Early timesharing/BBS systems

From: Dennis Boone <drb_at_msu.edu>
Date: Mon Jul 19 17:06:31 2004

> Anyway, this demo brings-up an interesting question. What kind of
> dial-up systems existed in the 70's before consumer-oriented services
> like CompuServe? I remember the DowJones and CompuServe sign-up packs
> at RadioShack in maybe 1979 (I joined CIS in 1988. I even remember
> my ID: 70153,3367). I also remember in high school (around 1983)
> using a DECwriter to dial into the timesharing computer (at 300 baud;
> I don't know the host system) at one of the local universities.

A few thoughts for early 80s:

"The Source" as a consumer service was running Rev 18 PRIMOS in '81 or
so, and upgraded to 19 not too much later. They'd been around for at
least a few years by that point. Access was via Telenet or Tymnet.
You'd dial your local number, connect, smack enter, answer the
terminal type prompt, get presented with an "_at_" prompt. You could
log in, if you needed to connect somewhere that didn't accept collect
connections, or simply start connecting: "c 30147" for The Source.
There was some relationship between area code of the host and the
address it was assigned. As The Source was headquartered in Maclean,
VA, I've been prone to wonder how they were related to the current AOL.

A number of X.25-based networks were fairly mature by '82 or so, and
in many cases were interconnected, even internationally. Lots of
what we'd probably call B2B today used them. A number of research
services, e.g. Dialog, BRS, etc. are good examples.

The MERIT network in Michigan existed since the late '60s, providing
dialin access to its three founding partners' mainframes, and later
to other members' systems. MERIT's network was run on homegrown
communications processors based on PDP hardware. MERIT later became
the contractor who managed NSFnet, so they started calling the state
network MichNet, and converted to Livingston Portmaster hardware
and TCP/IP.

The scary part is I recall too many of the details for some of
this stuff. Washington DC telenet was 202-429-7896, Lansing MI was
517-372-5400. The Source support userid was TCA088. I could go on,
but I think I've proven to be a sick puppy already.

This leads me to ask the group if anyone can tell me about a piece
of hardware I once used. Part of the time when I was accessing
telenet, it was through a satellite data comm system operated by the
US Treasury, linking where I was in the Middle East with Washington.
To make a call in Washington, you'd dial the local access number.
When connected, you'd send a ctrl-A, the system would eventually answer
with a "B". You'd send a ctrl-B, the phone number (with a leading 9,
so it was behind someone's PBX), and end with a ctrl-O and a ctrl-C.
I never got to see what hardware did this work, but am curious as to
what it was. Anybody see anything familiar?

De
Received on Mon Jul 19 2004 - 17:06:31 BST