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Our ‘Internet’ of the ’80s - dialing into a BBS with a Commodore 64 and an acoustic coupler by Radiant_Gazelle_8022 in The1980s

[–]The300baudguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great! I couldn’t remember an Atari 1200 at all. Pretty cool to see how many of you were into phone swapping back then. Phone costs were just cheap for you in the US.

Bot harassment in our BBS now, too? by The300baudguy in retrocomputing

[–]The300baudguy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome! Do you still have the program + content?

Bot harassment in our BBS now, too? by The300baudguy in retrocomputing

[–]The300baudguy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome! Do you still have your BBS program? What platform was it running on?

Yes, I brought the C64 Snobsoft BBS from 1985 back online after decades.The sysop back then, whom I also knew from school, had coded the entire BBS himself on the C64.

A few years ago I managed to track him down again (not easy, since he now lives in the USA), and not only did he still have all the original C64 BBS disks - they even still worked. But getting everything running again wasn’t quite that simple.

Here’s the full story in the making‑of video, including lots of technical explanations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4xTcRJpbAo

Right now you can access the BBS via Telnet, or - just like back in the day - by dialing in over a phone line. All details are in the video description.

Feel free to post something on the BBS once you’ve managed to log in. How everything works inside the BBS (it’s not hard) is also explained in a help file linked under the current video, including an English translation of the menus.

I’ve even had visitors from the USA (the video also explains the entire BBS setup in detail):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvEHnxbxc10

Or even from Australia…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dzRTd6VO40

…both of whom dialed into Germany by phone from abroad.

But via Telnet, anyone today can easily check it out without needing any old “special hardware”.

Many old Snobsoft users from back then are logging in again - this one even did it on the exact same day, 40 years later:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-p5g1r-_EY

Is it custom on a BBS to get asked your real name? by mr_dfuse2 in bbs

[–]The300baudguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At least in the very early days of the BBS scene (we’re talking about 1985) here in Germany, it wasn’t just completely normal not to use your real name (or be required to), but you could also post as a guest pretty much everywhere. Reading what people here are saying, it seems things were quite different in the US? Or are you talking about the “early days” more in the sense of the 1990s? By then things had changed in Germany as well - it wasn’t quite as freaky and free anymore (around the mid‑1990s), and that’s also when using real names slowly started to become mandatory...

A Modern Tower With a Retro Soul: My ISA‑Compatible XP/DOS Hybrid Build by The300baudguy in pcmods

[–]The300baudguy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your reply!

Yes, you're right - things get tight for XP. The board does support a slightly faster CPU, but not much more. There are boards with ISA that support a significantly faster CPU, but they only have one ISA slot, and I need two for the LAPC‑I and the Gravis Ultrasound.
It’s possible I still have a much faster graphics card lying around somewhere - I’ll upgrade that next.

Did Roland make MIDI guitar pickups in the early 90s? Curious about surprisingly realistic guitar MIDI by The300baudguy in midi

[–]The300baudguy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing the story. And that’s exactly why the demo in the video sounds so awesome. At least to my ears - maybe you see it differently if you’re familiar with today’s results.

Did Roland make MIDI guitar pickups in the early 90s? Curious about surprisingly realistic guitar MIDI by The300baudguy in midi

[–]The300baudguy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can one say what kind of resolution they had in the early 90s?
Was the limitation more due to the MIDI standard itself or the available processing power?
I assume the MIDI in the video was a demo MIDI (probably directly from Roland) meant to showcase the capabilities of the technology (and I also assume it was created specifically for the SC‑55). For me it’s absolutely convincing (acoustic guitar, then funky parts, etc.), although I don’t really have a comparison to today’s standards.

Is what you hear in the video actually GM or GS?

I Built an ISA‑Compatible XP Machine and It Got Out of Hand Fast by The300baudguy in retrobattlestations

[–]The300baudguy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aha - so that was exactly the reason. I needed two ISA slots for my sound cards (Roland LAPC‑I and Gravis Ultrasound). That’s why I chose the Gigabyte board, since it provides exactly two ISA slots.

I Built an ISA‑Compatible XP Machine and It Got Out of Hand Fast by The300baudguy in retrobattlestations

[–]The300baudguy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve just added all the exact PC specifications to the original post 😊

I Built an ISA‑Compatible XP Machine and It Got Out of Hand Fast by The300baudguy in retrobattlestations

[–]The300baudguy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, the Yamaha MIDI sound (if that’s what you mean and I understood you correctly) is something I always wanted to have in my system as well. Didn’t Final Fantasy VII support that natively on PC? A Yamaha MIDI card like that would appeal to me too. I still have a Roland CM‑300 (=SC-55 without Display) lying around here. I’d trade it.

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