Abulletin board system (BBS), also called acomputer bulletin board service (CBBS),[1] is acomputer server runningsoftware that allows users to connect to the system using aterminal or aterminal emulator. Once logged in, the user performs functions such asuploading anddownloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging messages with other users through publicmessage boards and sometimes via directchatting. In the early 1980s, message networks such asFidoNet were developed to provide services such asNetMail, which is similar to internet-basedemail.[2]
Many BBSes also offeredonline games in which users could compete with each other. BBSes with multiple phone lines often providedchat rooms, allowing users to interact with each other. Bulletin board systems were in many ways a precursor to the modern form of theWorld Wide Web,social networks, and other aspects of theInternet. Low-cost, high-performanceasynchronousmodems drove the use ofonline services and BBSes through the early 1990s.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 asCompuServe.
The introduction of inexpensivedial-up internet service and theMosaic 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 theleading BBS software providers wentbankrupt and tens of thousands of BBSes disappeared.[3] Today, BBSing survives largely as a nostalgic hobby in most parts of the world, but it is still a popular form of communication in Taiwan (seePTT Bulletin Board System).[4] Most surviving BBSes are accessible overTelnet and typically offer free email accounts,FTP services, andIRC. Some offer access through packet switched networks orpacket radio connections.[1]
A precursor to the public bulletin board system wasCommunity Memory, which started in August 1973 inBerkeley, California.Microcomputers did not exist at that time, and modems were both expensive and slow. Community Memory ran on amainframe computer and was accessed throughterminals located in severalSan Francisco Bay Area neighborhoods.[5][6] The poor quality of the original modem connecting the terminals to the mainframe prompted Community Memory hardware personLee Felsenstein to invent thePennywhistle modem, whose design was 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 traditionalclassifications. 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 theonline service market that lasted into the 1990s. One particularly influential example wasPLATO, which had thousands of users by the late 1970s, many of whom used the messaging andchat 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 usingacoustic 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 ofmicrocomputers with expansion slots, like theS-100 bus machines andApple II, it became possible for the modem to communicate instructions and data on separate lines. These machines typically only supported asynchronous communications, andsynchronous 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 publicdial-up BBS was developed byWard Christensen andRandy Suess, members of the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists' Exchange (CACHE). According to an early interview, when Chicago was snowed under during theGreat Blizzard of 1978, the two began preliminary work on theComputerized Bulletin Board System, orCBBS.[7] 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 inChicago where it would be a local phone call for more users. Christensen patterned the system after thecork board his local computer club used to post information like "need a ride". CBBS officially went online on 16 February 1978.[8][9] CBBS, which kept a count of callers, reportedly connected 253,301 callers before it was finally retired.[citation needed]
A key innovation required for the popularization of the BBS was theSmartmodem manufactured byHayes Microcomputer Products. Internal modems like the ones used by CBBS and similar early systems were usable, but generally expensive due to the manufacturer having to make a different modem for every computer platform they wanted to target. They were also limited to those computers with internal expansion, and could not be used with other useful platforms likevideo terminals. External modems were available for these platforms but required the phone to be dialed using a conventional handset.[a] Internal modems could be software-controlled to perform outbound and inbound calls, but external modems had only the data pins to communicate with the host system.
Hayes' solution to the problem was to use a smallmicrocontroller to implement a system that examined the data flowing into the modem from the host computer, watching for certain command strings. This allowed commands to be sent to and from the modem using the same data pins as all the rest of the data, meaning it would work on any system that could support even the most basic modems. The Smartmodem could pick up the phone, dial numbers, and hang up again, all without any operator intervention. The Smartmodem was not necessary for BBS use but made overall operation dramatically simpler. It also improved usability for the caller, as most terminal software allowed different phone numbers to be stored and dialed on command, allowing the user to easily connect to a series of systems.
The introduction of the Smartmodem led to the first real wave of BBS systems. Limited in speed and storage capacity, these systems were normally dedicated solely to messaging, private email and public forums. File transfers were extremely slow at these speeds, and file libraries were typically limited to text files containing lists of other BBS systems. These systems attracted a particular type of user who used the BBS as a unique type of communications medium, and when these local systems were crowded from the market in the 1990s, their loss was lamented for many years.[citation needed]
Speed improved with the introduction of 1200bit/s asynchronous modems in theearly 1980s, giving way to 2400 bit/s fairly rapidly. The improved performance led to a substantial increase in BBS popularity. Most of the information was displayed using ordinaryASCII text orANSI art, but a number of systems attempted character-basedgraphical user interfaces (GUIs) which began to be practical at 2400 bit/s.
