Subj : Re: am i the youngest here?
To   : mary4
From : poindexter FORTRAN
Date : Mon Aug 11 2025 08:51:49

-=> mary4 wrote to All <=-

 ma> i am just 34 xD whats your age? i remeber the 1990s xD

59, I started BBSing in 1983 on a Commodore 64 with a 300 baud modem. Got
my first $150 phone bill that summer, learned how to read toll tables.
Started school, got an IBM XT and a 2400 baud modem, and was off to the
races.

I got a job supporting a midrange computer, complete with a raised floor
server room, massive line printer, and an unused modem/phone line used
for vendor dial-in. Moved that line to the terminal at my desk, which
had 2 serial inputs and a great control-key to flip between serial
ports. An actual "boss key", if you will.

In 1989 or so, I started co-sysoping Just Say Yes, a BBS in San
Francisco that was part of NIRVANAnet(tm), an othernet dedicated to
freedom of information. When Dr. Strangelove moved to Santa Cruz for
school, I wanted to start my own BBS, but was running on that old XT.

My boss at the time had a penchant for making ill-informed IT decisions.
Bought 100 2400 baud modems that didn't support error correction, and so
our dial-up WAN had lots of issues. All the modems went into a box, to
be replaced by error-correcting modems. He bought IBM store controllers,
essentially hardened IBM ATs, then replaced them all with integrated
store controller/registers.

His poor decision-making was the basis for a 30+ year hobby.


 
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