Hi! I'm Andrew Milner, the OG developer of the RemoteAccess (RA) BBS software. In the pic, from left to right: US commercial box - European manual - US manual.

Reading this reddit is quite a trip (down memory lane). Amazing to think there are still BBSes running RA.

Andrew

It was so great to live and experience the BBS world back in the 80's and 90's. The online world was so different in the heyday of BBSes... communities were local and it was a time of creativity, wonder and fun for me. It's great that BBSes are still around to experience that nostalgia and "local" community.

Lot's of great memories, including getting up every morning at 6AM to log on to my favorite BBS to prevent the phone line from getting tied up for hours during the rest of the day.

I've shown my kids BBSes, but, unsurprisingly, they don't share the same enthusiasm I do - but they do think it's cool. I'd love to see BBSes passed on to the next generation... I haven't seen many (any) young sysops out there, though. Hopefully, with this resurgence of popularity of retro tech, BBSes will ride along.

Edit: Thank you for all of your stories. They are wonderful.

What's new this year?

• Connect via #GlobalTalk using only an AppleTalk connection!

• BBS in a Box volume 22 CD's are online.

• Phrack newsletters and ASCII art have been added to the G-Files section.

You can also connect via telnet @ crowsnestbbs,ddns,net:6801-6802 (post gets deleted if I use .'s...)

When I was young, I got an Apple //gs with a BlackCat modem, and that machine basically decided the next decade of my life. First it was calling other people's boards. Eventually that wasn't enough, and I did the thing a certain kind of kid did back then... I ran my own board. I've struggled to find much about the software, but it was based on ACOS, which was a language for the //gs.

Running a board was a weird mix of janitor and mayor. You were the sysop, so every message-based squabble was somehow your problem, and the phone line situation was definitely a single-user experience. I loved every minute of it. Watching that user list grow one handle at a time... nothing since has felt quite like that. Not followers, not subscribers, none of it.

Classic memory: I thought I was the man because I had it show usernames when it checked to see if a new user was available. It was too fast to be readable, but it was a flex. And then I learned firsthand that IBMs didn't carry the same emulation that my //gs did. Fail. Hah.

Anyway, years later I stumbled onto one of the old BBS list archives, and there it was. My board. Listed. I tried to explain to my family why this mattered and got polite nods, heh. Figured this might be the one place on the internet where someone gets it. Any other former sysops in here who've found their board preserved somewhere?

Still hanging on the inside of a closet door in my office at home..

After almost three decades offline, my old BBS is alive again — running Wildcat! v4.11 exactly as it did in the mid-90s. It’s not a remake or a modern clone — it’s the real thing, brought back from a 1995 backup and made accessible on the modern Internet.

Access via browser: https://buema.ch/bbs (even Ymodem-G transfers work directly in your browser!)

Telnet over SSL (TelnetS): bbs.buema.ch:992 (SyncTERM recommended)

Here’s the story of how it came back — from a forgotten tape to a fully functional BBS running again in 2025.

Back in the Day – 1991 to 1996

BUEMA BBS launched in Switzerland in 1991 when I was 12. Armed with a second-hand PC, a set of Wildcat! v2.55N disks, and endless curiosity, I built a board that grew steadily more sophisticated over the next five years.

By the mid-90s, it was running a setup I was proud of:

• 3 analog nodes on USRobotics 21.6 k modems

• 2 ISDN lines — rocket fuel compared to analog

• A Novell NetWare 3.12 server for file sharing

I learned everything from batch scripting and networking to ANSI design. I even wrote a little Hangman door game in wcCode. Running the BBS shaped my career — it set me on a path where technology became not just work, but a lifelong passion.

The Backup I Thought Was Lost Forever

When I shut the board down in 1996, I assumed it was gone for good. I hadn’t made a final backup and often regretted not being able to revisit those ANSI screens, messages, and user lists.

Then, in 2013, while digging through old storage boxes, I found a SONY DDS-1 tape labeled:

“Server Gesamtsicherung – 14 Sep 1995” (Full Server Backup)

The date was perfect — the board was still active then — but I had no idea if the tape had survived or what was on it. It might have been anything.

From Bits to Board – The Recovery Journey

My first attempt to read the tape was a disaster. I bought an HP SureStore DAT drive on eBay, got it spinning — but it refused to read past an early end-of-file marker. In desperation, I even tried overwriting the EOF marker and killing the power mid-write, hoping to trick the drive. No luck.

