17 Feb
2015
17 Feb
'15
12:07 p.m.
Keep in mind that a BBS does NOT equal a DOS session. All that is
required is the ability to service multiple COM: ports connected to modems
or local consoles; keeping track of what data is coming or going from which
port. All else is bells and whistles. You can have a system as simple as
2 commands. READ: which types everything in the board file from the last
time it was cleared. WRITE: which adds a line of text with a port ID to
differentiate who is typing. Absolute login IDs or even date/time stamps
are optional.
It can be that simple.
Robyn- BBS user since 1979.
On Feb 17, 2015 10:13 AM, "JP Hindin" <jplist2008 at kiwigeek.com> wrote:
On Tue, 17 Feb 2015, Mike Loewen wrote:
<chuckles>
True, thanks Mike. I was being specific about DOS, actually - although I
didn't say so, my bad. Certainly there were... shall we say, somewhat more
advanced OS' that just simply "worked". I was more curious about what
wedges people put in place to make multi-nodes in DOS... where it really
didn't.
Thanks though!
- JP
On Tue, 17 Feb 2015, JP Hindin wrote:
> How did people set up multi-node BBS' back in the day?
>
> I know you could run something like Desqview and run multiple copies
on a
> single system, and some BBS' (like TBBS)
had built-in multitasking so
it
handled
multiple modems. And, of course, you could get fancy and run a
Novell network. Were there other ways of doing this?
Yes, on a real multi-tasking OS. A friend of mine and I ran a
home-grown BBS on a Tandy 6000HD running Xenix for a couple of years
starting in 1986 in Sumner, WA. Four 1200bps modems plus the console
allowed 5 of us to be on at the same time. It was primarily a message
system (room-based), with a real-time chat facility.