BBS = Bulletin Board System. An almost ancient, pre-internet form of electronic communication and file exchange. At a time the venerable modem was the pinnacle of digital communication. I was the proud owner of a US Robotics 19,200 BAUD modem. Us older geezers can surely remember the sharp connecting tones after a number was dialled. Because the number of 'leechers' became too much, many if not all BBSs started to introduce a points system whereby your upload received credits for a download. It was our only source of shareware.
Today I downloaded and installed the latest 15.6 version of MacOS, a 2.4 gigabyte file that took a minute to download. On that US Robotics modem this would take well over 17 hours under the most ideal circumstances. And I'm not even on fibre, in that case it would even take less.
I found it very pleasant to chat with a SYSOP during file transfers or just 'browsing' the BBS. Because it was telephone line based communication, our line would be engaged for long periods but many BBSs had two lines to curb this and the more professional ones had up to eight lines, at high costs. How times have changed, we are now on-line 24/7 wherever we go.
Today I downloaded and installed the latest 15.6 version of MacOS, a 2.4 gigabyte file that took a minute to download. On that US Robotics modem this would take well over 17 hours under the most ideal circumstances. And I'm not even on fibre, in that case it would even take less.
I found it very pleasant to chat with a SYSOP during file transfers or just 'browsing' the BBS. Because it was telephone line based communication, our line would be engaged for long periods but many BBSs had two lines to curb this and the more professional ones had up to eight lines, at high costs. How times have changed, we are now on-line 24/7 wherever we go.
Seriously, I am only sort of good at posting
