Getting started with BBs'ing: How to move around.
reddit / bbs

----------------------------------------------------------------------
knightwize · 2021-01-23 12:25

Hey Guys (and girls). I just finished Jason Scott's documentary on the
BBS systems and was very pleasantly surprised to find out there were
still BBS servers around. I've done some digging, looking at some
youtube video's and even installed a client on  my PC. A lot of
video's and howto's explain what BBS's are, but I have yet to find a
good manual on how to NAVIGATE a BBS ? What are the components, how do
you get around. How do you play the games and stuff. Is there any
newbie guide for this I can follow?
-- Posted via the RTV command line client running on my G4 iMac
running Debian PPC linux -- (hope i get some brownie points for that)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
andreMKE · 2021-01-23 15:31

It really varies by the software, and sometimes even more if the sysop
added custom menus and themes.

Grab a good BBS client (I use syncterm, but it has its drawbacks), and
pick one to log into. I tend to prefer the interactive messaging
system on boards that run Mystic BBS software, but that's just
personal preference.

The two main areas are message boards and door games...

There will be a local message board viewable only to other people who
log on to that BBS. Then there will be various FTN message boards
(FidoNet, fsxNet, etc.) that will share that mail amongst all other
BBS that are part of that particular network.

Then there will be door games. I'd say Lord and TradeWars 2002
(TW2002) are probably considered two of the best. The games aren't
multiplayer at the same time usually, but more like people take turns.
Generally games are just played by the people on that local BBS, but
you'll also find game servers like BBSLink where you'll actually be
playing on that server (through the BBS you're on) with far more
people.

I'm sure there are better tutorials out there, but this covers the
basics.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
arcadeshopper · 2021-01-23 23:29

Read the info presented. Try ? or h for help at menu prompts.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
dmine45 · 2021-01-27 09:55

Basically try all the features from the menus on a BBS. Remember, a
BBS is TEXT based. So put down that mouse or trackball and use your
keyboard.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
gnu2tux · 2021-01-28 13:12

Have you seen the new BBS documentary that came out last month? It has
a guide on using a BBS as part of it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
n0OwGSX2IiQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0OwGSX2IiQ&t=388s)

At [19:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0OwGSX2IiQ&t=1182s) "How
to get on a BBS" is probably the bit you probably want, but watch the
whole thing, it'll help!