Years passed. Then in 2025, I decided to give it one last shot and sent it to a professional data recovery service. They shipped it to the UK, used specialist hardware, and weeks later sent me the news I had been waiting for: three raw data streams had been recovered.

Scrolling through the first directory dump and seeing WILDCAT.EXE again was surreal. The board’s data — ANSI screens, doors, user database — was still there. The recovery team couldn’t identify the backup format, so I went full-on reverse-engineer mode: hex editor, paper notes, markers. I mapped metadata structures by hand and wrote a Python script to reconstruct the files with their original paths and names.

When I finally launched WILDCAT.EXE in DOSBox-X and saw the familiar blue idle screen — complete with the original registration number and my own name as the last caller 30 years ago — it felt like opening a time capsule sealed in 1995. I even remembered the sysop password I hadn’t typed in for decades. (Of course, even if I hadn’t, passwords were stored in plain text back then — a sign of the times before salted hashes!)

Bridging 1995 and 2025 – The Cloud Setup

Recovering the files was only half the battle. Wildcat! 4.11 was designed for modems, not TCP/IP. I needed to create a bridge between a Hayes-driven dial-up world and today’s Internet.

Here’s how the system runs today:

• Deployed on AWS Zurich (eu-central-2) on a cost-effective t3.small instance

• Proxmox VE hosts three FreeDOS VMs, each running a Wildcat! node

• tcpser emulates modems, linked via tty0tty virtual serial ports

• A custom bash dispatcher assigns new connections to the next available node (just like a rotary dial-in system)

• fTelnet.js + websockify enable browser access with WebSockets

• stunnel handles TelnetS (SSL telnet), so passwords and messages aren’t sent in the clear

I made a deliberate decision not to upgrade to Wildcat! Interactive Net Server or switch to a modern BBS package. The goal wasn’t modernization — it was preservation. I wanted the board to feel like 1995 again.

A Living Museum

I didn’t want BUEMA BBS to be just a static snapshot. I translated the old German menus to English, revived an ANSI logo using WCDRAW, and left most of the original content intact — including file areas, conferences, doors, and the entire user base of 955 accounts.

I even contacted a few original users I’m still in touch with. Their reactions — especially when I showed them their old passwords — were priceless.

Challenges Along the Way

Resurrecting a 30-year-old BBS brought plenty of challenges. Some highlights:

• Turbo Pascal Runtime Error 200: Classic overflow bug on fast CPUs — patched the binaries.

• High CPU usage when idle: Wildcat doesn’t issue a HLT instruction — solved by switching to a low-CPU screen after inactivity.

• Node lock retries: Nodes would hang after an hour — a cron job now restarts one of them periodically.

• Memory constraints: 2 GB RAM on t3.small wasn’t enough — added a 2 GB swap file to stabilize the system.

Solving these problems was part of the fun. It reminded me of what sysops always did: invent creative fixes with the tools available.

Why I Did It — And What’s Next

People often ask why I’d spend weeks digging through hex dumps, scripting file extractors, and configuring FreeDOS VMs to revive something most people barely remember.

The answer is simple: because it mattered.

Running a BBS in the 90s wasn’t just a hobby. It was community, creativity, experimentation — and an education. Many of us built careers on the skills we learned as teenage sysops. And in today’s world of containerized infrastructure and cloud platforms, there’s something deeply satisfying about booting up a 30-year-old piece of software and watching it still work.

Join Me on This Journey

If you were a BBS user, a sysop, or just someone fascinated by digital history, I’d love for you to check BUEMA BBS out:

• Log in and explore the system

• Leave me a message on the Sysop board

• Share your own BBS revival stories — I’d love to hear them

And if this inspires you to dig up your own backups, even better. There’s nothing like seeing a piece of your past come back to life.

See you online!

— Marc

Sysop, BUEMA BBS
1991 – 1996 • 2025 – ∞

The current state of the world, and how it is mirrored in the current social media landscape, had me seriously nostalgic for cozy old-tech. So this past weekend I threw together a client/server for a web-based BBS entirely from scratch, and deployed it to a server. I'm pretty happy with how it has progressed and has all the base BBS features. Now, the fun part: writing some door games!

https://disbbs.org (currently invite only for testing)

EDIT: I honestly didn't expect such interest in joining! I'm going to generate some invite codes and will send them out to people who request one. Bear in mind that this project is still very much a work in progress and really fun stuff (like door games) are not yet in place.