There was a lengthy delay before 9600 bit/s models began to appear on the market. 9600 bit/s was not even established as a strong standard beforeV.32bis at 14.4 kbit/s took over in the early 1990s. This period also saw the rapid rise in capacity and a dramatic drop in the price ofhard drives. By the late 1980s, many BBS systems had significant file libraries, and this gave rise to leeching – users calling BBSes solely for their files. These users would use the modem for some time, leaving less time for other users, who gotbusy signals. The resulting upheaval eliminated many of the pioneering message-centric systems.[10]
This also gave rise to a new class of BBS systems, dedicated solely to file upload and downloads. These systems charged for access, typically a flat monthly fee, compared to the per-hour fees charged byEvent Horizons BBS and most online services. Many third-party services were developed to support these systems, offering simple credit cardmerchant account gateways for the payment of monthly fees, and entire file libraries oncompact disk that made initial setup very easy. Early 1990s editions ofBoardwatch were filled with ads for single-click install solutions dedicated to these newsysops. While this gave the market a bad reputation, it also led to its greatest success. During the early 1990s, there were a number of mid-sized software companies dedicated to BBS software, and the number of BBSes in service reached its peak.
Towards the early 1990s, BBS became so popular that it spawned three monthly magazines,Boardwatch,BBS Magazine, and in Asia and Australia,Chips 'n Bits Magazine which devoted extensive coverage of the software and technology innovations and people behind them, and listings to US and worldwide BBSes.[11] In addition, in the US, a major monthly magazine,Computer Shopper, carried a list of BBSes along with a brief abstract of each of their offerings.
Through the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was considerable experimentation with ways to develop user-friendly interfaces for BBSes. Almost every popular system used ANSI-based color menus to make reading easier on capable hardware and terminal emulators, and most also allowed cursor commands to offer command-line recall and similar features. Another common feature was the use ofautocomplete to make menu navigation simpler, a feature that would not re-appear on the Web until decades later.
A number of systems also made forays into GUI-based interfaces, either using character graphics sent from the host, or using custom GUI-based terminal systems. The latter initially appeared on theMacintosh platform, whereTeleFinder andFirstClass became very popular. FirstClass offered a host of features that would be difficult or impossible under a terminal-based solution, including bi-directional information flow and non-blocking operation that allowed the user to exchange files in both directions while continuing to use the message system and chat, all in separate windows. Will Price's "Hermes", released in 1988, combined a familiar PC style with Macintosh GUI interface.[12] (Hermes was already "venerable" by 1994 although the Hermes II release remained popular.[13][14])Skypix featured on Amiga a completemarkup language. It used a standardized set of icons to indicate mouse driven commands available online and to recognize different filetypes present on BBS storage media. It was capable of transmitting data like images, audio files, and audio clips between users linked to the same BBS or off-line if the BBS was in the circuit of the FidoNet organization.
Other efforts extended the original terminal concept, with the GUI being described in the information on the host. "Instant Graphics and Sound" for the Atari ST, for example, was a plain-text graphics language introduced in 1988 which encoded information for drawing vector art, playing sound effects, and receiving mouse interactions.[15] TheRemote Imaging Protocol brought similar functionality to the PC several years later. Both protocols remained relatively obscure.[16] Probably the ultimate development of this style of operation was the dynamic page implementation of theUniversity of Southern California BBS (USCBBS) by Susan Biddlecomb, which predated the implementation of theHTMLDynamic web page. A complete Dynamic web page implementation was accomplished usingTBBS with aTDBS add-on presenting a complete menu system individually customized for each user.
The demand for complex ANSI and ASCII screens and larger file transfers taxed availablechannel 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 longV.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.TCP/IP ran slowly over 1200 bit/s modems.56 kbit/s modems could access the protocol suite more quickly than with slower modems. Dial-up Internet service became widely available in the mid-1990s to the general public outside of universities and research laboratories, and connectivity was included in most general-useoperating systems by default as Internet access became popular.
