Bulletin Board System

A bulletin board system, or BBS, was a computer you could call. The sysop (system operator) left a computer running with a modem on a phone line, and callers dialed in from home.

One caller at a time

Most boards had a single phone line, so if someone else was on, you got a busy signal. Bigger boards ran several lines, called nodes.

What you did there

• Read and post messages in the message bases

• Read bulletins from the sysop

• Download and upload files: games, utilities, art and music

• Play door games against other callers

• Page the sysop for a live chat

The first one

Ward Christensen and Randy Suess put CBBS online in Chicago in February 1978.

Commodore boards

Commodore sysops ran software such as C-Net, Image BBS and Color 64. Because PETSCII carries colour and graphics, Commodore boards were some of the most colourful around.

Today

The web replaced most boards in the 1990s, but hundreds still run. Callers reach them over the internet with telnet, often from real Commodore hardware. petscii.nw is one of them.