AN OVERVIEW OF BBS PROGRAMS
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| CLICK HERE FOR A FULLY EXPANDED VERSION |
This directory is an outgrowth of the BBS documentary. To help in my research about BBSes, I am attempting to make a canonical list of all the BBS Software Packages there ever were for any platform, excepting one-off "custom" sets that weren't distributed. The priority is on dial-up software created before 1995, although additions for any and all BBS programs are welcome.To save time, if a hardware platform had no modem made for it or lacks any known BBS software, it will be greyed out. Information for the rest of the entries are being grabbed from many disparate sources and may be in dire need of fixing.
If you see a lot of empty space, that probably means I haven't given that OS or Software my full attention. In some cases, I am finding lists of BBS Software online, shoving the names, and getting back to it all "later". Either way, feel free to send me information if you have it nearby.
Please mail in your corrections, additions, and suggestions.
CUSTOMIZED
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S-100 KIT COMPUTER
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CBBS
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Author:
| Ward Christensen (With Randy Suess doing the Hardware side)
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Author Contacted:
| Ward has written in! Huzzah!
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Interviewed!
| Ward Christensen Interviewed on February 16-17, 2002
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Additional Notes:
| Ward Christensen writes "The world's first BBS, CBBS/Chicago. Conceived to mimic a "cork board and push pin bulletin board" ona computer - thus "Computerized Bulletin Board System". Ran on CP/M-8080 with a 300 baud modem. About 20,000 lines of CP/M assembly language. It received almost a quarter million callers on its one phone line over the course of its life."
Source and Info Files:
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26
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MULTI-PLATFORM
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CP/M
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BBSC
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Author:
| Mike Kelly
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Source and Info Files:
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1
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CITADEL
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Additional Notes:
| Of the Citadel Source file below, Gene Buckle writes "This is the source code to the original Citadel for CP/M, written by Cynbe ru Taren (Jeff Prothero) in 1981. All room systems are decended from either this exact code base or based upon the "room system" concept that it expresses. There are two other known versions of the original CP/M source code out there. Versions 2.15 and 2.20 have been "seen in the wild". This archive includes all documentation as well as menus and help files. A compiled Citadel is also included. It requires BDS C to compile if you're going to try it under CP/M. Leor Zolman, the author of BDS C, has make this compile available on his website http://www.bdsoft.com for free. See the entery under the "free tools" link."
Source and Info Files:
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2
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CLASSY
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Author:
| Richard Wheeler and Dan Zehme
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Additional Notes:
| Richard Wheeler writes "My name is Richard Wheeler, and myself, along with Dan Zehme, were the authors of "The Classy System" BBS software that ran under CP/M, athough it was optimized for the Epson QX-10, a Z-80 based computer produced in the early 80s. The system was the first BBS that we were aware of that used escape codes for full screen cursor control. The system originated in 1982, and was fully operational by early 1983. There were more than a few Classy Systems (on the order of 12, at one point). Each was assigned a name chronologically, in the form of a latin number. The orginal system was "Classy System Primus", which ran on my system, while Dan Zehme's system was "The Classy System Secondus", and so forth. As mentioned, there were as many as 12 numbered system, but there were rarely that many operating. The systems did not operate in any kind of node system like Fido. The software itself was written in Cbasic, and mostly ran on QX-10s with 2 5.25 floppy drives, although some systems ran on early Comdex hard drive systems. It had the typical BBS message board functions, as well as the traditional download area. On systems without hard drives, it was custom to allow the B: to contain the download library, and this was rotated on a daily basis. There was also a mini-version that allowed use with an Epson HX-20 (with a very small screen). There was a 2.0 version developed, but never implemented. It had more advanced full screen control for features such as word wrap, a menu driven download page and consideration for a node type system."
DBBS
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Additional Notes:
| Gene Buckle writes "This is dBBS v4.1 It's the only bbs I've ever seen written *in* dBase II for CP/M (for any platform for that matter). It was written in the '86-'87 timeframe by Ryan Katri. This version has been modified by Larry Slattery according to the documentation. All the source code and database files are included."
Source and Info Files:
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1
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MBBS
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MINIRBBS
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Source and Info Files:
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18
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Additional Notes:
| CP/M completely confuses the structure of this directory. Since it could be run across many different hardware platforms, programs affiliated with one specific platform might actually run on more than one. I've done my best to make sense of it all, but reader beware.
PASBBS
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Author:
| Bryan A. Nace (1984)
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Versions:
| Verison 1.3 (1984)
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Additional Notes:
| Calls itself PASCAL BULLETIN BOARD SERVICE. Interestingly, the program contains the following notice: "(C) Copyright Westinghouse Electric Corp 1984".
