I recall from calling AST, PC Magazine's BBS, 3com and some others in

Do you recall what was offered in PC Magazine's BBS?

Were there full articles to read? special articles that didn't make it in print? Subscription information to get the magazine? Were there messages, files?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Montreal Greek Times

you could download a few things. i called every one i could find.
it's not overlooked. there's nothing to look at.

But you *still* called every one you could find!
So there *was* something unique these "boring" BBS had worth exploring ALL! :P

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Montreal Greek Times

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Greek Times to poindexter FORTRAN on Sun Feb 22 2026 08:48 pm

I recall from calling AST, PC Magazine's BBS, 3com and
some others in

Do you recall what was offered in PC Magazine's BBS?

Were there full articles to read? special articles that didn't
make it in print? Subscription information to get the magazine?
Were there messages, files?

are you running a bbs for the sole purpose of asking us questions for a newspaper article?


--
"Before using Wildcat....This Company did not have a convenient way of
looking after some of the richest clients in the world...Now we do!"
---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Greek Times to MRO on Sun Feb 22 2026 08:53 pm

you could download a few things. i called every one i could find. it's not overlooked. there's nothing to look at.

But you *still* called every one you could find! So there *was*
something unique these "boring" BBS had worth exploring ALL! :P

you might be retarded.
there was nothing to do back then. even cable tv sucked.
after i called each bbs i never called back.

it wasn't exploring.


---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

after i called each bbs i never called back.

Since you dialed many of these, do you recall if these BBSes required to create a user account, or you were accessing them as guest?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Montreal Greek Times

Greek Times wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Do you recall what was offered in PC Magazine's BBS?

Were there full articles to read? special articles that didn't make it
in print? Subscription information to get the magazine? Were there messages, files?

I seem to recall message boards separate from the magazine and a lot of
older third party apps and shareware. Mind you, this was 1987 or so.



... Consult other sources
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
þ Synchronet þ .: realitycheckbbs.org :: scientia potentia est :.

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Greek Times to MRO on Mon Feb 23 2026 08:34 am

after i called each bbs i never called back.

Since you dialed many of these, do you recall if these BBSes required
to create a user account, or you were accessing them as guest?

I'm not participating in your article.
Talk to poindexter and he will give you some made up imagined shit to use.


--
"Before using Wildcat....This Company did not have a convenient way of
looking after some of the richest clients in the world...Now we do!"

---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: MRO to Greek Times on Sun Feb 22 2026 11:17 pm

Were there full articles to read? special articles that didn't make
it in print? Subscription information to get the magazine? Were
there messages, files?

are you running a bbs for the sole purpose of asking us questions
for a newspaper article?

I visited your bbs. you ignored my question but your bbs answered my question.


--
"Before using Wildcat....This Company did not have a convenient way of
looking after some of the richest clients in the world...Now we do!"
---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

are you running a bbs for the sole purpose of asking us questions
for a newspaper article?

I visited your bbs. you ignored my question but your bbs answered my question.

Just to clarify, I'm not writing an article. My question was historical in nature.

The hobby and art boards are well documented, but the vendor and corporate support boards seem to have faded without much visual preservation. I'm interested in understanding what the practical standard actually looked like in that space during the early 90s.

I operate a board myself, and I'd like to align certain presentation choices with how professional support systems were typically done at the time. That's really the extent of my interest.

If anyone has screenshots, printouts, or firsthand recollections of those vendor boards, I'd still appreciate the input.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Montreal Greek Times

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Greek Times to poindexter FORTRAN on Sun Feb 22 2026 08:48 pm

Were there full articles to read? special articles that didn't make it in print? Subscription information to get the magazine? Were there messages, files?

More than likely there was nothing on there ;). Boards have content when the Sysop is interested in the boards and the content... The sysops of those corporate boards had no interest in either.

This reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Bart goes to the offices of MAD Magazine (or whatever the equivalent was in their universe).

---
þ Synchronet þ TIRED of waiting 2 hours for a taco? GO TO TACOPRONTO.bbs.io

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: phigan to Greek Times on Wed Feb 25 2026 07:54:55

This reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Bart goes to the offices of MAD Magazine (or whatever the equivalent was in their universe).

And...?

