132 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
132 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
"BBSing in L.A -Yes, it's quite different from here [Santa Barbara],
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mainly because most boards are specialized--there are Commodore boards,
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Apple boards, Atari boards, CP/M boards, IBM boards; gaming boards, ham
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radio boards, dating boards, etc. There is no board that I have seen that
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even remotely resembles the Enterprize, Empire, Citadel, Stonehenge, or what
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have you. Most users rarely call more than one board, and the ones who do
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are usually only on a certain group of boards. There is a heavy segregation
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of users... while here in S.B. there seems to be a BBS melting pot. "
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-- Danny Howell, Enterprize BBS, 06-Apr-87
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My first contact with BBS's anywhere was in Summer 1985, at a Santa Barbara
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Apple Users Group meeting, at a computer store (long defunct) in Loreto
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Plaza. As part of a demonstration, we dialed into the Citadel, Noah's Ark,
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and Father John's Place (q.v.).
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Later that year, and throughout 1986 I had limited access to the local
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boards, by using a borrowed NEC 8216 laptop computer (with built-in modem).
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In early 1987, I was able to set up my own system (a TI-99/4a, limited to
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300 baud) for calling BBS's.
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I left the Santa Barbara area in Summer 1987, and returned to Los Angeles,
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but I still continued to call Bowhead Whale, and occasionaly other SB boards,
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until mid-1989 or so. This is a listing of the the BBS's that were active
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in Santa Barbara during 1985-1987, when I was there. No phone numbers are
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given because almost all of these systems are now defunct. However, each
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system is listed with its sysop and/or software (if known) in parentheses.
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If anyone has any corrections, or additional historical information to add to
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this document, please let me know.
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- Charles P. Hobbs
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[ed. note: Please let me know, too.]
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SB BBS's of special note
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These were the systems that I called regularly in 1985-1987 and that seemed
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to have the most consistent activity.
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* The Citadel (Tom "Toad" Marazita, Citadel)
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The quintessential SB BBS. Extremely popular and busy, with many message
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bases. Terminated operations in Summer 1986.
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1. Bowhead Whale (Bob Blaylock, Citadel/Stonehenge)
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Where most of the SB BBS conversational activity went after Citadel shut
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down. Great message bases, some files.
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2. Enterprize (Barry Boone and others, Custom software)
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Another good conversational board (no file section). This is where the
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first known BIFF attack took place. There was at least one major
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disagreement ("Enteprize-gate") among the sysops of this board around
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early April 87.
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3. Heechee Board/Macross City ("Oreo Cat"-Jim Lick, Stonehenge)
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Again, mostly message bases, with good selection of files (including Mac
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graphics). Somewhat younger, more free-wheeling crowd than Bowhead or
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Enterprize
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4. Programmer's Shack (Joi Thompson, Fidonet)
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Fidonet board, but only occasionally received echomail. Good file section
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(IBM, Apple, ASCII text files and pictures) though.
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5. Oxgates (two systems: one in Santa Barbara and one in Goleta)
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These two CP/M based BBS's required mail-in registration for access, but
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offered a reasonable selection of downloads (CP/M and IBM mostly)
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6. Compucations (Craig Lindstrom, BBS-PC, then Citadel)
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Operated on C64, then Amiga. One of the first known BBS's anywhere to offer
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Internet e-mail (in 1987, via UCSB VAX system).
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Other experiments included networked C64's
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Good discussions, small file sections due to no hard drive.
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7. Noah's Ark (TBBS)
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Had discussion sections on birds and animals, but was most noted for its
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file section. (and strict download ratios!)
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B. Other SB BBS systems (I called these less frequently, if at all.)
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8. System Royale
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Unstable CP/M board (crashed a lot with "Bdos Error on B" type messages).
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It operated for only a few weeks in 1986 and, again in 1987
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9. Minas Tirith/Infinity's Edge ("The Omega"/"The Vision", a.o, Applenet)
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"Private" system, difficult for most users to get validated on. . .
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10. The Wimp (Jim Patchell)
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Great political discussions, but no new-users allowed!
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11. The Beast
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Atari software for download, message bases
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12. Father John's Place
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Religious board with good discussions (1986)
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13. The Breadbasket
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Another religious board (1987). Featured an overzealous "cussing filter"
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that replaced such words as "balls" with asterisks (even if you were
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talking about plural convex spheroids). . .
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14. Quark (Howard Owen, BBS-PC)
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Amiga board started up in 1987.
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15. ECO BBS
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Another Fidonet board started in late 1987. Named after the sysop's late
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Springer Spaniel (Any connection with current ECO BBS?)
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16. Third Eye
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300 baud. Attempted to emphasize quality discussions, as opposed to file
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transfers.
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17. Empire
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18. Sanctuary
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IBM and/or Atari boards with discussion bases, D&D games and file transfers.
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19. Backdoor
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20. The Trap
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21. Guru's Hookah
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Commodore-64 boards of varying quality. At least one of these displayed "If
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you don't have at least ten new C-64 games, hang up now!" at signon.
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22. Digital Dungeon (Glen Heinz, Custom software)
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Started in Summer '87. For a while, networked with a board (of the same name)
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in Los Angeles.
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23. UCSB Fido (Pete Gontier?, Fidonet)
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Operated for a short time in mid-1986. No direct affiliation w/UCSB.
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24. Tri-Tec Center (Conrad Weiler?)
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Operated by Santa Barbara City College, or a division thereof.
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