Official Introduce Yourself Thread

[dspain]

I've cracked the following modules for MajorBBS 6.25:

Distant Places 1.20 T-LORD (T-LORD IGM Module)
Dialsoft DS-DOS v3.8 (MBBS Utility Module)
Archery v1.4 (MBBS Game Module)
Oltima 2000 (MBBS Game Module)
The Casino v5.10 (MBBS Game Module)

I can upload the cracks somewhere if needed.

be carefull you don't upload cracks for moduals where thier owner is still around. I used to have a lot of cracks and stuff, but as Rick Hadsall was buying up modual rights I took them offline.

Hey, Rick, do you own any of these yet?

Dialsoft is still in business, I just registered a module of theirs that I thought might be out of development...but they dug it out and sold me an activation code.

Toyduck

thats what i love about marc, he dont just go away, need something hes got, boom he'll produce it.

[dspain]

Sylvain can kiss my ass. If I had a crack for the DMA server, I'd email him personally and invite him to come play on the board. He doesn't have the original records of who bought the DMA server any more.

vircom has all their records, they never went out of buisiness, or went under or anything, they just moved on beyond the WG phase.

thats like saying microsoft should gives us all windows 98/me for free because they dont support it anymore.

vircom's major tcp/ip connectivity software is still by far the best telecommunications package ever written for mbbs/wg
people say no b/c it dont run under NT but the fact you can still use your WGNT to dma into your old system to offer the unavail nt modules, noone else has ever duplicated that technology.

that makes it worth something and until someone begins releasing modules that do the same they wont come off of it.

[SwK]

Its been how long and people are still talking about this stuff!!

I was one of the SysOps of TFF in Memphis along w/ "Gandalf" and "LittleBit" back in the day. the DMA set up was just "the bomb" I still have a copy of and old backup of the bbs from right after we took it down. been thinking about putting it back online if a) the CD is still good or b) I can find all the disk (my WG Floppies are around here somewhere but I doubt they will work)


just WoW!

And to the guys trying to preseve a bit of my youth! Thanks Guys!

[dspain]

Its been how long and people are still talking about this stuff!!

I was one of the SysOps of TFF in Memphis along w/ "Gandalf" and "LittleBit" back in the day. the DMA set up was just "the bomb" I still have a copy of and old backup of the bbs from right after we took it down. been thinking about putting it back online if a) the CD is still good or b) I can find all the disk (my WG Floppies are around here somewhere but I doubt they will work)


just WoW!

And to the guys trying to preseve a bit of my youth! Thanks Guys!

telnet to arcticzone.dyndns.org i have all the wg and mbbs versions archived for older sysops to regain their installers.
plus over 150 other supplementsl modules and utilities.
enjy.

[Elander]

My name is Dave, I use to run Ultimate World Online BBS for about 15 years, I originally started off back in 1985 as an Op for the board, which was owned by Ted Glenwright of Accelerated Voice in San Francisco. He was the 2nd largest ISP in the area there and ran several bbs's, most of them adult oriented chat boards. I ran into him online at the time and he needed someone to op his board since he no longer had the time, back then it was a paid dial-up board. He use to pay my phone bill to stay online, handle accounts, contests, ect. I remember those bills being 600-1000 bux a month. Eventually they got hooked up to telnet, thank god !
I ran his board as the main sysop for close to 10 years until the decline of the paid chat boards. He never got set up with majormud, but we had just about every module you could buy for WG. Eventually he decided to give up the bbs business and closed down and about a month later, i got a package in the mail, with a letter thanking me for all the work i had done over the years. Inside the box was everthing related to the bbs's,
licences, manuals, disks, cd's, ect. I set up one of the bbs's for a number of years and eventually bought majormud for it. I finally took the board down a few years ago, i no longer had the time or energy to deal with it.
I am considering setting it up again if i can find my codes for my main server, i still have one set of codes for just one of them, only a 56 user count, but all the modules we had were tied to the other server.

I ran into your project and its what peaked my interest in bbs's again.
look forward to following what you have going on. reading through the threads, made me think about all the phone calls i use to make to all the isv's in order to upgrade modules from wg 2.0 to 3.0, Seen some names i have had contact with, like Bill posner. I use to talk to the people at datasafe alot back in the day too.

Good luck and look forward to seeing how things go here

[Toyduck]

My name is Dave, I use to run Ultimate World Online BBS for about 15 years, I originally started off back in 1985 as an Op for the board, which was owned by Ted Glenwright of Accelerated Voice in San Francisco. He was the 2nd largest ISP in the area there and ran several bbs's, most of them adult oriented chat boards. I ran into him online at the time and he needed someone to op his board since he no longer had the time, back then it was a paid dial-up board. He use to pay my phone bill to stay online, handle accounts, contests, ect. I remember those bills being 600-1000 bux a month. Eventually they got hooked up to telnet, thank god !
I ran his board as the main sysop for close to 10 years until the decline of the paid chat boards. He never got set up with majormud, but we had just about every module you could buy for WG. Eventually he decided to give up the bbs business and closed down and about a month later, i got a package in the mail, with a letter thanking me for all the work i had done over the years. Inside the box was everthing related to the bbs's,
licences, manuals, disks, cd's, ect. I set up one of the bbs's for a number of years and eventually bought majormud for it. I finally took the board down a few years ago, i no longer had the time or energy to deal with it.
I am considering setting it up again if i can find my codes for my main server, i still have one set of codes for just one of them, only a 56 user count, but all the modules we had were tied to the other server.

I ran into your project and its what peaked my interest in bbs's again.
look forward to following what you have going on. reading through the threads, made me think about all the phone calls i use to make to all the isv's in order to upgrade modules from wg 2.0 to 3.0, Seen some names i have had contact with, like Bill posner. I use to talk to the people at datasafe alot back in the day too.

Good luck and look forward to seeing how things go here

Welcome Dave! Welcome to our playhouse!

Don

[MadMike]

Hey there!

My name is Michael, I´m 37 years old, and I´ve gotten in touch with the world of BBSs back in my times, when I´ve lived in Boston (myself is from Germany) and was using an Amiga 500 and a 2400 baud modem (that was really fast in 1988 .

I got in touch with "The Major BBS", when I´ve logged onto the ARGUS BBS in Boston with 64 lines - and got hooked.

Back in Germany, I bought myself my first copy of The Major BBS 5.3, moved on to 6 and managed to meet some people of GComm, when there was a fair in cologne in Germany (TWOBBSCON) - there WorldGroup was introduced and I´ve got it covered over my ASAP (it was called that way, if I remember right).

I was running a 4-line BBS system in Berlin, Germany and also had some add-ons applied to my little system - I even was a Reseller and tried to sell MBBS here in Germany, but with no success, since family things kept me up. Then HTML on the internet was introduced and ... had to shut the system down ...

Now, I´ve discovered the Resurrection Page on here and I´m hooked again - having the idea to setup a small system again in Germany running the MBBS, maybe translate it in german and so forth.

If anybody can help me in this task, I will gladly accept it - especially in having a system, that is hooked to the internet, since I don´t have any add-ons that will cover this.

That should be all for now! Only, that I´m glad to find some people that are also still interested in MBBS and try to resurrect it - count me in!

Best Regards,

Michael

-------------------------

P.S.: Just have noticed, that not much is going on - except someone, which is posting porno links into this Board - maybe you should get rid of them ...

[Phoenix]

Now this place got a chuckle out of me. I used to run several large MBBS's out of Florida. It all started when I purchased a 16 line BBS called meganet from Bob, who bought it from Mike(M). I renamed the BBS "The Rain Forest" and split up several BBS's like Wet Dreams (the adult side of The Rain Forest) in order to handle the load of users. I grew it till it couldnt grow any more had tons of modem lines, incoming telnet, the works. It was fun, but I shut down when I saw the internet growing as fast as it was abd became an ISP. It's a shame - I threw out all my old backup tapes about 6 months ago - wish I know someone was still interested. I had several copies of almost everything up till WG 1.