---
þ Synchronet þ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com

On Feb 25, 2026 07:41am, PHIGAN wrote to GREEK TIMES:

Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: Greek Times to All on Sun Feb 22 2026 11:00 am

So I'm curious: does anyone here remember what these boards looked like
firsthand? Even better, did anyone ever think to take a screen capture
or pr
a screen before hanging up? I'd love to see what the actual menu
structure a

Others may have responded about this already. I wasn't on many of these, but the few that I did dial into were always completely stock.
Companies, as far as I saw, didn't customize their BBSes at all. If they did, it was to disable features. They might've set a color different sometimes, if there was that option ;). Log in to a stock Wildcat!
install, and that's what it looked like.

---
þ Synchronet þ TIRED of waiting 2 hours for a taco? GO TO
TACOPRONTO.bbs.io

you mean stock,like mine :) except i have pull down menus :)
---
þ wcQWK 10.0 ÷ Over The Brink ¦ Grand Island, NY USA | brinkbbs.org

you mean stock,like mine :) except i have pull down menus :)

lol

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Montreal Greek Times

Others may have responded about this already. I wasn't on many of these, but the few that I did dial into were always completely stock.

Yes, Thank you phigan and all.
Thanks everyone for the input. The consensus around "stock install"
actually makes a lot of sense. The more I think about it, the more it fits with the purpose those boards served. Functional, minimal (And this is what I just did.... "Plain Text is beautiful" as a Gopher site has a slogan!) lol


While digging through Boardwatch and BBS Magazine issues from 93 and 94 on the Internet Archive, I stumbled onto something interesting. Quite a few of those publications were advertising an "online version" of the magazine available through their BBS.

Now I'm curious about how that was actually implemented.

Was it just plain ASCII text dropped into file sections?
Was it packaged as a Door program?
Or were issues posted into message areas, maybe one article per message?

Does anyone remember dialing into something like that? Even better, did anyone ever grab a screenshot of how those early online magazine setups were presented?

Feels like a really early precursor to what later became web publishing, and I don't see much documentation of how it was actually done in practice.

Would love to hear any firsthand recollections for some inspiration on my BBS!

Thanks again!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Montreal Greek Times

DaiTengu wrote to phigan <=-

So I'm curious: does anyone here remember what these boards looked like
firsthand? Even better, did anyone ever think to take a screen capture or
pr a screen before hanging up? I'd love to see what the actual menu
structure a

Others may have responded about this already. I wasn't on many of these, but the few that I did dial into were always completely stock. Companies, as far as I saw, didn't customize their BBSes at all. If they did, it was to disable features. They might've set a color different sometimes, if there was that option ;). Log in to a stock Wildcat! install, and that's what it looked like.

Every "corporate" BBS I ever logged into was just stock WildCat or MajorBBS. Later, they became stock Worldgroup.

I want to say one I called ran Excalibur, but I don't think that one
was around for very long.

I can't remember what companies ran what, though.

I recall that the US Robotics (modems) BBS ran PCBoard. ;-)




... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

On 25 Feb 2026, Greek Times said the following...

Does anyone remember dialing into something like that? Even better, did anyone ever grab a screenshot of how those early online magazine setups were presented?

you keep mentioning screenshots as if that was more common than it actually was.. let alone for taking screenshots of something so mundane as boardwatch.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi

On 25 Feb 2026, phigan said the following...

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Greek Times to poindexter FORTRAN on Sun Feb 22 2026 08:48 pm

Were there full articles to read? special articles that didn't make it print? Subscription information to get the magazine? Were there messag files?

More than likely there was nothing on there ;). Boards have content when the Sysop is interested in the boards and the content... The sysops of those corporate boards had no interest in either.

from the information about the official IBM OS/2 BBS they ran, it sounded like the forums were gated to compuserve and perhaps other places. it also sounded like it wasn't free, and with no price listed i'm guessing it also wasn't cheap. they listed those places as "monitored by IBM" or some wording like that. my guess is you either had to have bought something big or had a subscription to something expensive.. *shrug*

as MRO mentioned earlier though.. any bigger company probably didn't run their bbs very seriously because they wanted you to call their 1-800 numbers for per-instance support, which was expensive. they don't want to give support away for free on a forum if they can sell the same solution to the next guy that calls. both microsoft and borland for example made a lot of money with physical documentation. microsoft used to be a pretty large book company.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi

you keep mentioning screenshots as if that was more common than it actually was.. let alone for taking screenshots of something so mundane
as boardwatch.

You're absolutely right. Taking screenshots in the early 90s wasn't common or straightforward at all.

Most people, including myself, weren't sitting there thinking, "I should document this." Especially not for something as routine as a stock vendor board. Totally fair point.

That said, it *was* done in some cases. From what I've been seeing flipping through Boardwatch Magazine in the Internet Archive, a lot of the screenshots in those magazines look like they were captured using those old screen capture setups with a camera mounted in front of the monitor. Quality was usually pretty rough. You can see the curvature and glare in some of them.

Another method was simply pointing a camera at the screen and hoping for the best. I actually saw a recent example like that posted from Juxtaposition BBS in Montreal. Plain text board, photographed straight off the monitor. Very much do what you can with what you have...

And then there were software-based methods. I was watching an old BBS Expo '94 interview with Dennis Fowler from Computer Shopper Magazine . At the 22-minute mark he mentions using a special program specifically to capture BBS screens for review (YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/7hzf9qOVkSM ). So at least in the reviewer world, there were tools floating around for that purpose.

So yeah, definitely rare, and definitely not everyday behavior. I'm just curious whether any of those oddball captures survived, especially around those early online magazine experiments.

Either way, appreciate the reality check.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Montreal Greek Times

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Mortar to phigan on Wed Feb 25 2026 10:04 am

This reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Bart goes to the offices of Magazine (or whatever the equivalent was in their universe).

And...?

The receptionist says "Listen, kid. You probably think a lot of crazy stuff goes on in there, but this is just a place of business."

---
þ Synchronet þ TIRED of waiting 2 hours for a taco? GO TO TACOPRONTO.bbs.io

On Feb 25, 2026 02:33pm, GREEK TIMES wrote to Robert Wolfe:

you mean stock,like mine :) except i have pull down menus :)

lol

Only because I've yet to find a decent Win64 compatible ANSI editor. But, I might install a 32-bit version of windows so can use TheDraw and set up my bbs directory as a shared volume.
---
þ wcQWK 10.0 ÷ Over The Brink ¦ Grand Island, NY USA | brinkbbs.org

On Feb 25, 2026 12:17pm, NIGHTFOX wrote to DAITENGU:

From what I remember, MajorBBS had some products & software features to enable easily having a bunch of phone lines for a dialup BBS. I had
used some MajorBBS boards in my area in the early 90s that had a bunch
of phone lines, with active multi-node chat rooms. I remember seeing
some hardware they offered that allowed a lot more serial ports than
were usually offered on a PC.. From what I remember, a typical IBM-compatible PC had bulit-in support for up to 4 serial ports (and a couple of them shared IRQs, from what I remember, so if you wanted to
use all 4 simulteneously, you had to re-configure their IRQs). But I recall seeing that the company that made MajorBBS offered some hardware that allowed a lot more serial ports, and their MajorBBS software
naturally supported that. I'm not sure how the hardware accomplished
that, since typically there were limited IRQs available.

Yes, typically COM1-COM4. I remember that Mustang Software used to sell 16- port Stallion communications boards in a special VAR bundle back in the day. ---
þ wcQWK 10.0 ÷ Over The Brink ¦ Grand Island, NY USA | brinkbbs.org

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Thu Feb 26 2026 07:39 am

Digiboards! They rocked. I had a 16 port digiboard running a dial-up WAN back in those days - I was working for a large retailer with 100 stores. The POS system in the stores was essentially a DOS box, and when they shut down at night, it ran a batch file we wrote to zip up sales, credit card data and inventory data, then send it to the hub. The hub system was an OS/2 box running a package called Excellenet, using a 16 port digiboard.

There was a special driver, might have used int14h, a protocol used to share modems over the LAN. The digiboard had 386 processors on it, it did most of the processing on-board. We had 16 modems on it, and when the east coast stores would close, they'd all be busy.

