[1;37mNuskooler is the programmer behind Enigma  BBS software, which lately[0m
[1mdrove my attention. So i had to ask him about and as you will read, he[0m
[1mcertainly knows his "things"... ;) [0m

[31m[33m[1;31m[0;33;40m[31m[33m[1;31m[33m[31m[0;33;40m[31m[33m[1;31m[0;33;40m[31m[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mFirst of all... i have to ask... what nuskooler stands for? how you choosed[0m
[31mthis nick name or someone else gave it to you? [0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mThe name NuSkooler actually came about as part of my interest in[0m
[1;31mnu-skool style breakbeat electronic music. If I remember correctly,[0m
[1;31mthis emerged as part of my time on a UK based breaks forum.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mWhat's your computer background? How you started?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mI started with computers at a early age -- around 8 years old. My[0m
[1;31mgrandfather had built computers from kits which I toyed with. From[0m
[1;31mthere, one of my childhood friends father had a few Apple computers[0m
[1;31mfor whatever reason that we'd code on. Eventually my parents purchased[0m
[1;31ma machine that I could code on at home. I've been professionally[0m
[1;31mprogramming for over 20 years.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mProfessional programmer you say? i don't want to ask details, cause its[0m
[31ma big issue, but still, can you tell us what tools and which programming[0m
[31mlanguage you use most?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mLanguage depends on the task at hand, but professionally I'm generally[0m
[1;31musing C++ or Node.js. If it's kernel work C is really the only answer.[0m
[1;31mOther projects include Python, Lua, etc.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mHow you involved with BBSing?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mAnother childhood friend. I remember his dad had a machine with a[0m
[1;31mmodem, which we really had no clue about. But one day we managed to[0m
[1;31mcall a board up that I guess his dad had been connecting to. From[0m
[1;31mthere it kind of just exploded. We were introduced to the BBS scene[0m
[1;31mand there was no way to go back. You call a board and get it's list,[0m
[1;31mthen call all those boards, and so on. Later on in life of course[0m
[1;31mthere was war dialing, and the warez scene, but that's a whole other[0m
[1;31mstory [0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mWar dialing for sure is a "lost art", but i think its been replaced by[0m
[31mwar driving, do you agree? also warez is replace by torrentz and stuff...[0m
[31mcan bbses find a role in these new areas/technologies? could someone[0m
[31mbuild a torrent search engine / cache of sort, in a bbs? [0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mI think war driving for WiFi / Bluetooth is certainly the modern[0m
[1;31mequivalent of wardialing! Also, scanning for open Telnet ports could[0m
[1;31mbe a comparison.[0m

[1;31mOn my list of items I'd like to build in ENiGMA 1/2, there are notes[0m
[1;31mon serving Torrents [0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mWho are you right now, in the scene?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mI'm not 100% sure what you're asking here. I'm a Blocktronics member[0m
[1;31mthough I'm nothing compared to many of the other ANSI masters in the[0m
[1;31mgroup. ACiDic modding, and that's really about it these days. Back in[0m
[1;31mthe day I made various contributions to the HPAVC, warez, and ANSI[0m
[1;31mscenes.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mWhats the motive behind your will to make a bbs software now days? is it[0m
[31mjust nostalgia?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mI think there are many reasons here. Nostalgia is certainly one of[0m
[1;31mthem. As a kid I had written a couple of half baked BBS softwares in[0m
[1;31mPascal, but that was at the end of the era so it was a bit too late.[0m
[1;31mFor ENiGMA 1/2, I figured it would be a fun hobby to do something I[0m
[1;31malways wanted to + I wanted something to learn more Node.js with. I'm[0m
[1;31malso back-lashing a bit against the modern corporate controlled web[0m
[1;31mand social media. I think we've lost a lot of what the Internet[0m
[1;31m"should be" and let it become yet another commercial swamp.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mWhat the internet "should be"?  do bbses have a role in it?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mI think the more we can put power back into the users hands, the[0m
[1;31mbetter. In the early days of the Internet this was much more the case.[0m
[1;31mThere are certainly nice things these days, but the corporate[0m
[1;31mownership and users-as-products is a major problem. I think BBS's are[0m
[1;31mjust one of the ways people can get out of corporate control.[0m
[1;31mDecentralizing content via new protocols is something I'd like to see[0m
[1;31mboards take a role in. It's a shame when a board gets taken offline[0m
[1;31mand all of the content is lost.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mWhat's your opinion about the Scene in general... ANSI art & BBSes in[0m
[31mgeneral (programming, modding). Do they cooperate or they are two different[0m
[31mthings?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mI think the ANSI scene was very tied to the warez and BBS scenes back[0m
[1;31min the day, but these days they are separate scenes that happen to[0m
[1;31moverlap a lot. ANSI is done for the love of the art, not scene cred[0m
[1;31mthese days, and that's a very good thing. However, most ANSI/ASCII[0m
[1;31martists were involved in the scene wone way or another at least in the[0m
[1;31mpast, so working with boards and generating art for them may always be[0m
[1;31mcoupled. As for modding, some people (like myself) just love to code,[0m
[1;31mso modding is another avenue for that -- and the same coupling applies[0m
[1;31mwhen it comes to boards there.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mDo you think that you get supported by the scene?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mOf course! ANSI and ASCII artists from[37m Blocktronics[31m, [37miMPURE[31m, [37mFuel[31m, and[0m
