Remembering the BBS 491
Anonymous Coward writes "Nice reminiscence about BBS's, back in the day and all. Author describes them as "Where a teenage loser could lose himself", which for me would have been pretty accurate. I still miss being able to find cool ASCII graphics, text-based RPG's, and the Anarchist's Cookbook all in one place."
Re:ANSI archive sites? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:ANSI archive sites? (Score:5, Informative)
rOD.
Re:Door games (Score:4, Informative)
*Everything* gets archived on the Internet... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:ANSI archive sites? (Score:2, Informative)
But with that in mind, www.ice.org [ice.org] has all of the iCE Packs online, and even some pre-pack ansis (since iCE began in 1990 but groups didn't start releasing packs until around 08/1992). You can search for art there, but only among the iCE work. ACiD still has a website, but that seems to be down now. But their artpacks site is still online, with lots of old packs (not viewable on the web, so you'll need an ansi viewer) at here [acid.org].
There is a more comprehensive web-viewable ansi archive of almost every major pack ever released, but it appears to be down right now. Check www.idledreams.net sometime in the future to see if it's come back online I guess, that's probably what you want.
Slothy
(disclaimer: I help run iCE)
Re:ah fare thee well (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, there's a version out for Linux now called DuhDraw:
http://www.wwco.com/~wls/opensource/duhdraw.php [wwco.com]
Re:Flashbacks (Score:4, Informative)
I'm with you, except for...
300 baud connections even a 14-year-old could outtype
300 baud (in those days) was about 30 chars/second. Unless you're pressing keys at random, there's no way any human can keep up with that. It only seemed slow because of the latency of echoing your characters back to you. :)
Re:BBS games (Score:1, Informative)
the correct URL is http://tradewars.darklegacies.com/
it will give you the information needed to connect.. it is telnet based game.. still get the ansi animations.. almost brings a tear to ones eye
Not to be forgotten... (Score:3, Informative)
iCE [ice.org]
Re:Tradewars 2002 (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.eisonline.com/products/default.htm [eisonline.com]
Re:ANSI archive sites? (Score:3, Informative)
ATASCII Movies (Score:1, Informative)
It will even play them back any any baud rate you like, even 300 baud =)
Download ATS from www.atarimax.com.
Unfortunatly its windows software but its freeware.
Re:VGA Planets (Score:2, Informative)
go to www.vgaplanets.com, and start playing!
Popping In to Give You the URLs: (Score:3, Informative)
http://bbslist.textfiles.com [textfiles.com]: My list of BBSes, ever growing, and needing your help (and lists).
- Jason Scott
TEXTFILES.COM
Text RPGs? (Score:2, Informative)
Such as Moral Decay [131.247.113.1]
Re:Recommendations? Linux BBS FAQ (Score:3, Informative)
Well, if you're pretty good with linux, you could try dosemu under linux and run any old dos based BBS software under there. I searched around and found this [tux.org] post on the tux.org. Some further searching took me to the Linux BBS FAQ [telematique.org]. Enjoy!
Textfiles (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The business model from hell (Score:5, Informative)
Despite all that, I put up with a *lot* to keep it running, but never looked at it as some sort of "business model" for making a monetary profit.
I also wouldn't say it was "just for fun", because believe me - staying up all those late nights validating users, correcting spelling mistakes and incomplete file upload descriptions and keeping everything updated wasn't exactly a picnic.
There was a sort of profit to it, but it was more intangible. For me, it was the thrill of going to the local computer store and having techs come running out of the back room to meet me when they heard I was the sysop. It was the opportunity to meet some of the most interesting and intelligent people I've ever run across (some of whom are still good friends of mine today). It was the personal satisfaction of knowing I was doing something that enriched so many other people's lives in some small way.
Near the end, yes, I did gladly accept donations and even did optional "subscriptions" that bought the user some extra online time and download credits -- but I never so much as broke even on it. I never expected to. Most hobbies are like that. If there's a mistake people were/are making with Internet sites today - it's being too obsessed with making it into a business. Do it because you enjoy and love it, and because the mere presence of it satisfies you in some personal way. If you do this, the money may well follow.... but people can tell if your heart is in a given web site or not.
Re:Door games (Score:3, Informative)
See http://www.mono.org [mono.org]
Telnet to electron.mono.org [mono.org] to log in.
Re:ANSI archive sites? (Score:2, Informative)
ACiD [acid.org]
iCE [ice.org]