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'sInternet 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. Internet protocols also allowed a single connection to be used to contact multiple services simultaneously; for example, downloading files from anFTP library while checking the weather on a local news website. Even with ashell account, it was possible to multitask usingjob control or aterminal multiplexer such asGNU Screen. In comparison, a connection to a BBS allowed access only to the information on that system.
According to theFidoNet Nodelist, BBSes reached their peak usage around 1996, the same period when theWorld Wide Web andAOL 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 andExecPC BBS, evolved intoInternet service providers.
The websitetextfiles.com is an archival history of BBSes. It includes a list of over 100,000 BBSes that once existed during a span of 20 years.[17] The creator and maintainer oftextfiles.com,Jason Scott, also producedBBS: The Documentary, a film that chronicles the history of BBSes and has interviews with well-known figures from the BBS heyday.
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.[citation needed]
Unlike modern websites andonline services that are typically hosted by third-party companies in commercialdata centers, BBS computers (especially for smaller boards) were typically operated from the system operator's home. As such, access could be unreliable, and in many cases, only one user could be on the system at a time. Only larger BBSes with multiple phone lines using specialized hardware, multitasking software, or aLAN connecting multiple computers, could host multiple simultaneous users.
The first BBSes each used their own unique software,[b] quite often written entirely or at least customized by the system operators themselves, running on earlyS-100 busmicrocomputer systems such as theAltair 8800,IMSAI 8080 andCromemco under theCP/M operating system. Soon after, BBS software was being written for all of the majorhome computer systems of the late 1970s era – theApple II,Atari 8-bit computers,Commodore PET,TI-99/4A, andTRS-80 being some of the most popular.
In 1981, theIBM Personal Computer was introduced andMS-DOS soon became the operating system on which the majority of BBS programs were run.RBBS-PC,ported over from the CP/M world, andFido BBS, developed byTom Jennings (who later foundedFidoNet) were the first notable MS-DOS BBS programs. Many successful commercial BBS programs were developed, such asPCBoard BBS,RemoteAccess BBS, Magpie andWildcat! BBS. Popularfreeware BBS programs includedTelegard BBS andRenegade BBS, which both had early origins from leakedWWIV BBS source code.
BBS systems on other systems remained popular, especiallyhome computers, largely because they catered to the audience of users running those machines. The ubiquitousCommodore 64 (introduced in 1982) was a common platform in the 1980s. Popular commercial BBS programs wereBlue Board,Ivory BBS,Color64 andCNet 64. There was also a devoted contingent of BBS users on TI-99/4A computers, long afterTexas Instruments had discontinued the computer in the aftermath of theirprice war with Commodore. Popular BBSes for the TI-99/4A included Techie, TIBBS (Texas Instruments Bulletin Board System), TI-COMM, and Zyolog.[18][19][20] In the early 1990s, a small number of BBSes were also running on the CommodoreAmiga. Popular BBS software for the Amiga were ABBS,Amiexpress, C-Net, StormforceBBS,Infinity and Tempest. There was also a small faction of devoted Atari BBSes that used the Atari 800, then the 800XL, and eventually the1040ST. The earlier machines generally lackedhard drive capabilities, which limited them primarily to messaging.
MS-DOS continued to be the most popular operating system for BBS use up until the mid-1990s, and in the early years, most multi-node BBSes were running under a DOS based multitasker such asDESQview or consisted of multiple computers connected via aLAN. In the late 1980s, a handful of BBS developers implemented multitasking communications routines inside their software, allowing multiple phone lines and users to connect to the same BBS computer. These included Galacticomm'sMajorBBS (later WorldGroup), eSoftThe Bread Board System (TBBS), and Falken. Other popular BBS's wereMaximus and Opus, with some associated applications such as BinkleyTerm being based on characters from theBerkley Breathed cartoon strip ofBloom County. Though most BBS software had been written inBASIC orPascal (with some low-level routines written inassembly language), theC language was starting to gain popularity.
By 1995, many of the DOS-based BBSes had begun switching to modernmultitasking operating systems, such asOS/2,Windows 95, andLinux. One of the first graphics-based BBS applications wasExcalibur BBS with low-bandwidth applications that required its own client for efficiency. This led to one of the earliest implementations of Electronic Commerce in 1996 with replication of partner stores around the globe. TCP/IP networking allowed most of the remaining BBSes to evolve and include Internet hosting capabilities. Recent BBS software, such asSynchronet,Mystic BBS, EleBBS,DOC, Magpie orWildcat! BBS, provide access using theTelnet protocol rather than dialup, or by using legacy DOS-based BBS software with aFOSSIL-to-Telnet redirector such as NetFoss.
