First things first: Hello Randers!
My first encounter with a "PC" was in 1982, when a friend of mine bought one-- a Trommelschlaeger Colour Genie EG2000, for those who might want to look it up!
One or two years later, I switched to an Atari 800 XL with a disk drive, followed
by an Amiga 500. I soon realized, however, that the hardware kept expanding, cluttering up my desk. So, in 1989, I bought an Amiga 2000. By 1991--having already
had my first experiences with BBS (Bulletin Board System) networks using 1200 and
one year a 2400 baud modems--I was running my own BBS on that Amiga 2000, equipped
with a 68030 accelerator card. That was when my passion for this hobby truly ignited!
About a year later, I switched my BBS software to AmiExpress. At the same time, I
invested vast sums of money into the necessary hardware: (beside the phone bills!)
A 68040/33 Mhz card from GVP, a BSC ISDN-Master, BSC Multiface-Card, 1, 2, and 4-gigabyte
SCSI hard drives from IBM, DDS-2 DAT Streamer and two USRobotics Courier (followed later
the Courier-I Modell)--all external units. Back then, others used that money to buy a
decent new small car. lol
The AmiExpress BBS ran until about 1995. After that--having seen it done by others--I
switched to my first server-client environment using Novell NetWare v3.12, while
simultaneously moving to PCBoard, which was state-of-the-art at the time. The following
year brought a rude awakening: the bill from my electricity provider. Subsequently,
I ran the whole setup on OS/2 Warp 4 until around 1998/1999.
Due to family and professional circumstances--and, naturally, the growing presence of the
internet coupled with a decline in visitor numbers--I closed my BBS back then and turned
my focus to my family and my career.
From around 2020, however, I increasingly felt the urge to launch a BBS once again.
I finally put this into action at the end of 2022, and since February 2023, it has been
back up and running using the Wildcat Interactive Net Server.
After gaining a brief glimpse into the "BBS scene," I realized that finding good information
--on BBS software, tools, utilities, door games, relevant hardware, and so on--is actually
quite arduous and time-consuming, as such information is now completely scattered across
the internet. Back in the day, you could find it all on a good BBS! Perhaps those who were
around back then would agree with me?
Then I came up with the idea for the BBS forum. I thought it was a good idea because I
wanted to provide a service that others might also benefit from.
I then looked into which forum software appeared promising and future-oriented, and
subsequently founded the BBS Forum at www.sysops-finest.org.
Admittedly, I started without the slightest clue about Linux, the forum software, or any
real concept! It is only when you delve deeply into this subject that you realize what you
have actually gotten yourself into. The sheer volume of material--nearly 50 years of history,
encompassing close to 1,000 different BBS programs, along with their associated doors,
door games, utilities, tools, the "bbs scene" culture, ANSI/ASCII art, and relevant hardware
(including that for retro computers)--is truly beyond imagination.
For me, this serves as an incentive to present something worthwhile to those who take an
interest in the forum.
Now, nearly three years later, I can see a common thread that I intend to follow. This also
means that I will be making some structural changes, uploading a great deal more content,
and further enhancing the editorial quality of my reports on BBS programs, Door Games, and
various utilities.
The forum's offering has been drastically expanded--including under the hood--with features
one would not typically expect from a forum.
What is still missing is acceptance from the sysop community. After all, a top priority on
my list--then as now--has been to create a meeting point for both new and veteran sysops,
regardless of the operating system or software they use. Anyone who shares this passion for
BBSing is more than welcome to join this round table and exchange ideas.
For I remain firmly convinced that the output within a community would provide benefits for
everyone!
Everyone is welcome to take a look at the BBS forum--provided they haven't already done so in
the last four weeks. Naturally, I am open to constructive criticism or suggestions on how the
forum could be improved.
Thank you to everyone who has read this far without falling asleep!
Mike
--- XenFido 1.47.1
* Origin: Sysops-Finest.org -
https://www.sysops-finest.org/forum - 23:1/103.0