Subj : Re: BBS Software Timeout Values
To   : Dan Clough
From : Nick Andre
Date : Mon Apr 10 2023 12:07:44

On 10 Apr 23  07:31:00, Dan Clough said the following to Nick Andre:

DC>  NA> This is true.. If you bought either MBBS or TBBS it was an
DC>  NA> investment that you wanted recouped. I never once saw a totally
DC>  NA> "free" one of those systems until much later, when the novelty
DC>  NA> wore off.
DC> 
DC> Do you recall how much it was back then?  I ran a purchased/registered 
DC> copy of PCBoard back in the 90's, and I think it was either $125 or 
DC> $150, which was a significant cost for me back then.  Also registered 

I can't remember exactly. I keep thinking MajorBBS was at least a few hundred 
and they upsold you on the "Galaticboard" serial card which was another couple
hundred bucks.

Same with TBBS... You bought the license but needed the serial board for 
anything beyond 2 nodes. Then Fidonet was an add-on. Remote access was an 
add-on... I mean, any BBS that came with a freaking VHS installation video you
just knew was going to be a bit out of your league.

https://archive.org/details/1993-bbs-tbbstape

To be fair TBBS was absolutely fascinating. You could get your hands on a 
pirate copy but it was absolutely useless without the printed manual. It was
"the mother" of all Rube Goldberg lets-make-it-freaking-complicated 
contraptions. But when you really began to understand why it did things the 
way it did... it actually made sense. The manuals were very professional.

I was a huge fan and wrote some crude textfile-utils for John Souvestre's
hub system in the 90's. It seemed like him and many TBBS Sysops jumped ship 
and started their own ISP businesses when the author invented a router
appliance and began pitching the Internet as the future.

Nick

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
 * Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (1:229/426)

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