<VV> BBS - off topic

[Bill Elliott]

I can do you one ever better. Remember the Collecovision video game system? Well they offered a 
computer add-on for it in the early 80's. Cassette tape drive (to load programs), real typewriter printer 
(extra credit in college for having "hand typed" my papers (without mistakes!) while most folks were using 
a cheap dot matrix printer than was hard to read), used a TV for the screen. Came with a built-in 300 
baud modem!

This thing was great. Not only could I log onto the college mainframe as an X-terminal (allowing me to 
work from home) I could also use BBS's... and as DOS was brand new then and just being used by 
businesses (with no protection), with just a little DOS knowledge, the mainframe access number, and  a 
little ingenuity it was no problem to go most anywhere you wanted... this is when real "hacking" started in 
earnest... and you could do it with a $100 video game...

Corvair content? I bought my first Corvair about the same time....

Bill

On Mon, 14 Nov 2005 13:39:44 -0600, J R Read_HML wrote:

>Yes, In the Commodore 64 days (mid - late '80s) I was part of a local club 
>that supported a BBS (Bulletin Board System) run out of the house of one of 
>the members.  Could post msgs and up/download software.  If you wanted a 
>"big" program, you would start the download and go to bed.  Why?  Because it 
>was all done dial-up at a painfully slow 300 baud rate.  Later, I got a 1200 
>baud modem which was about as fast as you could go with a 64.

>Attachments (if any) are scanned with anti-virus software.

>Later, JR

>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Tony Underwood" <tonyu at roava.net>
>To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
>Sent: Monday, November 14, 2005 3:34 PM
>Subject: Re: <VV> Huh?


>>>
>>>This isn't a forum... it's an email reflector...
>>
>>
>> Yep.  For the old-timers who were doing logons before the Internet came 
>> along, such mail lists were called "Echos".   You were working "local" 
>> dialup networked BBS's in order to access info via networks such as FIDO, 
>> RIME, etc.    The lists were supported by people who would run a BBS 
>> usually based on their own home PC with access nodes (or usually just a 
>> single node) for people to call up and logon onto the PC hosting the BBS 
>> software.

>   On it are various echo e-mail
>> postings, uploads, etc which are accessible to whoever subscribes to the 
>> BBS.  Some were free, some required a subscription fee, usually not much, 
>> so as to help support the BBS via enabling the owner or sysop to pay for 
>> the phone line and hardware upgrades along the way.
>>
>> I'd wager at least one sort (maybe many) in here have run a board...  any 
>> sysops on the list?
>>
>>
>>
>> Everybody take a breath...
>>
>>
>> tony..
>>