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History of Huntsville BBSes

I used to run a BBS Bulletin Board System here in Huntsville Alabama from 1989 until 1999. At first it was Called "Unknown System", I moved later and got a new phone number and renamed it "Backstage BBS". The BBS systems in general grew to be quite popular at the time because the internet was eather too expensive or not available at all. Most home computers were sold with modems installed and about the only way to use it was to call BBSes which were almost compleatly free of charge.

Once you gained access to a BBS system, you could do variations of 3 basic things.

It was a Lot of fun, was Free, and you were interacting with people that were living in your area.



I first started BBSing in the late 80's here in Huntsville. At the time there were 10 or 20 systems available to call into. In the mid 90's about the time the internet was becoming popular, BBSes were at thier peak and there were 60 or more BBS systems to call here in the city. Here are some old BBS lists that I have, Please Do Not Call These Numbers as none of these BBSes exist anymore ...

Huntsville, AL BBS List 1-8-94
880-6872 - A.M.U.G. BBS - Sysop: Bob Brown - ROS
772-7837 - American Connection - Sysop: Mitch Baker - RA
461-9720 - Astral Plane - Sysop: Dark Star - WWIV
880-1979 - Civic Forum - Sysop: Shade - WWIV
882-3454 - Courtyard Node 1 - Sysop: Robert Breeden - VBBS
881-3677 - Courtyard Node 2 - Sysop: Robert Breeden - VBBS
852-5706 - Cygnus X-1 - Sysop: Bill Marsh - ROS
461-0187 - Doc's Box - Sysop: The Doctor - WWIV
830-4485 - Highland Citadel - Sysop: Arclite - VBBS
895-0163 - Ike's Wild Thang - Sysop: Ike - VBBS
837-7715 - Inferno BBS node 1 - Sysop: Michael Konor - Star-Net
837-3990 - Inferno BBS node 2 - Sysop: Michael Konor - Star-Net
830-8508 - Jack of All BBS - Sysop: James Reese - RA
971-7441 - Madishar's Stop - Sysop: ???? - RYBBS
536-3827 - M.D.S. - Sysop: M.D. Smith - RBBS-PC
464-8244 - InterQuest - Sysop: Dougal - Zippo NONE
830-2362 - Micro-Magic - Sysop: Keith Ford - MAJOR
772-7604 - Mystical Haven - Sysop: Charles Miller - Maximus
895-0028 - NASA Spacelink - Sysop: Bill Anderson - ECLIPSE
837-2252 - NASAU Beach - Sysop: Wayne Hunt - VBBS
883-1308 - Occam's Razor BBS - Sysop: Conan Dickson - PCBOARD
650-0998 - Pot of Gold - Sysop: Mike Cothran - VBBS
881-8619 - Power Windows BBS - Sysop: Cyrus Cathey - WILDCAT
882-6886 - Publisher's Paradise - Sysop: Michael Charness - PCBOARD
830-5768 - Purgatory BBS - Sysop: Twelve To Zero - VBBS
534-5193 - Rocket City's VBBS node 1 - Sysop: Charles Young - VBBS
650-0107 - Share-For-Education - Sysop: Timothy Blake - WILDCAT
837-7164 - Skippy's World - Sysop: Skippy - VBBS
464-6593 - Sweeties Armadillo Dude Ranch - Sysop: Sweetie - VBBS
895-6152 - The ACCESS System node 1 - Sysop: Jim McCullars - PCBOARD
851-6220 - Your Emotional Rescue - Sysop: Quanta Parker - VBBS
859-9240 - The Beast of Burden - Sysop: Beast Master - VBBS
772-7129 - The Bit Storm - Sysop: ???? ????? - WWIV
852-8127 - The Corral BBS - Sysop: Bill Baldwin - VBBS
852-4541 - Starfleet Headquarters - Sysop: HAL-9000 - VBBS
881-2043 - The Death Zone - Sysop: The Master - Renegade
430-0960 - The D.L.D. BBS - Sysop: Duncan Gardner - OPUS
882-6167 - The PC Help Desk - Sysop: John Minton - PCBOARD
650-5777 - The Post Offis - Sysop: Dane Walther - WILDCAT
776-4316 - The Quark Board - Sysop: John Roskowski - RA
880-3775 - The Igmeister Zone - Sysop: Kids at Randolph - WWIV
851-8586 - The MotherBoard - Sysop: Rush Lee - RoboFx
881-5657 - The Timelords BBS - Sysop: John Phillips - VBBS
650-4616 - Unknown System - Sysop: Tim ???? - VBBS
650-0068 - Warp Zone - Sysop: ???? - VBBS
539-2625 - Weslow's Bane II - Sysop: Alexander Rayborn - WWIV
721-3910 - Wild Eddie's RBE - Sysop: Rick Pelletier - VBBS
536-0744 - The Peach Pit - Sysop: Speed Demon
650-5697 - Supernova BBS - Sysop: Blazer - VBBS
535-0793 - Losers Club - Sysop: ???? - VBBS
830-9153 - Adventure Realm - Sysop: Lord Snow - VBBS


