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the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS

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  the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2019-02-20 03:02 +0000
    Re: the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS Batchman <batchman@dosville.foo> - 2019-02-20 20:55 +0000
      Re: the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) - 2019-02-20 19:10 -0600
      Re: the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS Kerry Imming <kcimming@pobox.com> - 2019-02-28 08:58 -0600
        Re: the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS FGK <f6k@sdf.org> - 2019-02-28 17:40 +0100
          Re: the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) - 2019-02-28 11:49 -0600
          Re: the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS Kerry Imming <kcimming@pobox.com> - 2019-02-28 14:43 -0600
            Re: the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2019-02-28 22:04 +0000
              Re: the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS FGK <f6k@sdf.org> - 2019-03-01 11:13 +0100
      Re: the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2019-03-15 23:08 +0000
        Re: the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> - 2019-03-16 05:52 +0000
          Re: the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2019-03-16 21:44 +0000

#17481 — the Blizzard of 1978 and the first BBS

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/18/41_years_of_the_bbs/

While large chunks of the US used this year's Snowmageddon to binge on
streaming TV or tweet selfies with snowmen, take a moment to remember the
Great Blizzard of 1978, which led to the first Bulletin Board Service (BBS)
taking to the phone lines 41 years ago.

Those brought up with the seemingly endless amount of storage and server
capacity of the cloud in recent times and the connectivity afforded by the
internet are likely scratching their heads at the term "BBS".

...

Kind-of BBS systems had been floating around during the 1970s in the form of
mainframe software, but it was Chicago techies Ward Christensen and Randy
Suess who kicked things off for enthusiasts on 16 Feb 1978 with the launch
of the very first BBS.  In an interview with Byte (PDF), the duo explained
the project took 30 days to put together an assembler in a box rocking an
Intel 8080 CPU and 24K of RAM.

A mock-up of the system was built using MITS 8K BASIC during the first week,
and the pair had people call into the system to critique it.  Once Suess and
Christensen were happy with how things looked, the thing was rewritten in
Assembler language in order to take advantage of the speed and efficiency of
the resulting binaries.

Storage was handled by floppy disk, with CP/M providing the disk operating
system.  With 240K available on a disk at the time, and a directory able to
keep track of 64 files, the team aimed at holding 200 to 300 active messages
on the system at a time.  Those were the days, eh?

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#17483

On Wed, 20 Feb 2019 03:02:27 +0000, RS Wood wrote:

> https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/18/41_years_of_the_bbs/
> 
> While large chunks of the US used this year's Snowmageddon to binge on
> streaming TV or tweet selfies with snowmen, take a moment to remember the
> Great Blizzard of 1978, which led to the first Bulletin Board Service (BBS)
> taking to the phone lines 41 years ago.
> [SNIP]

"BBS: The Documentary" tells a great deal of the story using interviews with most of the
 individuals who responsible for the necessary work and innovations.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460402/

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#17484

Batchman <batchman@dosville.foo> wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Feb 2019 03:02:27 +0000, RS Wood wrote:

> > https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/18/41_years_of_the_bbs/
> > 
> > While large chunks of the US used this year's Snowmageddon to binge on
> > streaming TV or tweet selfies with snowmen, take a moment to remember the
> > Great Blizzard of 1978, which led to the first Bulletin Board Service (BBS)
> > taking to the phone lines 41 years ago.
> > [SNIP]

> "BBS: The Documentary" tells a great deal of the story using interviews with most of the
>  individuals who responsible for the necessary work and innovations.

> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460402/

Ditto. Awesome series.
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she is the superior of any savage race of men; and in one or two high 
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#17497

On 2/20/2019 2:55 PM, Batchman wrote:
> "BBS: The Documentary" tells a great deal of the story using interviews with most of the
>   individuals who responsible for the necessary work and innovations.

Is this series available for sale anywhere?

- Kerry

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#17498

On 2019-02-28, Kerry Imming <kcimming@pobox.com> wrote:
> On 2/20/2019 2:55 PM, Batchman wrote:
>> "BBS: The Documentary" tells a great deal of the story using interviews
>>   with most of the individuals who responsible for the necessary work and
>>   innovations.
>
> Is this series available for sale anywhere?

According to http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/order/, everything has been sold
out! You might want to check ebay or marketplaces like that if you want a
physical copy. In the link above, they say that "There will be digital copies
sold in the future!"; so you may have to wait.

But well, with some digging, I guess you could find you way and find
yourself a digital copy on the web.

F-

-- 
-:%*- FGK <f6k@sdf.org> -*%:-:%*- http://shl.inet2.org -*%:-

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#17499

FGK <f6k@sdf.org> wrote:
> On 2019-02-28, Kerry Imming <kcimming@pobox.com> wrote:
> > On 2/20/2019 2:55 PM, Batchman wrote:
> >> "BBS: The Documentary" tells a great deal of the story using interviews
> >>   with most of the individuals who responsible for the necessary work and
> >>   innovations.
> >
> > Is this series available for sale anywhere?

> According to http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/order/, everything has been sold
> out! You might want to check ebay or marketplaces like that if you want a
> physical copy. In the link above, they say that "There will be digital copies
> sold in the future!"; so you may have to wait.

