Computer Bulletin Boards (BBS's) A BBS (Bulletin Board Service, sometimes called an Interactive Information Service) is a computer connected to a phone line with a modem, that waits for people to call it. In today's world, it no longer means just a telephone line and modem. With the Internet in full swing, we can now offer Telnet service. Telnet is like calling the BBS via modem, but there are no long distance charges involved (unless you have to pay them to connect to your ISP).
When people call, they can read and reply to messages on line, or they can download messages in a single file, which they can then read and reply to using an offline mail reader program. They can also download files with shareware programs or information.
BBS technology is much less sophisticated than that of the Internet, and that gives it certain advantages. If you want to start an Internet site, the cost is very high. You need a fast computer with a lot of disk capacity. If it is to work satisfactorily, you will need a digital line, and they don't come cheap. For most people, connecting to the Internet means subscribing to the services of a commercial Internet provider.
But anyone with a computer and a phone line can start a BBS.
The advantage of this is that local communities, churches, businesses and private individuals can set up a BBS to suit their own needs. A direct Internet connection is a high tech solution to communications problems, but it may not be appropriate for everyone. For many people and organizations, an intermediate technology solution is more appropriate.
BBS's can be linked in networks, either locally, nationally or internationally. It is possible to connect BBS's to the Internet as well, to make e-mail and some other services available. This is often far more economical than an individual subscription to an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Let me give an example.
A missionary in Botswana subscribed to an ISP in South Africa. His main need was occasional e-mail messages. He had a computer, but no phone line. He would visit a friend with a phone, and use his laptop computer to connect to the ISP, but the ISP subscriptions were expensive, and the phone lines were noisy.
Then he discovered a BBS in Pretoria (the same city as the Internet Service Provider he was using. He could phone in and download a mail packet, take it home and read it at his leisure, and a few days later call back to upload his replies. All this at a fraction of the cost of the ISP. Now three missionaries from this town are using this method. It would actually be easier for them to set up their own BBS, even if it only ran in the evenings. One call by the BBS could pick up mail for all three of them, and it could also be used by more people locally as well.
BBS's with FIDO-Net Echoes
| Phone | BBS Name | SysOp Name | Location | Hours | Speed | Interests |
| 614-475-1777 Telnet | T.C.L BBS Web Page | Fred Burgess | Columbus | 24/7 | 2400+ | General Interest. FidoNet, Games, Files |
| 799-8040 | Craig's Place | Craig Genheimer | Columbus | 24/7 | 2400+ | FidoNet |
| Rogers BBS | Roger Baker | Columbus | 24/7 | 2400+ | FidoNet | |
| 841-0688 | Empire's Lair | Ron Surwill | Powell | 24/7 | 2400+ | FidoNet |
FamilyNet is one of many BBS networks. It has its own FamilyNet Web page, where you can learn more about it, and how you can join it if you run a BBS, especially in the USA. If you are interested in joining FamilyNet, send e-mail to the International Director, Bob Hoffman.
Many of the FamilyNet conferences are now available as e-mail mailing lists. If you don't have access to a FamilyNet BBS, you may subscribe to the mailing lists. See the FamilyNet lists page.
In Southern Africa, those who want to join FamilyNet should contact the Regional Manager, Steve Hayes. Steve Hayes, who also runs the Gauteng Hub.
A small rural village might have a transport problem. There are no adequate roads between the village and the nearest town. There is just a footpath. The high-tech solution to such a transport problem would be to build a six-lane freeway with a cloverleaf intersection. But such a solution would be inappropriate if the only traffic it is going to carry is a donkey cart three times a week. Between the footpath and the freeway there is an intermediate solution, which is more appropriate to the circumstances.
Many freeways are built to provide better transport between big cities, but they often do nothing for small communities that are quite close to the freeway, but do not have access roads.
In electronic communications, BBS networks can be a kind of intermediate technology. They can provide communications links where none exist; they can also act as access roads to the information superhighway. A rural village very often doesn't need, and can't afford, a full-scale Internet service. But a BBS network can provide access to such services as e-mail, usually at a much lower cost, and can also provide more local services, such as communications between villages and towns in the same district or province.
This is where a BBS network like FamilyNet can help. In a small town or rural village, a local church, school or NGO might have access to electricity and a telephone line, and might have one or more computers. These could be quite old computers - XT and 286 machines that big-city folk regard as "brain-dead", but, when refurbished by volunteer organizations, can still provide some years of useful service. Such a computer can perform a dual function - it can be used for administrative work during the day, typing letters, using spreadsheets and the like, but it can be switched over to run as a BBS in the evening. Then, when phone rates are lowest, it would call a BBS in the city, and exchange e-mail and other messages. The BBS in the city would pass these on to another BBS which acted as a gateway to the Internet, and so e-mail could flow to small communities at a very low cost - it would be only one long-distance phone call per day. The rural BBS could have 5, 10, 20 or more users.
While everyone tends to think of electronic communications in terms of e-mail (and more recently, the World Wide Web), there is something else that BBS networks can do that is a well-kept secret. That is Echo-mail.
E-mail is one-to-one communication. The World Wide Web and Usenet newsgroups are one-to-many communication. But only Echo-mail provides true many-to-many communication.
