BBS systems on PDP-11s (was: Original Searchlight bbs...)

From: Christopher Smith <csmith_at_amdocs.com>
Date: Fri Feb 8 09:40:14 2002

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kris Kirby [mailto:kris_at_catonic.net]

> of mine used to run one but shut it down eventually. How were
> nodes linked
> together? If every COM port is used for a modem, you're out

However you wanted to link them. :) Generally through relay
networks -- meaning, I phone you, and exchange some data...
you then go and phone some other guy and do the same... etc.

Usually that all happened at some point late at night, or early
morning, so everything was at least a day behind.

> of COM ports.
> Were they independent BBSs that checked in with each other,
> or were they
> networked together over ethernet or (...) ?

Ethernet? That would have to be a long cable in some cases. :)

> Furthermore, what are the practical limits of the BBS
> software? How many
> ports can they handle MAX?

Depends on the BBS software. I've often thought of throwing a
menu-system on top of VMS and calling it a BBS. ;) In that case,
it would handle many, many ports.

In theory you can always get yourself a terminal server(s) of some
kind, and have a modem on every port in the server. Each set to
connect automatically using telnet or whatever to another machine
on a home network. That would allow a single system to serve
hundreds of connections -- depending on the system...

In practice, I never heard of many with more than 8 or 16 lines.

Chris


Christopher Smith, Perl Developer
Amdocs - Champaign, IL

/usr/bin/perl -e '
print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n");
'
 
Received on Fri Feb 08 2002 - 09:40:14 GMT