Bulletin Board Systems

In the late 1970s, computer hobbyists in Chicago set up the first public-access computerized bulletin board system (BBS). Inspired by physical bulletin boards in grocery stores and other public locations, bulletin board systems offered computer enthusiasts a way to communicate directly outside of user group meetings.

Many BBSes provided an private user-to-user email system, open message boards around specific topics and the ability to upload and download software and other documents. Access to most BBSes was free.

Bulletin Board Systems were a popular supplement to commercial online services like CompuServe, The Source and GEnie.

Because of the unique design of Timex/Sinclair systems, users of these computers faced additional challenges in connecting to BBSes. However, by 1985, the TS 2050 modem was widely available and many TS users were able to access online services and BBSes.

Limitations of the TS computers did not prevent enthusiasts from writing their own BBS software.

• I.S.T.U.G. TS2068 BBS - Bulletin board system for the unexpanded TS2068. Works with TS2050 modem and TS2040 printer. Holds 40 535-character messages; has “chat with sysop” feature.
• Micro BBS-1 - For use with Byte Back modem and TS 1000 with 16K RAM; stores 20 messages and sysop note.
• TINYBOARD - Bulletin board software, written by Randy and Lucy Gordon. The original Tinyboard BBS software program provided the ability of an unexpanded TS 2068 to serve as a host system. The program provided the “bare bones” essentials (no frills approach) to operate as a remote message base. The selections from the menu included reading, scanning, writing
• TMX-64 BBS - This BBS program is fully compatible with the Z-SIO (for use use with 300/1200 baud modems) as well as the TS-2050 modem. It features multiple message bases, 64 column sysop screen, abbreviated menus, and adjustable user display.

Bulletin board access grew, along with the importance of user groups, in the mid-1980s. How to access BBSes, lists and reviews of systems were popular article topics.

