The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
Melb PC BBS: Fidonet ten years on
Phillip Lew
 phil@melbpc.org.au

The Melbourne PC User Group BBS is celebrating its tenth year of operation as a Fidonet BBS in July of 1997, this article is dedicated to the members and volunteers who contributed to its running and care over the years.

Background

The BBS was originally created so that members could access Fidonet message conferences and a limited range of shareware library files. Today, the BBS has at least 1000 message conferences members can access to increase their knowledge, not only of computers, but in other areas too, such as hobbies, sport, business, health, etc. On the freeware/shareware files front, we now have more than 27,000 files (most of which are not duplicated in the Shareware Library) that members can download. In short, although the BBS has grown, it's still providing members with useful information and serving as a repository for popular shareware/freeware files. We also have online games and chat facilities and Fidonet netmail.

The main operations of the BBS are to fetch and forward Fidonet conference messages and personal Netmail (i.e. person-to-person and system-to-system messages) daily. Less frequently, it is used to fetch the latest shareware files from the file distribution network.

The PC Update team also uses the BBS in the production of the magazine. PC Update authors upload articles to the BBS. Editors and Sub-editors download those article files to edit. Edited submissions are uploaded to the BBS for the production manager to collect and set.

Some interesting statistics

  • At peak times we have between 55 and 60 tasks running on the comms server machine
  • There are more than 40 individual third-party programs used to give the BBS its look and feel
  • On average we get about 10 MB of Fidonet conference mail every day, and 12-24 MB of files from the file distribution network every week (that's in addition to what our members upload)
  • Of the members who use an offline reader, about 500 use Blue Wave, the rest of those that use an offline reader, use the QWK offline mail system
  • The most popular files downloaded from the Melb PC BBS are the Internet Access Kits
  • Although message traffic in local areas is not as high as it is in Fidonet echoes, it is brisk and the relatively well used, particularly Internet, Help and General areas
  • During busy times we usually have at least six users in online chat or playing online games.
A brief history

1985
A BBS which eventually becomes the PC Connection BBS is founded..

March 1987
The Melb PC BBS with Fidonet technology, Opus Fidonet software on a Trigem XT..

July 1987
A second line is added using DESQview.

Aug 1987
ZModem file transfer protocol.

March 1988
 New machine, 386/16 Wyse.

April 1989
 Machines based in Melb PC's (then) office in Cecil St, South Melbourne.

March 1990
Maximus v2.00 installed (replaces Opus).

November 1990
Second machine (386 DX 33 running TBBS BBS software) added and used as a separate files BBS which was not Fidonet enabled. This machine, over a period of time, had many modems connected to it, however the machine eventually died due to sudden catastrophic hard drive failure. All files and message functions were recombined into a single-machine BBS service.

June 1993
First BBS subcommittee formed.

July 1993 onwards
Messages BBS dies. Drive stiction was the primary cause. A switch to OS/2 v2.0 and Maximus for OS/2 was made. A switch to a 486DX/33 machine, is authorised, resulting in what we then thought was blindingly fast access for the two lines that then existed. Shortly after that, the first BBS team was formed. Then the Files BBS went to the scrap heap, thanks to a massive hard drive failure. The read/write heads literally broke off and you could hear them rattling around when you shook the drive!

At that point, a monumental decision was made, to increase lines on the OS/2 Maximus BBS in order to incorporate all the former file areas and users of the demised system. This took a lot of time, with accompanying pain and very late nights.

We then grew, progressively, from eight, to 12, to 16, to 24 and finally, to today's 34 lines!

Hardware in use today
  • Acer Altos 7000V and 700/e series Pentium 166 and 133 servers; with 64 MB and 96 MB RAM respectively and about 16 GB of Fast SCSI and Fast/Wide SCSI hard drives
  • The main filebase is spread over about 13 physical drives. One 4 x CD-ROM (also SCSI) is used to read data from CD-ROMS as required
  • An intelligent 32-port Digiboard
  • Two onboard serial ports to give us 34 input lines to the comms server (Acer Altos 700/e)
  • The comms server is connected to two racks of Netcomm M34F rack modems (16 modems in each rack) and two stand alone modems, a Hayes Optima v.34 28,800 and a Maestro 28,800 v.34
  • An off-the-shelf LAN (local area network) connects the file server (file base and other essential files) and the comm server (BBS software and other essential files)
  • IBM OS/2 Warp Connect v3 and IBM's network operating system LanServer 4
  • Network hardware includes IBM Token Ring 16/4 cards and an IBM Token Ring Hub with twisted pair cabling
  • Miscellaneous equipment, including a 17-inch SVGA monitor to view comms server operations and a 14-inch SVGA monitor for the fileserver, a Conner DAT tape backup drive for monthly and quarterly backup of critical system configurations files, an APC UPS to prevent brownouts from affecting operations.
Software in use today

We use Maximus for OS/2 v3.01, BinkleyTerm Fidonet Mailer v2.60 and Fastecho Fidonet Mail Tosser v1.46

There are also the File Tagger, the Blue Wave Offline Mail Door and less visible programs that handle file download counters, top users (downloaders/uploaders, messengers), birthday listings, etc.

How it works

The user base is backed up daily. New user registrations are handled by the office. Files uploaded and those fetched from the file distribution network are scanned for viruses, checked for suitability and tossed to a user-visible area at least twice a week. Other functions, such as games maintenance and new files announcements (listings) are fully automatic.

Internet versus BBS

The Internet is very popular and getting more so, but the BBS still has its supporters, and some advantages over the Internet for some tasks. For example, free/cheaper access at the cost of a phone call. Some members find it easier to find their way around the BBS. Downloads are much quicker via the BBS. And some members find the BBS comms programs easier to configure than those required for the Internet.

The future

There are many courses of action to address these negative effects that are quite feasible and are within the realms of the possible using current software and other third-party utilities. Some of the ideas being pursued include allowing users to access Internet e-mail and newsgroups at much lower cost than live Internet using a store and forward arrangement; offline games and improved online chat services. Other possibilities include using the BBS to act as a FTP site on the Internet or being able to access BBS from the Internet. This access can also be limited to those who are a Melb PC member/subscriber. One of the many things we are looking at includes a major rework using a different operating system, utilities and BBS software, however this development cycle is a somewhat slow and expensive process.

Finally a big thank you to all users who have accessed our BBS over many years. Without your continued support, we would not be where we are today.

Reprinted from the July 1997 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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