BBS legend Ward Christensen logs off for last time at 78
- Reference: 1728990069
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/10/15/ward_christensen_obit/
- Source link:
Christensen and Randy Suess developed the software behind CBBS, the first [1]Bulletin Board System (BBS) , during a Chicago blizzard in 1978 to allow Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists' Exchange (CACHE) members to exchange data. The concept was simple, at least in retrospect. The computer running the BBS software allowed users to connect, using [2]dial-up at the time, and download and upload software and data. This data might be software or messages – some private, some public – but it predated the modern World Wide Web by decades.
Similar systems such as [3]Community Memory predated Christensen and Suess's creation by a few years, but theirs was the first public dial-up BBS. The theory behind the system was that it would be a virtual cork board, where users could pin requests and information for others to see. CBBS officially went online on February 16, 1978, and began a wave of BBSes that would continue until the arrival of the World Wide Web and the rapid decline of the technology.
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Christensen was also responsible for the MODEM file transfer protocol in 1977, which was later renamed to XMODEM after Keith Petersen tweaked it to turn on "quiet mode" so the code could run unattended. The protocol allows users to transmit files between computers, provided both are running the software.
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XMODEM is a very simple file transfer protocol. While it might be considered inefficient compared to modern variants, it follows the tried-and-trusted method of breaking data into packets to be sent to the recipient. If the packet wasn't correctly received, a retry request was sent, and so on.
[7]What's the golden age of online services? Well, now doesn't suck
[8]What did turbonerds do before the internet? 41 years ago, a load of BBS
[9]81's 99 in 17: Still a lotta love for the TI‑99/4A – TI's forgotten classic
[10]Confession: I was a teenage computer virus writer
The ease with which XMODEM could be implemented made it very popular in the BBS market, although it spawned many variants as developers sought to overcome its limitations. In Howard Rheingold's book, The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, Christensen was [11]quoted as saying it was "the single most modified program in computing history."
It is difficult for modern web users to understand the impact of BBSes during the 1980s and into the 1990s. Many were run by enthusiasts, often from their own homes with only one phone line, meaning only one user at a time could dial in. Larger systems could make use of multiple phone lines. The advent of internet dial-up signified the end of the BBS as it was initially conceived.
BBSes predated much of the connected world as it is understood today. As well as virtual community pinboards, they hosted forums and message boards, precursors to blogs and social network sites. Their development, which began with a Chicago snowstorm, holds immense importance in the story of how the World Wide Web came to be.
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Christensen worked at IBM until his retirement in 2012. ®
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[1] https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse490h1/19wi/exhibit/bbs.html
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2019/02/18/41_years_of_the_bbs/
[3] https://historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=903
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zw6Rpxeb0I4Tip_FruAJhwAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zw6Rpxeb0I4Tip_FruAJhwAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zw6Rpxeb0I4Tip_FruAJhwAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/08/opinion_column/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2019/02/18/41_years_of_the_bbs/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2017/02/27/community_builds_around_ti_99_4a/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2015/09/14/i_was_a_teenage_virus_author/
[11] https://direct.mit.edu/books/book/2147/The-Virtual-CommunityHomesteading-on-the
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zw6Rpxeb0I4Tip_FruAJhwAAAAk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Oh, happy days!
The halcyon days where a certain cookbook was available on nearly every BBS amongst other knowledge not intended for the masses. The per minute phone charges were painful when they were paid. *cough cough*
Re: Oh, happy days!
That’s how I learned about “local long distance” charges!
Re: Oh, happy days!
Those paying attention in chemistry classes might come to the opinion that the "cookbook" was prepared by the spooks in order to get the sort of idiots that might want to do that sort of thing removed from the gene pool before they became dangerous to others.
Modem Days
I did my share of BBSing back then, though only to local numbers. File transfers via Xmodem, then Ymodem, then Chuck Forsberg's Zmodem. Later, I accessed FidoNet and had a DOS version of UUCP running on an IBM XT.
Ward got the ball rolling on the BBS scene.
Here's a beer for him ----->
Re: Modem Days
+1; I can remember 2:254/86.1 that I've not used in a quarter of a century, but my current phone number (that I've had for over a decade)?
A flashback to the good old days when things were much better.
Except for upload/download speeds and the costs involved.
Good memories
A friend of mine came round with his 14.4K US Robotics modem, plugged it into our Acorn A3010 (with no hard drive) and we proceeded to connect to Arcade BBS. We downloaded a game, I think it was simply called !Pigeon. I think the goal was either to crap on, or avoid being crapped on. Anyway, Arcade was my first foray into BBSs.
I'm constantly grateful that I was alive and experienced a golden age of computing, watching these things develop and grow into the sometimes monster/sometimes godsend we now refer to as "the internet". Nostalgia, ahhh.
Re: Good memories
Upvote for Arcade.
I have fond memories (and obscene phone bills) from my time there.
When you find yourself where you don't expect it...
To my suprise, I found myself on here:
https://nodehist.fidonet.org.ua/
Happy memorys. So long and thanks for all the packets...
DISCONNECTED
NO CARRI.....
Oh, happy days!
The sense of achievement, managing to connect to another system. Yes, there were flame wars, but most people were friendly and helpful. It was just fun... and expensive, with per minute phone charges.