It sounds like those Digiboards were pretty serious units. I think it would have been fun to run a multi-line BBS using one of those, but I didn't have the money at the time.

Nightfox

---
þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: Gamgee to DaiTengu on Wed Feb 25 2026 03:04 pm

I can't remember what companies ran what, though.

I recall that the US Robotics (modems) BBS ran PCBoard. ;-)

The one I never called, because I couldn't afford a USR modem :)

But, finally, after 30-some years, I have a USR modem! Who's laughing now, US-Robotics?

(It's them, they sold to 3com in 1997 for $6.6 billion, the second largest tech merger ever at the time. That's $13.5 billion in today's money)

...He who laughs last probably didn't get the joke.

---
þ Synchronet þ War Ensemble BBS - The sport is war, total war - warensemble.com

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Greek Times to phigan on Wed Feb 25 2026 15:01:00

"Plain Text is beautiful" as a Gopher site has a slogan!) lol

Absolutely. I love seeing a nice, formated screen of text. No distracting images, animations, etc.

Quite a few of those publications were advertising an "online version" of the magazine available through their BBS. Was it just plain ASCII text dropped into file sections?

Pretty much. Like their BBSes, they didn't put much flair into their e-zines. Some mags were offered on commercial services like AOHell...er, "L", Prodigy, Compu$erve, etc. where they could add color and images, but you paid extra for those.

---
þ Synchronet þ End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com

DaiTengu wrote to Gamgee <=-

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: Gamgee to DaiTengu on Wed Feb 25 2026 03:04 pm

I can't remember what companies ran what, though.

I recall that the US Robotics (modems) BBS ran PCBoard. ;-)

The one I never called, because I couldn't afford a USR modem :)

I couldn't either, really, but somehow managed it. I got a Courier
through something they called the "sysop program" back then, had to
prove you operated a board, and they gave you like half-off the price.
Came with a brass tag on the case that said something, can't recall what though. I still have it somewhere in the back of a closet. :-)

But, finally, after 30-some years, I have a USR modem! Who's laughing now, US-Robotics?

(It's them, they sold to 3com in 1997 for $6.6 billion, the second
largest tech merger ever at the time. That's $13.5 billion in today's money)

Wow, didn't realize that!


... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

Hey Robert!

On Thu, 26 Feb 2026 05:54:00 +0000, you wrote:

Only because I've yet to find a decent Win64 compatible ANSI editor.
But, I might install a 32-bit version of windows so can use TheDraw and
set up my bbs directory as a shared volume.

Have you actually looked?

https://github.com/cwensley/pablodraw

https://github.com/mkrueger/icy_draw/releases

There's two you can try. I'm sure there's at least one or two more than that, even.

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (723:1/1)
þ Synchronet þ _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin)

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Robert Wolfe to GREEK TIMES on Thu Feb 26 2026 05:54 am

On Feb 25, 2026 02:33pm, GREEK TIMES wrote to Robert Wolfe:

you mean stock,like mine :) except i have pull down menus :)

lol

Only because I've yet to find a decent Win64 compatible ANSI editor.

PabloDraw isn't?
--
digital man (rob)

Rush quote #81:
Catch the witness, catch the wit, catch the spirit, catch the spit
Norco, CA WX: 74.8øF, 43.0% humidity, 4 mph ESE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

On Feb 26, 2026 07:04pm, ACCESSION wrote to Robert Wolfe:

Hey Robert!

On Thu, 26 Feb 2026 05:54:00 +0000, you wrote:

Only because I've yet to find a decent Win64 compatible ANSI editor.
But, I might install a 32-bit version of windows so can use TheDraw and
set up my bbs directory as a shared volume.

Have you actually looked?

https://github.com/cwensley/pablodraw

https://github.com/mkrueger/icy_draw/releases

There's two you can try. I'm sure there's at least one or two more than that, even.

Thanks, that's a start. Now to just get connected to an ftn networkj or two :) ---
þ wcQWK 10.0 ÷ Over The Brink ¦ Grand Island, NY USA | brinkbbs.org

On Feb 27, 2026 12:42am, DIGITAL MAN wrote to Robert Wolfe:

Only because I've yet to find a decent Win64 compatible ANSI editor.