> But well, with some digging, I guess you could find you way and find
> yourself a digital copy on the web.

https://archive.org/details/BBS.The.Documentary :)
-- 
Quote of the Week: "There's an ant crawling up your back in the nighttime." --They Might Be Giants' Ant Song
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#17500

On 2/28/2019 10:40 AM, FGK wrote:
> On 2019-02-28, Kerry Imming <kcimming@pobox.com> wrote:
>> On 2/20/2019 2:55 PM, Batchman wrote:
>>> "BBS: The Documentary" tells a great deal of the story using interviews
>>>    with most of the individuals who responsible for the necessary work and
>>>    innovations.
>>
>> Is this series available for sale anywhere?
> 
> According to http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/order/, everything has been sold
> out! You might want to check ebay or marketplaces like that if you want a
> physical copy. In the link above, they say that "There will be digital copies
> sold in the future!"; so you may have to wait.
> 
> But well, with some digging, I guess you could find you way and find
> yourself a digital copy on the web.
> 

Thanks, it didn't occur to me to click on the "DVDS ARE COMPLETELY SOLD 
OUT!".   I'll sign up to get notified.

DVDs are going for $64+ used on Amazon and eBay.

And yes, I found the online files.  It's just a bit frustrating when 
something you would buy is only available for free.

- Kerry

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#17501

Kerry Imming <kcimming@pobox.com> wrote:
> On 2/28/2019 10:40 AM, FGK wrote:
>> 
>> But well, with some digging, I guess you could find you way and find
>> yourself a digital copy on the web.
>> 
> 
> Thanks, it didn't occur to me to click on the "DVDS ARE COMPLETELY SOLD 
> OUT!".   I'll sign up to get notified.
> 
> DVDs are going for $64+ used on Amazon and eBay.
> 
> And yes, I found the online files.  It's just a bit frustrating when 
> something you would buy is only available for free.

The bloke who made it, Jason Scott, now works for the Internet
Archive and I'm pretty sure he uploaded the documentary there
himself. In any case he has endorsed watching it there so there's
little guilt in doing so instead of buying the DVD.

-- 
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#

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#17502

On 2019-02-28, Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> wrote:
>> And yes, I found the online files.  It's just a bit frustrating when 
>> something you would buy is only available for free.
>
> The bloke who made it, Jason Scott, now works for the Internet
> Archive and I'm pretty sure he uploaded the documentary there
> himself. In any case he has endorsed watching it there so there's
> little guilt in doing so instead of buying the DVD.

Oh interesting, I didn't knew that!  Checking the `about'[1] we can see that
he's actually listed as a contributor of this archive.

1. https://archive.org/details/bbs_documentary&tab=about

I checked too for his other documentary Get Lamp[2] and for this one, in the
`about', he's tagged as the creator of the Get Lamp Interview archive[3].

2. http://www.getlamp.com/
3. https://archive.org/details/getlamp-interviews

So, you're right, it does help the "guilt".

F-

-- 
-:%*- FGK <f6k@sdf.org> -*%:-:%*- http://shl.inet2.org -*%:-

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#17576

Batchman <batchman@dosville.foo> wrote:
> 
> "BBS: The Documentary" tells a great deal of the story using interviews with most of the
> individuals who responsible for the necessary work and innovations.
> 
> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460402/

Not about BBSs, but possibly also of interest from a
nostalgia/history perspective:

Hackers - Wizards of the Electronic Age
 http://www.handtap.com/hackers/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Wizards_of_the_Electronic_Age

Downloads (though DVDs are on Amazon, linked from the official
website above)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOP1LNr70aU
http://archive.org/details/Hackers_201808

And while trying various URLs attempting to find the official
website from memory, I sumbled upon this bit of fun:
http://www.hackersmovie.com/

-- 
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#

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#17578

In comp.misc, Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> wrote:
> Batchman <batchman@dosville.foo> wrote:
>> "BBS: The Documentary" tells a great deal of the story using
>> interviews with most of the individuals who responsible for the
>> necessary work and innovations.
> Not about BBSs, but possibly also of interest from a

American political angle: Beto O'Rourke unmasked as "Psychedelic
Warlord", a member of Cult of the Dead Cow (and a user of BBS systems
back in the day):

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-politics-beto-orourke/
  _   _    _   _    _   _    _   _    _   _    _   _    _   _    _   _
 ((___))  ((___))  ((___))  ((___))  ((___))  ((___))  ((___))  ((___))
 [ x x ]  [ x x ]  [ x x ]  [ x x ]  [ x x ]  [ x x ]  [ x x ]  [ x x ]
  \   /    \   /    \   /    \   /    \   /    \   /    \   /    \   /
  (` ')    (` ')    (` ')    (` ')    (` ')    (` ')    (` ')    (` ')
   (u)      (u)      (u)      (u)      (u)      (u)      (u)      (u)

Elijah
------
hasn't heard much about cDc in recent years

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#17582

Eli the Bearded <*@eli.users.panix.com> wrote:
> In comp.misc, Computer Nerd Kev <not@telling.you.invalid> wrote:
>> Batchman <batchman@dosville.foo> wrote:
>>> "BBS: The Documentary" tells a great deal of the story using
>>> interviews with most of the individuals who responsible for the
>>> necessary work and innovations.
>> Not about BBSs, but possibly also of interest from a
> 
> American political angle: Beto O'Rourke unmasked as "Psychedelic
> Warlord", a member of Cult of the Dead Cow (and a user of BBS systems
> back in the day):
> 
> https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-politics-beto-orourke/

He, he. Also notable that even stuff posted in the BBS days has hung
around to haunt people decades later - the computers never forget.

-- 
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#

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