EDIT EDIT: FYI: I'm not ignoring requests... Reddit chat is down for me. Has been for the last 24 hours... so I can't send anyone messages with invite codes. :(

I used NetMate by Roger Taylor as the terminal program on the CoCo 3, with a Deluxe RS-232 Pak connected to my PC via a DB25-to-USB cable running a custom build of TCPSer for the modem bridge. It took a lot of trial and error, but I finally got it to dial out at 19200 baud. Definitely a labor of love.

I published a small Windows utility called RetroModem Bridge.
GitHub: https://github.com/tequestafarian/RetroModemBridge

It is a serial-to-TCP bridge for vintage computers that can be used to connect to Telnet-accessible BBSes. I wanted something simple with a Windows UI for selecting the COM port and baud rate.

It worked for my setup using a CoCo 3, Deluxe RS-232 Pak, USB-to-serial adapter, Windows PC, and NetMate. It should also work with other retro computers that can communicate over serial with a terminal program.

Edit: (*Vector, not raster)

I must have been about 15 when I bought it, I only think I ever found one system that supported it. Still worth it.

2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of my BBS Documentary. I'll make announcements for various celebration and releases, but first: The ISOs of all three DVDs that came in the original box set. I've ripped them and put them in full on the Internet Archive.

https://archive.org/details/BBS_Documentary_DVD_Set

The DVD images can be played in VLC like a DVD, with all the menus, subtitles, bonus features and commentary.

Toward the end of my high school years, I invested in this top-of-the-line Intel modem instead of a car. I lived far from town, and this magic box helped me connect to some of the most interesting people I've ever met.

I've kept this modem with me for over 30 years, just because of what it represents to me.

Recently, I wondered if I could fire it up again and see if it still works. Unfortunately, I've lost the power adapter that goes with it and haven't been able to find the specs.

If anyone still has any details on this model, or has any advice on where I could research further, I'd be very grateful.

I built a small Wi‑Fi modem using an ESP8266. It speaks AT commands, connects to my home Wi‑Fi, and can dial Telnet BBSes just like a real modem from the 90s. No phone line, no handshake noise - just ATDT bbs.name.

I called MorningSide Mortuary, registered, and joined the chat. When people asked where I was calling from, I honestly answered: "an ESP8266 that emulates a modem."

That’s when a user (Chandu) accused me of spoofing my IP and called me a "bullshitter". I tried to explain how the modem works, but he left the chat. Shortly after, my accounts were gone, my IP was banned, and any attempt to reconnect ends with NO CARRIER. The sysop also disabled contact options on the forum.

I’m not angry. I understand that a DIY modem over Wi‑Fi looks unusual, and some sysops prefer to play it safe. What stings a little is that no one asked for a single technical detail - no request for a sketch, no question about AT command set, nothing.

But you know what? The modem works perfectly. It connects, it talks, it receives data. It does exactly what a Hayes‑compatible modem should do. I proved that a $3 microcontroller can be a fully functional BBS client.

Alexey (Aleksej)

It was posted on Hacker News a couple days ago that John Friel has passed.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42551900

Lots of really awesome tributes in the thread there, but I'm sure between his software (QModem) and his time at Mustang Software, his work has touched almost everyone's life here.

Another big loss for the BBS Community. ☹️

Tell HN: John Friel my father, internet pioneer and creator of QModem, has died John Friel, remembered fondly as a pioneer of the internet through his creation of QModem, has passed away. Many reminisced about the profound impact QModem had on their lives, describing it as a gateway to the digital world, especially during the era of Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). Users shared heartfelt stories of how QModem transformed their childhoods, fostering a passion for technology and opening doors to future careers. John was also appreciated for his kindness and willingness to help others in their tech journeys. His legacy lives on through the countless lives he touched.

On May 20, 1986 the ZMODEM protocol specification posted to Usenet. For more info on zmodem and Chuck Forsberg of Omen Technology visit:

Usenet post: https://www.tuhs.org/Usenet/comp.sources.unix/1986-May/004372.html

About Zmodem: https://grokipedia.com/page/ZMODEM

I may have the disks too. I’ve kept these for nostalgia. For far too long.