bbs

BBS File Distribution Networks & Games Servers

Posted on by ajross

Some BBSes (Bulletin Boards) are members of Game networks that allow gamers from all over to join in and play in leagues, and also there are BBSes that are members of massive file distribution networks which have terabytes of files to share. Want to know how to get in on the action? Just watch this video!

Whilst I’m at it, here are some personal recommendations of some great BBSes to try out, including my own one!:

The Quantum Wormhole bbs.erb.pw
The Bottomless Abyss bbs.bottomlessabyss.net (port 2023)
Al’s Geek Lab BBS bbs.alsgeeklab.com (port 2323)
20 For Beers 20forbeers.com (port 1337)
The Underground theunderground.us (port 10023)
The Agency BBS agency.bbs.nz
Absinthe BBS absinthebbs.net (port 1940)
Wizards Rainbow wizardsrainbow.com (host to Black Country Rock games)
The Vault BBS thevaultbbs.ddns.net (port 2323)

Back to the BBS Episode 7: The Music Tracker Scene

Posted on by ajross

Starting with the Commodore Amiga, Module tracker music was the first widely used consumer grade sampled audio. It made huge inroads in computer games and the Demoscene from the late ’80s onwards. This episode of Back to the BBS starts off from where the last episode on the Demoscene left off. Interviews in this episode include members of the legendary Demo group, The Future Crew: musicians Purple Motion (Jonne Valtonen) and Skaven (Peter Hajba) join cTrix (Chris Mylrae), TDK (Mark Knight) and Trixter / Mobygamer (Jim Leonard). We talk about the equipment, how the music was made, how the demoscene adopted the format as well as fame and fortune with the games industry. This is a bumper episode that you don’t want to miss!

Back to the BBS Episode 6: The Demoscene

Posted on by ajross

Although not part of BBSes per se, a lot of the demoscene started from distributing software that showed off the capabilities of what a computer could do. The demoscene is still going strong today. This documentary charts back the history right through to the current day, introducing where demos came from, what the demoscene is all about, speaking to the legendary Jim ‘Trixter’ Leonard (@The Oldskool PC ) of 8088 MPH and Mobygames fame, as well as Vegard ‘Shady’ Skefstad of the Crusaders, founder of The Gathering demoparty in Norway, as well as Bill ‘Retrotech’ Hart (of @PCRetroTech ) and Rowan ‘Cthulu’ Lipkovits. This action packed episode takes you on the road from where it all began, with simple cracktros on the 8-bits, to the crazy parties and the professional side of it all. Some wonderful footage of some great demos too!

Back to the BBS Part 5: The Underground (HPAVc/Warez)

Posted on by ajross

In this episode of Back to the BBS, we take a step down memory lane to look at where the darker side of the Internet came from. We examine Warez BBSes and explain what HPAVC boards were all about (Hacking, Phreaking, Anarchy, Virii, Cracking & Carding). We interview Dan Smolders who recalls what life was like for the average underground BBS user, and chat with ‘deathr0w’, who talks about the race to release warez, and how modern day warez is released.

Despite being involved with some illegal activity more than 20 years ago, ‘deathr0w’ still requires anonymity today!

Back to the BBS Part Three: Privacy, Message Groups and Retro Hardware

Posted on by ajross

In this part of the documentary we introduce the matter of privacy, with all the erosion of privacy on the net, the #BBS might provide a real alternative for you. We also introduce BBS messaging, a fun forum and email service. Finally we cover hardware to get your retro equipment such as #Commodore 64 and #Atari machines to connect to a BBS via WiFi!

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This episode features interviews with (in order of appearance):
Howard Sherman (of Excaliber BBS – http://excaliber.club)
‘Denis’ – A young BBS user
Chris Eldrige (Kurisu Yamato)

Contents:
0:00 Introduction
1:38 Privacy
8:41 BBS Messaging Overview
9:19 Chris Eldridge describes Echomail
11:35 Echomail demonstration
18:08 Private email: Netmail
20:22 Using retro hardware to get on a BBS

Back to the BBS Part Two: Games & Mods

Posted on by ajross

In this part of Back to the BBS we introduce Games and Mods. There are interviews with the authors of some excellent brand new games, as well as talking to sysops that make add-on software (mods) to BBS’s that give it some modern and fun functionality. Bulletin Board Systems (BBS’s) were what people went online with before the web. This multi-part documentary shows you what BBS’s do, why they are still relevant and fun to use today.. 

Don’t forget to LIKE this video and please SUBSCRIBE to my channel! Press that NOTIFICATION bell so you get to know when new great videos come out that you’ll like!  I really do appreciate your subscriptions, it makes the countless hours I spend on this channel feel so worthwhile!  If you really like my stuff and fancy spotting me a cup of coffee, don’t forget to check out my Ko-Fi and Patreon pages:

https://www.ko-fi.com/alsgeeklab

https://patreon.com/alsgeeklab

Back to the BBS – The return to being ‘online’

Posted on by ajross
This is part one

Ever wondered what happened ‘online’ before the Internet? Yes! There was something before the ‘net. The crazy thing is, that it’s still going today. They’re called Bulletin Board Systems (BBS’s). They are great fun, they have an awesome community of really fun people (as you’ll see in this video), they have games, cool add-on apps called ‘mods’, message forums (kinda like Facebook groups or usenet), and what’s more, it’s private (in most cases). Completely away from the prying eyes of Google and Facebook, it’s a world that is coming right back to life, and could become even more relevant in this age of online censorship and (mis)use of our information so that Facebook et al. can make money from us.

Think of the best bits of E-mail, usenet, Reddit, Facebook Groups, filesharing and a few more besides. Package it all in one area, with a really cool retro aesthetic and you have a BBS. People run BBS’s today because they are passionate about engaging in a community of people with similar ideals, something they won’t get anywhere else.

Join me in part one of the documentary. Part two is just around the door. I’ve put many months of work into this documentary, with dozens of interviews. Across the series I cover the following topics:

PART ONE:

  • INTRO TO BBS’s
    • What is a BBS?
    • Why are BBS’s fun? (interviews)
    • History
    • Connect via the Internet
    • ANSI graphics/text
    • How to use a BBS
    • Dave Cloutier / BBS Demo
    • Subi (15 yr old BBS user)
    • Dave Perussell (future of BBS’s)
    • Daniel Kelly (aBSINTHe BBS demo)

The following parts of the series cover:

  • GAMES / DOORS
  • MODS
  • HARDWARE
  • BBS SERVER SOFTWARE
  • BBS MESSAGES
  • PRIVACY
  • ANSI GRAPHICS
  • DEMOSCENE / MOD SCENE
  • THE UNDERGROUND

How to set up a retro DOS PC to use the web, IRC chat, email, twitter, connect to BBS’s and more!

Posted on by ajross

In this video I show you how to set up networking using a packet driver and mTCP. After that it’s over to showcasing some of the ways to get apps such as telnetd on a Linux box to give you email, twitter, reddit, rss, video and more. Then there’s the native mTCP apps such as IRC; an FTP server, an FTP client, a telnet client (for you to connect to your Linux box with) and more. Finally, there’s a harkening back to the days pre-internet with BBS’s. I’ll show you how to connect to BBS’s via telnet.