Bulletin Board System

A bulletin board system or BBS is a computer system running software that allows users to dial into the system over phone lines and perform functions such as downloading software and data, uploading data, reading news, and exchanging messages with other users. During their heyday (from the late 1970s to the early 1990s), BBSs were usually run as a hobby by the "sysop" (system operator) and not for commercial purposes.

Bulletin board systems were in many ways a precursor to the modern form of the World Wide Web and other aspects of the Internet. BBSs were a highly social phenomenon and were used for meeting people and having discussions in message boards. The BBS was also a local phenomenon, as one had to dial into a BBS with a phone line and would have to pay long distance charges for a BBS out of the local area. Thus, many of a BBS's users lived in the same area and it was common for a BBS to hold a BBS Meet, where all of the users would gather and meet face to face.

A typical BBS has:

• A computer
• One or more modems
• One or more phone lines
• A BBS software package
• A sysop - system operator

The BBS software usually provided:

• Login screen
• Welcome screen
• One or more message bases
• File download area
• File upload area (sometimes)
• Online games (usually single player or only a single active player at a given time)
• A doorway to third-party online games
• Usage auditing capabilities
• Multi-user chat (more common in later multi-line BBSs)

The first BBS, CBBS, went online on February 16, 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.

With the original 110- and 300-baud modems of the early 1980s, BBSs were painfully slow, but speed became acceptable with the introduction of 1200-bps modems in and around 1985, and this led to a substantial increase in popularity. Most of the information was presented in ASCII with ANSI escape codes, though some offered graphics, particularly after the rise in popularity of the GIF image format. Such use of graphics taxed available bandwidth, which in turn propelled demand for faster modems. Towards the early 1990s, the BBS industry became so popular that it spawned a monthly magazine, Boardwatch, which devoted extensive coverage and listings to international BBSs. In addition, a major monthly magazine, "Computer Shopper", carried a list of BBSs along with a brief abstract of each of their offerings.

Before commercial Internet access became common, networks of BBSs provided regional and international e-mail and message bases. Some even provided gateways by which members could send/receive e-mail to/from the Internet. Elaborate schemes allowed users to download binary files, search gopherspace, and interact with distant programs, all using plaintext e-mail. Most BBS networks were not linked in realtime. Instead, each would dial up the next in line, and/or a regional hub, at preset intervals to exchange files. The largest BBS network was Fidonet, which is still widely used outside of the United States.

However, with the rise of the Internet in the middle/late 1990s BBSs rapidly declined in popularity.

Several BBS systems connected directly to the Internet, removing the necessity of direct dial-up and consequently attracting a more geographically-diverse user base. Most of these systems ran on derivations of a free code package called Citadel. A few are still extant (as of 2003).

Shareware

Much of the "Shareware" and "Free software" movements were started via sharing software through BBSs. A notable example was Phil Katz's PKARC (and later PKZIP, using the same algorithm that WinZip now uses); also Wolfenstein 3D and Doom from id Software and many Apogee games.

See also: ANSI escape code, BBS door, Fido and Fidonet, Internet forum

External link

• Boardwatch Magazine