5 ms·

For sure, but most of those multi-line boards running on top of DESQview typically maxed out at 2-4 nodes per machine. In comparison, MajorBBS could handle an i

For sure, but most of those multi-line boards running on top of DESQview typically maxed out at 2-4 nodes per machine. In comparison, MajorBBS could handle an insane 50+ nodes on a single machine running DOS, as the BBS software implemented its own event loop and multi-tasking. The company behind it (Galacticomm) sold specialized hardware so that sysops could hook up all those modems to one box. OS/2 never became very popular in the BBS scene in my area, at least by the time I got into the scene (~1993). My impression is that it had mixed success in the BBS world as a whole. For one data point, I do know the author of Synchronet invested a lot of time into a native OS/2 port and then his company promptly went bankrupt! Later in the 90s, BBS software started to be ported natively to Win32, including some commercial options: Wildcat WINServer, MajorBBS WorldGroup v3, etc.

justinlloyd 5y ago
That's interesting about the insane number of nodes on a single box. I didn't know MajorBBS could do that. I suspect though that it wasn't handling full bandwidth file transfers for all 50+ connections simultaneously?
- evanelias 5y ago
  Good question! I honestly have no idea. The handful of MajorBBS boards in my area were pay-for-access systems focused on multi-player gaming and chat, since those were the main features where a 50-line community BBS has a huge advantage over all the free hobbyist 1-2 line boards. The message base and file download sections of MajorBBS systems in my area were pretty sparse. Actually, your point likely explains why the BBS in the OP was set up the way it was: Software Creations BBS was a major shareware file distribution hub, so a much greater focus on file transfers.
  - justinlloyd 5y ago
    So here was an interesting anecdote from years past. During the heyday of CompuServe and its ilk, living in the UK where long distance calls, e.g. greater than about 7 miles radius, was prohibitively expensive, and with the introduction of a flat rate single payment of around 20p for a local call sometime in the late 80's or early 90's, no matter how long the call lasted, the trick to doing downloads was to call into a local compuserve number at 2400bps, which was charged at a lower rate than their faster lines, put all of the stuff you wanted into your "download basket", e.g. files, news, email, etc. Then hang up, and place a long distance call to one of their 9600bps lines to make the download as quickly as you could. There was also the trick of making every call a local call (when British Telecom still used the old crossbar systems rather than the newer switching networks) if you knew how to dial all the single digit area codes between you and the number you wanted to call. Pentyrch (the town) to Penarth (the town) was not a local call, at a distance of about 20 miles, but you could dial 5 for Radyr (about 2 miles), pause, then dial 3 for Fairwater (another 2+ miles), and so forth, until you reached the local exchange in Penarth, and then could send the actual phone number. Unfortunately each area, to dial another exchange, had different numbers, so Pentyrch to Radyr might be 5, but Taffs Well to Radyr might be 9. People on BBS's would exchange area code lists and exchange routing lists like they were precious commodities. Dialing through to London over a great distance using single digit exchange codes wasn't possible though, because London had a more modern telephone system, and you were limited by the number of digits you could send before the first exchange system would timeout and drop your call.
rasz 5y ago
I always assumed most mayor BBS software was multi node. Even Amiga had multiport cards like http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/a2232 http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/a2232 >up to five A2232 can be installed into one machine giving a total of 36 serial ports and for example http://www.nikom.org http://www.nikom.org enabling multi node on single machine also found this https://www.reddit.com/r/bbs/comments/qeke4a/folks_who_ran_large_multinode_boards_how_did_they/ https://www.reddit.com/r/bbs/comments/qeke4a/folks_who_ran_l...
- evanelias 5y ago
  I didn't say anything about BBS software not being multi-node. The difference I'm discussing is between BBS software that required a multi-tasking OS (such as DESQView, OS/2, or yes AmigaOS) to achieve multi-node, and those that did not. Nearly all BBS software is in the first category. "Multi-node" support just meant the BBS software only knew about file sharing/locking, and how to yield the processor when idle. That's about it. Multi-node with N nodes meant running N copies of the BBS software process. Due to RAM limitations, that often meant you could only get a few nodes per PC. MajorBBS/WorldGroup was in the second category. It implemented its own multi-tasking / event loop, and ran in a single process. It could support a huge number of nodes despite running on DOS, which of course is not a multi-tasking OS.

justinlloyd 5y ago

That's interesting about the insane number of nodes on a single box. I didn't know MajorBBS could do that. I suspect though that it wasn't handling full bandwidth file transfers for all 50+ connections simultaneously?

evanelias 5y ago
Good question! I honestly have no idea. The handful of MajorBBS boards in my area were pay-for-access systems focused on multi-player gaming and chat, since those were the main features where a 50-line community BBS has a huge advantage over all the free hobbyist 1-2 line boards. The message base and file download sections of MajorBBS systems in my area were pretty sparse. Actually, your point likely explains why the BBS in the OP was set up the way it was: Software Creations BBS was a major shareware file distribution hub, so a much greater focus on file transfers.
- justinlloyd 5y ago
  So here was an interesting anecdote from years past. During the heyday of CompuServe and its ilk, living in the UK where long distance calls, e.g. greater than about 7 miles radius, was prohibitively expensive, and with the introduction of a flat rate single payment of around 20p for a local call sometime in the late 80's or early 90's, no matter how long the call lasted, the trick to doing downloads was to call into a local compuserve number at 2400bps, which was charged at a lower rate than their faster lines, put all of the stuff you wanted into your "download basket", e.g. files, news, email, etc. Then hang up, and place a long distance call to one of their 9600bps lines to make the download as quickly as you could. There was also the trick of making every call a local call (when British Telecom still used the old crossbar systems rather than the newer switching networks) if you knew how to dial all the single digit area codes between you and the number you wanted to call. Pentyrch (the town) to Penarth (the town) was not a local call, at a distance of about 20 miles, but you could dial 5 for Radyr (about 2 miles), pause, then dial 3 for Fairwater (another 2+ miles), and so forth, until you reached the local exchange in Penarth, and then could send the actual phone number. Unfortunately each area, to dial another exchange, had different numbers, so Pentyrch to Radyr might be 5, but Taffs Well to Radyr might be 9. People on BBS's would exchange area code lists and exchange routing lists like they were precious commodities. Dialing through to London over a great distance using single digit exchange codes wasn't possible though, because London had a more modern telephone system, and you were limited by the number of digits you could send before the first exchange system would timeout and drop your call.

rasz 5y ago

I always assumed most mayor BBS software was multi node. Even Amiga had multiport cards like http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/a2232 http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/a2232 >up to five A2232 can be installed into one machine giving a total of 36 serial ports and for example http://www.nikom.org http://www.nikom.org enabling multi node on single machine also found this https://www.reddit.com/r/bbs/comments/qeke4a/folks_who_ran_large_multinode_boards_how_did_they/ https://www.reddit.com/r/bbs/comments/qeke4a/folks_who_ran_l...

evanelias 5y ago
I didn't say anything about BBS software not being multi-node. The difference I'm discussing is between BBS software that required a multi-tasking OS (such as DESQView, OS/2, or yes AmigaOS) to achieve multi-node, and those that did not. Nearly all BBS software is in the first category. "Multi-node" support just meant the BBS software only knew about file sharing/locking, and how to yield the processor when idle. That's about it. Multi-node with N nodes meant running N copies of the BBS software process. Due to RAM limitations, that often meant you could only get a few nodes per PC. MajorBBS/WorldGroup was in the second category. It implemented its own multi-tasking / event loop, and ran in a single process. It could support a huge number of nodes despite running on DOS, which of course is not a multi-tasking OS.