Now I'm shutting down the ISP and playing with voip. Things have come a long way, but its all basically the same - communication.

Mike Glassberg

[ProStar]

Boy talk about Deja Vu all over again...

I am Rob Michnick, my wife Debi and I founded and ran ProStar Plus. ProStar started out as a 1 line system in 1983 and grew to a monster 256 liner with over 5,000 paying members at it's peak. We had licenses to almost everything out there.

We also wrote several products for MBBS, here is a list (if i can remember them)...

MailLink, InterLink, Command Center, ProSECURE, ProTime, DemoPak, Carribean Stud, Progressive Video Poker, 976Star, Let It Ride, and I think a few more.

Unfortunately, we were teased by the dark side (the internet) and merged with another company and we promptly lost focus towards the BBS.

I have found some of my code and Debi and I are now re-creating ProStar Plus to what it was at its peak.

We need to find various holders of code so we can get modules and activaion codes for our project.

I really think that the BBS era was the best time ever for online connectivity. Who could ever forget the BBSCon's, at the true sense of community that will never be seen again.

I am looking forward to working with all of you in our attempts to grasp that time again.

Rob

[frcorey]

Boy talk about Deja Vu all over again...

I am Rob Michnick, my wife Debi and I founded and ran ProStar Plus. ProStar started out as a 1 line system in 1983 and grew to a monster 256 liner with over 5,000 paying members at it's peak. We had licenses to almost everything out there.

We also wrote several products for MBBS, here is a list (if i can remember them)...

MailLink, InterLink, Command Center, ProSECURE, ProTime, DemoPak, Carribean Stud, Progressive Video Poker, 976Star, Let It Ride, and I think a few more.

Unfortunately, we were teased by the dark side (the internet) and merged with another company and we promptly lost focus towards the BBS.

I have found some of my code and Debi and I are now re-creating ProStar Plus to what it was at its peak.

We need to find various holders of code so we can get modules and activaion codes for our project.

I really think that the BBS era was the best time ever for online connectivity. Who could ever forget the BBSCon's, at the true sense of community that will never be seen again.

I am looking forward to working with all of you in our attempts to grasp that time again.

Rob

I would like interlink for wg2.
the nt systems have worldlink, the little dos systems
need something for them, and chatlink is never coming back. it would be great for the little systems to be able to hook up with each other.

Corey

[corvey]

Hi,

I am an old school BBSER that started BBSing in the mid 80's. It's nice to see support of old school software still alive! I hope to continue to be apart of your community here. Nice to meet you!


Corvey

[Arch]

A 'Hello' goes out to Mike M. and Rob M. and anyone else I may have talked to while working tech support from Fall 91 through Summer 93 @ Gcomm.

-Chris K.

[corvey]

I use to run a 2 node BBS called "Terminal Meltdown" using Renegade BBS software under a multi-tasker called Desqview in the early 90's, and I've been bbsing since the mid 80's. Purely a hobby of mine that I loved so much. Great entertainment.

I used and played on MajorBBS systems throughout all those years. My favorite all time BBS game was Galactic Empire, and of course Trade Wars 2002 was a very close second.

Nice to see the BBS folks still around

[Toyduck]

I use to run a 2 node BBS called "Terminal Meltdown" using Renegade BBS software under a multi-tasker called Desqview in the early 90's, and I've been bbsing since the mid 80's. Purely a hobby of mine that I loved so much. Great entertainment.

I used and played on MajorBBS systems throughout all those years. My favorite all time BBS game was Galactic Empire, and of course Trade Wars 2002 was a very close second.

Nice to see the BBS folks still around

Welcome Corvey! I keep a MBBS system up with Galactic Wars and a few other oldtime games, if you want to relive past experiences... Stop by.

Toyduck

[dspain]

Sylvain can kiss my ass. If I had a crack for the DMA server, I'd email him personally and invite him to come play on the board. He doesn't have the original records of who bought the DMA server any more.

actually he does. they never stopped keeping records only selling.
DMA client for wg is a very powerful piece of software and not one i would say should be sold for 50-100 bux with its power and flexibility selling it for 500 is fair considering he is selling a 256 license for 500 bux.
wg cant even be bought for 256 for 500.

[ccs]

Sylvain can kiss my ass. If I had a crack for the DMA server, I'd email him personally and invite him to come play on the board. He doesn't have the original records of who bought the DMA server any more.

actually he does. they never stopped keeping records only selling.
DMA client for wg is a very powerful piece of software and not one i would say should be sold for 50-100 bux with its power and flexibility selling it for 500 is fair considering he is selling a 256 license for 500 bux.
wg cant even be bought for 256 for 500.

To bad it will never be ported to WG3.XNT

Joe

[Malakai]

I suppose there isn't much reason for most new worldgroup/mbbs owners to even bother with a DMA server. The way I see it, if you ran (or bought a bbs) that ran a pay system in the early to mid 90s and had 45,000+ worth of software, sure, you could get some of that stuff back registered in their WINNT counterparts, but not all.

A working version of mutants, several of the adventure games, androids (not a great game but still,) crossroads of the elements, infinity complex (until when/if it becomes available on nt,) tradewars 2002, Galactic Empire, Quest for Magic (NT version has that crash bug that crashes every time someone gets to that certain area) and many others.

Then, there are a few people that sell a couple mods that really are kind of hard to figure out how to pay for, like lunatix and the lord mod. You have to track them down, email them, wait for a reply, and then they tell you to contact and/or pay this other person, and then when you try to contact the other person, you have to wait several weeks or a month before they reply. These people really don't want to sell or support their product, yet they don't want to sell their rights to them either.

And then you have metropolis, which is really hit or miss. They have a pretty big ammount of mods, but if you email them about one, they may or may not ever get back to you at all. I know - I've e-mailed them several times, as a paying customer. At least half of those emails went unanswered to this day. They don't have a fair/updated pricing scheme either.

Also, if you plan on running a DMA server with majormud, you have to get yet another DMA code for it. I don't know if this cost extra now or not, because they don't have any thing on their website about it, but in their readme file, it really seems like they want to charge each DMA client the cost of majormud as well. Maybe I'm mis-reading that, but I don't think any one connected to the gamenets of the past paid that.

[ccs]

I suppose there isn't much reason for most new worldgroup/mbbs owners to even bother with a DMA server. The way I see it, if you ran (or bought a bbs) that ran a pay system in the early to mid 90s and had 45,000+ worth of software, sure, you could get some of that stuff back registered in their WINNT counterparts, but not all.

Thats my case. I have a bunch of modules that are not upgradable to wg3.xNT. I run a DMA server that connects from my main BBS. The main BBS is running wg2.0 but I could upgrade to 3.X but I do not see that much of a bennifit. I have a bunch of old computers (Pent 1 - 3) that run wg2.0 just fine in DOS.

What I wold like to see is a DMA client writen or released (vircom has one) that would run under wg3.X. that way I can let other BBS's connect to my DMA server.

Joe

[Malakai]

Vircom has a dma client for wgnt 3.x. I have it registered to me, as it uses the same REG code as the DOS version. This was probably originally created for people that used gcomm's ico package, as opposed to their major tcp/ip, which had the client built in, but they at least updated it for win nt.

Now for the bad news. Vircom charges $600 per product. If you want major tcp/ip, it's $600. If you want a DMA server, it's $600. If you want the ICODMA client for win nt, it's $600.