Never used it, but will have to give it a try.
---
þ wcQWK 10.0 ÷ Over The Brink ¦ Grand Island, NY USA | brinkbbs.org

On Feb 27, 2026 12:42am, DIGITAL MAN wrote to Robert Wolfe:

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Robert Wolfe to GREEK TIMES on Thu Feb 26 2026 05:54 am

On Feb 25, 2026 02:33pm, GREEK TIMES wrote to Robert Wolfe:

you mean stock,like mine :) except i have pull down menus :)

lol

Only because I've yet to find a decent Win64 compatible ANSI editor.

PabloDraw isn't?

I installed it, but it lacks support for Wildcat! @-codes though, So .BBS screens just open up as plain ascii.
---
þ wcQWK 10.0 ÷ Over The Brink ¦ Grand Island, NY USA | brinkbbs.org

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: Nightfox to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Feb 26 2026 09:46 am

have been fun to run a multi-line BB
using one of those, but I didn't hav
the money at the time.

Phone lines were like $30/mo each
minimum!

---
þ Synchronet þ TIRED of waiting 2 hours for a taco? GO TO TACOPRONTO.bbs.io

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Fri Feb 27 2026 07:52 am

It sounds like those Digiboards were pretty serious units. I think it
would have been fun to run a multi-line BBS using one of those, but I
didn't have the money at the time.

Yeah, I would have sprung for more disk space and more backups, too. I wish I had more data from the '90s.

Yeah My BBS was a single line BBS with 40 MB, but I had a shareware CD on line.

Denn

...Rate yourself as a programmer on a scale of 0 to F.

---
þ Synchronet þ the Outwest BBS - outwest.synchro.net - Home of BBSBASE 6.0

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: poindexter FORTRAN to DaiTengu on Fri Feb 27 2026 07:52 am

But, finally, after 30-some years, I have a USR modem! Who's laughing
now, US-Robotics?

I was decommissioning an AS/400 a couple of jobs ago, and couldn't help but take home the USR Courier DS modem they'd used for remote support. I'd wanted one for so long back in the dial-up days but settled for Sportsters, the consumer level models that never sat even with a serial port cable plugged in.

Alas, I had no phone line or place to call with it.

I had a 28.8K modem in my first PC, a 486DX2/66 it had a VESA Local BUS video card with 2MB memory, and I think it had 8MB of RAM in it. It was custom built by the guy who did all the IT work at the newspaper my mom worked at, and I was told that the 28.8K modems "had only been out for a week".

I had used 14.4K modems at my high school earlier in the year, and no BBS in my area actually had 28.8K for until I had my computer for at least a month, so that may be true. I got my computer in Februrary of 1994 (for my 16th birthday) and Wikipedia says that's the year the 28.8K modems came out. <shrug>

My parents spent a fortune on it. Or, at least a fortune for us. I'm pretty sure it was around $2300. In today's money, the inflation calculator says that's around $5250. I went all out and built a new PC a year ago, and didn't come close to that figure. I think I spent about $3000, and that was with a $300 keyboard.

But, the last time I built a PC for myself was nearly 10 years earlier, so I'm comfortable with a $300 a year PC :D

I'm glad I didn't wait until this year, it would have cost me $1000 just for the RAM!

...When one connects a 3-phase line, the phase sequence will be wrong.

---
þ Synchronet þ War Ensemble BBS - The sport is war, total war - warensemble.com

Re: RE: Looking for screensho
By: Robert Wolfe to ACCESSION on Fri Feb 27 2026 07:08 am

Have you actually looked?

https://github.com/cwensley/pablodraw

https://github.com/mkrueger/icy_draw/releases

There's two you can try. I'm sure there's at least one or two more
than that, even.

Thanks, that's a start. Now to just get connected to an ftn networkj
or two :)

I don't know why someone would rather use pablodraw than fireup dosbox and
use aciddraw or thedraw.

icedraw is pretty nice though.


--
"Before using Wildcat....This Company did not have a convenient way of
looking after some of the richest clients in the world...Now we do!"
---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Robert Wolfe to DIGITAL MAN on Fri Feb 27 2026 07:15 am

PabloDraw isn't?

I installed it, but it lacks support for Wildcat! @-codes though,
So .BBS screens just open up as plain ascii.

just use ansi screens with your bbs.


