these Alcatel terminals:

MurrayM:

 

My first modem was a weird 1200/75 baud thing, but I can't remember the manufacturer. Later I progressed to a 2400 Hayes modem then on to a 14.4K.

 

When I was working on Videotex systems back in the late 80's I used one of these Alcatel terminals:

 

 

My first modem was also a 300, 1200/75 baud modem - You ordered the parts from an Atari Magazine as a kit and put it together...  :-)

Nick.

I thought I'd share a few more thoughts.

BBSing in 2020 is still alive and well. In the 7 years I've been back in the scene it feels like it's enjoying a slow but gradual resurgence.

Those involved are a mix of folk who remember it from the 90s and are returning for nostalgic and other reasons, usually to do with being sick of social media channels and the current backlash against the systems and corporate entities powering them.

There's also a bunch of new younger people interested in the tech and wanting something new, less mainstream and simpler than the 'always on' feel of social channels of today.

BBS feels far less complicated to engage in conversations in and has a slightly 'off the radar' feel to their use. 

Software is a mix of old and new but there is a nice bunch of 'new' being developed (Magicka BBS, Talisman BBS, Enigma 1/2 BBS) in recent years or continuing to be developed (Mystic BBS / Synchronet BBS)

TCP/IP connections now shift FTN packets between HUBs and Node in a FTN network in the blink of an eye. You can happily have a international chat with a 1-2 min delay between post and reply in message networks with folks globally.

People from the USA, Australia, NZ etc. are active. Here's the country stats for nodes active in fsxNet (a global FTN message network I run)

                            NetCountry v1.0.1a(RCS)
                     Current Runtime: 19 Nov 2020 20:35:01
                          Current Nodelist: FSXNET.325
 =============================================================================
             United States            157          60.38%
                    Canada             26          10.00%
                 Australia             20           7.69%
               New Zealand             12           4.62%
                   Germany              9           3.46%
            United Kingdom              6           2.31%
                    Sweden              5           1.92%
               Netherlands              5           1.92%
                 Argentina              4           1.54%
                     Italy              3           1.15%
                    Brazil              2           0.77%
                     Spain              2           0.77%
                    Greece              1           0.38%
            Czech Republic              1           0.38%
                   Ireland              1           0.38%
                  Slovakia              1           0.38%
               Philippines              1           0.38%
                   Austria              1           0.38%
                   Romania              1           0.38%
                   Finland              1           0.38%
 =============================================================================
 Totals                 21            260         100.00%

It's mostly sysops running a BBS for their own reasons with less users now (but still some users) calling in via SSH or Telnet

The ANSI scene is still alive and also enjoying a resurgence

What else... door games are still being played. I run an inter-bbs league that has a few regulars playing older games like LORD and BRE but there are new games also being developed and folks enjoying them such as Galactic Dynasty and For Honour

I'll end this post with a link to a newsletter you may like to download and have a wee read of, it's called NULL.

It's been published by a friend based in Greece who has done a wonderful job at keeping track of BBS life in recent years.

On my BBS you can read past issues online or download copies as well. Some are text only others you need something like a DOS emulator to have the full retro experience to enjoy them

You can grab the latest ZIP file from this link which I will leave up for a while.

If you're curious to discover some new BBS grab a copy of my fsxNet infopack and have a look at the SYSTEMS.TXT file and the HISTORY.TXT file for a feel for who's coming and going and where these systems are based.

Happy to answer any questions. Hope this is of interest to those of you who played in this sandpit before or if you never did but wondered what it might be like.

In short it's still fun and that mix of retro, geek and progressive as it gets.

Best, Paul.