Baud Day | 3/12/24 Atari and All Other BBS Systems Atari BBS - Amis https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2800fc_d1b4155cd611484d8fc56c4f16f82bab~mv2.png
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Atari BBS Vintage Computer Network

IT’S BAUD DAY 3/12/24

From the linked site:

Something that SysOps did when they advertised their BBS. Rather than write a BBS’ supported baud rates as “300/1200/2400”, they would write “3/12/24”. The reason for this abbreviation is probably due to how BBSs were advertised back in the day. Most BBSs were advertised in text files. Depending on the host computer, a text file may have 40 or 80 characters per line. So, space was a premium and dropping 6 characters from “300/1200/2400” made a big difference.

  • @[email protected]English
    3•8 months ago

    Cool post. I have thought about turning my old bbs back on. Ran it on an A800 using Bulletin Board Construction Set. I will have to look into devices that I can connect to the net.

    • @akacastorOP
      2•8 months ago

      I am not very familiar with the A800 but there are a lot of wifi networking adapters and the such these days for all kinds of systems, many of them emulate modems so they are well-suited to interfacing with a BBS. “RS-232 wifi modem” as search terms gives a bunch of options.

      Also useful for old computers: http://theoldnet.com/ provides ways to use computers from the 1990s online today to access some websites etc.

      • @[email protected]English
        2•8 months ago

        I think there’s a couple of things I can use to connect to the SIO port and emulate an rs232 modem. There is a Fujinet adapter, and I think I can do it with my Atarimax SIO2PC adapter. I would just have to set everything up, and would definitely build a new instance of the BBCS. Oh look, another thing to add to the hobby list. :)

    • @akacastorOP
      3•8 months ago

      I haven’t played Exitilus, searching just now I see The Realm of Serion BBS has it, sounds like fun! Right now I am just a few days into my first game of LORD, after saying “maybe I’ll play a game of that someday” since the 1990s. :)

      • @[email protected]
        3•8 months ago

        LORD never grabbed me, but holy crap Exitilus was an obsession for awhile. A buddy and I even wrote a tongue in cheek campaign back in the day, though only the narrative outline. Probably my favorite aspect was that after awhile, everyone got to know each other and just gifted back funds/loot after a PK - they gave so much experience that it’s foolish to not try to off someone else, but losing all your stuff SUCKED so we found a happy medium.

        Good times.

        • @akacastorOP
          3•8 months ago

          Sounds like a great time, awesome to play a game to maximize the fun! Gonna have to keep an eye out for an active Exitilus game!

  • @akacastorOP
    2•8 months ago

    A list of over 1,000 (current) BBSes: https://www.telnetbbsguide.com

    Most of these BBSes are accessible via telnet - there are many options for telnet, but typically for BBSes you want a terminal that supports ANSI colours and IBM-PC characters (CP437). A recommended terminal program for Win/Mac/Linux is SyncTerm: https://syncterm.bbsdev.net

    There are about 40 dialup modem BBSes in the list: https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/connection/dial-up/

    For more information about the world of BBSes in the 1980s and 90s, a great source of history is Jason Scott’s BBS Documentary and Al’s Geek Lab Back to the BBS.