The Bread Board System

Last updated

The Bread Board System (TBBS) is a multiline MS-DOS based commercial bulletin board system software package written in 1983 by Philip L. Becker. He originally created the software as the result of a poker game with friends that were praising the BBS software created by Ward Christensen. Becker said he could do better and founded eSoft, Inc. in 1984 based on the strength of TBBS sales.

Contents

History

TBBS is an abbreviation for The Bread Board System, although this explanation was buried in the documentation. This was different because "BBS" was most commonly used to stand for Bulletin Board System. The name was chosen because it drew parallels between an electronics "breadboard" (where the basis for any circuit can be built).

TBBS started out in 1983 as a single line Bulletin Board System (BBS) originally written for RadioShack TRS-80 machines, and was later ported to IBM-PC computers. Its advantage was that it could be fully customized by the system operator, so that no two TBBS systems looked the same. Other BBS packages at the time had their menu structures hard coded.

As time progressed, Phil completely re-wrote the TBBS program in assembler to operate on IBM PCs running under DOS. In 1988, he added a custom multitasking kernel that allowed multiple callers to access the TBBS system at the same time. Other BBS software packages could only achieve simultaneous user access by either running their software on LAN systems, dedicating one complete machine per modem, or under multitasking software such as Quarterdeck's DESQview. TBBS achieved multiple lines all on the one machine. For those wishing to run two lines, no additional hardware was needed - you only needed to use COM1 and COM2. For those wishing to run more lines, multiport serial boards from a company called Digiboard were used to allow up to 96 modems to be hooked into the one machine. At its height in 1996, TBBS could support more simultaneous users at full speed on less hardware than any competing BBS product.

Many software companies, like Microsoft, and most computer hardware companies all around the world relied on TBBS for their online technical support and file download services until Internet web and FTP sites replaced the need for a direct dial BBS presence in the mid 1990s.

Option Modules

Add-On "Option Modules" were used to internally extend the TBBS feature set.

All in all, TBBS and its option modules were far beyond the performance and reliability of what other BBS authors could dream of. TBBS had power not even anticipated by the author. For example, in 1988 the University of Southern California installed TBBS for their 16 line BBS system administered by Susan Biddlecomb, who was Director of Computer Support of the USC Health Care system. [3] The actual computer was housed in the Computer Facility, some distance from her office, necessitating her to go to the computer facility to make the most minor change. Her solution was to completely dispense with the internal menu and interface system, devising a standard menu layout, and building menus “on the fly” using the add-on TDBS module. She would upload any changes or additions to the menus as entries in the database, [4] and remotely recompile the menus. After a daily reboot, the changes would automatically take effect without the necessity for a trip to the computer room. A side benefit was dynamic content -- upon registration or login, the user could enter or change any information, such as personal information, preferences, or sub-boards of interest, this information was entered into the database, and this would then dynamically customize the menu system presented to the user, and no two users were necessarily presented with the same information. This meant that the entire interface seen by the users was in actuality an add-on running under TDBS with the main program functioning merely as a multi-tasker. A similar concept is widely used today on the World Wide Web as database driven content, one of its most powerful features. E-Soft did not publicize this method of constructing the menu system and left it up to the users to discover the power this advanced implementation.

IPAD

In 1993, Phil Becker saw the approaching commercial migration to the Internet and started work on the IPAD (Internet Protocol Adapter) project. It was designed as an embedded hardware+software solution that originally focused on bidirectional telnet access to TBBS. It also provided other services (RAS, DNS, FTP, etc.) for those TBBS callers on dial in lines using the IPAD machine as a direct gateway. This allowed many IPAD owners to more easily become Internet Service Providers (ISP's) as BBS usage on the whole began to wane, caused by the growing popularity of the Internet.

The IPAD was extremely popular with commercial TBBS operators. Unfortunately, it was very expensive and beyond the reach of most hobby TBBS sysops that had already invested thousands of dollars into TBBS plus option modules for use on free systems with no hope of ever making a profit.

Aftermath

eSoft and TBBS went their separate ways as eSoft pursued the Internet market. All new TBBS development ended in 1997 and by the end of 1999 all technical support for TBBS and associated products officially ended. New TBBS sales continued through 2003 as part of vertical applications built with the TDBS language.

TBBS was until recently supported by a user support forum at TBBS.org. IPAD is currently developed and supported by the IPAD Owners Association, Inc. eSoft is located in Broomfield, Colorado.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulletin board system</span> Computer server

A bulletin board system (BBS), also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS), was a computer server running software that allowed 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 public message boards and sometimes via direct chatting. In the early 1980s, message networks such as FidoNet were developed to provide services such as NetMail, which is similar to internet-based email.

FidoNet is a worldwide computer network that is used for communication between bulletin board systems (BBSes). It uses a store-and-forward system to exchange private (email) and public (forum) messages between the BBSes in the network, as well as other files and protocols in some cases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CBBS</span> Early online bulletin board system (created 1978)

CBBS was a computer program created by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess to allow them and other computer hobbyists to exchange information between each other.

U.S. Robotics Corporation, often called USR, is a company that produces USRobotics computer modems and related products. Its initial marketing was aimed at bulletin board systems, where its high-speed HST protocol made FidoNet transfers much faster, and thus less costly. During the 1990s it became a major consumer brand with its Sportster line. The company had a reputation for high quality and support for the latest communications standards as they emerged, notably in its V.Everything line, released in 1996.

An online service provider (OSP) can, for example, be an Internet service provider, an email provider, a news provider (press), an entertainment provider, a search engine, an e-commerce site, an online banking site, a health site, an official government site, social media, a wiki, or a Usenet newsgroup.