--
"Before using Wildcat....This Company did not have a convenient way of
looking after some of the richest clients in the world...Now we do!"
---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: Nightfox to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Feb 26 2026 09:46 am

Digiboards! They rocked. I had a 16 port digiboard running a dial-up WAN back in those days - I was working for a large retailer with 100 stores. The POS system in the stores was essentially a DOS box, and when they shut down at night, it ran a batch file we wrote to zip up sales, credit card data and inventory data, then send it to the hub. The hub system was an OS/2 box running a package called Excellenet, using a 16 port digiboard.

There was a special driver, might have used int14h, a protocol used to share modems over the LAN. The digiboard had 386 processors on it, it did most of the processing on-board. We had 16 modems on it, and when the east coast stores would close, they'd all be busy.

It sounds like those Digiboards were pretty serious units. I think it would have been fun to run a multi-line BBS using one of those, but I didn't have the money at the time.

Synchronet supported Digiboards (Steve Deppe added the support for their int14h driver), but I don't think a lot of (Synchronet) sysops used them. Usually, it wasn't too hard to get 3 or 4 IRQs available for COM ports (I sold multiport 16-bit UART boards that were easy to configure) and running *more* than 3-4 nodes on a single PC (e.g. with DESQview at the time), reliably, was pretty challenging. So the Digiboards didn't really solve the main problem of running a lot of lines/nodes on a single computer, and that problem was the (lack of) a performant and reliable multitasking OS for the PC.

I think I still have a new in the box Digiboard in my garage somewhere (I didn't use them for my 6 or 7 BBS nodes either).
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #111:
Weedpuller "World Of My Own" http://youtu.be/V-gmT5N6kYo
Norco, CA WX: 87.3øF, 30.0% humidity, 3 mph WNW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs ---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Greek Times to poindexter FORTRAN on Sun Feb 22 2026 08:48 pm

If your looking for old magazines "Internet Archive" is your best bet.

https://archive.org/

or

The Beta Search Engine for faster pulls

https://discmaster.textfiles.com/

Peace!
Dark
---
þ Synchronet þ Aneto

Hey Robert!

On Fri, 27 Feb 2026 07:08:00 +0000, you wrote:

Thanks, that's a start. Now to just get connected to an ftn networkj or
two :)

I had mentioned this to you awhile back when answering you feedback, but you must not have read it yet.

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (723:1/1)
þ Synchronet þ _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin)

Hey Robert!

On Fri, 27 Feb 2026 07:15:00 +0000, you wrote:

PabloDraw isn't?

I installed it, but it lacks support for Wildcat! @-codes though, So
.BBS screens just open up as plain ascii.

Was there ever an ansi editor that supported Wildcat @-codes?

Here's another one you can add to your list to try, but I can't promise it supports what you're looking for. However, if any of the three I mentioned are still currently maintained, maybe you can ask for that feature:

https://blocktronics.github.io/moebius/

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (723:1/1)
þ Synchronet þ _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin)

Re: Looking for screensho
By: Accession to Robert Wolfe on Fri Feb 27 2026 09:13 pm

Hey Robert!

On Fri, 27 Feb 2026 07:15:00 +0000, you wrote:

PabloDraw isn't?

I installed it, but it lacks support for Wildcat! @-codes though,
So .BBS screens just open up as plain ascii.

Was there ever an ansi editor that supported Wildcat @-codes?

oh yes. don't you know wildcat! is the bbs software of true
millionaires?
thedraw and other ansi editors supported wilcat! color codes https://i.imgur.com/0hSwYLR.png

Here's another one you can add to your list to try, but I can't
promise it supports what you're looking for. However, if any of the
three I mentioned are still currently maintained, maybe you can ask
for that feature:

https://blocktronics.github.io/moebius/

he should just use a converter script.


--
"Before using Wildcat....This Company did not have a convenient way of
looking after some of the richest clients in the world...Now we do!"
---
þ Synchronet þ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Robert Wolfe to DIGITAL MAN on Fri Feb 27 2026 07:15 am

On Feb 27, 2026 12:42am, DIGITAL MAN wrote to Robert Wolfe:

Re: Re: Looking for screensho
By: Robert Wolfe to GREEK TIMES on Thu Feb 26 2026 05:54 am

On Feb 25, 2026 02:33pm, GREEK TIMES wrote to Robert Wolfe:

you mean stock,like mine :) except i have pull down menus :)

lol

Only because I've yet to find a decent Win64 compatible ANSI editor.

