A **bulletin board system** (**BBS**), also called a **computer bulletin board service** (**CBBS**), is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a **terminal program**. Once logged in, the user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging messages with other users through public message boards and sometimes via direct chatting. In the early **1980s**, message networks such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet|FidoNet]] were developed to provide services such as **NetMail**, which is similar to internet-based [[email]]. Many **BBSes** also offer **online games** in which users can compete with each other. **BBSes** with multiple phone lines often provide **chat rooms**, allowing users to interact with each other. **Bulletin board systems** were in many ways a precursor to the modern form of the **World Wide Web**, **social networks**, and other aspects of the **Internet**. Low-cost, **high-performance** asynchronous modems drove the use of online services and **BBSes** through the early **1990s**. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InfoWorld|InfoWorld]] estimated that there were **60,000 BBSes** serving **17 million users** in the **United States** alone in **1994**, a collective market much larger than major online services such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompuServe|CompuServe]]. The introduction of **inexpensive dial-up internet service** and the [[Mosaic web browser]] offered ease of use and **global access** that **BBS** and online systems did not provide, and led to a rapid **crash** in the market starting in late **1994** to early **1995**. Over the next year, many of the leading **BBS** software providers **went bankrupt** and tens of thousands of **BBSes disappeared**. **Today, BBSing survives** largely as a **nostalgic hobby** in most parts of the world, but it is still an **extremely popular** form of communication for **Taiwanese youth** (see [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PTT_Bulletin_Board_System|PTT Bulletin Board System]]). Most surviving **BBSes** are **accessible over Telnet** and typically **offer** free **[[email]] accounts**, [[FTP]] services, [[IRC]] and all the protocols commonly used on the **Internet**. Some offer access through packet switched networks or packet radio connections. ====== History ====== A precursor to the public **bulletin board system** was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Memory|Community Memory]], **started in August 1973** in [[Berkeley]], California. Useful **microcomputers did not exist at that time**, and **modems** were both **expensive and slow**. **Community Memory** therefore ran on a **[[mainframe]]** computer and was accessed through **terminals** located in several **San Francisco Bay Area** neighborhoods. The **poor quality** of the original **modem** connecting the terminals to the **[[mainframe]]** prompted **Community Memory** hardware person, **[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Felsenstein|Lee Felsenstein]]**, to invent the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennywhistle_modem|Pennywhistle modem]], whose design was **highly influential** in the **mid-1970s**. **Community Memory** allowed the user to **type messages** into a **computer terminal** after inserting a **coin**, and offered a "**pure**" **bulletin board experience** with **public messages** only (no email or other features). It did offer the ability to **tag messages** with **keywords**, which the user could use in **searches**. The system acted primarily in the form of a **buy** and **sell** system with the **tags** taking the place of the more traditional **classifications**. But **users found ways** to **express themselves** outside these bounds, and the system spontaneously **created stories**, **poetry** and other forms of communications. The **system was expensive to operate**, and when their host machine became unavailable and a new one could not be found, the **system closed in January 1975**. **Similar functionality** was available to most **mainframe** users, which might be considered a sort of **ultra-local BBS** when used in this fashion. **Commercial systems**, expressly intended to offer these features to the public, became **available** in the **late 1970s** and formed the **online service market** that lasted into the **1990s**. One particularly influential example was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(computer_system)|PLATO]], which **had thousands of users** by the late **1970s**, many of whom used the **messaging** and **chat** room features of the system in the same way that would later become common on **BBSes**. **Early modems** were generally either **expensive** or very simple devices using [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler|acoustic couplers]] to handle telephone operation. The **user** would pick up the **phone**, **dial** a **number**, then press the handset into rubber cups on the top of the **modem**. Disconnecting at the end of a call required the user to pick up the handset and return it to the phone. **Examples** of **direct-connecting modems** did exist, and these often allowed the host computer to send it commands to answer or hang up calls, but these were very **expensive** devices used by large **banks** and similar **companies**. With the introduction of **microcomputers** with expansion slots, like the [[S-100]] bus machines and [[Apple II]], it became possible for the **modem** to communicate **instructions** and **data** on **separate lines**. These machines typically only supported **asynchronous communications**, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_serial_communication|synchronous modems]] were much more expensive than asynchronous modems. A number of modems of this sort were available by the late **1970s**. This made the **BBS** possible for the first time, as it **allowed** software on the **computer** to **pick up** an **incoming call**, **communicate** with the **user**, and then **hang up** the **call** when the user **logged off**. The **first** public **dial-up BBS** was developed by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Christensen|Ward Christensen]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Suess|Randy Suess]], members of the **Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists' Exchange** (**CACHE**). According to an early interview, when Chicago was snowed under during the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blizzard_of_1978|Great Blizzard of 1978]], the two began preliminary work on the **Computerized Bulletin Board System**, or **CBBS**. The system came into existence largely through a fortuitous combination of **Christensen** having a spare **S-100 bus** computer and an **early Hayes internal modem**, and Suess's insistence that the machine be placed at his house in Chicago where it would be a **local phone call** for more users. Christensen patterned the system after the [[cork board|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board]] his local computer club used to post information like "need a ride". **CBBS** officially went online on **16 February 1978**. **CBBS**, which kept a count of callers, reportedly connected **253,301** callers before it was finally retired. The demand for complex **ANSI** and **ASCII** screens and larger file transfers taxed available channel capacity, which in turn increased demand for **faster modems**. **14.4 kbit/s** modems were standard for a number of years while various companies attempted to introduce non-standard systems with higher performance – normally about **19.2 kbit/s**. Another delay followed due to a long **V.34** standards process before **28.8 kbit/s** was released, only to be quickly replaced by **33.6 kbit/s**, and then **56 kbit/s**. These increasing speeds had the side effect of dramatically reducing the noticeable effects of channel efficiency. When modems were slow, considerable effort was put into developing the most efficient protocols and display systems possible. Running a general-purpose protocol like **TCP/IP** over a **1200 bit/**s modem was a painful experience. With **56 kbit/s** modems, however, the overhead was so greatly reduced as to be unnoticeable. **Dial-up Internet** service became widely **available in 1994**, and a must-have option for any general-use operating system by **1995**. These developments together resulted in the sudden **obsolescence** of **bulletin board** technology in **1995** and the **collapse** of its **supporting market**. Technically, **Internet service offered** an enormous **advantage** over **BBS systems**, as a **single connection** to the user's Internet service provider allowed them to **contact services around the world**. In **comparison**, **BBS** systems relied on a **direct point-to-point** connection, so even dialing multiple local systems required **multiple phone calls**. Moreover, **Internet protocols** allowed that same **single connection** to be used to contact **multiple services** at the **same time**; for example, downloading files from an FTP library while checking the weather on a local news website. In comparison, a connection to a **BBS** allowed access only to the information on that system. According to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet|FidoNet]] Nodelist, **BBSe**s reached their **peak** usage around **1996**, which was the same period that the **World Wide Web** and **AOL** became mainstream. **BBSes** rapidly **declined** in popularity thereafter, and were **replaced** by systems using the **Internet** for connectivity. Some of the larger commercial **BBSes**, such as MaxMegabyte and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExecPC_BBS|ExecPC BBS]], evolved into **Internet service providers**. The website [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textfiles.com|textfiles.com]] **serves** as an archive that documents the **history** of the **BBS**. The historical **BBS** list on **textfiles.com** contains **over 105,000 BBSes** that have existed over a span of **20 years** in **North America** alone. The owner of textfiles.com, **Jason Scott**, also produced **BBS**: The Documentary, a DVD film that chronicles the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBS:_The_Documentary|history of the BBS]] and features interviews with well-known people (mostly from the **United States**) from the heyday **BBS era**. In the **2000s**, most traditional **BBS** systems **migrated** to the **Internet** using **[[Telnet]]** or **[[SSH]]** protocols. As of September **2022**, between **900** and **1000** are thought to be **active** via the **Internet** – fewer than **30** of these being of the traditional "**dial-up**" (modem) **variety**. ====== Software ====== ===== MacOS ===== - [[https://iterm2.com|Download iterm2]] - [[https://github.com/watbulb/ANSiTerm2/releases/tag/0.1b|Download ANSiTerm 0.1b]] - Click on the window with the **right mouse button** select "**Edit Session**" menu option, then select **ANSiTerm2** Profile. - You are ready! :) ====== BBS Lists ====== * [[https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/list/detail/|The Telnet BBS Guide lists]]