I thought I had the nt version of the dma client on my bbs, but I can't find it. So, I'll try to upload it when I do, if any one is interested.

[dspain]

Vircom has a dma client for wgnt 3.x. I have it registered to me, as it uses the same REG code as the DOS version. This was probably originally created for people that used gcomm's ico package, as opposed to their major tcp/ip, which had the client built in, but they at least updated it for win nt.

Now for the bad news. Vircom charges $600 per product. If you want major tcp/ip, it's $600. If you want a DMA server, it's $600. If you want the ICODMA client for win nt, it's $600.

I thought I had the nt version of the dma client on my bbs, but I can't find it. So, I'll try to upload it when I do, if any one is interested.

1800 bux huh...wow

[Malakai]

I have uploaded both the DOS DMA Client and NT version on my BBS, if any one is interested. Both can be found in the SYSOPFLZ section. DOS Version = ICODMACL.ZIP - NT Version = TCPDMAIC.ZIP

[ccs]

I have uploaded both the DOS DMA Client and NT version on my BBS, if any one is interested. Both can be found in the SYSOPFLZ section. DOS Version = ICODMACL.ZIP - NT Version = TCPDMAIC.ZIP

I have them as well but the clients will not work with out a act code.

We need to make our own client.

Joe

[DRomano]

Hello all, Iám from Dominican Republic and I Love BBS´s. I run MBBS and WG 1.0 and i like to know were i can get again all this stuff (add-ons, etc)

[DRomano]

My name is Oscar Ramirez, from Dominican Republic. I run O.S.C.A.R-BBS in my country and i want to say I LOVE BBS´s.

[dspain]

Hello all, Iám from Dominican Republic and I Love BBS´s. I run MBBS and WG 1.0 and i like to know were i can get again all this stuff (add-ons, etc)

what are you looking for?

[weatherangel]

Hey everyone - this is the thread to introduce yourself!

Hi, my name is Ilene and I'm a geek ...

Oh wait, wrong place. I've lurked here for quite a while, so I suppose I should add in my part to this thread.

When I was in 8th grade, we got our first 300 baud modem, and while I'd been programming in BASIC for some time already, I was finally hooked for good. We got the local list of BBSes and I started on the Pinnacle where I met Scott (Brinker), who at the time was running Enchanted Isles. He introduced me to Fazuul which was running on a 2 line interactive system, before even the CB Simulator was added. You dialed in, and were instantly in the game. It was the only system that allowed two people dialed in to interact, rather than just the SysOp and the user. I had the distinct pleasure of growing up with everyone from Moonshae Isles (as well as what later became GComm the company). All of my best memories as a kid were after I started BBSing, and I idolized many of the guys from the company because of what I saw them doing with their lives, even at my age at the time. Teenagers writing really freaking cool games -- and that's what we all were. I think most of the guys from the board went into software development in one way or another, all because of a single gathering point. None of us knew what it was the beginning of, back in 1984 when it all began. The social aspect was what I loved most, with our Friday Night GT's, and basic hell raising

I look at the systems from the user point of view because while I did run a MBBS system for a while, I was more into the social aspect, and my BBS came in after BBSes in my area started waining (in 1992). Plus, there was just no competition against the established systems in the area, including the GComm Demo BBS.

I finally left the BBS scene and joined with the rest on IRC, and the web in general. I've put up my old BBS twice since 2000, but mostly just for friends who were amazed that I still had the software on hand I purchased the moonshae.com domain for that purpose, but for the moment it just points at the Moonshae Alumni yahoo group.

For work I started out building and selling IBM compatible computers, then moved into tech support and finally got my break into programming. Now am a web programmer, the easy stuff, perl, php and css has become the bane of my existence...

Now I have two girls that are the age I was when I started BBSing, and OMG it scares me!

[jfalcon]

Greets,

My name is Joe Delekto and I am a former developer for Galacticomm (I started in late 1995 and left late 1999). My introduction is going to be a little long-winded, so I'll begin with the formalities:

Chapter I: My Introduction to BBS

During my early years of high school, my parents bought the family their first computer during the TI-99/4a fire sale. In a mad spree to buy all the accessories (most of them demo units) we ended up with quite a full system, including a 110/330 baud coupler modem, Terminal Emulator II module and a free speech synthesizer (mail-in coupon from all the modules). Since it cost money to use Delphi or Genie at the time, I looked for free alternates, basically BBS systems in the local calling area. That's where it all began.

During that time, I actually wrote my own BBS (never distributed) in c99, but I did develop door games for TIBBS, entitled "Wheel of Fortune" (based on the popular game) and "Factory of Danger" (an interactive fiction game).

Chapter II: My Introduction to MajorBBS and Galacticomm

I used many MajorBBS systems during my high school and early college tenure and didn't even know it. The most memorable one was the Sierra On-Line download patch BBS. I was an avid fan of Sierra games and used their dial-up patch sites from time to time to get patches for their games.

Fast forward, I went to a "Career Fair" for Georgia Tech Alumni in 1995. Their typical MO was to send "interest slips" to students, then make "ad-hoc" interviews later. Unfortunately, I did not get any slips that year. Hanging out at the other employer booths was almost insanity, since lots of alumni would swarm the booths of Microsoft, IBM, Motorolla, Intel, you name it.

I saw a small table in one area with two people and a couple of software packages (MajorBBS, Worldgroup) with nobody showing any interest. I decided to go over and talk to them. I mentioned that I remembered MajorBBS, but not Worldgroup. They offered me an impromptu interview later that day. To make a long story short, I was invited to South Florida for an interview and was soon thereafter offered a position to join the company.

Chapter III: Life at Galacticomm

Initially, Galacticomm was a very fun place to work. One of my first "trials by fire" was to complete "Fax Online". In addition, I added the "Fax Online" client (which was not planned, but I worked on anyway to help my understanding of Client/Server development). I really preferred Client/Server development and one of my other contributions was the graphical whiteboard to Teleconference.

At one point during my tenure, I was approached by Stryker; he was considering purchasing a C/S remote-sysop module from an ISV or developing one in-house. I told him that I believed I could do the job and with the next release of Worldgroup, there was a Client/Server version of the Remote Sysop tool.

Since then, I've worked on various portions of Worldgroup (including porting modules to the 32-bit platform), creating a 32-bit GCSP engine, the Worldgroup Setup Wizard, video capture (and 32-bit client) for our "WebCast" product along with the multi-connection 32-bit broadcaster. I also added the RSA encrypted connection to our Client/Server protocol.

I've worked on several other projects at Galacticomm that have never seen the light of day, but were quite interesting. These included:
1) an NT authentication module for integrating Worldgroup Security with Windows NT Security;
2) a 32-bit dial-up (using Windows Telephony) client that allowed for Windows users with just a modem to view video and chat;
3) Anti-Virus software integration to scan and reject files which contain viruses when used as attachments or added to file libraries;
4) New replacement for Btrieve to allow developers to use ODBC connections instead, so they could use SQL as their back-end instead of just Btrieve;
5) New module called "ActiveX Script Keys" which allowed Sysops to use ActiveX scripts (such as VBScript of JavaScript) which had objects exposed to given them access to data from Worldgroup. The scripts could be used to control access to resources dynamically, using information about the system or user;
6) User management system (along with fellow co-workers) to create a new highly manageable "locks & keys" system which allowed Sysops to determine what keys they wanted to open a particular software lock;
7) The 'Phoenix' project, in which I ported all of our code (excluding ActiveHTML) to Visual C++.

All in all, it was a very fun ride. Along the way, I was able to participate in the Beta test forums in order to help eliminate the bugs and improve the product. I even worked late hours of my own time during beta to add some "feature creep" because even I thought it was a cool idea. When Remote Sysop for C/S was released, I even added a last-minute "Easter Egg" which thanked all our Beta testers, then kicked off the build before I went home.