These are some HUNSTVILLE BBS numbers as of 05/19/96.
The DeeP - 551-0354 - Comic related/Good online games
The Recovery Connection - 859-2947 - Good message subs/Online games
Friends & Rivals - 881-8769 - Good online game
Adventure Realm - 464-0801 - Tons of good online games
NIGHTHAWK'S DOMAIN 8PM/3AM - 837-8558 - Good online games
Relief Goddess - 650-5697 - Anime related message subs
UAH Node 1 - 895-6152 - Tons of files/Node 1
UAH Node 2 - 895-6992 - Tons of files/Node 2
PC Help Desk - 882-6167 - Tons of files
My So Called BBS - 534-0629 - Good message subs
The Beast Of Burden II - 650-4616 - Best message subs/Good Ogames
Pot of Gold - 650-0998 - Get computer related help here
Library Management Network - 533-5703 - Huntsville Public Library Online
RAZZ -ma- TAZZ - 859-5459 - Online games/Message subs
Doc's Box - 461-0187 - Message subs/Files
Cygnus-X1 - 852-5706 - Files
Micro Magic - 971-0001 - 5 line chat board
Huntsville Online - 890-0280 - Like AoL
Power Windows - 881-8619 - Tons of files
Can-O-Worms - 539-2507 - Online games
Occam's Razor - 883-1308 - Supports OS/2 files
Backstage - 534-5904 - Talent/Art/Music related
Moldy Onion - 880-9307 - Like AoL
Atari User's Group - 722-0900 - Online games/Atari's user group
Publisher's Paridise Open - 882-6886 - Writers/Publishers;Open 2400 line
Publisher's Paradise Cont. - 650-0304 - The 14.4 contributer's line
Wild Eddies - 650-5808 - Hacking stuff for hackers
Dark Crypt - 859-8753 - Message subs/Online games
Trading Post - 828-1944 - Tons of files
Graphic Exchange - 464-9237 - Tons of computer pictures
ILLUMINATI 9PM/6:30AM - 882-7745 - Files/Online games/Sysop chat
Sweetie's Armadillo Ranch - 464-6593 - Message subs/Files
American Connection - 772-7837 - Online games/Files
Post Offis - 650-5777 - Internet E-Mailing
Terminal Velocity - 883-6070 - Messages/Online games
Deformie's Freak Show - 536-5535 - Files/Message subs
By Chris Hozian


By early 1999 the number of BBSes in Huntsville had dropped down to 4 systems as the popularity of the internet was on the rise and cheaper, plus the large amount of information that was available on the internet far overshadowed the individual computer systems that BBS systems were composed of. I have no idea if the following systems are still operating, but that last 4 BBSes that were running here in town were ...

These numbers were confirmed on 2-9-99
890-6152 University of Alabama, Huntsville
650-0998 Pot of Gold
533-5703 Huntsville Library
534-5904 Backstage BBS


If you want to know more about BBSes or want to find some phone numbers to Local BBSes in your area then Try this link.

More About BBSes this leaves "Tim's Home Page"



Instructions for Calling a Local BBS from Windows 95

Click "Start"
Click "Programs"
Click "Accessories"
Click the "HyperTerminal" folder
Click the program file "hypertrm.exe",this will start the Hyper Terminal Program
A "New Connection" window will pop up asking for a "Name"
Enter the Name of the BBS you want to call, choose an Icon for it, and Click "OK"
A "Phone Number" window will pop up
Enter the Phone Number of the BBS you want to call and Click "OK"
A "Connect" window will pop up
Click on "Dial"
Your modem will Dial the BBS and you will soon be connected

In order for the ANSI color graphics of a BBS to display properly on your computer, you will need to change the following settings in HyperTerminal...
Click "View" in the Upper left corner of the HyperTerminal window
From that Pop up menu Click "Font"
A "Font" window will Pop Up
In the "Font" frame of that window select the very last entry, "Terminal" font
"Font Style" should be Regular and "Size" should be 9 (nine)
Click "OK"

New users to a BBS will usually have to enter "NEW" at the Login: prompt, and will also have to fill out a short confidential questionare for the System Operators (sysop) files, and to get better access to the system.



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Tim's Home Page / timmythy@mindspring.com / Updated: February 2004