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THE HISTORY BEHIND RBBS-PC 26-1
26. THE HISTORY BEHIND RBBS-PC
------------------------------
Electronic bulletin board systems have been around ever since personal
computers existed. The first ones were very primitive and usually
consisted of some posted notices and maybe allowed for on-line messages.
It must be remembered that the IBM PC was only announced in August of 1981
and first became available in October of 1981. Therefore it is not
surprising that the early history of BBS' is associated with non-IBM
personal computers.
The "early history" of bulletin board systems began around 1978 in Chicago
with the CBBS/Chicago (Computerized Bulletin Board System/Chicago). It was
created by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess -- members of the Chicago Area
Computer Hobbyist Exchange (CACHE). CBBS for the CP/M is written in 8080
Assembler language (11,000 lines of it) and, like the early versions of
RBBS-PC (i.e. prior to 12.5A), detects the baud rate and the parity of the
user when he first signs on from the three carriage returns that the user
must enter.
About the same time, Bill Abney wrote a BBS for the Radio Shack TRS-80
Models I and II called Forum-80.
The earliest BBS was written for the Apple (who else had personal computers
in those days?) called the "Apple Bulletin Board System" (ABBS). It was
written by Craig Vaughn and Bill Blue. They later created another bulletin
board system for the Apple II called the People's Message System (PMS).
Another Apple bulletin board system that came into being was for the Apple
II, II+, and IIE as well as the Franklin Ace and it was called the
CommuniTree. It was written in the FORTH language by Dean Gengle and
several others.
When IBM announced its first personal computer, the IBM PC, in August of
1981, there was no BBS for it. In the summer of 1982, Brad Hanson found a
prototype version written by Russ Lane in IBM's BASIC on David Crane's
Dallas RCP/M\CBBS system. Brad added many fixes and modifications. In the
first half of 1983, many members of the Capital PC Users Group's
Communication Special Interest Group (SIG) such as Larry Jordan, Rich
Schinnell, Gary Horwith, Jim Fry, Scot Loftesness, and Dorn Stickle further
enhanced it and added XMODEM file transfer capability until it became known
as RBBS-PC CPC09 in May of 1983. At that time each feature or modification
was identified by a new version number; it still ran only under the BASIC
interpreter; and was both relatively slow (because of the interpreter) and
somewhat unstable (it would normally "crash" at least once each day).
In June of 1983, Tom Mack received a copy of RBBS-PC CPC09 from Rich
Schinnell. Tom's efforts were instrumental in making RBBS-PC what it is
today - the industry-standard PC-based BBS software. Other contributors
have come and gone, but Tom's contribution to RBBS-PC can never be matched.
RBBS-PC's impact has been to open an entirely new medium of communications
between people. Rather than as an end in and of itself, RBBS-PC has come
to serve as a means to an end -- the free exchange of ideas. On a
technical level it is certainly an example that shows "real programmers
can/do program in BASIC." We would like to think that RBBS-PC had
something to do with IBM and Microsoft coming out with new versions of the
BASIC compiler that support communications, sub-routines, local and global
variables, file-locking in a networking environment, etc.
RBBS-PC 17.3A TECHNICAL REFERENCE MANUAL 26-2
RBBS-PC represents a fundamental cornerstone, not just a phase, in what can
be viewed as a "social renaissance." RBBS-PC eliminates those barriers
that had previously inhibited the "exchange" of information within our
society. RBBS-PC provides every personal computer owner with his own
"soap-box" in a national Hyde Park. Previously the channels of
communication had built-in barriers to "exchange"; with RBBS-PC those
barriers begin to cease to exist.
While only the most fanatical RBBS-PC trivia experts may be interested,
here is the chronology:
RBBS-PC Initial Major Enhancements
Version Release
Number Date
10.0 07/04/83 RBBS-PC first written to be compilable by IBM's BASIC
compiler, version 1.0
11.0 08/10/83 RBBS-PC restructured so that all parameters were
external (i.e. in the RBBS-PC.DEF) allowing SysOps who
didn't want to spend the $300 for the BASIC compiler to
tailor RBBS-PC to their taste. CONFIG.BAS was first
written to generate RBBS-PC.DEF.
11.1 09/15/83 Jon Martin contributed UTSPACE.OBJ, a sub-routine that
allowed the compiled version of RBBS-PC to determine
the amount of free space available for uploading.
11.2 10/01/83 The error trapping within RBBS-PC was completely re-
written to be more comprehensive.
12.0 10/28/83 Tree-structured file directories and the ability to
detect that RBBS-PC was in a "MultiLink" environment
were incorporated. "MultiLink" is a product of the
Software Link, Inc. which allows DOS 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0
and 3.1 to be "multi-tasking."
12.1 12/18/83 The ability for a SysOp who signed on remotely to drop
(Versions into DOS was added. Also the "New" command
was added "A" to "F")that allowed users to determine
what new files had been made available since the last
time they were on.
12.2 04/08/84 The security system designed by Ken Goosens was
incorporated.
12.3 11/11/84 Up to nine RBBS-PCs can share the same files in either
a multi-tasking DOS environment (i.e. MultiLink from
the Software Link, Inc.) or in a local area network
environment (i.e. Corvus or Orchid).
12.4 03/10/85 (Version A, A1, B) RBBS-PC's stature in the industry
became recognized when, RBBS-PC was granted a license
by Microcom to incorporate their proprietary MNP
protocol. "RBBS-PC compatibility" became a minimum
criteria for the introduction of products by many
companies. RBBS-PC introduces 300/1200/2400 BAUD
support in 12.4A before most such modems were generally
available.