I also had the opportunity to meet quite a few people in the SYSOPS forum. I was warned not to read or post there by a few people on the inside, but after reading a few posts, I felt it was probably good public relations to at least have someone from the company make an appearance. I have had the opportunity to converse with some of the most diverse and wonderful people ever to run MajorBBS/Worldgroup systems. There were many times that their gripes and complains were well founded, other times where they were just nothing more than someone having a bad day. In the end though, I would like to hope that I made some friends in that arena.

Chapter IV: Here and Now

Today I'm working for a small company in South Florida, doing other software development. It's new and interesting in its own right, and as much fun as it was during the Gcomn era; I hope it doesn't suffer the same fate.

[Malakai]

Hey, we started on the same computer (ti 99) - except I had the PEB, floppy drive, and extended basic, while most people just used the carts and a tape drive.. However, I did not start bbsing on the TI. It was actually a mac plus, that I wasn't really proud of.. So, I started to build a 486 and then ended up buying one, while finishing up the other slowly.. I was hooked.

[jfalcon]

Hey, we started on the same computer (ti 99) - except I had the PEB, floppy drive, and extended basic, while most people just used the carts and a tape drive.. However, I did not start bbsing on the TI. It was actually a mac plus, that I wasn't really proud of.. So, I started to build a 486 and then ended up buying one, while finishing up the other slowly.. I was hooked.

Actually, we had the PEB too. (None of the boxcars, 'cept for the expansion box) . I did have the chance to work on some less documented TI hardware (the AMS card).

[The Bandit]

Hey everyone - this is the thread to introduce yourself!

Hi, my name is Ilene and I'm a geek ...

Oh wait, wrong place. I've lurked here for quite a while, so I suppose I should add in my part to this thread.

Well I guess I should introduce myself, as I have been lurking here for a while. My name is Lew, and I have been in the BBS game since 1984. The first BBS I ever visited was Trade-80 (based on a TRS-80 model 1). I became intrigued, and figured that if a BBS can run on a TRS-80, one can run on my VIC-20. I maxed out the vic with an 80 column expander and as much memory as possible, and with my brand new auto dial/auto answer modem, went to work. I developed COMNET-20 and ran it in Tamarac FL for several years with 5 floppy drives (including a high density dual drive). I then ported the code to run on a C-64 and eventually a B-128. This led to 3 of my programs locally in Broward county with different Sysops. This resulted in COMNET-64 and Eagle's Nest.

I then moved to Long Beach, CA and ran a Dial-Your Match system (Southbay Love Connection), and then a modified multi-line WWIV system called Hotel California. I then met up with Stryker and purchased V2 of MBBS and then a later version. I found the manual a few weeks ago, and started thinking when I found this site. I would like to get back into the game with a TCPIP system (no more multiple lines for me). WG3 looks like it has some potential especially with all these experts here.

[weatherangel]

This led to 3 of my programs locally in Broward county with different Sysops. This resulted in COMNET-64 and Eagle's Nest.

I remember the Eagle's Nest, though admittedly not very well...

I found the manual a few weeks ago, and started thinking when I found this site. I would like to get back into the game with a TCPIP system (no more multiple lines for me). WG3 looks like it has some potential especially with all these experts here.

Staying along the same thread, with as many of the ex-developers that are here, you would think that the old modules could be brought up to date, or better yet, bring together a project that takes what was, and brings it back using modern technologies Though, I'll be the first to say that I never liked the web interface to WG. It could be the ultimate Web 2.0 system

[frcorey]

This led to 3 of my programs locally in Broward county with different Sysops. This resulted in COMNET-64 and Eagle's Nest.

I remember the Eagle's Nest, though admittedly not very well...

I found the manual a few weeks ago, and started thinking when I found this site. I would like to get back into the game with a TCPIP system (no more multiple lines for me). WG3 looks like it has some potential especially with all these experts here.

prolly would of if most of the ISVs didn't have thier source codes lost or damaged.

Staying along the same thread, with as many of the ex-developers that are here, you would think that the old modules could be brought up to date, or better yet, bring together a project that takes what was, and brings it back using modern technologies Though, I'll be the first to say that I never liked the web interface to WG. It could be the ultimate Web 2.0 system

[bposner]

I'm still out here! Joe and I actually work together at a software company, deja vu all over again

[jfalcon]

Staying along the same thread, with as many of the ex-developers that are here, you would think that the old modules could be brought up to date, or better yet, bring together a project that takes what was, and brings it back using modern technologies Though, I'll be the first to say that I never liked the web interface to WG. It could be the ultimate Web 2.0 system

Actually, before I left the company, there had been many small projects which were starting to incorporate more modern technologies.

NT Authentication, COM automation, ODBC integration (Not to be confused with Actibase, which turned out to be recalled more often than a defective pinto) as well as anti-virus integration to e-mail attachments and file libraries as well as the ability to create keys for locks dynamically using ActiveX scripting.

There had already been plans in the works at the time I left to eliminate the 256-user GSBL limit, move to long filename support and remove the concept of "clean-up" so the system could run 24/7. Some of those plans had never been implemented other than ideas on paper, some were partial prototypes or initial hacks.

However, a lot of the Worldgroup modular technology is still relevant today (i.e. Plug-ins or Add-ins) and can be done nice and clean with some of the newer languages and frameworks.

[jfalcon]

I'm still out here! Joe and I actually work together at a software company, deja vu all over again

Yeah, isn't that a hoot! Reminiscing about all the days at Gcomm that turned into a wild ride at best.

I probably should post some of the *very* funny stuff and pranks that went on there. Between the "Support Whiteboard", "The Broken Chair", and the "Stinky Fridge", there are a few good stories there.

[Xlr8]

Hello all,

Just wanted to thank you first for keeping this alive and kicking. It was exciting to see an active board. As for introductions, I'll spare the details of my geekness and talk about the board I used to own and run.

At the time, there was only one big BBS in the Colorado area called Denver Chat. I played there for awhile in the early 90s and decided to open my own. The BBS I had was called The Stumble Inn and at the prime, we were up to 24 lines running out of my two bed room apartment. We had a decent user base and kept costs as low as we could, but in the end, we closed shop after a few years.

[EArmbrust]

I guess I'll go ahead and do my thing here, as well.
First, thank you very much Rick. I was actually really surprised the registration thing was fixed that fast. Much kudos.

Where to start?
Let's see...
Hi, my name is Elden and I'm a BBSaholic.
Uhm...fast basic stuff. I got my first (8086) PC in 1990. Immediately I started messing with QBasic, as it was the only program installed on my hard drive besides MS-DOS. Besides the DMV software. Don't even ask. I fried that system pretty fast. Literally. It burnt. Immediately I got an 80286 monochrome laptop with no hard drive. This time around, however, I had a modem. I can't remember the modem speed...it was at most 2400 baud. Back then, BBS' had their own listing in our yellow pages. Immediately I dialed on up with Procomm (amazingly, it came with the system) and was hooked. Soon thereafter I got a newer system. This time, it was an 80386 with a real working color (16) monitor. I read all the magazines, oohing and ahhing over Wildcat and the multiport hardware as I played LORD on the 2 BBS' I knew of, chatting with sysop's whenever I could. At this point, I installed WWIV. The very first BBS software I ever tried. This was all thanks to a guy named Ramrod. Again, don't ask. Immediately, I realized playing on a BBS was fun...but running one was amazing. It was your own little world to control and dictate....but at a cost. You had to learn things most people didn't know, or want to know. Things like 40 character modem init strings, how to jumper your 4 modems so they could all work at the same time, and how to run multiple copies of BBS software under OS/2. Then, I found a BBS named Online Illusions. The sysop, Axle, was a really cool guy. On top of that, they had the most amazing BBS software I had ever seen. It had all kinds of options, globals, games galore, and....MajorMUD.

