IMPULSE: We Resurrected Underground 1990s BBS Software in 2025.. with Do...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=YaYAEtwE8Es

ANSI art bbs ad found inside of STNT11.ZIP - Stunts v1.1, as released by an unknown piracy group

Who are some folks that are in to #BBS #retrocomputing #C64 that are catching up on missed experiences from earlier in life?

I want to connect with you and expand my social circle some more :)

I previously was a senior/lead programmer, sysadmin, and dba. Now I'm a pentester.

Going backwards to simpler times and an Internet experience that isn't dominated by a handful of tech fat cats.

I'm building a BBS having not logged into one in 30 years, and also learning as I go about BBS things and culture.

I know I'm longing for a time that is long past, but I'm OK with that if you are :)

[2025-07-02 13:18:48]: k9zw has just launched Multi Relay Chat #retrocomputing #bbs #mrc #mysticbbs #tqwNet

growing up on the internet story time

when i was 14 years old, i made my first homepage using my mom's university shell/webspace allotment (5 megs) which was supposed to be for posting homework and email storage

there was no such thing as a profile pic in 94, but i decided that i should have a photo of me at the top of the page. i inexplicably decided that instead of scanning in a school photo, it made more sense to post a gif of some kid i found on a bbs with Night Owl cd-roms. today, i found that exact photo - it is uncredited sadly - just "boy eating watermelon"

for my bio, instead of writing about my hobbies and interests, i proceeded to fabricate an entire identity that claimed i was the captain of the volleyball team, a straight-A student, and one of the coolest kids in my school. 0/3 of those things were even close to reality. i figured - hey, who cares? no one's ever gonna see this.

a year later, my junior high school got its first internet connection - a 28.8k modem shared among 20 macintosh LC's in the lab. my computer ("information processing") teacher decided that our class should learn how to make a web page as a unit project.

i told him that i had already made a homepage ages ago, and wanted to submit that as my final assignment so i could go play Bolo instead. he asked me to show him the site.

the entire class crowded around my monitor as it loaded the page a few bytes at a time. i was feeling pretty smug until i saw the straw hat, and realized that the bio was pure bullshit. i tried to turn off the monitor but it was too late - 20 kids and my teacher got to read how this bony kid in front of them was apparently a world class athlete, One Of The Cool Kids, and future valedictorian.

i deleted the entire site the second i got home

do you want to party like it’s 1990 and call waiting could, at any moment, ruin your batch download? This project could use your help.

#bbs #bbssoftware #retrocomputing #modernvintagebbs #forumhacks #vision2 #vision3

https://github.com/stlalpha/vision3

In the good ole days, Social Media consisted of #BBS's #IRC's and for the lucky few, Geocities sites.

Everyone!

There is a #BBS

IN SPACE

https://destevez.net/2025/06/z-sat-vhf-transmissions/

Yay! Or maybe AIEEE! Seems like I'm giving a talk at #EuroBSDCon again this year!

Anyone who has been following me here for a while will know I'm a hopeless #retrocomputing nerd, and I will make no attempt at hiding it during my talk:

Dirty Tricks: Using nginx and Lua to thwart bots and skript kiddies

I'll (try to) show how you can protect your #BBS from drive-by portscans and your production systems from #DDoS attacks using all the wrong tools.

Dietary warning: may contain traces of floppies.

https://events.eurobsdcon.org/2025/talk/review/RHDFBQWZEVC833T3WDLDEXYFQVRWJKMN #FreeBSD #BSD #Unix #DOS #RunBSD

so uhh, odd question: recommendations for paying artists for ascii/bbs artwork?

I want plain and colored ascii design along with a full extended ascii / whatever type of file that scene uses (haven't gotten there yet in BBS stuff).

Lovely video from The Serial Port on getting PC based Impulse #bbs software up and running in 2025 <3 :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaYAEtwE8Es

Unerwarteter Besucher in der #C64 #BBS + Akustikkoppler a la #CCC im Unboxing. Beim Login in meine 40 Jahre alte Commodore 64 BBS „Snobsoft“ fällt mir plötzlich etwas Ungewöhnliches auf – der Cursor bewegt sich von selbst im Admin-Menü. Nach und nach wird klar: Ich bin nicht allein im System. Ein User auf einem CBM8032 ist plötzlich „mit eingeloggt“

Im Unboxing gibt ebenfalls ein unerwartetes wiedersehen mit meinem #Amiga 1200 und dem Dataphon s21-23d .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZXYm7z-vBo

Called dibs on "NecroNeon BBS" https://github.com/deadbeefmonster/NecroNeon_BBS

"Gothic Horror Themed BBS With Neon Highlights"

Will be a learning experience.

Hey, I'm chasing that early computing life I wasn't able to have myself and was fascinated by, and ultimately what got me into computing and keeps me in computing.

Not ashamed to admit it.

- Working on learning to code #C64 assembly and #8BitComputing in general.
- Working on learning exactly all a #BBS actually is and coding one.
- Reusing existing skillsets for coding/sysadmin/dba/hacker for it, but in this origin story #nostalgia I never got in its entirety.

I saw a tape deck at a 2nd hand store the other day and was reminded of a math teacher showing me it could be used for data storage with computers.

I also feel fortunate that at this stage in my life I'm secure in my career (as much as I can be anyway), so I can relax a little on the hustle of skill improvement solely for work and all that.

The original text from BBS's that changed me, the one true religion:
http://www.textfiles.com/occult/ERIS/principi.a

Nicer book version with art from Loompanics:
https://mdhughes.tech/principiadiscordia/

Holy shit!

TIL that the BBS software that I used to run is still in development and still in use!

#BBS #Synchronet #DxM

https://www.synchro.net

Hey #GenX. Remember when calling a BBS in a nearby area code resulted in $100s in long distance charges - giving rise to carriers like Sprint & MCI?

I once called a #BBS in my own area code thinking it was local & my Dad got a $500 #longdistance bill.

https://www.paulmclellan.com/blog/2015/10/12/bulletin-board-systems-bbs-the-internet-before-the-internet

How the Grateful Dead built the internet

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250618-how-the-grateful-dead-shaped-social-media

Been working on the title screen for "Cloudburst Connection", my BBS themed adventure RPG (build your BBS, call others, talk with your callers - even solve a mystery!). Obviously lots of in-game ANSI screens when calling boards, but decided to also go the ANSI route for the title screen too! Still needs some tweaks but getting there!

I miss The WELL. It was such a cool community of interesting people. I first went there for the Grateful Dead forum but quickly discovered several other communities of interest. It was the only place where you could go and engage directly with your favorite authors, musicians and tech leaders of the day. All of the cool kids were on The WELL.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250618-how-the-grateful-dead-shaped-social-media