BBSes were generally text-based, rather thanGUI-based, and early BBSes conversed using the simpleASCII character set. However, some home computer manufacturers extended the ASCII character set to take advantage of the advanced color and graphics capabilities of their systems. BBS software authors included these extended character sets in their software, and terminal program authors included the ability to display them when a compatible system was called. Atari's native character set was known asATASCII, while most Commodore BBSes supportedPETSCII. PETSCII was also supported by the nationwide online serviceQuantum Link.[c]
The use of these custom character sets was generally incompatible between manufacturers. Unless a caller was using terminal emulation software written for, and running on, the same type of system as the BBS, the session would simply fall back to simple ASCII output. For example, aCommodore 64 user calling an Atari BBS would use ASCII rather than the native character set of either. As time progressed, most terminal programs began using theASCII standard, but could use their native character set if it was available.
COCONET, a BBS system made by Coconut Computing, Inc., was released in 1988 and only supported a GUI (no text interface was initially available but eventually became available around 1990), and worked in EGA/VGA graphics mode, which made it stand out from text-based BBS systems. COCONET's bitmap andvector graphics and support for multiple type fonts were inspired by thePLATO system, and the graphics capabilities were based on what was available in theBorland Graphics Interface library. A competing approach calledRemote Imaging Protocol (RIP) emerged and was promoted by Telegrafix in the early to mid-1990s but it never became widespread. Ateletext technology calledNAPLPS was also considered, and although it became the underlying graphics technology behind theProdigy service, it never gained popularity in the BBS market. There were several GUI-based BBSes on theApple Macintosh platform, includingTeleFinder andFirstClass, but these were mostly confined to the Mac market.
In the UK, theBBC Micro based OBBS software, available fromPace for use with their modems, optionally allowed for color and graphics using theTeletext based graphics mode available on that platform. Other systems used theViewdata protocols made popular in the UK byBritish Telecom'sPrestel service, and the on-line magazineMicronet 800 whom were busy giving away modems with their subscriptions.
Over time, terminal manufacturers started to supportANSI X3.64 in addition to or instead of proprietary terminal control codes, e.g., color, cursor positioning.
The most popular form of online graphics wasANSI art, which combined theIBM Extended ASCII character set's blocks and symbols withANSIescape sequences to allow changing colors on demand, provide cursor control and screen formatting, and even basic musical tones. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, most BBSes used ANSI to make elaborate welcome screens, and colorized menus, and thus, ANSI support was a sought-after feature in terminal client programs. The development of ANSI art became so popular that it spawned an entire BBS "artscene"subculture devoted to it.
TheAmigaSkyline BBS software in 1988 featured a scriptmarkup language communication protocol calledSkypix[21] which was capable of giving the user a complete graphical interface, featuring rich graphics, changeable fonts, mouse-controlled actions, animations and sound.[22]
Today[when?], most BBS software that is still actively supported, such as Worldgroup,Wildcat! BBS andCitadel/UX, is Web-enabled, and the traditional text interface has been replaced (or operates concurrently) with a Web-based user interface. For those more nostalgic for the true BBS experience, one can use NetSerial (Windows) orDOSBox (Windows/*nix) to redirect DOS COM port software to telnet, allowing them to connect to Telnet BBSes using 1980s and 1990s era modemterminal emulation software, likeTelix,Terminate,Qmodem andProcomm Plus. Modern 32-bit terminal emulators such as mTelnet andSyncTerm include native telnet support.
Since most early BBSes were run by computer hobbyists, content was largely technical, with user communities revolving around hardware and software discussions.
As the BBS phenomenon grew, so did the popularity of special interest boards. Bulletin Board Systems could be found for almost every hobby and interest. Popular interests included politics, religion, music,dating, andalternative lifestyles. Many system operators also adopted atheme in which they customized their entire BBS (welcome screens, prompts, menus, and so on) to reflect that theme. Common themes were based onfantasy, or were intended to give the user the illusion of being somewhere else, such as in asanatorium, wizard's castle, or on apirate ship.
