Bob Shannon of Mendocino, California wrote the first Bulletin board system (BBS) for the Commodore VIC-20. His BBS, "Electric Magazine" 1982 was written in BASIC on a machine which was thought by many to be a game machine and not a serious computer. Shannon's BBS software sold over 4000 copies in about two years.
"Electric Magazine" came with a large book that instructed buyers and users in how to alter the program to make it look like their own personal program. Many users altered enough code to actually copyright the program under their own name. Many of the subroutines were cut and pasted in the old fashioned method and new versions appeared on a weekly basis from all over the country.
In 1984 Kathy Yakal, an associate editor of COMPUTE!'s Gazette wrote and article about "BBS Fever" and Mr. Shannon's system was included in that article. Mr Shannon ported his software over to the Commodore 64 computer and later to the Amiga. In 1984 he attempted a version of his software on a Kaypro CP/M but it was not successful. He later attempted to port it over to the IBM, but neither IBM nor Kaypro users were interested in BBS programs at that time. Commodores remained strong sellers, however. He is now retired from programming and lives with his wife of 40 years in a cabin in the mountains in the state of Washington.
There have been many BBS programs written over many years for many computers.
My Electric Magazine was written for the VIC20 late in 1981, NOT 1982 as I had
thought. My wife and I found a sales receipt book which we had thought was
missing for years.
A number of folks wish to contend that my BBS was not the first for
personal computers and that discussion is ongoing. On the other hand there are a
number of folks who do remember my BBS as the first one for personal computers.
The operator word here is "personal". We tended not to call these machines
personal computers but simply computers and they were expensive. It was very
hard to find another person in the cities and towns who owned one because to
them it was all Greek.
Apple enthusiasts claimed that their Apples were real computers for
business and not game machines which they dubbed anything other than an Apple.
The Apple came out before the Commodore but sold only a small amount for
personal use, allowing Commodore a wonderful market to bring computers in the
home. Atari was the only thing I would have called a game machine.
This article contains some small errors but is generally correct ie:
Electric Magazine was actually written on and for a Commodore Vic
20
Article implies Tony Ott was online at or before, however Electric
Magazine went online in 1982
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"Halfway across the country from Tony Ott, Bob Shannon lives and works in a house on the beach near Fort Bragg, California, about 150 miles north of San Francisco. He's the sysop of Electric Magazine, a BBS designed in a magazine format. Callers can get updates on local news, read and leave messages, and read columns on a number of topics. Shannon has sold his BBS software to almost 400 people, and keeps in close contact with his sysops through phone calls and a monthly newsletter. He charges $39.95 for the software, unless it's requested by someone who plans to use it for communications between the handicapped. His most recent donation went to a group in Israel, who plan to translate it into Hebrew and set up a BBS for the deaf. "Because it's so much fun, I probably spend more time on upkeep of the board than most sysops do," says Shannon. "It's fun because of the contact with people, and because I'm making enough money to start my own little business." Five years ago. Shannon wasn't even able to consider such things. Severely brain-damaged from an industrial accident in the late sixties, he was confined to his home for ten years. Thanks to advances in psychiatric medication. Shannon started to recover a few years ago. He bought a Commodore 64 and began teaching himself to program. "I had read Toffler's The Third Wave about three years ago, and remembered how he talked about new entrepreneurships with home computers," he says. Shannon began to wonder if he could do something with computers that was fulfilling and profitable. He contacted the State Department of Rehabilitation, which told him about a program called PASS (Plan to Achieve Self-Support). By enrolling in it, he could still receive his Social Security disability pay for three years while trying to start a business. Shannon had logged on to other BBS systems (Bob: Not what I told her but since she made me considerable money I never brought it up) , and was intrigued by the idea of writing his own. He wrote his own program in about two weeks and went on-line last November 1982 using a Commodore 64, a 1541 disk drive (which has run perfectly ever since), and an autoanswer modem. His BBS software has sold so well, he thinks, "because it's a 14K BASIC program, very easy to tailor. I think its simplicity is kind of a selling point. The board can develop the personality of the sysop. You could look at my boards running all over the country and they don't look at all like mine." With the money he's made from the sale of his program, Shannon is in the process of setting up his own software store in Fort Bragg. But he has no plans to abandon the Electric Magazine, or the daily contact he has with his sysops. "After so many years of disability, it's terribly enjoyable" COMPUTES' GAZETTE Nov 1984 |