PabloDraw isn't?

I installed it, but it lacks support for Wildcat! @-codes though, So .BBS screens just open up as plain ascii.

WC Color codes? Send the author a feature request! He's responsive.
--
digital man (rob)

Breaking Bad quote #8:
I want Shania Twain to give me a tuggy. Guess what? That ain't happening either Norco, CA WX: 70.9øF, 53.0% humidity, 0 mph E wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

I had mentioned this to you awhile back when answering you feedback, but

you

I'm reconne cted to Fido just need to start requesting echoes.

... I'll have what the gentleman on the floor is having.
--- Wildcat! v10.0.500.1 (Oct 16 2025), Editor Mod v1.7
þ wcQWK 10.0 ÷ Over The Brink ¦ Grand Island, NY USA | brinkbbs.org

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Digital Man on Sat Feb 28 2026 08:28 am

Subject: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
@MSGID: <69A3179D.1889.dove.dove-gen@realitycheckbbs.org>
@REPLY: <69A24363.137461.dove-gen@vert.synchro.net>
@TZ: 41e0

Digital Man wrote to Nightfox <=-

Synchronet supported Digiboards (Steve Deppe added the support for their int14h driver), but I don't think a lot of (Synchronet) sysops used them. Usually, it wasn't too hard to get 3 or 4 IRQs available for COM ports

Says the guy who wrote BBS software! As a meer caller, pre
plug-and-play, I remember trying to get a modem, a serial mouse, an
ethernet card and a parallel printer all working at once. I finally had
to tape a note with the IRQ and port settings to the inside of the
case and start all over when I was given an Apple Laserwriter (which
only had a serial port)

I know what you're saying. I was referring more to a dedicate BBS computer that (at the time) wouldn't need anything but the essential peripherals and thus had more IRQs available. Using a 16-bit I/O card gave you (some) more IRQ options as well.
--
digital man (rob)

This Is Spinal Tap quote #7:
Nigel Tufnel: That's just nitpicking, isn't it?
Norco, CA WX: 74.2øF, 35.0% humidity, 4 mph NW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: poindexter FORTRAN to DaiTengu on Sat Feb 28 2026 08:28 am

I have 64GB of DDR4 RAM in my desktop box, think I'm sticking with it
(10th gen i7) for a while. I've thought about swapping it with my homelab
server (7th gen i5) but my nicer video card won't fit in its SFF case.

You can buy a PCIe extension ribbon cable and mount your GPU outside of your SFF case. I used one and it worked well.

LW
---
þ Synchronet þ Fireside BBS, Home of Lone Wolf Software, AI-WX

On Feb 27, 2026 09:10pm, ACCESSION wrote to Robert Wolfe:

Hey Robert!

On Fri, 27 Feb 2026 07:08:00 +0000, you wrote:

Thanks, that's a start. Now to just get connected to an ftn networkj or
two :)

I had mentioned this to you awhile back when answering you feedback, but you must not have read it yet.

Oh sorry. Life's been keeping me busy lately. I am connected again courtesy of Ward Dossche.
---
þ wcQWK 10.0 ÷ Over The Brink ¦ Grand Island, NY USA | brinkbbs.org

Hey Robert!

On Sun, 01 Mar 2026 08:08:00 +0000, you wrote:

Oh sorry. Life's been keeping me busy lately. I am connected again courtesy of Ward Dossche.

I don't think Ward Dossche has anything to do with the feedback you left me on my BBS..?

Regards,
Nick

... Sarcasm: because beating people up is illegal.
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20250409
* Origin: _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (723:1/1)
þ Synchronet þ _thePharcyde telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin)

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: Lonewolf to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Feb 28 2026 09:11 pm

You can buy a PCIe extension ribbon cable and mount your GPU outside of your SFF case. I used one and it worked well.

You'd also need to get power to the GPU, requiring some extension cables for the power connectors. It would be interseting to set up a GPU externally that way.

