BBS: The Documentary

BBS: The Documentary. Came across this link on slashdot. After reading it and taking a look at the pics, I got nostalgic for my old 300bps modem and Commodore 64 computer. I remember being introduced to the world of computers when I was 12 years old. My father had a friend at work that was selling an old Commodore Vic 20. Around the same time, my mother signed me up for a computer enrichment program at one of the local public schools. We worked on the Atari computers there. They had both Atari 800s and Atari 400s. You definitely wanted to try to get one of the Atari 800s because it had an actual keyboard. The Atari 400 had what was referred to as a "chicklet" keyboard. It was not unlike the flat keypads on modern gas pumps. I was fascinated by computers and computing. I remember saving up all summer long so that I could purchase a modem for my computer. I wanted to be able to have my compute connect with other computers. At the time, Toys R Us sold computer hardware and software. After my father came home from work, he drove me to purchase my modem. I was so excited! I got a few BBS numbers from friends and before long, I was setting up accounts on these systems and showing my face around as a regular. I downloaded and printed out Fock's BBS list (around 100 pages on my tractor feed dot matrix printer) and I was content. While the rest of the world in the EST slept, I was up, dialing number, anxiously awaiting the negotiation tones that told my computer that the host machine was ready for me to connect. As I got older, I wanted to try my hand at running a BBS. I started a small 2-line BBS called The Coffee Haus. I ran TBBS (The Bread Board System) BBS software by eSoft. I still remember the feeling of my first users dialing into my system and navigation the electronic world I had set up for them. Me, the Sysop, mr blue. Then along came the World Wide Web. The calls to my system came less and less. I remember retiring The Coffee Haus. It was like saying goodbye to a close friend. I still have the final configuration of the system on a floppy somewhere, and I have saved the BBS software. I still have an old 2400bps Hayes modem and often think about firing the system up again. The online world turned impersonal. It was no longer elite. Those were the times of my youth. It was the transition from childhood wonder to the realities of the world. It was a time of fearing the Russians and the possibility of global destruction in the blink of an eye, balanced with the comedic drama of a John Hughes film. I am a child of the 80s. I want to live it all over again.