In the early days, the file download library consisted of files that the system operators obtained themselves from other BBSes and friends. Many BBSes inspected every file uploaded to their public file download library to ensure that the material did not violate copyright law. As time went on,shareware CD-ROMs were sold with up to thousands of files on eachCD-ROM. Small BBSes copied each file individually to their hard drive. Some systems used a CD-ROM drive to make the files available. Advanced BBSes used Multiple CD-ROM disc changer units that switched 6 CD-ROM disks on demand for the caller(s). Large systems used all 26 DOS drive letters with multi-disk changers housing tens of thousands of copyright-free shareware or freeware files available to all callers. These BBSes were generally more family-friendly, avoiding the seedier side of BBSes. Access to these systems varied from single to multiple modem lines with some requiring little or no confirmed registration.
Some BBSes, called elite,WaReZ, or pirate boards, were exclusively used for distributingcracked software,phreaking materials, and other questionable or unlawful content. These BBSes often had multiple modems and phone lines, allowing several users to upload and download files at once. Most elite BBSes used some form of new user verification, where new users would have to apply for membership and attempt to prove that they were not a law enforcement officer or alamer. The largest elite boards accepted users by invitation only. Elite boards also spawned their own subculture and gave rise to theslang known today asleetspeak.
Another common type of board was thesupport BBS run by a manufacturer of computer products or software. These boards were dedicated to supporting users of the company's products with question and answer forums, news and updates, and downloads. Most of them were not a free call. Today, these services have moved to the Web.
Some general-purpose Bulletin Board Systems had special levels of access that were given to those who paid extra money, uploaded useful files or knew the system operator personally. These specialty and pay BBSes usually had something unique to offer their users, such as large file libraries,warez,pornography,chat rooms orInternet access.
Pay BBSes such as TheWELL and Echo NYC (now Internet forums rather than dial-up),ExecPC, PsudNetwork andMindVox (which folded in 1996) were admired for their close, friendly communities and quality discussion forums. However, many free BBSes also maintained close communities, and some even had annual or bi-annual events where users would travel great distances to meet face-to-face with their on-line friends. These events were especially popular with BBSes that offeredchat rooms.
Some of the BBSes that provided access to illegal content faced opposition. On July 12, 1985, in conjunction with acredit card fraud investigation, theMiddlesex County, New Jersey Sheriff's department raided and seized The Private Sector BBS, which was the official BBS forgrey hat hacker quarterly2600 Magazine at the time.[23] The notoriousRusty n Edie's BBS, inBoardman, Ohio, was raided by the FBI in January 1993 for trading unlicensed software, and later sued byPlayboy for copyright infringement in November 1997. InFlint, Michigan, a 21-year-old man was charged with distributingchild pornography through his BBS in March 1996.[24]
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Most early BBSes operated as individual systems. Information contained on that BBS never left the system, and users would only interact with the information and user community on that BBS alone. However, as BBSes became more widespread, there evolved a desire to connect systems together to share messages and files with distant systems and users. The largest such network wasFidoNet.
As is it was prohibitively expensive for the hobbyist system operator to have a dedicated connection to another system, FidoNet was developed as astore and forward network. Private email (Netmail), public message boards (Echomail) and eventually even file attachments on a FidoNet-capable BBS would be bundled into one or more archive files over a set time interval. These archive files were then compressed withARC orZIP and forwarded to (or polled by) another nearby node or hub via a dialupXmodem session. Messages would be relayed around various FidoNet hubs until they were eventually delivered to their destination. The hierarchy of FidoNet BBS nodes, hubs, and zones was maintained in a routing table called a Nodelist. Some larger BBSes or regional FidoNet hubs would make several transfers per day, some even to multiple nodes or hubs, and as such, transfers usually occurred at night or in the early morning when toll rates were lowest. In Fido's heyday, sending a Netmail message to a user on a distant FidoNet node, or participating in an Echomail discussion could take days, especially if any FidoNet nodes or hubs in the message's route only made one transfer call per day.
FidoNet was platform-independent and would work with any BBS that was written to use it. BBSes that did not have integrated FidoNet capability could usually add it using an external FidoNetfront-end mailer such as SEAdog,FrontDoor, BinkleyTerm, InterMail or D'Bridge, and a mail processor such asFastEcho orSquish. The front-end mailer would conduct the periodic FidoNet transfers, while the mail processor would usually run just before and just after the mailer ran. This program would scan for and pack up new outgoing messages, and then unpack, sort and "toss" the incoming messages into a BBS user's local email box or into the BBS's local message bases reserved for Echomail. As such, these mail processors were commonly called "scanner/tosser/packers".
