Tag: bbs

  • Space Dynasty memories

    Space Dynasty memories

    They say first impressions are everything. That seems to have been true for teenage me when I tried Hollie Satterfield’s BBS door game “Space Dynasty” — and wrote it off. But first impressions are often wrong.

  • Birthday screens using GIF -> ANSI converters

    Birthday screens using GIF -> ANSI converters

    Earlier this year I set up my very own Synchronet BBS. I had been a cosysop for many years as a kid, but I never had my own BBS on my own hardware. My little BBS is a private one for me and my kids. My oldest daughter uses it the most. As we got…

  • Kevin MacFarland, creator of “Assassin”

    Kevin MacFarland, creator of “Assassin”

    From writing tic-tac-toe in BASIC as kid to creating the classic BBS door game “Assassin,” computer engineer Kevin MacFarland remembers his past life as the “C Monster.”

  • Assassin memories

    Assassin memories

    A man cloaked in black approaches thee … “I see thou art new in these parts. Have ye come to join?” he asks. “Yes,” I answer. I watch as the man chants. Slowly the individual words flash on my screen: “Creare” … “an” … “vita” … “Irata!” And so another assassin is born.

  • Visualizing 314: The directories, the data, and the caveats

    Visualizing 314: The directories, the data, and the caveats

    This is the final part of a three-part series. In this post I’m going to discuss Fire Escape’s BBS directory formats, the directory parser and the dataset; I’ll also give some caveats about this data.

  • Visualizing 314: The St. Louis scene in charts

    Visualizing 314: The St. Louis scene in charts

    This is the second part of a three-part series. It’s chart time! In this post you can explore several graphs that show facets of the St. Louis BBS scene.