This blew my mind. How could a BBS have 57 people online? How could they have that many modems, or computers? Surely it would take at least 12 computers to run that many users. I asked Axle how he did it. His response was "What do you mean? It's all running on a 486DX, with a few galactiboards." Immediately I had found my calling. I had found my utopia, my oils with which to paint my Mona Lisa. Over time, I managed to establish a reputation for myself. I first became a teleconference op, then a vice-sysop, then finally co-sysop. It amazed me. This guy, Axle, let me play god on his BBS. I did it well. I was fair, and just. So, one day he asked me "Want to come to the office? I have some things to show you and ask you." Of course I'd say yes! To see this masters work in all it's glory...he would have to be 7'6" and and glow as the sun. So we set up a day, and I had my parents drive me there. I was 14. Upon arrival, I see a doctors office in the building. I found that slightly odd, but ignored it.

A slightly built boy, about my age, walked out the door as I was walking in. He turned, and said "Hey, are you Deathshead?" I nearly fell over. This young boy was the sysop of my utopia? It couldn't be! It was a lie! Alas, it was not...but it was the blossoming of a beautiful friendship. Over time, we talked, enjoyed the BBS scene, and learned programming. After a while, he transferred to my school. One day he pulled me aside and slipped me a small white box that was heavy. I looked at it. On the front was a glove, with four arrows emerging from behind it to all point at one thing: Me. It read "Worldgroup Developers Kit" (or something quite similar...this IS a long time ago.)

I squealed with glee. He had just made me the happiest person in the world. So happy, in fact, that I faked my own sickness to go home early that day, and skip the next two. I put every bit of effort into learning the workings of this "Worldgroup" development. About this time, I got a new computer. I Packard Bell Pentium 75Mhz. It was a dream. I even got internet access...from Online Illusions. $4.95 a month, plus $10.00 for the internet access...all from simply dialing a 1-900 number to get a code. Again, Worldgroup amazed me. I had learned quite a bit about the source code...but I had no way to test the modules I had written. Again, Axle saved me. He handed me another box. This time, it contained the floppy disks for installing the actual BBS software! Inside was a piece of paper, with a short jumble of letters. A CODE! I HAD A REAL WORKING CODE FOR WORLDGROUP! Mind you, I couldn't do anything but test modules with it...but it was a code! I cherished this gift (or loan...however you look at it) and read everything I could. The confusion abounded! What is Btrieve doing? What exactly does Phar Lap do? WHO IS PHAR LAP?!
After months of coding, I finally handed him back the disks, with one addition.
He now held a new globals module, a new teleconference with actions that could be edited while the BBS was running, and an FTP program that showed your queue on one side, and the remote directory on the other! I believe that day was as wonderful for him, as the day I received the developer kit. Mainly, because he skipped the next day as well.

Time passed, and the BBS age slowed. Where once I could see nearly 60 people online at once...I only saw 20 or so, most of which were in MajorMUD.

I made a decision. I bought a used copy of Worldgroup from an acquaintance on the internet. He sent me the disks, and a code. $400 was a lot for me at the time...but I was working, and it would be worth it. After all, I had MajorMUD as well! I got my system up, entered the code...97??????? (I'm not posting the rest of the code...but if you recognize that much then you can catch the foreshadowing...) and away I went! 256 LINES! Unlimited MajorMUD players! Immediately I used 3 modems to allow dial in access and 1 to connect to the internet. I added a telnet link to allow people to telnet to Axle's board, and he added one for mine! Iniquity Online was born! I spent hours coding, making ANSI's, customizing menus, you name it!

Then one day, a fellow by the name of Lonestar (I think that was the name...it's been a while) registered. He was from....Canada?! My board was amazingly popular! He immediately went into MajorMUD and typed a command I had never known! "sys lance"
Immediately I get a page, since I was online of course. What sysop wasn't online on his multiline board.

Lonestar: Hello
Me: Heya!
Lonestar: Do you have a second?
Me: Of course, how can I help?
Lonestar: Are you aware that your copy of MajorMUD, as well as your copy of Worldgroup, are pirated?
Me: Haha, no way. Nice try.
Lonestar: I'm serious. I work for WCC, the company that develops MajorMUD. We don't have any record of selling the module to you, as well as the fact that your code is a known pirated code.
Me: Nice try dude, but I bought this copy legit.
Lonestar has logged off!
*Delete user Lonestar...*

I let this little incident slide by, figuring it was just one of my friends or a rival sysop. About 4 days later I get a phone call from one John Brushcow. Apparently, WCC had notified the SPA of my BBS and they were now demanding it be shut down. Immediately I called Axle. He asked me what my code was. I told him, "97*******".

"Oh wow...yeah...that's a pirated copy, dude..."

At this point, I had generated enough money to buy a LEGITIMATE copy of Worldgroup, albeit sans MajorMUD. So, again, Iniquity Online was born.
Time passed, and BBS' began to fade ever more. I got some money together and bought Game Connection. Now my lines were always filled with people playing Doom, Warcraft 2, and Duke Nukem 3D!

Sure, I had to downgrade to WAY less than 256 lines...but that didn't matter! I now had 4 56k modems!

More time passed, and my active user count dwindled. Axle still had about 12 people online at any time, but they were the diehards, and almost all of them schoolmates. Suddenly, I had to move. Things got packed, the board got taken down, and everything went into storage until we got moved in. Or so we though. About 3 weeks after putting our things in storage, a "thief" broke into our locker and stole *everything*. How believable is that? How do you steal a whole storage locker full of things without SOMEONE noticing?! I looked through the tiny bit of debris left. All that was left were some scraps of paper, and 2 disks from the 1.01 backup I had done...all soaked from the lovely Florida weather. I cried. I literally cried. My , AND AXLES, Worldgroup BBS, disks, and activation code were all gone. Lost forever. I gave up. I moved on. In the back of my head, however, lingered a passion that couldn't be quelled.

More time passed, and Online Illusions grew barren. There was only 1-2 people online, and maybe 3-4 using PPP. Axle decided to give up. He had done his best. He had fought the good fight.

Once again, I decided to make a WG BBS. I asked Axle if he had saved his WG activation code. He said he had. We struck a deal. I could have the activation code, just so long as I didn't use his name. Thus, Darkstar BBS was born! It lived happily. I promoted it on BBS lists, in newsgroups, everywhere I could. I charged $4 a month for unlimited access and enough credits to play MajorMUD for 4 hours a day! Suddenly, I saw a jump in activity. To my dismay, though, most of the people playing were scripting! I had nobody to talk to. No one to use teleconference actions on. I was bored. My only PC was being used to entertain everyone but me.

One day, a stranger logged in. HOORAY! Someone new!
I jaunted to the teleconference, and before I could say hello in a global BOOM! The BBS crashed. Odd...I rarely had crashes. I restarted the BBS, apologized to those that automatically relogged with their AFK scripts who didn't respond, and saw the stranger log in again! This time I'd say hi for sure!

(GLOBAL) Iniquity: Welcome to Darkstar!
(GLOBAL) Stranger: HAHAHAHAHAHAH NOOB
*CRASH*

WHAT'S THIS?! COULD THIS STRANGER BE CRASHING MY BBS?!?!
I disable his account, just to be sure, and bring the BBS back up.
Suddenly, my BBS became a beacon for stray accounts, random crashes, and annoying script-kiddies attempting things like winnuke.
I struggled through, and figured that it would all pass.

