So, I’d like to ask: Who remembers the BBSes of old?
A BBS (Bulletin Board System) is the precursor of the internet. Think a really, REALLY primitive AOL with a command line interface (if you’ve ever used DOS, you know what I mean).
Yes, boys and girls, this was a time when we didn’t have cable or DSL connections. Hell I connected on a 2400 modem. I wanted a 9600 and if you had 14.4k or a 28.8k, you were a fucking GOD.
So who remembers the old BBSes?
Ahh…gopherspace…the memories. It’s been a long time since I used terminal 'net, but I still remember how to navigate the internet without the use of a mouse because of it.
Lucky. I never got to see the Internet as shown by a BBS. Always wanted to, but my 'net has been from an ISP.
It was kinda like an Internet that covered one city, or a city and a few surrounding ones at best… And the amount of porn, pirate stuff and underground culture was way more rampaging, for though the volume of these things is higher today in the Internet, back then in BBS’es it represented a way larger fraction of the online material.
My mom was into it back then. Oh man how it pissed off my (ex) step-father, I think at one point he put toothpaste in the modem jack. He was one messed up dude.
Dinosaurs 
Heh, my first computer was a 10Mhz, 10Mb in HD, 64 kb worthy of RAM, XT PC. It had a one-tone-of-green-and-black screen, ran Prince of Persia and Test Drive 1 at less than 20 frames per second and wouldn’t run Windows 3.1. It was such an old machine that it’s floppy disk drive was for 5 /14 diskettes… the 3 1/2 disk still in use today had no space for it in my old computer. Also, the case didn’t have screws n’ bolts, the structure was molten fused. Once a guy came to fix the internal parts and had to use a blowtorch to open the case. I also remember that the Caps Lock key had a lamp on it. Yes, a lamp.
And this is because I am relatively young. An older friend of mine, who loves machines as much as me and doesn’t throw old stuff away, has a TK 2000 which works perfectly to this day. It’ll be 20 years old in a few weeks.
Hey man, my mom is only 36.
I just remembered a quote I saw in .Hack//SIGN
A:We didn’t have auto-maping back then, you had to do it yourself on paper. Either way, the best HD only had a memory of about 500 KB.
B:What?!
A: Believe it or not, at that time we thought it would last forever.
Computer years, Epic. 1 Human year = 1.000.000 Computer Years or something like that.
Apparently Epic’s mom is a MILF too.
I used to BBS back in the day. For the longest time I wanted a computer. I had an NES back then and had fooled around with a neighbor’s Commodore 64 and some Atari one. Then my Dad bought the pinnacle of 1985 computer technology, far more advanced than any other PC at the time…an Apple IIGS.
It was really an amazing machine for its time. Unfortunately, the Apple IIGS was like the king of the neanderthals. It was much more powerful than any IBM compatibles OR Macs out, but they continued working for those two PCs and are upgradable, unlike the IIGS. After its hardware started becoming obsolete, developers stopped writing software and it was all downhill from there for Apples. I said the IIGS was the pinnacle of computer technology at the time…in 1985. My Dad got the computer in like 1991 or 1992.
Even though most if not all BBS’s at the time were run with flashy ANSI graphics on brand new 486’s, my Apple IIGS with its 2400 baud modem was still able to connect online. I played several door games, Usurper, Legend of the Red Dragon, and Trade Wars come to mind. I also played a primitive MUD where you can be a ninja. I loved that game. The only cruddy thing was that there were scripts made for MUDs…programs that basically let the computer play the game for you. Why is that cruddy? Because all the scripts were for IBM compatibles and not for Apples. So, all the other players were able to let the game run all day long, while I could only being playing when I had the time. And even then, while they just sat around and occasionally hit buttons or chatter or whatever, I was slugging away for hours at a time.
For you who play MMORPGs, imagine typing something like this for 5 hours
north north north west north west south south west west west west north look pool drink pool fill waterskin north north north dodge orc fight orc kick orc fight orc kick orc look body pick up robes pick up sword pick up torsh pick up gold rest
Just crazy monotonous stuff like that. Don’t get me wrong, I loved that game to death when I played it. Even though I didn’t script in the game, I had the most powerful ninja in the game. And I was members of the 2nd most powerful guild…and only 2nd place because they didn’t like to partake in unattended scripting, as it was called. The used a script, but only when they were actively playing the game.
Anyway…I remember BBS’s. I used to chat on IRC and play MUDs mostly. I actually never got to see ANSI graphics until I’ve gotten onto the internet and BBS’ed through telnet.
I used to play a MUD. I know what it is like 14x west 3x south 5x north kill some monster… Ah, the good old times…
Tooth…paste…?? O.o
Yes. Tooth paste. In the modem jack.
He, I watched the whole rise of the cybernet culture, from the very first home computers on… from afar. I had no money to buy one of the things. I used some on College, and I read a lot about the online comunities in Magazines such as DRAGON (official D&D magazine). I only came to own my own PC three years ago.
And I’m still scratching my head at some of things I see online. :noway:
My family’s first computer was a 286 Compaq “laptop”. It was the size of a small suitcase and weighed what felt like two tons. It had a “flat” screen (read: about six inches thick) and a keyboard that came away without actually being detachable. It had two 5 1/4" drives, woo!
Then we got a Mac IIvx. Blazing fast with a whopping 40 MB of disk space! I still have it in my room, and I’ve yet to ever see it crash. 
Unfortunately I was a latecomer to the Internet… we came aboard with a 14.4K modem in about 1997, and we were using Netscape 1.0. We missed Mosaic and BBS’s, so I have zero old-fogey points. ;_;
I missed BBSes when they were in common use, but one of my friends at SMSU decided to set one up for the hell of it. It was mildly interesting but, since only about 5 people actually used it, the thing got old pretty quick.
Had a late start on the Internet, didn’t start using it until 1996. I think I still have the 26K I used at the time somewhere.
Ah, yes. The first time that I used BBSes was on Prodigy. I was about eight or so and I had lots of fun on not just BBSes- but the games and such as well. There was this one adventure game that took place in a maze where you had to go through and solve puzzles. It usually crashed in the middle. Then there was the place called Nova where I could learn all about science and stuff. Then they had online reversi and such, which was SO cool.
I also posed as “Dr. Kenneth Arthur Rountree” when I first went on, because I figured that adults would take me more seriously if I was a doctor. But if you looked at my DOB it woulda said 1984 so… yeah. Doogy Howser.