• 2068 BBS Program - This program creates a limited capacity message BBS using a 2068 & 2050 modem. Thanks to Randy and Lucy Gordon for making BBS software available to us. This revised version has new features that will make it easier to use. I hacked the BASIC down some to make more room in memory for messages. I
• A Change in the FWKUG MBBS - There has been a change in the FWKUG MBBS. Ron Lane, Sysop, has been running his board on a Kaypro with a dual 44Meg hard drive. Ron acquired some new software called ROS from a programmer in New Mexico. It is extremely fast and very closely resembles the old BBS that we are all used
• A Change in the FWKUG MBBS - Continued from July Issue
• A Private Library - OK bunky, so you’ve fought your way through the BBS and gotten to the QL program area – WHAT do all those files do?
• Area Bulletin Board Phone Numbers
• BBS - What Is It?
• BBS for Timex Sinclair Users - Announcement of BBS in Toronto area.
• BBS List
• BBS List
• BBS List
• BBS Listing for the Lower Mainland
• BBS News
• BBS Programs - I am very proud to announce that the download Section on the FUKUG MBBS & PSDE for the Timex/Sinclair computers now has 41 programs for downloading via XMODEM protocol.
• BBS Report
• BBS Report by Mark Fisher, SYSOP - We’ve got a Kaypro! It’s been a long road, but it looks like we’ll be able to drive the BBS through our newly acquired K-10. It will offer 300 or 1200 BAUD service (what the heck how about 9600 BAUD?), and allow up to ten Megabytes of data storage. In today’s terms, that ain’t much,
• BBS Report: Into the Depths of CP/M
• BBS Services Available in British Columbia
• BBS Update
• BBSes
• BBSes that work with Q-Code
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Bytes
• Bits & Pieces
• Bits & Pieces
• Bits & Pieces
• Bits and Pieces - News about Sinclair Research Ltd., two Timex-based BBSes join FidoNet, SOFTAID fundraising cassette, update on Timex Portugal. Shorter updates on MSCRIPT, RMG Enterprises, an RS-232 interface from Edward Loxterkamp, speech software from Tad Painter, software from Frank Lockhart, Jim Clatfelter and Peter McMullin.
• Bulletin Board Listing
• CATS BBS is UP! - Mark Fisher has just informed the newsletter staff that the CATS Bulletin Board system is now up and running.
• CATS BBS News - I’m not “the great telecommunicator”. I enjoy the Sysop-ing I’ve been doing, mainly because I DON’T have to do any phoning – I just yell at you guys to do that. However: I’ve been forced into the MODEM game in order to find out more about how this Kaypro works. In the process, I’ve got
• Closet Computers - Got an old computer stashed away somewhere? It may not be as fast or as powerful as your new machine, but there’s still plenty you can do with the machine that gave you the best eight bits of its life. Bulletin Board Systems Another type of digital communication involves connecting computers via telephone lines. Thousands
• Communications
• Computin in the Country - Oscar gets a 2050 modem and tries to connect to multiple BBSes, including the Zebra BBS.
• Data Interrupt - After over six years of continuous operation the Club computer, a PDP 11/60, has gone down. This has caused the newsletters to get way behind. This is also the computer that ran the SNUG BBS. It is our hope to either get this computer up and running again or migrate to another machine. This work
• Dealing With The BBS - This will take your computer, a terminal program, and a MODEM. For the 2068, the most common setup is the 2050 (Anchor) MODEM, along with SmartTerm II. For the QL, the horizon is wider – any “external” MODEM will work at 1200 BAUD. For terminal programs, again, the choice is wider, with QL Term, QLink,
• FLASH BBS Bites The Dust in Las Vegas - Bob Royall, sysop, shut down BBS because his wife was ordered to a duty station in Turkey.
• From the Editor's Mailbag and Information from the FWKUG MBBS & PDSE - I thought you might like to see just what takes place many times on the FWKUG MBBS & PSDE that affects the Timex/Sinclair users and modem users here in the Fort Worth/Dallas area. Also some of the information and files that get placed on the board for the benefit of all of us. (Our downloadable
• From the Editor's Mailbox - Messages extracted from the Fort Worth BBS.
• FWKUG MBBS & PSDE - I certainly hope that many of you have been on line at one time or another with this BBS that is between Fort Worth and Dallas. Many of the downloads in the TIMEX AREA are from the Fort Worth group, but others have been added from time-to-time by people like Ed Grey. It also has
• Galfrey II BBS
• Gator's Twisted Pair
• Gator's Twisted Pair - TAKE NOTE! We are on a new computer. We now have a 24 hour BBS and encourage you to exchange mail and contribute to the Download Section. Use it and have fun!
• Gator's Twisted Pair - As you have just read in John Donaldson’s report, the PDP is down. Fortunately we have friends! We have migrated to a VAX but I will have to learn DCL to get the BBS fully Operational again. You may upload and read all the information in the DIRectory. You see the DIRectory by typing DIR,
• Guide to Bulletin Boards Coming
• Guide to T/S Telecommunications Update for Version 2.0 - Time Warp, based in Boston, MA, runs on Casboard on a TS 2068. VSYS, in New Jersey, also runs on a TS 2068 using JBBS. Mark Fendrick runs Sinclair at Night. The Toronto T/S Users Club uses Downloaders Anonymous. SINCUS’s board is TCCS. The Timex/Sinclair Computer Club of Florida ran its board using a re-write