One day I log in and see new mail. Yay! Could it be a new user?
2 new mails.
"I just though I'd write you to let you know that you're using a pirated version of Worldgroup"

WHAT?! HOW COULD THIS BE?! I *KNOW* THE PERSON THAT BOUGHT THIS CODE!
I contact them online.
Me: I know this is a legitimate copy of Worldgroup.
Them: Yes...but not for this BBS.
Me: Right, I got it from my friend.
Them: You can't do that. You need to transfer ownership.
Me: But, he doesn't run his BBS any longer...
Them: That doesn't matter. Please contact Galacticomm sales or support and find out how to transfer.

Immediately I took the board down. I was done with the frustration, the lies, the hacking and crashing. It was over. Mind you, I NEVER took my board down. I was actually known as one of the kindest and most fair sysop's in the area, if not in the state. I immediately returned all the checks I had received. I told Axle, and he understood. We had both tried our best.

Here I am, yet again interested in running Worldgroup. I know I probably can't, seeing as though I have no proof of owning Worldgroup. That, coupled with the fact that the companies are now, for all intent and purpose, no longer operating means that I am up the proverbial creek. I figure though, that at least my knowledge of the front-end things may prove useful. I doubt I can remember much WG module development, seeing as I have likely pushed about 99% of it out of memory to make space for current development (BSD sockets, OpenGL, OpenAL, SDL, modern C/C++, etc).

Thank you for reading my "War & Peace" of Worldgroup.

EDIT: I didn't mean to make it sound like Gcomm were harassing me. Quite the contrary. Mind you, at the time I did feel a bit like they were. I didn't, however, know the entire situation with their company or why things were the way they were (at this point I think it was JUST before the netVillage buyout). So, with all of the stress I had suffered up until this point, I simply felt singled out yet again. I think anyone that had invested the money at the time would feel begrudged and/or hurt. After the fact, I now understand the reasoning of the move made.

[tfox]

Hey all, thought I would say hi and glad to see others wondering about MajorBBS and WorldGroup also.

It's been some years since I messed with it but I still have the software laying around somewhere (lord knows where though, lol)

I started messing around logging into BBS's back around 89, right before I went into the Army and got hooked on them. While in the Army I always wanted to run one, unfortunatly, with the pay I couldn't afford to ever set one up in the area's I was deployed, so I had to wait until I got out.

In 93 I got out on a medical discharge and got into working on and with computers in my small town's local computer store. While working there I finally started my own system and eventually had 50 or 60 dedicated users (specially when the internet boom came along).

Unfortunatly, in late 99 my mom came down with cancer (the 2nd time) and didn't recover and my father had a heart attack (he's ok though) all while I was working full time and going back to school full time (very tiring time) so I finally shut down the operation. Just couldn't keep up with it.

But every since, I have longed for the good ole day's of the BBS and I'm glad to see you all out here trying poke the old Galacticomm tradition back to life. I would love to see it emerge again as a viable system.

(hhmmm, now where did I put that software...)

[HaggisAttack]

Hi, I'm Peter Lutz. I worked at Galacticomm from late 1994 to early 1996. I was originally hired as the purchasing manager and I eventually worked for Mike Hunt on the accounting, inventory management side. Outside of testing and installing the software myself I did not get involved with software development. Ironically post-Galacticomm I completed my masters and ended up working for a Big Six firm as a software engineer. (I'm now working for a large computer firm as an IT Architect.)

Galacticomm was a great way for me to get introduced to computer software development and the world of distributed computing. I miss the great people I used to work with, especially the engineers who answered my novice questions, and helped me get interested in the whole business. I also was very sad to hear of Stryker's passing. I had played chess with him and he was a very bright and generous person. On two occasions when I worked there he took the entire company on weekend trips. It was certainly great while it lasted.

I don't think I have much left from Galacticomm. Certainly no software and maybe only a T-Shirt in storage. I do have my memories, which I will never loose (I hope).

[Bambi]

HI Everyone, I see my husband posted so he saved me some typing.. Good Man! Well Its good to see that people are actually getting together to revive MBBS! I want to say hi and hope I see or get to talk to some of the older friends. I see Murdock is here.. How you doing? Anyone else here if you remember me from back then feel free to send a PM and say hi!!

Nice to see you again!
Holly Glassberg aka Sysopette or Bambi

Now this place got a chuckle out of me. I used to run several large MBBS's out of Florida. It all started when I purchased a 16 line BBS called meganet from Bob, who bought it from Mike(M). I renamed the BBS "The Rain Forest" and split up several BBS's like Wet Dreams (the adult side of The Rain Forest) in order to handle the load of users. I grew it till it couldnt grow any more had tons of modem lines, incoming telnet, the works. It was fun, but I shut down when I saw the internet growing as fast as it was abd became an ISP. It's a shame - I threw out all my old backup tapes about 6 months ago - wish I know someone was still interested. I had several copies of almost everything up till WG 1.

Now I'm shutting down the ISP and playing with voip. Things have come a long way, but its all basically the same - communication.

Mike Glassberg

PS: MBBS isnt in the spell checker!!

[wildsoft]

Hello all,
I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this, but here goes.

My name is Rich Wildey and I am the ISV for the wildsoft modules Bathroom Stall, Secret Word, and Neverending Stories. I believe I still have the source code for them, but would have to hunt for them. After I locate them I will have to contemplate what to do with them .
I believe I also have all the galacticom software somewhere along with the needed development kits, but will have to verify that and see if the floppies are still good. My BBS, Golden Palace, went down in 2000 due to lack of interest. I did manage to get the upgrade to the Worldgroup NT version but never installed and ran it due to module upgrade costs at the time.
Anyhow, if I can locate all the required software, and there is enough interest, I could possibly be pursuaded to take a look at the code for my modules and update them with suggested functionality. It will however take some time to get reaquainted with the code since I haven't looked at it for quite some time.

It is nice to see that there is still interest in Galacticom BBS and addons for it. Took me back a little when I accidentally found this site.

Rich Wildey

[Toyduck]

Hello all,
I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this, but here goes.

My name is Rich Wildey and I am the ISV for the wildsoft modules Bathroom Stall, Secret Word, and Neverending Stories. I believe I still have the source code for them, but would have to hunt for them. After I locate them I will have to contemplate what to do with them .
I believe I also have all the galacticom software somewhere along with the needed development kits, but will have to verify that and see if the floppies are still good. My BBS, Golden Palace, went down in 2000 due to lack of interest. I did manage to get the upgrade to the Worldgroup NT version but never installed and ran it due to module upgrade costs at the time.
Anyhow, if I can locate all the required software, and there is enough interest, I could possibly be pursuaded to take a look at the code for my modules and update them with suggested functionality. It will however take some time to get reaquainted with the code since I haven't looked at it for quite some time.

It is nice to see that there is still interest in Galacticom BBS and addons for it. Took me back a little when I accidentally found this site.

Rich Wildey

Hi Rich, welcome. There has been a revival of interest, maybe the pendulum is starting to swing the other way. There are still DOS MBBS and DOS Worldgroup systems up also, so you might find an interest in your modules as they are.

Toyduck

[dspain]

Hello all,
I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this, but here goes.

My name is Rich Wildey and I am the ISV for the wildsoft modules Bathroom Stall, Secret Word, and Neverending Stories. I believe I still have the source code for them, but would have to hunt for them. After I locate them I will have to contemplate what to do with them .
I believe I also have all the galacticom software somewhere along with the needed development kits, but will have to verify that and see if the floppies are still good. My BBS, Golden Palace, went down in 2000 due to lack of interest. I did manage to get the upgrade to the Worldgroup NT version but never installed and ran it due to module upgrade costs at the time.
Anyhow, if I can locate all the required software, and there is enough interest, I could possibly be pursuaded to take a look at the code for my modules and update them with suggested functionality. It will however take some time to get reaquainted with the code since I haven't looked at it for quite some time.