Source and Info Files:
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1
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PICS
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Additional Notes:
| "There was PICS (standard) and PICS v1.6 (multi-line and multi-user)." - Jim Bianchi
QBBS
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Author:
| Lawrence R. Davis
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Additional Notes:
| "A unique entry in the world of CP/M programs, as not only is it shareware, but it's a binary only distribution. Version 4 is from 1987. It requires BYE v5.08 to operate." - Gene Buckle
Source and Info Files:
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2
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RBBS
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Author:
| Howard Moulton, Trveor Marshall (1985), Bruce Ratoff (1980), Ron Fowler (1980) (Many Others)
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Additional Notes:
| RBBS turns out to be one of my great personal embarassments of my own experience of the history of BBSes. While I though the BBS was specifically written by Tom Mack and nobody else, it turns out that the program has an unbelievably rich history going to before IBM PCs into the world of CP/M. It gets somewhat muddled but names definitely appear, such as Howard Moulton, Bruce Ratoff, and so on, who all did work on this program in the late 1970's, long before the IBM PC even existed. It was in the form of a BASIC program, meaning porting it to the new platform is much simpler. From its time on PCs it gains even more momentum and additional features, making it the well-known program it is in History. But the initial strides are made in the CP/M world, and should not be forgotten.
Source and Info Files:
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10
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SBBS
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Author:
| Tim Redden
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Additional Notes:
| Stands for "Super" Bulletin Board System. Released to the Public Domain in 1984.
Source and Info Files:
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1
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TBBS
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Author:
| Phil Becker
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Additional Notes:
| Brice Fleckenstein says "TBBS for MS-DOS was originally a port from the CP/M TBBS, by Phil Becker (esoft). It originally was a single-line BBS program, but in time evolved into different versions up to 64 lines. Supported UseNet newsgroups and FidoNet mail/echomail via several different methods."
TPBBS
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Author:
| James Whorton abd Eddie H. Curlin
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Versions:
| Version 1.0 (April 30, 1984)
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Source and Info Files:
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1
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TURBOBBS
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Author:
| Robert Maxwell
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Versions:
| 1.05 (1985)
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Additional Notes:
| Gene Buckle writes "A rare beast, a CP/M board that is self-hosted. That is to say, it provides its own internal communications routines and doesn't require BYE for this purpose. This particular board is the only example I've ever seen that is cross-plaform between CP/M and MS-DOS. All that is needed to build for a platform is changing out the source file that does the serial port access."
Source and Info Files:
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1
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XBBS
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Author:
| Robert Crump
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Source and Info Files:
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1
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ZBBS
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Author:
| Alfred K. Carr
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Source and Info Files:
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1
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METAL
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METAL15
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MP/M-86
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TREEBOARD
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Author:
| Ported to M/PM-86 by Nick Andrew
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Additional Notes:
| "The Treeboard was the jewel in the crown of Zeta BBS. It was a public message board, as all BBSs needed, but with a difference. It used a tree hierarchy of topics and users could create their own topics. Like the "room" idea of the Citadel BBS, which came well before Zeta, but a little more nerdy as a person who didn't like, say, sports, could skip sports at the top level and that would avoid all sporting-type discussions."
Source and Info Files:
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15
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ACORN
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ARCHIMEDES
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ARCBBS
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Author:
| Original Author Hugo Fiennes, Highly Customized Version by David Dade.
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Author Contacted:
| E-mail discussions with Hugo F. regarding Acorn and general UK BBS History
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Additional Notes:
| Hugo ran "The World of Cryton". There appear, at this point, to have been less than a dozen ARCBBSes run in total. At least one of them (The Arcade BBS at http://www.arcade.demon.co.uk/) is still running.
ARCHIBOARD
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Author:
| Supreme Software Systems
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First Created:
| October 15, 1995
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Versions:
| 1.0 (October 15, 1995)
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Additional Notes:
| This software appears to have only been distributed as a demo and then sold commercially. This and the relatively small distribution of the Archimedes ensures that there weren't very many version out there at all.
Source and Info Files:
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2
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NFBBS
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Author:
| Alex Howarth
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First Created:
| July 5, 1995
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Additional Notes:
| NewsFlash HH Edition is the latest release of this very powerful and flexible ANSI BBS software package for RISCOS machines. NFBBS is coded entirely in ARM code for speed. The powerful 'BASIC' like script language allows you to create any conceivable BBS system, the scripts are then compiled by the included compiler to ensure the system will run smoothly. The package includes a utility and door manager to allow easy updating and upgrading of your bulletin board. A demonstration bulletin board has been included with clearly commented scripts to allow you to get used to the software quickly. Full technical specifications and developers documents are included.
Source and Info Files:
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1
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RISCBBS
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Author:
| Carl Declerck
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First Created:
| November, 1991
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Source and Info Files:
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1
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VHOST
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Author:
| Gareth Babb (Port to Archimedes from James Coates and Hugo Fiennes)
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Source and Info Files:
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1
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ATOM
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BBCMASTER
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