BTN: Birmingham Telecommunications News COPYRIGHT 1988 January 1989 Volume 2, Issue 1 Table Of Contents ----------------- Article Title Author Policy Statement and Disclaimer................Mark Maisel Editorial Column...............................Mark Maisel Swiss Army Shell...............................Mark Maisel Whatever Happened To...(A Response)............Bill Freeman Styles Of Sysoping, etc........................David Shockey Amiga On The Loose.............................Richard Foshee Profile: Jay Enterkin.........................Chris Mohney The Dixie SysNet...............................Bill Freeman Message Board..................................Barry Bowden Known BBS Numbers..............................Mark Maisel ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer and Statement of Policy for BTN We at BTN try our best to assure the accuracy of articles and information in our publication. We assume no responsibility for damage due to errors, omissions, etc. The liability,if any for BTN, its editors and writers, for damages relating to any errors or omissions, etc., shall be limited to the cost of a one year subscription to BTN, even if BTN, its editors or writers have been advised of the likelihood of such damages occurring. With the conclusion of that nasty business, we can get on with our policy for publication and reproduction of BTN articles. We publish monthly with a deadline of the fifteenth of the month prior to publication. If you wish to submit an article, you may do so at any time but bear in mind the deadline if you wish for your work to appear in a particular issue. It is not our purpose to slander or otherwise harm a person or reputation and we accept no responsibility for the content of the articles prepared by our writers. Our writers own their work and it is protected by copyright. We allow reprinting of articles from BTN with only a few restrictions. The author may object to a reprint, in which case he will specify in the content of his article. Otherwise, please feel free to reproduce any article from BTN as long as the source, BTN, is specified, and as long as the author's name and the article's original title are retained. If you use one of our articles, please forward a copy of your publication to: Mark Maisel Editor, BTN 221 Chestnut St. BHM, AL 35210-3219 We thank you for taking the time to read our offering and we hope that you like it. We also reserve the right to have a good time while doing all of this and not get too serious about it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Editorial by Mark Maisel I certainly hope that everyone has enjoyed the holidays. I, for one, am glad that they are over as I work for the Post Office and we experience our peak of business at this time. It is extremely difficult to run and visit relatives every evening until late at night and be expected to get up at 5 a.m. and go to work! Sorry to be a bit late with this issue but the holidays took its toll on our contributors as well. We hope that you will find this issue well worth the wait. We have an excellent selection for you this month which you should find amusing and stimulating. SAS or Swiss Army Shell, which has been floating about on some local boards is reviewed by me in its latest revision. Bill Freeman has made two contributions this month. One is a rebuttal to Christian Minton's article last month on Pay boards and the other is an invitation to a meeting that I will leave for you to discover. Suffice it to ask, is this an idea whose time has come? We have some great humor from David Shockey in regards to the management styles of some of our local sysops. I am sure that you will find this very amusing, providing you are not one of the victims! We have a plug for the Commodore Amiga, a powerful graphics machine, from Richard Foshee. Jay Enterkin fell to the ProFile harvest of Chris Mohney this time around. Watch out as you could be next. As usual, we close our issue with Message Board from Barry Bowden and our Known BBS Numbers. In the upcoming year, I will be sharing editorial space with anyone who wishes the opportunity. I will be working on a series of articles for BTN overviewing each system in town. It will be a bit time consuming so if you have something you want to say, then you have your chance to do so in the editorial. All you need to do is contact me on EZNET and we can make necessary arrangements. If you would like to help with the series, I welcome any assistance and/or suggestions that might come my way. One other project that I am considering is the expansion of our Known BBS Numbers list to include much more information than it currently carries. If you would like to give me your feelings on this item, then please do so through EZNET. Until whenever, have fun! ***LAST MINUTE ADDITION*** The Birmingham Business Board has been down due to hardware problems. It will be reincarnated as The Professional's Board and it will begin operation 1/12/89. Please be on the lookout for it. When you see it, please take the time to try the new BTN Reader Door. This door is the work of the sysop, Joe McDonald, and he and I both hope that it will make reading BTN easier for his users. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SAS: Swiss Army Shell version 1.13x An Overview & Review by Mark Maisel Swiss Army Shell, hereafter referred to as SAS, is a DOS shell for machines that use MS-DOS. It is an easy to use shell that will not limit an advanced user while also providing a simple method of communicating with DOS for the neophyte. SAS offers all kinds of file manipulation allowed by DOS and does so in a flexible manner. SAS was written by a local programmer by the name of Steve Lee. Steve placed SAS onto the ST BBS as shareware and I highly encourage you to take a look at it if you use a DOS shell of any kind. SAS, as previously stated, supports a variety of operations on files that most shells will perform. It has one more that I have not seen in that it will manipulate ARC files. Archive management is extremely handy, especially for those who are afraid of or don't understand the cryptic method of using an ARC program from DOS. This function makes handling ARC files as easy as possible. If it were any easier, it would have to be illegal. Once you call up SAS, it creates a file in your root directory to help it work faster. This file must be updated with a command each time you make a change to your directory structure. The display for SAS is visually appealing and easy to follow. Two panels, left and right respectively, offer the names of your current drive's directories and your current directory's files. The left panel presents your directories in a graphic tree form and the right presents your files with filename.ext and no other information. The bottom four lines of the screen contain information on the current drive, directory, and file. This method makes viewing an overwhelming amount of information a simple and understandable task. To move between directories and files requires a few keystrokes. The response time is incredible when moving around on a hard disk. There are two ways, aside from quitting the program, to run programs from SAS. If a file is one that can be run, highlight it and press "X" and then "Enter". If you must have the DOS prompt, then you can shell back to DOS from SAS. If you are working with files that are not executables, then "H" is the only key I will mention specifically. It calls up an extensive list of commands for SAS. Flexibility is another strong point of SAS. Viewing, editing, and finding of files is supported though none of these functions is coded into SAS. SAS allows you to choose your own favorite file viewer, editor, and finder for use with it. Recommended utilities for performing these jobs are, Vern Buerg's LIST, your favorite text editor, and PKFIND. SAS uses PKARC and PKXARC to perform its tricks with ARC files so you will need them as well. SAS will behave just like any DOS shell without any of these programs but in order to be fully functional, you should have these other programs in your path. All that is required of you to use any of these programs from within SAS is to highlight or tag the file(s) to be acted on and press the appropriate key for the action. The first thing I found in SAS that I did not care for, though it is no big problem, is that you must use certain filenames for your utilities in order for SAS to use them. If you use other than LIST, EDIT, PKFIND, PKARC, PKXARC, then those functions will not work. I would prefer to see a setup program where the names of the utilities can be given to SAS rather than limiting me to certain names. This is picky, assuredly, but I often work from DOS and I am too lazy to remember the names that SAS uses for my utilities. Without giving too much away, I think that SAS is a useful addition to my software library. I do use it on a regular basis and I think that you will also find it worthwhile. The ARC functions are particularly nice. I have only one complaint aside from the one I made earlier and that is the lack of mouse support. I am a heavily mouse dependent person and I enjoy the quickness and flexibility they offer. I have been in contact with the author and he tells me that mouse support is in the works. He also says that macro capabilities will be added in the near future. This version I have been testing for the past two months is not a release version and the most current version I have seen on boards in town is version 1.1. Be on the lookout for a version 1.5, hopefully, very soon. I will definitely grab one as soon as possible. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Whatever Happened to... (a response...) by Bill Freeman I beg your pardon, Christian. Most of the SysOps around town, both PAY and Non-pay boards, still run their boards because of the enjoyment that the hobby provides. By classifying the boards the way you have, you are being somewhat unfair. There are advantages and disadvantages to having a "PAY" board, and I want to point some of them out to you. Our board is a "free" board that also has subscription accounts available to its users, with all the users coming into the board for the first time starting out on an equal footing. We use a file ratio system to make sure that users are encouraged to replace what they take, so that the system grows, the users can take more, and will (in a circular way) have more to offer back to the board. Of course it doesn't always work this way, as human nature drives us all to take more than we give back. We do try to structure these ratios so that someone who can't pull his weight in returning new files to the system (new users who are just getting started) can enter the system and not be penalized while they gather files. One method that new users should use is to make master lists of the files from all the bulletin boards