It is nice to see that there is still interest in Galacticom BBS and addons for it. Took me back a little when I accidentally found this site.

Rich Wildey

i got copies of your sources for neverending stories, and bathroom stalls if ya want em.

welcome aboard ...

Daniel
ArcticZone Internet Solutions

[Wedway]

Hello all.

I was a SysOp in Illinois in the early to mid 90s. Upgraded all the way up to WG2. I was one of the poor high-school/college kids who could only afford 2 phone lines and a 2 channel license, so I never ran a huge board. However, I ran a very active community with very active forums and file libraries. Once the www took-off I put the board down in favor of (what we thought at the time) advanced file sharing and message boards.

For a high school/college kid it was a VERY expensive hobby, but the undertaking was certainly worth it. I have very fond memories of the time and the investment of my time and money certainly paid off later in life. Luckily, I have kept everything from my years as a Galacticomm customer. I have kept the manual binders, newsletters, letterhead mailings, price lists, etc. I even have the slip that came with my upgrade to RipScrip that gave the impression that it was the wave of the future. I will admit I wish I had the man hours back from all the time I blew on creating rip screens!

I saw this project back in 2005 and have tried to keep up on things. This is my first time back in awhile and I noticed the great community that has developed on these forums. I look forward to learning new things.

All the best,

[Toyduck]

Hello all.

I was a SysOp in Illinois in the early to mid 90s. Upgraded all the way up to WG2. I was one of the poor high-school/college kids who could only afford 2 phone lines and a 2 channel license, so I never ran a huge board. However, I ran a very active community with very active forums and file libraries. Once the www took-off I put the board down in favor of (what we thought at the time) advanced file sharing and message boards.

For a high school/college kid it was a VERY expensive hobby, but the undertaking was certainly worth it. I have very fond memories of the time and the investment of my time and money certainly paid off later in life. Luckily, I have kept everything from my years as a Galacticomm customer. I have kept the manual binders, newsletters, letterhead mailings, price lists, etc. I even have the slip that came with my upgrade to RipScrip that gave the impression that it was the wave of the future. I will admit I wish I had the man hours back from all the time I blew on creating rip screens!

I saw this project back in 2005 and have tried to keep up on things. This is my first time back in awhile and I noticed the great community that has developed on these forums. I look forward to learning new things.

All the best,

Welcome aboard!

For me it was a combination of all the boards, large and small that made the process interesting and fun, each board with it's on distinct identity.

TD

[dspain]

Hello all.

I was a SysOp in Illinois in the early to mid 90s. Upgraded all the way up to WG2. I was one of the poor high-school/college kids who could only afford 2 phone lines and a 2 channel license, so I never ran a huge board. However, I ran a very active community with very active forums and file libraries. Once the www took-off I put the board down in favor of (what we thought at the time) advanced file sharing and message boards.

For a high school/college kid it was a VERY expensive hobby, but the undertaking was certainly worth it. I have very fond memories of the time and the investment of my time and money certainly paid off later in life. Luckily, I have kept everything from my years as a Galacticomm customer. I have kept the manual binders, newsletters, letterhead mailings, price lists, etc. I even have the slip that came with my upgrade to RipScrip that gave the impression that it was the wave of the future. I will admit I wish I had the man hours back from all the time I blew on creating rip screens!

I saw this project back in 2005 and have tried to keep up on things. This is my first time back in awhile and I noticed the great community that has developed on these forums. I look forward to learning new things.

All the best,

welcome aboard! need anything for your bbs check out my 2 bbs's

azonebbs.dyndns.org and arcticzone.dyndns.org my arczone.org file repository is currently offline but it is mirrored on the azonebbs bbs domain.

[Highwinder]

First things first: All I know is WorldGroup, I missed out on MBBS, so I'm very much at a disadvantage, but I'll try to wing it and hopefully you MBBS gurus will turn a blind eye.

As I write this, I have the very last copy of Worldgroup 3.20 ever sold sitting in front of me. It was sold March 6th, 2000. I had actually ordered it a month before, but NetVillage had decided to kill the product without telling anyone and simply didn't process my order. So I finally called up and found out that they had basically blown off my order. So what did I do? I raised a big stink about them either fulfulling the order or I would just go purchase a nice shiny brand new copy of WildCat!. In other words, they sell to me or I make a purchase form their biggest competitor. They fullfulled the order, even though they had ceased selling it to the public. So being the last official Worldgroup 3.20 customer is my official claim to WG fame.

My little story:

I got my first computer in 1992. I was logging onto BBSs the very first day I got it, and within a week was already configuring my own BBS. Virtually every BBS I logged onto was WWIV, so that's what I adopted.

My BBS was considered to be hugely successful, though it was a free system. I only had two modems, but they were off the hook for years. My BBS days are arguably the most cherished, sentimental days of my life.

I stuck with WWIV until May of 1996. In May of 1996, the Internet exploded and by August of 1996, the BBS world had been thrown under the bus. I remember specifically that it only took 3 months for the entire BBS world to be utterly fogotten. It was amazing. I also remember the abysmal state of denial that all of us Sysops went through as we tried to convince ourselves that our users would come back after they discovered the big, bad, impersonal, expensive Internet wasn't all what it was cracked up to be. Well, they never did because the Interne turned out to be everything it was cracked up to be.

In an effort to bring my BBS into the world of the Internet, I moved on to PowerBBS v5, a 32-bit Windows BBS with GUI client and ANSI interface, all internet capable via telnet, etc. Sound familiar? Hahahaha

In 1997 I moved on to WorldGroup 2.0, which was shown to me by someone else. I had never seen it before. Talk about missing the train. It was like making the change from a Subaru to a Hummer H1. Where on earth had I been and why on earth didnt anyone ever tell me about this amazing BBS server product? I was PISSED. I had wasted all those years on WWIV, not knowing how cool Worldgroup (MBBS) was. This is where I'm really envious of all you old-school MBBS'ers in here. Here I'm thinking having 2 lines was cool, and that my WWIV board was cool, and here I'm reading about some of you having "tiny" 24 and 56 user systems. 256 users would have been beyond my comprehension back then. So now I'm drooling over something I should have had 15+ years ago.

Ok, back on topic: So even though I had virtually no callers at the time because of the Internet bomb that got dropped on us, I played around with WorldGroup enough to become familiar with it and make a fun BBS anyway. Later in 1997, I actually ended up using WG at a company I worked for to manage an internet-accessible file transfer area for our company. Worldgroup was the only product that could do it properly due to untouchable security group and file library configurability. It was nice just to see a BBS in use again, and it was here that I really got to see WG get used as an industrial strength solution.

Fast forward to 2000, working at yet another company. We needed the same type of micro-managed file transfer area for our company that our clients could log into with web browsers. FTP servers still sucked back then, so it was Worldgroup to the rescue once again, leading to the purchase I mentioned above.

We eventually abandoned WG and went with an industrial-strength, self-contained, dedicated FTP server product by 2003. WG was shelved (broke my heart).

Fast forward to 2006, when the huge multi-DVD documentary about BBSs was released (my old BBS is listed! Woo hoo!). This sparked my interest in either rebuilding my old web site or building an entirely new one. I have also discovered that BBS's are starting to come back online again, some due to nostalgia from origial sysops and others from newcomer who are interested in computing history and dabbling in it for the first time. As a matter of fact, I am dumbfounded by all the systems that have come onoine lately. It's amazing. For anyone thinking that MBBS or WG is still dead or needing to be revived, congratulations, it's been revived!