In a bulletin board system (BBS), a door is an interface between the BBS software and an external application. The term is also used to refer to the external application, a computer program that runs outside of the main bulletin board program. Sometimes called external programs, doors are the most common way to add games, utilities, and other extensions to BBSes. Because BBSes typically depended on the telephone system, BBSes and door programs tended to be local in nature, unlike modern Internet games and applications.

Synchronet is a multiplatform BBS software package, with current ports for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and BSD variants. Past versions also ran on MS-DOS and OS/2, but support for those platforms were dropped in version 3.0.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diversi-Dial</span>

Diversi-Dial, or DDial was an online chat server that was popular during the mid-1980s. It was a specialized type of bulletin board system that allowed all callers to send lines of text to each other in real-time, often operating at 300 baud. In some ways, it was a sociological forerunner to IRC, and was a cheap, local alternative to CompuServe chat, which was expensive and billed by the minute. At its peak, at least 35 major DDial systems existed across the United States, many of them in large cities. During the evening when telephone rates were low, the biggest DDial systems would link together using Telenet or PC Pursuit connections, forming regional chat networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCBoard</span> Bulletin board system (BBS) application

PCBoard (PCB) was a bulletin board system (BBS) application first introduced for DOS in 1983 by Clark Development Company. Clark Development was founded by Fred Clark. PCBoard was one of the first commercial BBS packages for DOS systems, and was considered one of the "high end" packages during the rapid expansion of BBS systems in the early 1990s. Like many BBS companies, the rise of the Internet starting around 1994 led to serious downturns in fortunes, and Clark Development went bankrupt in 1997. Most PCB sales were of two-line licenses; additional line licenses were also available.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Major BBS</span>

The Major BBS was bulletin board software developed between 1986 and 1999 by Galacticomm. In 1995 it was renamed Worldgroup Server and bundled with a user client interface program named Worldgroup Manager for Microsoft Windows. Originally DOS-based, two of the versions were also available as a Unix-based edition, and the last versions were also available for Windows NT-based servers.

Synergy Teleconferencing System (STS) was a PC-based online chat server popular in the 1980s and 1990s. It arose as a replacement for the outdated Diversi-Dial system (DDial). Like DDial, it was a multi-line modem system that originally could handle eight simultaneous connections (later updated to handle twenty eight, and using custom-produced RS-232 serial boards had a theoretical connection limit of thirty-two on an IBM PC-AT - type computer. While DDial was limited to 300 baud, STS was initially capable of 2400 baud speeds. Using internal software, one or more of these lines could be used to establish links to other STS stations, effectively making the number of simultaneous users dependent on how many STSes were involved.

CompuServe CB Simulator was the first dedicated online chat service that was widely available to the public. It was developed by a CompuServe executive, Alexander "Sandy" Trevor, and released by CompuServe on February 21, 1980, as the first public, commercial multi-user chat program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compunet</span>

Compunet was a United Kingdom-based interactive service provider, catering primarily for the Commodore 64 but later for the Amiga and Atari ST. It was also known by its users as CNet. It ran from 1984 to May 1993.

ASCII Express is a telecommunications program written for the Apple II series of computers. During the 1980s, when the use of bulletin board systems (BBS) and telecommunications in general were not as widespread as they are today, ASCII Express (AE) was the program of choice for many telecommunication users.

There are several notable bulletin board systems (BBS) for the TI-99/4A home computer.

Blue Board is a bulletin board system software created by Martin Sikes (1968–2007) for the Commodore 64 in the 1980s in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and sold worldwide. Due to optimized code and memory allocation, Blue Board boasted very fast performance for a BBS on that hardware platform. In fact, Blue Board was faster than most if not all BBSs run on 8-bit computers. This speed combined with its use of the ASCII character set and XModem file transfer protocol rather than PETSCII and the Commodore-specific Punter protocol sometimes led users to believe that they were calling a BBS running on a much larger and faster computer.

GT Power is a bulletin board system (BBS) and dial-up telecommunications/terminal application for MS-DOS. It was first introduced in the 1980s by P & M Software, founded by Paul Meiners. GT Power can be used both to host a BBS as well as to connect to other BBS systems via its full-featured dial-up "terminal mode". GT Power was a shareware package that required a registration fee in order to access its proprietary network mail transport/handling software and, by default, the GT Power Network. The software is distributed in two "flavors": a terminal-only version, nicknamed GTO, and the full-featured host and terminal version.

StarDoc 134 is a Dos/Linux hybrid BBS running EleBBS maintained by Andrew Baker aka "RamMan, Dotel and Dotelpenguin".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modem</span> Device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information

A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by modulating one or more carrier wave signals to encode digital information, while the receiver demodulates the signal to recreate the original digital information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded reliably. Modems can be used with almost any means of transmitting analog signals, from light-emitting diodes to radio.

References

  1. ↑ Rickard, Jack (December 1995). "YOUR NOVEMBER EDITORIAL". Letters to the Editor. Boardwatch Magazine. Littleton, Colorado: Jack Rickard. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "ESOFT ANNOUNCES ENHANCED CHAT FACILITIES FOR TBBS". Internet Archive. Boardwatch Magazine. pp. 42–44. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  3. ↑ "Google Groups". google.com. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  4. ↑ "Scholarly Information Centers in ARL Libraries". Association of Research Libr. 1 January 1991. Retrieved 25 June 2016– via Google Books.

Sources

  • Scholarly information centers in ARL libraries By Association of Research Libraries. Systems and Procedures Exchange Center June 1991.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.