Multi-node BBS'

I've seen multiple implementations people used. All these solutions either used a single machine multi-tasking, or multiple machines sharing some resource (like a hard drive). For example, a small number of Apple II multi-node BBSes existed, and they would simply share the SCSI hard drive along the chain, and software mods to the BBS software would put files on the hard drive. To some level of people this was miraculous and to others routine. Race conditions were a little easier to deal with. Systems later in life like EXEC-PC or Rusty and Edie's or Channel 1 would have one machine per seat, with a dozens or hundreds of seats. This would usually take over a house - the Channel 1 operators moved out of their home and into another home near the building, for example. Pictures are available in Boardwatch and others of the Exec PC setup, as well as Rusty n' Edie's. Then there are UNIX BBS types as mentioned above (I'm assuming we're sticking with modem-connected BBSes - obviously when we switched to Internet BBSes, all bets were off). This was easier, relatively, since the system could do a lot of the multi-tasking work. Andy Rubin (of Android fame) ran an 8-line XENIX system called Spies in the Wire that was a technological lark of this sort. Desqview or Pharlap were good options for two phone lines, two modems, and a single system, as long as you didn't tax one "side" too much. Galacticomm's multi-line card was actually designed to be a more general computer-to-modems interface, and the MajorBBS software was designed to be one of multiple example programs to demonstrate it - it just happened to take off in a big way. So, it's one of those "of course" hacks that different people did with very different methods. On Tue, Feb 17, 2015 at 6:44 AM, JP Hindin <jplist2008 at kiwigeek.com> wrote: