need more mutuals/friends on here. rts appreciated. here's some things i'm interested in:

#programming #bbs #bbses #linux #kde #cpp #archlinux #opensource #shitposting #metal #privacy #InternetExploring

As #JohnHodgman is fond of reminding us, "#nostalgia is a toxic impulse." It is easy for an old net.hand like me to fall into the trap of shaking his fist at the #cloud. Having been on the other side of that dynamic, I can tell you it's no fun.

When I got on #BBSes in the early 1980s, there was an omnipresent chorus of grumps insisting that the move from honest acoustic couplers to decadent #modems was the end of the Golden Age of telecommunications:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler

2/

@bigzaphod When I started #BBSing in the early #1980s on my #Commodore64 the file transfer protocol choices were #XMODEM and #Punter, the latter largely exclusive to #Commodore #BBSes.

Trivia: XMODEM was invented by Ward Christensen, co-creator of the first #BBS

I’ve been doing this #online thing a long time, going all the way back to #BBSes in the 1980s, and every time people are allowed to interact with each other online it turns toxic. Maybe we got it right with #Web1.0 and should have just left it there? I think I want to develop a Mastodon client now that only allows you to compose original toots and read others (but no comments!).

Fun historical note. Ten years ago, when I put together this blog series on 314 BBSes, I wrote:

"Don't call me a hacker; a hack might be more like it."

If only I had known. 🕵️

https://breakintochat.com/blog/2013/06/06/visualizing-314-fire-escapes-bbs-directory/

#stl #StLouis #314Day #bbses #bbsing #bbs #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing

Fun historical note. Ten years ago, when I put together this blog series on 314 BBSes, I wrote:

"Don't call me a hacker; a hack might be more like it."

If only I had known.

#stl #StLouis #314Day #bbses #bbsing #bbs #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing

@RadicalGraffiti More power to #BBSes!

#Sengi is like the old tweetdeck but for #Mastodon! So far i'm liking the universe of Mastodon. But it is by all means not a very monkey brain userfriendly experience. Not saying this is bad. In the world of #BBSes the high bar to get in at the first place for all participant is washing away a lot of possible burneraccounts. The only reason i took a look at Mastodon is due to the feeling that the #BlackICE #BBS chirp account has moved over. Posts are dying down. Glad to found @BlackICEBBS alive!

IGS predated RIP by several years, but very few people remember it.

As the work of one hobbyist (Larry Mears) on a niche platform (Atari ST), it was not polished enough to get wide adoption.

Still, in 1990, it was pretty darn impressive. Magazine reviewers opined "The possibilities for this system are quite broad" and "I have seen the future of ST telecommunications and this is it."

#pixelart #textmode #animation #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #bbsing #bbses #bbs #atarist #digipres

Today I began successfully serving "Instant Graphics and Sound" content from my BBS. 🖥️

What is IGS? Basically it's the precursor to RIPscrip. It's a graphics language for the Atari ST that enables BBSes to transmit vector graphics, sound effects, and animation using plain ASCII text. ⌨️

I made a video demonstrating some examples of IGS on my BBS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSnPyeSDm7M

#pixelart #textmode #animation #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #bbsing #bbses #bbs #atarist #vectorart #digipres

Okay, put together a first draft of a wiki article on Instant Graphics and Sound.

https://breakintochat.com/wiki/Instant_Graphics_and_Sound_(IGS)

In case you're wondering what the format could do, this demo gives a good idea:

https://vimeo.com/341115427

#atarist #retrocomputing #pixelart #art #vintagecomputing #bbs #bbses

A few days ago, Larry Mears, the creator of a vector graphics scripting language for Atari ST BBSes released a new version, 30 years after his last release!

He created a new editor to facilitate drawing/designing, but it's not super-user-friendly. Still, I wanted to make sure at least one person gave it a try (especially since my inquiries are what sparked Larry to embark on this effort).

I drew a ship from the game FTL.

#atarist #retrocomputing #pixelart #art #vintagecomputing #bbs #bbses

@cloudia

Yup, I miss #mIRC and #BBSes too!

~ whispers ~ ... even Compu$serve

How old are you in #dialup phone #modem speed?
https://youtu.be/ckc6XSSh52w
#retrocomputing #BBS #BBSes #AOL #AmericaOnline #CompuServe #QuantumLink #TheSource #Prodigy #eWorld #GEnie #MCIMail #DELPHI #AppleLink #BIX #ISP

@SWOnews Research #BulletinBoardSystems (#BBSes) of the 1980s, before the bigger ones started to metastasize into interconnected #FidoNet nodes paralleling the nascent #Internet. They often did exactly this kind of neighborhood social networking because the economics of using the wired telephone system meant any given #BBS was 99-100% used by people for whom it was a local phone call.

It's not exactly the same, but so far my experience on #Mastodon has been a lot like chatting on local #BBSes back in the early '90s. I really missed that sense of conviviality and the ability to #disagree without being disagreeable. Thanks, folks. I truly feel at home. #SocialMedia

@BobStep Yes! I used to run #BBSes, including ones connected via #Fidonet and #Keshernet (a Jewish oriented spin of Fidonet). Ah, such memories.