[1;31mso on have contributed art for ENiGMA 1/2 and my board Xibalba.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mDo you think, that if ANSI Art and BBSes are pushed as a[0m
[31mretro-fashion-thing to the InterNet, will do good for the Scene or not?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mAbsolutely. I think a lot of people fall into the same back-lash[0m
[1;31mcategory as myself. Nothing is better than young blood coming in and[0m
[1;31mdiscovering the past.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mFrom your perspective, what is it, that makes a "good" BBS? Is it the ANSI[0m
[31mart? the scripts/mods?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mAll of the above! I really dislike logging into a board that's a out[0m
[1;31mof the box setup. You'll probably never see me again. Custom boards,[0m
[1;31mwhich includes the mods and art are the best![0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mDo you think that users prefer bbses that use a specific program? because[0m
[31mthey feel more familiar with it?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mWhen I was a kid I would download and try out every single BBS[0m
[1;31msoftware I could get my hands on. The reason for this was I like when[0m
[1;31mpeople explore different paths. If you're not different, why do we[0m
[1;31mneed you type of a thing. So yeah, I love software / boards that do[0m
[1;31mtheir own thing. Look at ENiGMA 1/2's file base implementation. It's a[0m
[1;31mbit off the walls if you compare it to the classical approach -- and[0m
[1;31msome people may hate it. But hey, it's different -- and of course, you[0m
[1;31mcan mod it![0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mFrom what i have seen, Enigma has integrated some new technologies, that[0m
[31maren't used in the old days. Do you think that users/sysops are ready to[0m
[31membrace them? or because they are familiar with the old tech, they think[0m
[31mthat Enigma is "strange" or difficult to use?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mWhen thinking of the people that use ENiGMA 1/2, I think the newer[0m
[1;31mtech and differences may be a big part of why they're using it. Is[0m
[1;31msome of it "strange"? Probably, but again, I like the strange.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mWhat's the future of Enigma? Are you thinking to incorporate more new[0m
[31mtech?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mOf course! I have a huge To-Do list for ENiGMA 1/2 in addition to the[0m
[1;31mtickets open on GitHub. At some point I'd like to collaborate with[0m
[1;31mother devs to create a new decentralized messaging (and other)[0m
[1;31mprotocol for example. Immediate plans (and work in action) includes[0m
[1;31mre-writing the FSE to bring in a lot of new functionality as well.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mDo you think BBSes have a future? or are just a retro-thing that will die[0m
[31mas time passes?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mYou never really know, but at least for the time being, the retro[0m
[1;31mcomputing movement in general is getting stronger, so I have to think[0m
[1;31mthat includes some BBSing.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mDid Raspberry Pi and other SBCs, resurrected the retro-scene in[0m
[31mgeneral and so, also BBSes?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mJudging by the number of people that run boards and RetroArch on the[0m
[1;31mPi, I think it's undeniable.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mDo you have any advices for a new Sysop? What he should be aware of?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mBe different! If you're going to run a board, mod mod mod, and mod[0m
[1;31msome more. Everything should be a unique experience! Realize from the[0m
[1;31mstart that your "call" count will likely not be huge, but if you're[0m
[1;31mrunning on something small like a VM or a RPi, it's going to be OK [0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mWhat's your opinion about null magazine? are you reading it?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mI love what you're doing with Null Mag. I can read articles on the web[0m
[1;31mall day long, but getting a downloadable disk mag feels more tangible[0m
[1;31mand certainly more retro![0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mLately we see users, who care about their private information, closing[0m
[31mtheir social media accounts. Specially after the Facebook incident. Do you[0m
[31mthink that in the future more and more users will leave those centralized[0m
[31msocial media and look for, more decentralized or local "chat-areas", like IRC,[0m
[31mBBSes, forums etc.[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mI honestly hope so. While I use FB and like the idea of connecting to[0m
[1;31mpeople that I probably wouldn't as much otherwise, being the product[0m
[1;31mof a corporate world really sucks.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mYou mentioned it also before, about the corporates and the internet...[0m
[31mdo you think that the internet is under siege of big corps and can bbses[0m
[31mplay a role in this war?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mI touched a bit on this above. Definitely so! Part of that is moving[0m
[1;31mto encrypted channels as well. Your un-encrypted data _is_ being spied[0m
[1;31mon, bought and sold, etc. The "I've got nothing to hide" fallacy[0m
[1;31mreally needs to die.[0m
[72C[33mxqtr[0m
[31mAs a professional programmer can you tell us, if its possible to[0m
[31mcreate a complete secure bbs system, that people can use as a "free"[0m
[31mplace to speak and exchange files? using ssh, guarantees a 100% secure[0m
[31msystem or not?[0m
[67C[33mnuskooler[0m
[1;31mSSH is a huge step, but once you send data to a board you must trust[0m
[1;31mthat it keeps it that way. If nothing else, the +op likely has access[0m
[1;31mto the data. Is it encrypted? Is it being sent out to other[0m
[1;31mboards/etc. over non-encrypted channels? Decentralized systems can[0m
[1;31mhelp a lot here. If my data is only constructable by a "web" of trust,[0m
[1;31mit's a lot harder to break the system maliciously or by negligence.[0m
