4 ms·

I think the two modems on one machine was handled in the BBS software itself, dividing itself between two port buffers. Single-threaded, just alternating its at

I think the two modems on one machine was handled in the BBS software itself, dividing itself between two port buffers. Single-threaded, just alternating its attention. But my memories of such things are quite hazy. I'm sure someone knows exactly how it worked. EDIT- a bit here on how one system did it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Major_BBS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Major_BBS

tbyehl 5y ago
For a Galacticomm MMBS/Worldgroup system, the picture would be a pile of modems, one computer running the BBS, and maybe a second computer running Netware to offload Btrieve and free up memory (16MB limit). In the TCP/IP era maybe they'd offload the modems to terminal servers. Basically everything happened in a polling loop. TBBS[1] is the only other DOS BBS software I'm aware of that natively handled multi-line. Source: Former MBBS operator and briefly was a Galacticomm employee around '96. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bread_Board_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bread_Board_System
- prometheus76 5y ago
  We had a BBS in my town that was four lines and they ran Wildcat! BBS software, and another one in town that had two lines ran Spitfire. They both ran Desqview on their BBS machines so they could chat with people as well. I wasn't technical enough at the time to understand completely what they were doing, but I did spin up my own BBS that was just an anonymous message board software called Free Speech BBS. It was good times, where most of the conversation centered around whatever guest was on Art Bell that night.
- evanelias 5y ago
  Any stories you're willing to share about Galacticomm founder Tim Stryker? He had quite the reputation of being an extreme technical genius, but also extremely troubled...
  - tbyehl 5y ago
    Afraid I don't really have Stryker stories. He wasn't much involved at the office while I was there, I think he'd moved his family out to Utah at that point. My recollection is that he was charismatic in the ways typical of technical founders who'd achieved some success. He autographed his book, Think a Little, for me -- teenage me thought superdemocracy sounded great but with 25+ years of hindsight I see his vision of utopia as more of a dystopian nightmare. I posted this on my Facebook when MBBSEmu came up here a few months back: --- How'd I never hear of this before? My first "real" job was with Galacticomm and their software is probably most directly responsible for me becoming the computer geek I am today. Story time: I ran a Major BBS in high school. My longest-time friends ought to remember 'cause it's probably the biggest catalyst for us becoming lifelong friends. My dad financed it with dreams of making Rusty-N-Edie money but I don't think it ever paid its own phone bill. Pops saw in the paper that Galacticomm was going to make a big announcement at a local business conference. Maybe it was MBBS 6.25, or the first showing of Worldgroup, I don't recall exactly. But the key part is that I was under 18 and not welcome to attend said conference. I was displeased. I let Galacticomm know of my displeasure. And... Scott Brinker reached out personally to invite me to their offices for a demo. By him. Maybe Tim Stryker was also in the room, I don't remember it all. But Scott, a very young CEO or President at the time, took the time out of his life to make sure this younger, perhaps a bit entitled, fellow geek with a similar geeky backstory was not excluded. It's such a little thing, but for me, it really mattered. Galacticomm and their people have always had an outsized place in my heart. And now I'm crying 'cause I wish I could talk to my dad.
- devshane 5y ago
  And don't forget the Galactibox if you ran internal modems. 16 modems in each Gbox, 16 Gboxes to a machine. I vaguely recall setting up a demo system that we took to a show with the full rig (possibly with the Equinox SST cards). Hottest spot in the office. The GSBL was a significant achievement. OUTBSZ to 16384 and let it rip. (It's funny how some things stick in your mind. OUTBSZ, uacoff, FNENN439L...)
JKCalhoun 5y ago
I know it's a bit trendy to throw together racks of small, single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi, but truly, if serving up a retro BBS at dial-up speeds was your goal, you could probably replicate the room in the photo with a rack that fits into a single ATX case (and would have a similar power footprint to one of those PC's in the photo).
- justinlloyd 5y ago
  On a single CPU in an ATX case, yes, definitely, with power to spare. Possible on a modern Raspberry Pi too, if you hooked up USB modems that FIFO buffered on the modem itself, used something like an Arris multiline modem that will connect over Ethernet, or alternatively, could figure out a way to attach a 200+ multiline PCI modem card to your Pi. Though you'd need to talk to your telco if using an Arris as they used this weird parallel connector that I don't recall the name of.

