Facebook is ten years old? That's just a baby! Here's the real story.

What most PC Users today think of as the Internet began in part right here in Chicago, Illinois.

The incredible winters of the Windy City combined with the technical curiosity of two dedicated electronics hobbyists gave us what would come to be know as the Bulletin Board System.

Reportedly conceived when Christensen was trapped in his Chicago home during the Great Blizzard of 1978, BBS took its basic premise from the community bulletin boards that once adorned the entrance of public places like libraries, schools and supermarkets.

"The notion of digital meeting place in mind, Christensen and Suess set out to create the software and managed to go from idea to working bulletin board in just a month. In fact, some evidence suggests it actually took them even less time — a mere two weeks — and that Christensen and Suess extended the time frame to make the results sound more impressive. 

The notion of digital meeting place in mind, Christensen and Suess set out to create the software and managed to go from idea to working bulletin board in just a month. In fact, some evidence suggests it actually took them even less time — a mere two weeks — and that Christensen and Suess extended the time frame to make the results sound more impressive.

Whatever the case, the results were definitely impressive. The original home-brewed internet, BBS was primitive but quickly proved revolutionary.

Sure, connecting to someone on BBS meant dialing into a phone line through your Trash-80 PC, typing a message in your monochromatic terminal and waiting days — sometimes even weeks — before you repeated the process to (hopefully) find a reply, but holy cow, look! You’ve got digital friends.

Unlike today’s web, BBS used traditional phone lines to log in to remote computers, meaning that if you wanted to dial in to a BBS out of your area, you’d be looking at long-distance charges from the phone company. Consequently, early BBSs were very locally oriented systems, but before too long the limitations gave birth to phone phreaking and other hacks."

Feb. 16, 1978: Bulletin Board Goes Electronic,  

By Scott GilbertsonEmail Author

 

February 16, 2010, http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/02/0216cbbs-first-bbs-bulletin-board/, last viewed 02/05/2014

 

The writer came to the BBS scene in 1981, shortly after adding a Micromodem II to my trusy Apple II+, at the blazing speed of 300 baud (though it could also operate at 110 baud with an astounding 64K of memory).  After spending a year or so in what today would be known as the social media aspects of the new medium (Sendimg emails to new users) the users decided to meet in person those we had been typing at for so many months.

The Chicago Greene Machine, shows up in a GOOGLE Search at http://www.bbsmates.com/default.aspx.and I'll see if I can get more information.  If anyone remembers those days from the early to mid 1980's, the writer is the nororious Jazzman59 of Greene Machine fame. 

The author was also the SYSOP (System Operator) of Publisher Information Service BBS from 1985-1995.  The system began as a hobby, like the rest but soon grew to be an adjunct to our Xerox Approved Ventura Publisher Training Center. since the bbs system was the first in the nation to be dedicated to IBM PC (as opposed to Macintosh) based Desktop Publishing applications:  A Chicago Tribune Business Section Article told the story:

"The Publisher Information Service in Chicago (342-8669) is one example of a desktop publishing information BBS. It has been collecting files of interest to desktop publishers since May, 1986. Membership costs $35 a year, but the BBS will waive the fee if you contribute one file (typically a page layout template or graphic image) for every 10 files that you copy from the system.

This BBS has more than 5,000 files, ranging from templates for Ventura Publisher andPC PageMaker, to all manner of fonts, clip art and programs. There are text and graphics file conversion utilities, graphics editors and a wealth of information for users of Ventura Publisher, PC PageMaker, PFS First Publisher, and other PC desktop publishing software. It also hosts a lively conference section, with messages from beginners to experienced desktop publishers. You can choose a topic or read all messages, reply to them or leave new ones.

The on-line Ventura Publisher Group has the most active conference section and is affiliated with a national user group called VPUG (Ventura Publisher Users Group)" 

Training In Desktop Publishing Abounds, But It Can`t Be Put Off, March 19, 1989|By Tony Bove and Cheryl Rhodes, CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Copyright Chicago Tribune 1989.http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-03-19/business/8903300180_1_desktop-publishing-on-site-training-offer-classes/2, last viewed 02/05/2014. 

After Ward and Randy got their BBS off the ground in 1978, a host of others followed.  PCs for the average user were confined to the Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80, Model I, the Commodore PETand the APPLE II+. Modem speeds soon increased to a blazing speed of 1200 baud as data bus rates followed suit.  The new revolution was under way.  It remained, however, confined to the Radio Hobby crowd, readers of Popular Electronics Magazine that was publishing regular ideas for new circuit boards and improvements.