The best way to illustrate this is by analogy with other forms of communication. E-mail is the electronic equivalent of a paper letter, or a fax. The main advantage that it has over paper letters and faxes is that it usually gets to its destination faster, and it is more easily editable - it can be quoted in reply, or incorporated into another document without retyping.
Newsgroups and the World Wide Web are equivalent to a public notice board, or a public speech. Many people can hear the communication, and they may respond to the speaker, but it is more difficult for them to interact with each other.
Echo-mail, however, is like a small group meeting, where a group of people meet to discuss something. Everyone hears what each one has said, and anyone can respond to what anyone says without the meeting degenerating into chaos. There might need to be a chairman or a moderator to see that the discussion doesn't get too heated on controversial points, but at such meetings, more actually gets done.
On the Internet, it is, of course, possible to set up mailing lists to perform some of these functions, but setting up a mailing list can only be done by someone with access to a suitable server on the net. Gaining that access is not easy for most people, especially not in rural America. A BBS, however, is under the control of the system operator who runs it. If one of the users wants a conference on a particular topic, it can be arranged quite easily. Running a BBS, therefore, can often empower the non-empowered.
If you would like to know more about intermediate technology in general, go to the Web page of the Intermediate Technology Development Group.
You then set the software to dial the BBS number, for example, Unisa Editorial BBS at (012) 429-8641, or any of the other BBS numbers listed above. Each communications program works slightly differently, so it is not possible to give detailed instructions here. When the BBS answers, on your first call you will be asked to fill in an online registration form. If you are not sure about the answers to some of the technical questions, you can accept the default answer in most cases by pressing the Enter key.
Sometimes, owing to problems with telephone lines, you may find difficulty into getting into one BBS. If that happens, try one of the others. If you have difficulty with them all, then the problem may be with your line and you need to report it to the telephone authorities.
Many Windows 9x users have experienced great frustration if they try to call a BBS, and often get various error messages that are difficult to understand. The following instructions, written by David Segall of Johannesburg, may make it a bit easier.
If you are using Windows 9x or Windows NT, you call a BBS using a program called HyperTerminal, not the Dialup Networking that you use to call your local ISPs for your e-mail, browsing the Web etc.
You call a BBS's using HyperTerminal as follows. Click Start, Programs, Accessories, HyperTerminal. Then you'll get a screen with a whole lot of American styled places to dial. You need to Make a new connection or something similar.....Click the icon with a computer connected to a telephone.
Enter the number of the BBS you want to call (for example, TCL BBS Online 614-475-1777) in the box calling for a new telephone number and you should be able to reach the BBS. When you've dialed there (you'll hear your modem connecting, similar to when you connect to your ISP) you enter your real name as a login. The BBS will ask for all types of information about you (only when you call the first time) and a password for logging in for later sessions. Some systems are closed, meaning that you will need to fill out the questionnaire before you are given any type of access.
From then on, you follow menus to explore the BBS. Once you're in you can usually leave a message to the Sysop (System Operator) to ask for help, or just to say hello. The Sysops usually appreciate a message to say that you've called. It also alerts them to the fact that there is a new user. Then they validate you, they will usually give you a higher security level that gives you access to more features of the BBS.
Communications software
If you have recently bought a modem with an "Internet package" or if your computer came with a modem and an internet connection, you might be puzzled about "communications software". The communications software you use to call a dial-up BBS is different from the software you use to connect to the Internet. Windows 95/98 comes with a communications program called HyperTerminal, but it is not very satisfactory, and it is rather difficult to use. There are several other communications programs (sometimes called "comm. programs" or "terminal emulators") that you can download from the Internet, or from BBS's when you call them.
A good communications program is MTel.
You can Download MTel.
Once you have downloaded it, you will need to install it on your computer. Installation is easy, create a directory called \MTel and unzip the files into that directory. Once this has been done, you double click on "mt32.exe" (provided you are using Windows 9x/NT/200x/XP). There are 2 systems for you to call right way. Santronics Software Inc., and TCL BBS Online (you are here now).
In order to set up a BBS one needs a computer with a modem and a telephone line. Suitable software can quite easily be obtained by downloading it from another BBS. Some BBS software is free to individuals or non-profit organizations. An example of such software is T.A.G. and Telegard. Other BBS programs are shareware - one may try them out for a while, and then pay a registration fee to the author. Yet others are commercial products.
For the kind of thing I have been describing here, I recommend a BBS program called Wildcat! [aka WINServer]. It is a commercial program, and I have been using it for a while now. While a program like T.A.G. are free, setting it up is not a trivial task, and requires quite a lot of computer knowledge.
Wildcat!, while it needs some computer knowledge, is much easier for an inexperienced sysop to set up. It comes complete and self-contained, and does not need a lot of extra software to connect to BBS networks. Another program worth looking at is Ele BBS from Elevator Software.
Many BBS's have been set up by school students in their spare time, using the phone line in the evenings when the family is asleep. They often do not have a lot of money to spend on equipment, yet they can run quite workable systems. Some of the earliest BBS's I remember calling were started on XT computers (8086/8088) with 300 baud modems. That was less then 20 years ago and seems like we were using tin cans with strings. How things have changed in the last 5 years alone.
The Sysops' Corner has links to places where you can get software for running your BBS, and also advice, and links to other sites. EleBBS from Elevator Software - a Y2K compatible BBS package, which is available in DOS, OS/2 and Windows 95 versions. It works similarly to the RemoteAccess BBS package.