they use, then compare these lists to determine who has what, and then plan to play the role of broker: downloading a file here or there and re-uploading it to another system to build up a healthy ratio. This is a lot of trouble for the user, though. A justification for requiring users to help out in bringing new files to the board is to prevent stagnation: to keep interesting new things coming into the file areas of the board. This approach serves the BBS community better than the "take what you need, we'll settle later" approach because of the human nature aspect I mentioned a minute ago. As you point out in your article, the subscription approach can be confining and coercive. The people that most perceive these limitations are the ones who do not follow the responsible user profile. Several users on our system upload many more files than they take down, and I'd bet they like the system of having a ratio. They have very high security levels and extended access as a rule. Now, what about the user that doesn't want to bother with "counting calories" (oops, that should be files!)... Well, the subscription mode of the board gives them an avenue to support the service that supports them, not having to worry about counting anything. Our rates are low on the average, only $25/year buys a subscription. A year is a fairly long time, and $25 for 32850 minutes (547 hours) of potential use ain't bad now, is it? The subscription accounts let users feel like they have a vital interest in a board, and share a fraternal relation with the SysOp in running the board. You point out that "SysOps should either pay to run their own boards or get out" of the kitchen. If the SysOp is running his board with intentions of having FULL control over it, I guess you're right. Problem is, when your board starts approaching a half gig (500 megabytes), it is difficult if not impossible for a single person on a law students income (personal experience here folks) to run the system. As I said earlier, when a system gets to be that size, a chunk of the users want to have an elite status on the system, and a subscription system is the most fair way to do this. Does a SysOp get rich running a BBS? No, I don't think so. In fact, we have a very hard time paying the bills most of the time. I'd be guessing, but I don't believe ANY board in Birmingham would have a windfall from subscription dues. They are, for us, barely enough to pay for the phone lines. The equipment that runs our board, by and large, was put there by a small group of three people that run The Connection, and subscriptions don't even touch the cost of things like 225 Mb hard disks (look them up in Computer Shopper!). If running a big board is so much a hassle, why in the hell do you do it? Because it is enjoyable. We have some extremely heated debates now and then, and I get to see the newest software first-hand. Its also very much like a coffee shop, and SysOps get to hear the gossip around town first. This has its bad points too, especially when you end up being the butt of the gossip. Was it P. T. Barnum that said he'd take the bad publicity with the good? Sometimes I understand what he meant. The bad aspect I can see about the system we are using in running our board is that it forces smaller boards to compete in more refined areas. A small board usually is SysOp-supported because it doesn't have the "oomph" to draw the subscription dollars. This makes these boards less stable, and more likely to go down over the course of time. The small boards often seem overwhelmed at the task of matching their competition. Some boards fight this problem by being very specific in their purpose, providing only a message base on a particular topic, or limited files in a given area. I guess this can be as much an asset (to an optimistic small board) as a liability. On the plus side of the SysOp-supported BBS, the owner/SysOp has the freedom to do with his BBS what he wants to. Subscription services give up much of this freedom. The way I see it, those guys that are running a strictly business BBS are even doing a service to the community. They are pushing back the boundaries of the hobby (sometimes going too far and then hearing angry cries from users - sometimes bringing a new service to the community they serve). Now, I've tried to talk about the "why" of a subscription BBS. Perhaps you believe that in the fraternity of BBS users, there should be no subscription services. In a Utopian BBS community, I'd agree with you, and it would be nice. In the real world, though, people have to work together to accomplish great things, and in my opinion running a subscription side to the "free" board we provide is a means to that end. Wouldn't the abolition of the large subscription boards be a reactionary approach that would return us to smaller, more limited BBS systems, instead of serving to increase the options available to users? I think it would, and I don't think this would be in the best interest of the BBS community. A subscription to a bulletin board is an option for the user. Sometimes, if we accidentally encroach upon a person's feelings by being too strict, it is up to that person to let us know. I think that most people still believe that SysOps, even the subscription ones, want to be nice guys too. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- STYLES OF SYSOPING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A USER by David Shockey Lately I have been doing extensive research on the styles of Birmingham sysops and co-sysops. I have compared the styles of our sysops to those in other parts of the country and I'm here to tell you that we users have a pretty strict and boorish bunch to deal with. What we think is a friendly sysop here in Birmingham would be considered intolerable in cities like New York or San Diego. I think that after you read some of the facts that I have gathered about our local sysops you will agree. Take for instance, Ice Princess of the "Point of No Return". The Ice Princess believes that all users, deep down in their hearts, want to be abused. You realize this when you are greeted by the familiar "Do you want graphics?" message. If you reply N to this seemingly innocent query then her BBS program answers "Too bad worm!" and your screen fills with garbage. If you are looking for files to download then the Princess has many and she encourages you to try them all with no penalty for your download/upload ratio. If you have ever read "THE DIRTY DOZEN", the list of virus and trojan programs that is published and distributed periodically by Eric Newhouse, then you have seen the Princess' file listing. She sometimes changes her number without notice so that she can determine who her most loyal users are. She feels that only the users that have a sincere desire for humiliation will spend the time and effort to get the new number and call again. Currently she has changed to an unlisted number, has anyone tracked it down yet? Then there is "The Pinson Valley Board" run by David Alge. David is also something of a sadist but he can be dealt with, unlike the Princess. The way to get around Dave is to leave a message every day telling him how great his board is and how grateful you are that he has allowed you to get on his great board. If you do not leave the messages then Dave purges your name from the validated list. This may not sound too bad at first, but, purged users on Dave's board get only 1 minute per day when they return. Add to that the requirement to fill out the 137 question questionnaire for validation and you should get the point. Copious begging via ECHO can usually get you back on within six months. Dave figures that this process weeds out everyone but the users who really want to be on the best bulletin board in Pinson Valley. It couldn't get any worse than that right? Wrong! "The Connection BBS", run by Bill Freeman, has the capability to switch languages. You might think that this is great since now people that speak other languages can use the board also. The truth is that absolutely no one uses this feature but Bill, who uses it to punish users that write messages that displease him. For instance, just because I said that Michael Dukakis was a weenie I now have no choice but to sign on to his board using ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. If I were a weenie like the Duke then I would complain about it. Speaking of complaints. How many of you that use "America Online" have noticed what a nice guy Rocky Rawlins seems to be and what a vicious Nazi Tom Egan is? Tom Egan's answer to most users that have a problem or complaint is "go to hell!". Well I have it on good authority (a certain redhead named Natashia who has a ummm ... dominant personality and a leather fetish) that there is no such person as Tom Egan. Rocky just uses the persona of the non-existant co-sysop when he wants to tell someone to "go to hell!". She tells me that he even changes clothes and speaks with a different voice when he assumes the Tom personality. Very strange. The most extreme case is Bob (psuedonymn) who runs a private board. If you irritate Bob then he will have an FCC agent come out to your home with a bonafide search warrant and they will confiscate your modem. Then the FCC agents will roam around your neighborhood asking your neighbors whether or not they have ever seen you doing anything strange such as wearing clothing of your opposite sex. (Everybody lives close to some old lady with binoculars, and the guys at the FCC know this.) I don't know where he gets this kind of clout but I'm not so sure that I want to know either. (Rumor is that he's ex-CIA.) How about that "LZ Birmingham", hosted by Loren Levson and various other ex-Hitler Youth? At LZ they have three levels of conferences. The pretense is that anyone can use the main conference, only veteran supporters get to use the Supporters conference, and only actual veterans get to use the Veteran's conference. This is (if I may use the words of Brett Thorn) "blatant bullshit". I had access to the other conferences at one time and all they do in the other conferences is plot new strategies for textually assaulting the unsuspecting "liberal pinko fags" that sign on to the main conference. I was "exterminated" from the higher level conferences when they found out that I once dated a girl whose mother was present at a peace rally back in October of 1965. How's that for strict? I don't know about the rest of you but I think that we users should not put up with this kind of abuse. I think that we should stand up for our user rights and demand considerate treatment. A boycott is what we need! We could arrange an hour of modem silence just as a warning. Let me know what you think. My name is Fred Smith and I can be reached on the "The Jokes on You BBS", 24 hours at 930-5689. The Joke BBS gives unlimited time on all ten nodes with no bothersome upload/download ratio. What is better, IT HAS NO SYSOP! You see, it runs on a Timex-Sinclair 1000 that made its way to the the Jimmie Hale mission after it was struck by lightning at a nuclear waste site that was visited by extraterrestrials. But that's another story. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Amiga on the Loose (c) 1988 by Richard Foshee There seem to be a lot of people in the computing community that are curious about this relatively new machine by Commodore Business Machines, so here I am to try and help you all understand what the Amiga is, and hopefully some information about it. Approximately 4 years ago, Commodore released this "fantastic" new machine that was capable of amazing computing power never before seen in a micro computer. These included, literally thousands of colors (actually shades of colors), a multi-tasking operating system, and multitudes of expandability options. At this same time, Atari was about to release it's new machine, that would supposedly keep them up with Commodore, but that's another article all together. As the Amiga became better known, and Commodore's user base grew, rumors began to surface about it, and a lot of these rumors were circulated as absolute fact. Some of these rumors were, the Amiga was a nice GAME machine, and was not capable of anything else, or that it was extremely limited in a variety of other areas. But enough of the rumors, here is some absolute fact. The Amiga uses a Motorola 68000 chip, as it's central processor, and is capable of producing 4096 shades of colors in HAM mode (Hold And Modify), which is a special graphics mode that allows the machine to display all 4096 colors simultaneously. It also has several other graphics modes, in which, 32 colors are the maximum allowed. Although now there are many paint programs that use what is called "Extra Half Brite Mode" which will allow up to 64 colors to be shown. All of the Amiga's, in addition to the 68000 chip, have three additional chips, which each have a specific job to perform, totally independent of the 68000 itself. Because of these chips, the 68000 can perform whatever function is required of it, while the other 3 can perform there own thing. These chips are, a graphics, animation, and stereo sound chip, as well as a blitter chip, which assists in drawing graphics. The Amiga has a clock speed of 7.16 MHZ, which is quite enough for whatever tasks you may set before it. The Amiga, when first released, could access up to 8.0 MEGS of RAM, this has since been upgraded to 9.5 MEG. All Amiga model's come with an internal 880K disk drive, and more can be added fairly inexpensively. For the first time, Commodore has used industry STANDARD ports on their machines, a definite turnaround for CBM. Due to this change, Commodore machines can now use a great many extras previously not available to the earlier Commodore machines, such as hard disks, modems, and printers, without having to spend that extra money on interfaces. Well, I see this article is getting a bit long, so I will have to finish up. There are currently 3 Amiga models in release, with more coming soon. There should be at least one model in anyone's price range. Ranging from $500 and up for the Amiga 500, or if you have an extravagant taste, the Amiga 2000 starting at $2195 (Suggested retail). If you get the change to see a demonstration of any Amiga, don't miss it, you won't regret the experience......... If anyone has any questions or comments, address your comments to CoSysop One on the Pinson Valley BBS....... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- PRO FILE by Chris Mohney The Pro File is a short, half-serious biographical sketch given to various computer telecommunications personalities around Birmingham. Victims are selected randomly from a group of names put into the notorious Hat. Anyone who thinks himself brave or witty enough may petition for admittance to the Hat by leaving E-Mail to me (Chris Mohney, most boards around town) to that effect. Anyone who wishes to suggest more questions or sneakily nominate someone without their knowledge may take the same route .... --------- Pro File on JAY ENTERKIN --------- Age: 30 Birthplace: Panama City, Florida Occupation: System Support Analyst My hobbies include: Reading, tennis, hiking, frisbee, photography, strategy games, coin collecting, and of course BBS's and computers. Years telecomputing: less than one year (since 3/88) Sysop, past of: NEMESIS Private Host My oddest habit is: I have too many unusual habits to single one out. My greatest unfulfilled ambitions are: to be an outstanding parent, to get in top shape (physically fit) and to write a book. My favorite performers are: Rolling Stones (at least thru 1981). The last good movie I saw was Windwalker. The last good book I read was The President's Wife (about Rachel Jackson). If they were making a movie of my life, I'd like to see my part played by: Ben Murphy, in de-elevator shoes, or Michael J. Fox in elevator shoes. My pet peeves are: bureaucratic red tape, network television, arrogance, crowds, waiting in line, parents who behave worse than their children but have no patience with them. When nobody's looking, I like to: rock out with 60s and 70s music. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Dixie SysNet by Bill Freeman %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % Dixie SysNet SysOp Meeting % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % % For ALL Bulletin Board System Operators % % % % Saturday, January 14th 9:00 AM % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % % % Shoney's Restaurant % % 412 18th Street South % % Birmingham, Alabama % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % Topics to be discussed: % % % % Bulletin Board Publicity: How to % % Let Users Know Your Board is There. % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The Dixie SysNet: what is it? All who have seen the welcome screen to The Connection BBS have seen it proudly proclaimed that it is a member of The Dixie SysNet. Until now, it has not been a whole lot. After meeting with several sysops and users at a BTN gathering and contacting several local boards, The sysop of The Connection, Bill Freeman, is going to try to establish a formal organization for local sysops. Just what this organization will provide is still to be answered, hopefully by a consensus among those present at the aforementioned meeting. There have been several good ideas tossed around for discussion at the meeting. Sharing information on bbs related subjects and providing advice and assistance to new sysops are but a few of the topics that have been mentioned by Bill and others who have expressed an interest in his idea. If you have any interest in this idea, please make every attempt to attend this meeting as its outcome may vastly improve the potential for telecommunications business and fun in Birmingham. If you just would like to meet some sysops, yes they are human, for the most part, then you may attend for that reason alone. Keep an open mind and see what happens! PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND! IF YOU CAN READ THIS, THEN YOU ARE INVITED! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- MESSAGE BOARD by Barry Bowden J A N U A R Y 1 9 8 9 S M T W T F S +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ !1 !2 !3 !4 !5 !6 !7 ! !New Year's! ! ! ! ! ! ! !Day ! ! ! ! ! ! BAC ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ !8 !9 !10 !11 !12 !13 !14 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! BCCC ! ! CCS-C64/ ! ! ! ! BAC ! ! ! ! C128 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ !15 !16 !17 !18 !19 !20 !21 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !Martin ! CSS-Amiga! ¡ ! BEPCUG ! BAC ! ! !Luther ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !King, Jr. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !Day ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ !22 !23 !24 !25 !26 !27 !28 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! BCCC ! ! CSS-C64/ ! ! ! ! BAC ! ! ! ! C128 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ !29 !30 !31 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ BEPCUG CCS Birmingham East PC Users Group Commodore Club South Jefferson State Jr. College Springville Road Library RUBY Carson Bldg. 1st Floor-Computer Lab Huffman, Alabama 3rd Friday of Every Month 2nd and 4th Tuesday (C64/C128) 5:30PM to 9:00PM 3rd Monday (Amiga) Paula Ballard 853-1200,ext 1463 (Days) 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM Maurice Lovelady 684-6843 BCCC BAC Birmingham Commodore Computer Club Birmingham Apple Core P. O. Box 59564 POB 5542 Birmingham, Alabama 35259 Birmingham, Alabama 32555 UAB School of Ed. Bldg. Room 153 Regular meetings - 1st Sunday 2nd and 4th Sundays UAB Building #2, Rm 115 at 2PM Starts at 2:00 PM Informal get-every Saturday Emmett Ferretti 823-3987 morning at 8:30AM at the Rusty Hargett 854-5172 Kopper Kettle in the Brookwood annex next to AC3 Boris Datnow, Bill Bankson P. O. Box 5542, Birmingham, AL 35255 Thomas Woods 664-0708 If you belong to or know of a user group that is not listed, please let us know by sending E-Mail to me, Barry Bowden, on The Bus System BBS. Please leave the following information : User Group Name Meeting Place Meeting Time(Day/date,Time) Contact Person Any Other Important Information ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Known BBS Numbers For The Birmingham Area NAME NUMBER BAUD RATES SUPPORTED 68FREE 933-7518 300, 1200 America Online Nodes 1-3 324-0193 300, 1200, 2400 America Online Node 4 251-2344 300, 1200, 2400 American BBS 674-1851 300, 1200, 2400 Bus System BBS 595-1627 300, 1200, 2400 Channel 8250 785-7417 300, 1200, 2400 Club Phoenix 942-0252 300, 1200, 2400 D3 Systems BBS 663-2759 300, 1200, 2400 Duck Pond BBS 822-0956 300, 1200, 2400 Elite Empire 967-8479 300, 1200, 2400 Fortress BBS 664-9040 300, 1200 Joker's Castle 744-6120 300, 1200, 2400 LZ Birmingham 870-7770 300, 1200, 2400 Magnolia BBS 854-6407 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 Nouveaux BBS 871-5551 300, 1200, 2400 Pinson Valley Node 1 854-9661 300, 1200, 2400 Pinson Valley Node 2 854-9662 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 Primary One 853-1175 300, 1200 ProSoft Systems BBS 853-8718 300, 1200, 2400 Role Player's Paradise 631-7654 300, 1200, 2400 Smitty's BBS 849-7349 300, 1200 ST BBS 836-9311 300, 1200, 2400 Sperry BBS 853-6144 300, 1200, 2400, 9600 The Connection Node 1 854-9074 1200, 2400 The Connection Node 2 854-2308 1200, 2400 The Outer Limits 969-3262 300, 1200, 2400 The Professional's Board 856-0679 300, 1200, 2400 The Realm Of Tarot BBS 870-7776 300, 1200 Twilight Zone 856-3783 300, 1200 Willie's DYM Node 1 979-1629 300, 1200, 2400 Willie's DYM Node 2 979-7739 300, 1200, 2400 Willie's RBBS 979-7743 300, 1200, 2400 Ziggy Unaxess 991-5696 300, 1200