Many other BBS networks followed the example of FidoNet, using the same standards and the same software. These were called FidoNet Technology Networks (FTNs). They were usually smaller and targeted at selected audiences. Some networks usedQWK doors, and others such asRelayNet (RIME) andWWIVnet used non-Fido software and standards.
Before commercial Internet access became common, thesenetworks of BBSes provided regional and internationale-mail and message bases. Some even providedgateways, such as UFGATE, by which members could send and receive e-mail to and from theInternet viaUUCP, and many FidoNet discussion groups were shared via gateway toUsenet. Elaborate schemes allowed users to download binary files, searchgopherspace, and interact with distantprograms, all using plain-text e-mail.
As the volume of FidoNet Mail increased and newsgroups from the early days of the Internet became available, satellite data downstream services became viable for larger systems. The satellite service provided access to FidoNet and Usenet newsgroups in large volumes at a reasonable fee. By connecting a small dish and receiver, a constant downstream of thousands of FidoNet and Usenet newsgroups could be received. The local BBS only needed to upload new outgoing messages via the modem network back to the satellite service. This method drastically reduced phone data transfers while dramatically increasing the number of message forums.
FidoNet is still in use today, though in a much smaller form, and many Echomail groups are still shared with Usenet via FidoNet to Usenet gateways. Widespread abuse of Usenet withspam andpornography has led to many of these FidoNet gateways to cease operation completely.
Much of theshareware movement was started via user distribution of software through BBSes. A notable example wasPhil Katz's PKARC (and laterPKZIP, using the same ".zip"algorithm thatWinZip and other popular archivers now use); also other concepts of software distribution likefreeware,postcardware likeJPEGview anddonationware like Red Ryder for the Macintosh first appeared on BBS sites.Doom fromid Software and nearly allApogee Software games were distributed as shareware. The Internet has largely erased the distinction of shareware – most users now download the software directly from the developer's website rather than receiving it from another BBS user "sharing" it. Today, shareware often refers to electronically distributed software from a small developer.
Many commercial BBS software companies that continue to support their old BBS software products switched to the shareware model or made it entirely free. Some companies were able to make the move to the Internet and provide commercial products with BBS capabilities.
A classic BBS had:
The BBS software usually provides:[citation needed]
The Computerized Hobbyist Bulletin Board System ... was conceived, designed, built, programmed, tested, and installed in a 30 day period (January 16, 1978 to February 16, 1978) by the two of us.Alt URL
Since acquiring the venerable Hermes Macintosh BBS program last Spring, new owner Lloyd Woodall of Computer Classifieds has developed a major upgrade package. Programmer Robert Rebbun has added over 70 new features and enhancements to this widely used program that now supports color ANSI graphic menus in addition to ASCII menus.
The BBS system chosen was Hermes (Price F & Yount Ralph, 1991), a character-based popular billboard system running on the Mac, but accessible from any computer system with VT100 terminal emulation.
Amid a (mostly) text-only, pre-Web world, the 'Instant Graphics!' protocol ... enabled Atari ST bulletin board systems to offer visitors vibrant vector graphics, animations, sound effects, music, and point-and-click mouse interactions.
But the real blow was the arrival of the Remote Imaging Protocol (RIP) in September 1992, which became the dominant graphics format for PC BBSes. ... [IGS and RIP] aimed to make graphical user interfaces possible on BBSes. They had mostly the same capabilities. And they shared the same fate: obsolescence.
Skypix is a way of sending graphics, fonts, brushes, and (soon) sound samples over the phone line via modem. It is an extension of ANSI that takes advantage of the Amiga's graphic power. ... At this writing (May 24) most of the systems listed will still be running Atredes 1.0, a much less sophisticated system than 1.1. ... ATREDES, SKYPIX, and SKYPAINT are Copyright © 1988, 1989 Michael Cox. All rights reserved worldwide.
Skyline BBS, for the Amiga, was originally marketed under the name 'Atredes BBS'. It was written by someone named Michael Cox who lived in El Paso, TX in the mid/late 80s. ... It was, BTW, cool software which allowed for plain text, ANSI graphics, as well as a proprietary graphical point and click 'SkyPix' UI using special terminal software ('SkyTerm').
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