Macintosh Bulletin Board Systems

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Comment by Christopher on September 4, 2009 at 4:27pm

well you can set one up using Hermes and access it via the internet using any telnet client. all you need is to set up a redirection using something like Dyndns
which is free to setup. it's quite doable as I set it up under OS.9.2.2 on my local
network at home but did not get as far as connecting it over the internet. This will be the next thing to test.

Comment by Kendall Seabury on August 30, 2009 at 10:31am

maybe one of us should make a bulletin board and we can a dial into it :D

Comment by Derek on February 15, 2009 at 6:00pm

FirstClass is still being sold today, so there is indeed a client. What version of the server did you have? I can grab an older client for you if you like.

I never cared much for AOL's look and feel, though RMC episode #53 has an interview with the creators of eWorld and they talk about some of their connections with AOL.

It's nice to see Hermes is still being developed (sort of). :)

Comment by VannBaker on February 15, 2009 at 4:33pm

FYI . . . You can still get Hermes which will run on Macs through OS 9.2 . . . I am tempted to install this on a Beigh G3 Mini Tower I have that needs to be put to work.

And I have thought about reviving my old FirstClass system, but I am not sure if there is a Client to let it work with OS X.

What I think is cool is that it had much of what AOL had in the early 1990s: chat, file attachments, email, private/public groups.

It was a pain to backup and restore when things went wrong, as I am sure you know!

Comment by Derek on February 15, 2009 at 1:35pm

Yes, I remember! The Revelation BBS was one of the largest FirstClass systems in western Canada at one point. About a thousand users and six phone lines, all served up from a IIsi (then a IIfx) with a Hurdler quad serial card. (I actually found one of these babies recently along with four hardware-handshaking serial cables, all sealed in their anti-static bags.)

For the past few years, I've found myself administering FirstClass systems at work. Nobody can figure out why I'm so nostalgic about such a horrible system. :-)

I do remember trying out a few ResNova boards. On a 2400bps modem, the experience was almost unbearable. I'd love to know more about how it worked under the hood.

Strangely enough, a vendor that RMC mentioned still sells and supports TeleFinder: http://www.headgap.com/

I also remember Hermes being a great ANSI graphics-driven BBS package, though I could never figure out why anyone bothered to write such a thing for the Mac.

The guy who wrote FirstClass continues to develop FirstClass Server to this very day.

I wonder what happened to authors of these other systems...

Comment by VannBaker on February 15, 2009 at 1:03pm

Computer Bulletin Boards were a big part of the early Macintosh experience and while I did spend a lot of time on Compuserve, GEnie, early AOL and numerous WildCat systems, I loved BBS systems running Macintosh software, and I ran my own BBS called Pathways for a few years using FirstClass server and client software.

While I love the Internet, I do miss the BBSes of old, and the familiar modem "handshaking", but I don't miss the per minute long-distance charges and slow downloading.