I seem to recall seeing some GPUs now that use USB 3.x for a high-speed connection, which would be easier to connect to a PC. And I'm not sure, but I imagine that for power, those probably include a power supply so that you can plug them into a wall power outlet.

Nightfox

---
þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: Nightfox to Lonewolf on Sun Mar 01 2026 12:37 pm

By: Lonewolf to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Feb 28 2026 09:11 pm

You can buy a PCIe extension ribbon cable and mount your GPU outside of your SFF case. I used one and it worked well.

You'd also need to get power to the GPU, requiring some extension cables for the power connectors. It would be interseting to set up a GPU externally that way.

I seem to recall seeing some GPUs now that use USB 3.x for a high-speed connection, which would be easier to connect to a PC. And I'm not sure, but I imagine that for power, those probably include a power supply so that you can plug them into a wall power outlet.

Nightfox

Yes, I should have mentioned that fact too. I used an external power supply for mine along with a neat little relay that you plugged the external power supply's motherboard connector into and then plugged any power cable from the SFF PC into the relay also. So when you turned on the PC, it also turned on the external power supply and off as well. It was a neat setup.

But then I came across a Dell Workstation 5820 on eBay that has an i9-10900X 3.70 Ghz Zeon 10 core CPU and 4 PCIe slots with two 8 pin PCIe power connectors. The 950 watt PSU has more than enough juice and the case has plenty of room for my two RTX 3060's with 12GB vram each. For $350, I thought it was a great deal. The seller still looks like they have plenty of these units left. I may buy another one.

Lonewolf
---
þ Synchronet þ Fireside BBS, Home of Lone Wolf Software, AI-WX

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Lonewolf on Mon Mar 02 2026 10:35 am

I love Dell workstations - they're built like tanks and most of the disassembly is screwless. I supported a couple of generations of them at work and had a T3400 that ran for 10 years or so...

I like them too. A few years ago, I decided to replace my BBS PC with something newer & faster, and rather than build my own like I normally would, I bought a used Dell workstation on eBay. I really like that it's screwless and easy to get into and upgrade - I've upgraded it a few times now (more storage, RAM, & dedicated video card to help with transcoding with my Plex media server), and it has been very easy to upgrade.

Nightfox

---
þ Synchronet þ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Lonewolf on Mon Mar 02 2026 10:35 am

I love Dell workstations - they're built like tanks and most of the disassembly is screwless. I supported a couple of generations of them at work and had a T3400 that ran for 10 years or so...

I still have and use a Dell Optiplex 7010 full desktop, no screws to open, no screws to replace peripheral either.
I also have a Dell Optiplex 790 in a thin case, same thing, I run my plex server on this one, both have the i5 and 16GB RAM.
I love the old Dell's Bought these Dells from work for $50 each years ago, also bought a Dell laptop for $50 at the same time from work.

Denn

...It said "insert disk #3", but only two will fit...

---
þ Synchronet þ the Outwest BBS - outwest.synchro.net - Home of BBSBASE 6.0

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Lonewolf on Mon Mar 02 2026 10:35 am

Lonewolf wrote to Nightfox <=-

But then I came across a Dell Workstation 5820 on eBay that has an i9-10900X 3.70 Ghz Zeon 10 core CPU and 4 PCIe slots with two 8 pin PCIe power connectors.

I love Dell workstations - they're built like tanks and most of the
disassembly is screwless. I supported a couple of generations of them
at work and had a T3400 that ran for 10 years or so...

This is my first true Dell workstation, but I gotta say, it is very impressive. It has space for multiple NVMe drives as well as 8 dimm sockets, very expandable. Money well spent for this bargain from eBay.

LW
---
þ Synchronet þ Fireside BBS, Home of Lone Wolf Software, AI-WX

Re: Re: Looking for screenshots/a
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Mon Mar 02 2026 10:35 am

I have a lot of stuff, and want to avoid buying any more in 2026 by
making the most of what I have.

I can agree with the point of not wanting to put more e-waste in our lives.
I don't really PC Game aside form FFXIV, so im making do with my amd 5700 ryzen and a 9060 xt 16gb box for the time being.

---
þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net