THE HISTORY BEHIND RBBS-PC 26-3
12.5 07/14/85 (Versions A and B). 36 copies of RBBS-PC could share
the same files in a network environment. RBBS-PC
automatically answers the phone and no longer requires
each caller to enter up to 3 carriage returns in order
for RBBS-PC to detect the users baud rate and parity.
Logon to RBBS-PC has been made much more efficient with
the USERS file no longer being searched sequentially
and the MESSAGES file no longer being read three times.
Version 12.5B, released August 25, 1985, WAS THE LAST
VERSION COMPILABLE BY VERSION 1.0 OF THE IBM BASIC
COMPILER!
13.1 12/01/85 IBM BASIC compiler and Microsoft's QuickBASIC Version
1.0 supported. XMODEM with CRC was added as a
file-transfer protocol as well as the ability to
display on the color monitor of the PC running RBBS-PC
the color/graphics that the remote user sees exactly as
he sees them.
14.1 03/16/86 (Versions A, B, C, and D) RBBS-PC's internal structure
was split into two parts - RBBS-BAS for the main-line
source code and logic, and a RBBS-SUB.BAS for commonly
called subroutines. Support for on-line
questionnaires, auto-downloading, and the KERMIT
protocol were also included as well as the option to
utilize assembly language subroutines to increase for
better performance over their BASIC counterparts.
15.1 03/15/87 File Management System for directories added. User
subscription management added. The ability to run as a
local application on a network, configurable command
letters, the ability to use any field or to define a
new field to identify callers, the ability to
individuate callers having the same ID, multiple
uploads on a single command line, new A)nswer and
V)erbose ARC list commands, context sensitive help,
and a new subsystem for software "libraries".
16.1 03/27/88 (Version A) Major enhancements included the addition of
"sub-boards" (i.e. conferences with their own
bulletins, file areas, menus etc.), a programmable user
interface, the capability to have SysOp-written
"sub-menus" for any command, the ability to hang off of
a public data network such as Compuserve's as a "node",
the incorporation of "personal downloads" (i.e. files
only specific individuals could list/download), the
ability to vary the amount of time a user has on the
system by the time of day the user logs on, the
capability of preventing any message (public or
private) from being read until the SysOp has reviewed
it, an enhanced CONFIG utility with many more options,
XMODEM/1K protocol built-in to RBBS-PC's main-line
source code, the ability to automatically add users to
conferences, and support for The Software Link's
MultiLink Version 4.0. Despite all these enhancements,
the BASIC RBBS-PC code was significantly enhanced such
that it only requires 268K to run -- allowing two
copies to run in multi-tasking DOS environments that
have 640K available.
RBBS-PC 17.3A TECHNICAL REFERENCE MANUAL 26-4
17.1 10/02/88 (Versions A, B, C, and D). Major enhancements were made
in the System Support area, and the support for up to
eight communications ports; built-in interfaces to
external communications drivers such as a FOSSIL
driver; automatic notification of the SysOp when
specific users log on; improved automatic invocation of
other applications based on time of day; and
SysOp-selectable time delays that users must wait
before being able to download or exit to a door.
RBBS-PC's unique programmable user interface (PUI) was
enhanced to support "macros" (i.e. use a single command
to invoke any number of RBBS-PC commands);
SysOp-selectable colors for all prompts and messages
(i.e. "colorization"); caller-selectable "colorization"
for text (i.e. color, bold or normal, highlighting of
text, etc.); and personalized text files (i.e. text
files that can dynamically adapt to include information
unique to each caller). The messaging within RBBS-PC
was enhanced to notify each caller that logs on of the
number of new messages and how many are addressed to
the caller for the conferences to which the caller
belongs. The text editor function for messages was
enhanced to allow any character to be edited. RBBS-
PC's standard "threaded" message search now also scans
the text of the messages for matches. The RBBS-PC file
subsystem was also significantly enhanced to include an
unlimited number of installable protocols; batch
downloading for such protocols that support this (i.e.
Zmodem, Megalink, and Sealink); and control of callers
ability to download based on either the number of
characters or the ratio of the callers downloads to
uploads.
17.2 05/28/89 (Versions A-B). Major enhancements consisted of
increased flexibility in invoking external applications
(i.e. "DOORS"), on-line questionnaires, RBBS-PC command
"macros", the integration (using the enhanced
questionnaires and "macros") of on-line data base
facilities into RBBS-PC, as well as extended support in
RBBS-PC's file system to support ANY file compaction
technique (i.e. .ARC, .ZOO, .ZIP, etc.) -- including
allowing on-line users to list text files that have
been included within a compacted file. RBBS-PC's
"NETMAIL" interface to store and forward messaging
systems (i.e. FIDO MAIL, etc.) was enhanced. Within
the messaging subsystem numerous enhancements were
added including the ability to quote all or part of a
message that the caller was replying to. RBBS- PC's
file subsystem was improved to allow the system to be
configured such that all uploads were automatically
checked/verified (by whatever utility the SysOp wanted
to use). RBBS-PC commitment to the concept of "users
helping users" was demonstrated once again with the
incorporation of support for the Computalker and
HEARSAY 1000 speech boards so that seeing-impaired
SysOps could hear (in a meaningful way) the activity
occurring on their RBBS-PC bulletin boards.
THE HISTORY BEHIND RBBS-PC 26-5
17.3 02/11/90 (versions 17.3 & 17.3A) Fast File Search: sub-second
file name looks for over 32,000 downloadable files; up
to 10,098 downloadable areas. Variable names were
changed to MicroSoft standard format using upper and
lower case letters only, and no internal dots. Some 50
bugs were fixed. News facility added. Universal
command stacking. Default extension on file requests.
Enhanced macros and SmartText. Defaults added for
multiple modems. Support for 38,400 baud through
Fossil driver.