• In Touch With The World - Welcome to this month’s column! I have a lot of interesting information for those of you that have already joined the ranks of “T/S Telecommunicators”. And for those of you that have yet to get your modem, I think that this column will make you interested enough to make a modem your next purchase. First,
• Input/Output
• ISTUG BBS
• ISTUG BBS
• ISTUG BBS Program - BBS program written by Paul Holmgren and Willie Jones is available for sale. Program features automatic word wrap, real time clock, printing messages to SYSOP on 2040 printer.
• Larken Electronics Launches Maxcomm
• Letter from Keith Skapinksi
• Local BBS List
• Local BBS Numbers
• Local Timex/Sinclair BBS
• LOG-ON!
• Modem News
• Modem News
• New American Sinclair BBS
• New BBS in Town
• New Modem Adventures
• New Timex/Sinclair BBS Notices - This month we have three new BBS to announce that support the efforts of the Timex/Sinclair community. The SINCLAIR AT NIGHT BBS in New York operates from 11:00 PM until 6:00 AM. Their telephone number is (718) 627-1293 and the logon parameters are: Word Length=8, Parity=NONE, Stop Bits=1. Mark Fendrick, Sinclair columnist for the Computer
• Notes on the CATS BBS - This is the first attempt at a BBS by the CATS Users Group. It is using the Casboard BBS software: 300 BAUD only at this time, using an 8-1-N protocol leight bit word, one stop bit, No pairity check).
• Potpourri
• Potpourri - HOW TO MAKE A BBS I’m glad to report that the Kaypro 10 (K10) is in good health. It didn’t seem that way when I first took delivery, as mentioned in last month’s installment. Since then, I’ve heard of other recently-bought K10’s with BDOS errors #92 – | think that the green crud that grows
• Program Review: TS Tinyboard
• Quick Guide to Using the CATS BBS
• Random Bits
• RMG BBS Down
• Sinclair Echo
• Sinclair ECHO
• Sinclair Echo
• Sinclair Echo
• Sinclair Net Addresses
• Sinclair Users Unite! - Rules and guidelines for the Sinclair/Timex user FidoNet Echo.
• Sinclair/ECHO
• Sinclair/ECHO
• SincLink
• SincLink
• SincLink
• SincLink
• SincLink
• SincLink
• SincLink
• Special Notice - Proposal to develop a nation-wide Timex/Sinclair bulletin-board network.
• Sysop John's BBS Beat - Updates on bulletin boards.
• Sysop's Twisted Pair - Swoger describes the club’s BBS, which he wrote. It runs on a PDP 11 under RSX-11M. The BBS has been up since 1984 and was written by me at a time when I had never seen any other BBS. As a result it looks like no other board you’ve seen before. I wrote it from
• Sysops Twisted Pair - PDP 11/23+ obtained for BBS.
• T/S BBS - Brief into to bulletin-board systems and a list of four that support TS users.
• T/S Resources - Cleveland Free-Net.
• T/S Resources
• T/S Tinyboard BBS
• T/S Update - Emulator news from Dewey; Pinball available from Sunset Electronics. Timex sold all hardware and software to New York liquidator.
• Telecommunication News
• Telecommunications Corner
• Telecommunications Corner
• Telecommuter's Corner
• The Bull Pen
• The Editor's Soapbox
• The ISTUG BBS Report: The CATUG BBS
• The ISTUG BBS Report: The Grey Matter BBS
• The Serial Port BBS - The Serial Port bulletin board has an active Timex/Sinclair SIG (Special Interest Group) area continuously since 1983. Recently, activity on the SIG has increased, matching the rebirth of the QL.
• The T/S Telecommunications Guide - I have just received the BIG telecommunications guide from Pete Fischer. (This is the one that has it all on the 11 X 8 1/2′ paper.) The cover page is in black and white, but he included-for me-the identical page in its original COLOR form.
• Time-X-change
• Timex Sinclair Electronic Newsletter
• Timex Sinclair Sites for Humans and Small Animals
• Timex Telephone Tricks and Tips
• Timex Tidbits
• Timex Tidbits
• Timex Tidbits
• Timex Tidbits
• Timex Tidbits
• Timex Tidbits - Our Timex brethren in Milwaukee are producing Digitizers for the TS-2068. The cost of a completely assembled and tested unit with postage is $52.95 while the bare board alone costs $22.95! These prices include the software. For more information write to SMUG, Р.O.Вох 101, Butler, Wisconsin 53007. RMG Enterprises have expanded their Timex/Sinclair inventory by
• Timex-Sinclair BBS Update
• Timex-Sinclair Supporting BBSes
• Timex/Sinclair BBS Directory
• Timex/Sinclair BBS Directory
• Timex/Sinclair BBS List
• Timex/Sinclair News and Tips
• Timex/Sinclair User Bulletin Board - Zebra Systems has provided T-S Horizons with the information below on a bulletin board service especially for Timex and Sinclair users. Future plans include providing programs that modern users can download into their own system and save for their own use.
• TS Telecommunication Tips for Long Distance BBSers
• Using Fidomail as a TS Network
• Why Timelines BBS was Founded and What is Timelines BBS? - Timelines….BBS was founded out of frustration of not having a Timex/Sinclair BBS that I could log on to that spoke my. language (Sinclairees). When I bought my TS-2068 computer and TS-2050 modem I thought that I could do some modeming like the Apple and I.B.M. computer users do. What I found was that there were