tbyehl 5y ago

For a Galacticomm MMBS/Worldgroup system, the picture would be a pile of modems, one computer running the BBS, and maybe a second computer running Netware to offload Btrieve and free up memory (16MB limit). In the TCP/IP era maybe they'd offload the modems to terminal servers. Basically everything happened in a polling loop. TBBS[1] is the only other DOS BBS software I'm aware of that natively handled multi-line. Source: Former MBBS operator and briefly was a Galacticomm employee around '96. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bread_Board_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bread_Board_System

prometheus76 5y ago
We had a BBS in my town that was four lines and they ran Wildcat! BBS software, and another one in town that had two lines ran Spitfire. They both ran Desqview on their BBS machines so they could chat with people as well. I wasn't technical enough at the time to understand completely what they were doing, but I did spin up my own BBS that was just an anonymous message board software called Free Speech BBS. It was good times, where most of the conversation centered around whatever guest was on Art Bell that night.
evanelias 5y ago
Any stories you're willing to share about Galacticomm founder Tim Stryker? He had quite the reputation of being an extreme technical genius, but also extremely troubled...
- tbyehl 5y ago
  Afraid I don't really have Stryker stories. He wasn't much involved at the office while I was there, I think he'd moved his family out to Utah at that point. My recollection is that he was charismatic in the ways typical of technical founders who'd achieved some success. He autographed his book, Think a Little, for me -- teenage me thought superdemocracy sounded great but with 25+ years of hindsight I see his vision of utopia as more of a dystopian nightmare. I posted this on my Facebook when MBBSEmu came up here a few months back: --- How'd I never hear of this before? My first "real" job was with Galacticomm and their software is probably most directly responsible for me becoming the computer geek I am today. Story time: I ran a Major BBS in high school. My longest-time friends ought to remember 'cause it's probably the biggest catalyst for us becoming lifelong friends. My dad financed it with dreams of making Rusty-N-Edie money but I don't think it ever paid its own phone bill. Pops saw in the paper that Galacticomm was going to make a big announcement at a local business conference. Maybe it was MBBS 6.25, or the first showing of Worldgroup, I don't recall exactly. But the key part is that I was under 18 and not welcome to attend said conference. I was displeased. I let Galacticomm know of my displeasure. And... Scott Brinker reached out personally to invite me to their offices for a demo. By him. Maybe Tim Stryker was also in the room, I don't remember it all. But Scott, a very young CEO or President at the time, took the time out of his life to make sure this younger, perhaps a bit entitled, fellow geek with a similar geeky backstory was not excluded. It's such a little thing, but for me, it really mattered. Galacticomm and their people have always had an outsized place in my heart. And now I'm crying 'cause I wish I could talk to my dad.
devshane 5y ago
And don't forget the Galactibox if you ran internal modems. 16 modems in each Gbox, 16 Gboxes to a machine. I vaguely recall setting up a demo system that we took to a show with the full rig (possibly with the Equinox SST cards). Hottest spot in the office. The GSBL was a significant achievement. OUTBSZ to 16384 and let it rip. (It's funny how some things stick in your mind. OUTBSZ, uacoff, FNENN439L...)

JKCalhoun 5y ago

I know it's a bit trendy to throw together racks of small, single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi, but truly, if serving up a retro BBS at dial-up speeds was your goal, you could probably replicate the room in the photo with a rack that fits into a single ATX case (and would have a similar power footprint to one of those PC's in the photo).

justinlloyd 5y ago
On a single CPU in an ATX case, yes, definitely, with power to spare. Possible on a modern Raspberry Pi too, if you hooked up USB modems that FIFO buffered on the modem itself, used something like an Arris multiline modem that will connect over Ethernet, or alternatively, could figure out a way to attach a 200+ multiline PCI modem card to your Pi. Though you'd need to talk to your telco if using an Arris as they used this weird parallel connector that I don't recall the name of.