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Social Media's Dial-Up ancestor -
The Bulletin Board System....


A bulletin board system or BBS is a computer server running
software that allows users to connect to the system
using a terminal program.

Once logged in, the user can perform functions such as uploading and
downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins,
and exchanging messages with other users through email,
public message boards, and sometimes via direct chatting.


Many BBSes also offer online games ( door games )
in which users can compete with each other, and BBSes
with multiple phone lines often  provide chat rooms,
allowing users to interact with each
other.


Bulletin board systems were in many ways a precursor to the modern
form of the World Wide Web, social networks, and other aspects
of the Internet. Low-cost, high-performance modems
drove the use of online services and BBSes through the 1990's.


According to the FidoNet Nodelist, BBSes reached their peak usage
around 1996, which was the same period that the World Wide Web
and AOL became mainstream.

BBSes rapidly declined in popularity thereafter, and were replaced by
systems using the Internet for connectivity.

Some of the larger commercial BBSes, such as MaxMegabyte and
Milwaukee's ExecPC BBS, evolved into Internet Service Providers.


A SysOp ( System Operator ) is a person who runs or owns a
Bulletin Board System ( BBS ).

Usage of the term became popular in the 1990's, originally in
reference to BBS operators.
A person with equivalent functions on a network host or server
is typically called a SysAdmin, short for System Administrator.




Telnet:

Telnet is a protocol used on the Internet or local area network ( LAN )
to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communication
facility using a virtual terminal connection.

User data is interspersed in-band with Telnet control information in an
8-bit byte oriented data connection over the Transmission Control
Protocol (TCP).

Telnet is a simple, text-based network protocol that is used for
accessing remote computers over TCP/IP networks like the
Internet.


To enable Telnet command line utilities in Windows 10:

Click Start, go to Programs and Features.

Click Turn Windows
features on or off.

In the Windows Features dialog box, check the
Telnet Client check box.

Click OK.

The system installs the appropriate files.
This will take a few seconds to a minute.

When you use Telnet, you're opening an almost raw TCP
connection to the server.

This means that you have to make HTTP requests like your browser
does to get the information that you need.





BBS:

Bulletin Board Systems ( BBSes ) are still available today.

PBL's Real Cars BBS is currently
unavailable through Telnet.

We put together an example BBS, including links to actual BBSes
and DOS games, located in the message area.


Enter Here for an example
of PBL's Real Cars BBS.