Bring back the BBS!

Posted by stuart as

When I first got into computers (around 1994), I bought a shiny new Mac LC 475. I thought it was great, until I started to get bored with the software which came pre-packaged in the box.

I bought some Macintosh magazines, and started to order the floppy disks advertised in the back of the magazines. You know the ones (well, if you’re around my age you do), the disks filled with shareware games and software. Those were the days, when a magazine disk (a 1.44Mb floppy) could hold an untold array of software for your entertainment.

Then I saw an ad for what was called a BBS (Bulletin Board System for the uninitiated) which was located right here in Adelaide. This changed my world.

I took myself off into the city, and bought a state of the art 14.4kbps modem ($300!).

Whilst I was in the city, I dropped into the offices of this BBS and grabbed a floppy with their software (Telefinder - a graphical BBS system for the Mac).

When I got home, I loaded the software, installed the modem (anybody else out there remember modem init strings?) and dialled in.

My life had changed forever.

What I found was a vibrant community of like minded Mac heads, who enjoyed chatting (early stages of instant messaging), discussing all manner of things in the forums, and the uploading and downloading of software provided me with a new world of time wasters for my new toy.

I made some great friends through this BBS, the kind of friends who if you weren’t online for a few days would contact you to make sure everything was OK. Every time I logged on I’d be breathless with anticipation to see if I had any new emails. (This wasn’t real internet email, just email between users).

Over time, I joined other local BBS’s, more PC based ones with text interfaces, but none of them matched the slick graphical interface of telefinder, or the community at my first Mac BBS.

Anybody else who reads this blog an ageing throwback from the BBS days? Care to share your thoughts?