MSGID: 2:221/1.58@fidonet ed160b18   
   REPLY: 1:275/99 742d08b0   
   PID: OpenXP/5.0.48 (Win32)   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   TZUTC: -0500   
   Hello Aaron!   
      
   ** On Monday 01.02.21 - 08:16, Aaron Thomas wrote to August Abolins:   
      
    AA>> I came on board to Fidonet in 1993 with Vis a Vis   
    AA>> Communications BBS.  I offered internet email, and QWK for   
    AA>> offline reading.   
      
    AT> It was cool when BBSs started offering internet e-mail. It   
    AT> was fututistic and exciting. I found a BBS that offered it   
    AT> too, but of course I didn't have tons of people to send e-   
    AT> mail to back then.   
      
   I used it to send "To Do" reminders to myself at work.   
      
   There were a few email bots that came in handy and would send     
   back document research results on a query.   
      
    AA>> Prior to all that, I experimented with operating a low key   
    AA>> BBS for about 3 years using RBBS-PC.  It was very tricky   
    AA>> at the time   
      
    AT> There were a handful of RBBS boards in my area. Does it   
    AT> support color? I remember those being all monochrome (I   
    AT> think.)   
      
   The very earliest versions were probably monochrome.  But I     
   don't remember any distinctive limitation in colour in the     
   mature versions; I was stickler for getting the visual     
   appearance of my board to look right, and colour was something I     
   remember experimenting with.   
      
      
    AA>> front-door intercom system to my apartment. Whenever I got   
    AA>> a buzz at the door, it would interrupt the BBS session   
    AA>> currently in progress.   
      
    AT> That's funny! When I started out I was using my parents'   
    AT> voice line and was running the BBS from like 10pm-7am, and   
    AT> they had call-waiting, which caused similar issues.   
      
   I think Call-waiting could be disabled for the duration of an     
   outbound call that you initiated, but it couldn't be disabled if     
   someone called you (like an incoming bbs call) and then another     
   caller trying to call your system when your system was already     
   engaged with a previous connection.   
      
   I think I ran into something similar with my phone service. I     
   ended up cancelling call-waiting. It was more of a nuisance than     
   the extra $7/mo than the phone company claimed it was worth.      
   Besides, if someone REALLY wanted to talk to me, and if it was     
   important enough, they could call back when the phone wasn't     
   busy.   
      
   I later opted for a distinctive-ring service which provided a     
   separate phone number on the same phone line. I had a little box     
   that I could switch to either the bbs or the phone. That way,     
   all the incoming calls to the BBS were practically silent.  The     
   ring for my voice phone was only directed to the phone when the     
   correct ring pattern was detected.  I only had to check if the     
   modem was in use before I attempted to pick up my phone or the     
   bbs caller would get a few seconds of an annoying error-    
   correction.   
      
    AT> Back then there were a bunch of BBSs running just at night   
    AT> - looking back, that was such a terrible idea!   
      
   With Call-waiting active, every caller had the potential of     
   getting errors when another call was comming in.  Not a good     
   setup.   
      
   --   
     ../|ug   
      
   --- OpenXP 5.0.48   
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