I'm REALLY looking forward to potentially a second shot at BBSing, and getting it right this time with WG. This warms hy heart like no other hobby has since then, I am really excited about this.

Here's how excited I am:

http://www.themajorbbs.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=1301



Highwinder

[Talonp]

OK I guess I will introduce myself seeing I keep lurking around the forums

Let me start by thanking Rick for what he has done with the site, the mods and everything you are a good man and I for one am very thankful for all you have done and I look forward to the future of it all.

With that said my name is Randy McCann I have gone by the handles of Talonp, Talon, The ByteGraber, and ByteGraber I started BBSing in 1979 running around on ARPAnet with a Dumb Terminal with an acoustic modem. Computers lets see in 1977 I convinced my father that we had to have this new computer the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I it had a whopping 16k of RAM a z-80A processor.

And in 1981 I got my first IBM PC. In 1982 I was running the TRS-80 Exchange in Virginia and started running TBBS v1.1 and it was coded 100% machine language for the TRS-80 back then. Then I upgraded to TBBS for the PC in 1983 and moved the BBS system over to the PC world. In mid or late 1986 cant remember by I had just started working for a so technology company in Virginia as a tech in training and I came to work and found they had gotten a Model 16 multimodem card from Galacticomm, I had never heard of them at this point but the MajorBBS v1.0 that was included to demo the hardware was awesome 16 connection at once ... I was sold, the company wasn’t but I was and I got a copy of the MajorBBS v2 when Galacticomm put it out! Then in 1988 I ordered a copy of v5.0 and moved my BBS over to MajorBBS and renaming it The DeadEnd BBS.

During the 1990's I installed several MajorBBS v6 systems for the government and military including Department of Housing, The White House, NSA, Department of Army, US Marine Corp HQ, Andrews Air Force Base, White House Old Executive Offices just to name a few...I did beta testing with Galacticomm on Worldgroup at that time it was Project Victory and on the Unix project.

In 1994-95 my team and I put together a 1000 connection system for the Department of Housing, 4 MajorBBS v6 system tied together via shared dat files running 300 modems in 10 GalacticBoxes, 300 LAN connections and 400 X.25 connections over HUD’s private X.25 national network connecting every HUD office in America and providing access to services and Internet Access to all Sites.

I have also design a few games and utils not great most of my coding has been for commercial systems not the public. I was deeply saddened by the death of Tim Stryker the few times I meet him he was very nice and truly loved what he did...again that is part of what makes The MajorBBS Restoration Project so great it helps keep Tim’s baby alive.

1999-00 the Y2K thing keep me busy with software rewrites and coding day and night. in June of 2000 I took down my BBS after years of running due to a fire in my home and the system and allot of my records were lost, it was a said day.

In 2001 I and a few friends from the BBS days started an ISP and we were doing well until all three of us found our selves in divorce court and had to sell the company. The late 2001 thru 2003 I spent getting my life in order and raising two kids on my own so in the summer of 2003 I started Universal Interactive with my father and I started doing web development and application design from a home office. In 2005 my father moved in with me and my kids to help me because the company started growing and I had to do some traveling, 2007 we have offices in Fairfax, VA, Washington, DC and Fredericksburg, VA we work with the Automotive industry, we have a sign shop that does Vinyl decals and lettering, several contracts with private companies and the government and we now hold two contracts for support on a MajorBBS v6.25 and a Worldgroup v3.0 system and I am working on trying to build that part in the commercial arena.

I am putting my systems back online and I am updating my code for Worldgroup v3.2 & v3.3 and I have plans for several new products over the next year.

Ok sorry for the life history and being so long winded but just wanted to give the background and to say hello


Thanks,

Talonp

[Toyduck]

Ok sorry for the life history and being so long winded but just wanted to give the background and to say hello


Thanks,

Talonp

The long history is fine! Welcome aboard!

TD

[dspain]

OK I guess I will introduce myself seeing I keep lurking around the forums

Let me start by thanking Rick for what he has done with the site, the mods and everything you are a good man and I for one am very thankful for all you have done and I look forward to the future of it all.

With that said my name is Randy McCann I have gone by the handles of Talonp, Talon, The ByteGraber, and ByteGraber I started BBSing in 1979 running around on ARPAnet with a Dumb Terminal with an acoustic modem. Computers lets see in 1977 I convinced my father that we had to have this new computer the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I it had a whopping 16k of RAM a z-80A processor.

And in 1981 I got my first IBM PC. In 1982 I was running the TRS-80 Exchange in Virginia and started running TBBS v1.1 and it was coded 100% machine language for the TRS-80 back then. Then I upgraded to TBBS for the PC in 1983 and moved the BBS system over to the PC world. In mid or late 1986 cant remember by I had just started working for a so technology company in Virginia as a tech in training and I came to work and found they had gotten a Model 16 multimodem card from Galacticomm, I had never heard of them at this point but the MajorBBS v1.0 that was included to demo the hardware was awesome 16 connection at once ... I was sold, the company wasn’t but I was and I got a copy of the MajorBBS v2 when Galacticomm put it out! Then in 1988 I ordered a copy of v5.0 and moved my BBS over to MajorBBS and renaming it The DeadEnd BBS.

During the 1990's I installed several MajorBBS v6 systems for the government and military including Department of Housing, The White House, NSA, Department of Army, US Marine Corp HQ, Andrews Air Force Base, White House Old Executive Offices just to name a few...I did beta testing with Galacticomm on Worldgroup at that time it was Project Victory and on the Unix project.

In 1994-95 my team and I put together a 1000 connection system for the Department of Housing, 4 MajorBBS v6 system tied together via shared dat files running 300 modems in 10 GalacticBoxes, 300 LAN connections and 400 X.25 connections over HUD’s private X.25 national network connecting every HUD office in America and providing access to services and Internet Access to all Sites.

I have also design a few games and utils not great most of my coding has been for commercial systems not the public. I was deeply saddened by the death of Tim Stryker the few times I meet him he was very nice and truly loved what he did...again that is part of what makes The MajorBBS Restoration Project so great it helps keep Tim’s baby alive.

1999-00 the Y2K thing keep me busy with software rewrites and coding day and night. in June of 2000 I took down my BBS after years of running due to a fire in my home and the system and allot of my records were lost, it was a said day.

In 2001 I and a few friends from the BBS days started an ISP and we were doing well until all three of us found our selves in divorce court and had to sell the company. The late 2001 thru 2003 I spent getting my life in order and raising two kids on my own so in the summer of 2003 I started Universal Interactive with my father and I started doing web development and application design from a home office. In 2005 my father moved in with me and my kids to help me because the company started growing and I had to do some traveling, 2007 we have offices in Fairfax, VA, Washington, DC and Fredericksburg, VA we work with the Automotive industry, we have a sign shop that does Vinyl decals and lettering, several contracts with private companies and the government and we now hold two contracts for support on a MajorBBS v6.25 and a Worldgroup v3.0 system and I am working on trying to build that part in the commercial arena.

I am putting my systems back online and I am updating my code for Worldgroup v3.2 & v3.3 and I have plans for several new products over the next year.

Ok sorry for the life history and being so long winded but just wanted to give the background and to say hello


Thanks,

Talonp

since you're from virginia as well do bbs names such as:

firechat, comet bbs, metropolis, cyber-space cafe, gaso-line bbs, cupid's den, chat-city ring any bells?

i convinced 80% of the richmond tri-cities bbs's to move from vbbs to mbbs and had an agreement with galacticomm for a 30% commision on any system of 100+ user licenses.

a lot of the older virginia bbs's i purchased over the years just to preserve that part of my youth (90% of my time from age 19-27 was doing something majorbbs related)

good to see a fellow virginian.