On Sun, 3 Nov 2002, Lawrence Walker wrote:
> On Sat, 2 Nov 2002, Tothwolf wrote:
>
> > Here in Houston, there used to be a local BBS listing included in an
> > electronic publication called "Connect! Magazine", which was
> > distributed by a BBS called "Atomic Cafe". At one time, it contained
> > 100s of active BBS listings, and was redistributed by nearly all the
> > other local BBS. The listing was discontinued around 1998 or so, as
> > there were very, very few public BBS systems still in local operation.
> > You should still be able to find some FidoNet nodes that have dialup
> > access, but there may not be any in your immediate area. I wish I knew
> > of an archive of those "Connect! Magazine" publications, as space was
> > tight back then, and I didn't think to archive copies...
> >
> > Most of the BBS systems that lasted past the commercialization of the
> > internet became telnet accessible, and eventually most phased out
> > dialup lines, since they cost much more to provide.
> >
> > I've been playing with the idea of setting up my own BBS on a system,
> > and using a home-brew phone system simulator/PBX to handle
> > dialing/switching. I haven't yet found plans for one that exactly
> > meets my needs though, so I haven't done much past planning out the
> > requirements and basic structure planning. My ideal system would
> > include both pulse and tone dialing (gotta have pulse dial for those
> > vintage modems...), and should be easy to expand/interconnect with
> > another identical system so I could expand it as large as I'd ever
> > need. I expect that somewhere between 32 and 64 "lines" would be way
> > more than enough for my current systems, but I also expect the number
> > of systems I own to increase over time.
I guess I need to clarify just a little here...I'm taking of an internal
telephone-type system that I can connect all of my computer systems to. It
really isn't that easy to have everything connected and ready to use at
any given moment. Of course, some folks will consider my "Ideal" switching
system to be overkill, which perhaps it is :)
> I strongly miss the sense of community that we used to have on BBS's.
> The impersonalization of the "web" and the corporate takeover so that
> finding of actual information is so peppered with ads to the extent of
> rendering the search programs useless is a constant gripe. . FIDO was a
> more personal version of usenet and had a quality of community that is
> totally missing today. There have been many suggestions and proposals to
> start up something with classic computers in mind, and they usually get
> bogged down with the proposers predjudices as to the systems used and
> those to be responded to.
Oh boy, this topic can open a can of worms if one is not careful...
I actually made more use of local BBS systems then the web right up till
the end. I found once I lost those, that I still had little use for the
web, and instead more often made use of services such as irc, usenet, and
ftp. Reluctantly, I have been forced more and more to use the web over
more efficient services such as ftp, but I have not been happy with that
change.
Perhaps I am being abit of an alarmist here, but I really don't see the
internet _as a whole_ being able to continue along its current path of
corporate abuse. In reality, it goes well beyond just the internet, and
can be expanded to technology and society in general.
Over the last 20+ years (and honestly, I've not been involved in
technology that long, but I have done my homework), commercial interests
seem to have had a very negative impact on the "personal" nature of
communications. The very same commercial interests have also stifled
innovation, but that is still related to a slowdown of communications,
which has in turn been influenced by the increased restrictions on the
sharing of information.
The current US (and sadly, even the evolving global) patent and copyright
systems tend to allow for major corporate abuse. Even universities today
have really tightened down on the free-flow of information, which overall,
has really hurt R/D and innovation in general. Many of the very R/D labs
that gave us the technology that created the internet no longer exist. The
ones that do still exist are for the most part not in R/D mode anymore.
I personally believe that if our current socioeconomical system had been
in place 20 years ago, the internet as we know it today would simply have
never come to exist. Quite possibly, the internet would have never existed
at all...
Perhaps this little rant is somewhat OT, but I suspect I'm not the only
one here on this list who has started to come to these sorts of
conclusions.
> CC has the minds that could set up some sort of FIDO, the thing is to
> do it.
Yes, CC seems to be made up of some of the best and brightest minds I've
found on the internet (and over the years, I've been all over the darned
thing). I really wish I'd found classiccmp years ago, since it seems to be
one of the few places where I can often find like minded people that can
understand what I happen to be talk^H^H^H^Hranting about at any given
moment ;)
> To your proposed ideas I say welcome, and if we get enough we can make
> a network, whether by phone relay or other methods.
Well, again, I think my earlier post wasn't clear enough, but I would
certainly welcome a more free flowing information network. Sadly, I think
the overall restriction of information goes well beyond the physical (and
is it really?) network, and overall might be better addressed by
education.
[Alright, thats my $0.50 worth at 4:30am, anyone else wanna comment? ;P]
-Toth
Received on Sun Nov 03 2002 - 04:37:00 GMT
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