"The Microbe II BBS started as Microbe BBS a place for a friend of mine to be able to experience using a BBS and to stay in touch. It soon become a source of information for those of similar computer or technical interests. The II designation was added when the BBS moved from a TRS-80 Model 1 running dual floppies to a Model 4P that grew to 3 floppy drives and an external 20 MEG HD. 20 Meg was a lot of strage at that time. I still have a working Full size 5 MEG drive I had used. Later the BBS ran on an 8086 IBM clone,an 8088 then an 80286, an Amiga and finally grew to using a Lantastic network of computers with a W.O.R.M. drive,several CD changers, 5 computers with 9 hard drives,3 transceivers and assorted TNCs. A Sola UPS and several Everex Streaming Tape drives became part of the system. "The members laughed when AOL first started sending those floppies advertising "50,000 files online", as Microbe II BBS had over 240,000 at that point in time and all of them freeware, shareware or public domain. Several were written by the members. Multiple door programs ranging from games through standalone programs never intended to be remote accessed thanks to a utility program and amateur radio callsign lookups were added along with various batch processes to allow files to be added automatically which were obtained from a C baseband satellite feed.
"A Msys radio BBS with 2 meter,220 and 440 transceivers was linked into the lan shortly there after. Licensed amatuers could enter either landline or radio BBS system and use the other system. Many different BBS programs were used over the years, including Fido, Citadel and BBS-PC. Other names escape me at the moment. Operating systems linked included DOS 3.3 , OS/2, Windows 3.11 and of course Amiga Dos. Wildcat was the last BBS software used on the landline side after the systems took a devastating lightning strike. We didn't hear the boom first, just a sound like an arc welder and the lights going out...then a terrific boom and the smell of burnt electronics. Not one of my better days in history. Fortunately nothing caught fire, they just smoldered.
"After that disaster a scaled back system was used until my MIS career and second job became too demanding. I ceased operations in the Spring of 2002. The fun and experimentation of running various systems paid off in good friends and career advancement oppertunity. I've served as a network admin on a 3600 node system spanning 24 countries and currently manage IT, Telcom and network security for a defense industry company among other things. I still enjoy "playing" with computers over the last 34 years but not neccessarily enjoying all their users. :-{ I still have my TRS-80s,Amiga and other computers including an old Sperry-Univac BC/7. I now relax commuting to and from work on my ZX14 Ninja after a few years of a ZX-12R. Growing older is no excuse not to have fun!
"Your website is a trip down memory lane! Keep up the good work!" - Bob Moore
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717-253-4354
GETTYSBURG, PA |
DENTAL CONNECTION
, Freedom Network
(1986-1989) |
Sherwood Tucker | |
|
717-263-2213
CHAMBERSBURG, PA |
The Explorer BBS
(1985-1988) |
Eric Peacock | FoReM XL |
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717-265-6104
LEWISTOWN (MIFFLIN), PA |
J & R Software
(1988) |
| Wildcat |
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717-273-2034
LEBANON, PA |
Phoenix Project
(1987-1988) |
Silver Hawke | GBBS Pro |
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717-273-6704
LEBANON, PA |
The Yacht Club
(1986) |
Masked Marauder | Ascii Express |
|
Home of "The Legion", as declared on the Pirate's Den 1200 AE List (December 23, 1986)
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717-284-5099
RAWLINSVILLE, PA |
Support Svcs
(1989) |
| |
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717-347-6297
Scranton, PA |
The Razor's Edge
(1989-1991) |
Chris Moughan | Quick BBS |
|
"I ran the BBS on an 8088 Leading Edge PC. It had a 2400 baud modem and a huge 40 meg hard drive. It was a dedicated line and ran 24 hours a day. At it's peak there was 213 registered users. I miss those days." - Chris Moughan
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717-354-5027
East Earl, PA |
Rabbit Hutch
(1988-1997) |
John Strittmatter | STadel3.3 |
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717-355-9173
NEW HOLLAND, PA |
Eat Mangoes! & S0S BBS, SOS
(1989-1992) |
Steve & Jason | STadel-PC3.3, CitK2NEv5.10 |
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717-367-7848
ELIZABETHTOWN, PA |
Hello Systems Net
(1986) |
Ray Sabb | |
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717-394-1357
LANCASTER, PA |
LABB
(1987-1996) |
Jerry Shenk | dBBS
|
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717-429-2724
DELTA, PA |
St. Clair SLBBS
(1989-1992) |
| |
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717-454-4220
Hazelton, PA |
Mission:Impossible BBS
(1986) |
Rich Green | |
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717-464-0518
WILLOW STREET, PA |
The MacHonorSystem BBS
(1988) |
| Red Ryder Host |
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717-489-5819
Jessup, PA |
Valley View BBS
(1983-1992) |
Tom Clark | |
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717-489-8001
Throop, PA |
The Budland Express
(1983-1993) |
RIchard Jones, Richard Jones | EBBS128 |
|
"Budland used a modified version of EBBS128 software for C= 128. With the 64K limitation of the P compiler, I had to branch the software into 8 different modules which handled different tasks, much like what was called "Doors" in the IBM world at the time. The doors consisted of 10 message boards, 10 download areas, a private download area, system reporting, intrusion detection analysis to see what was being attacked. I updated the script to use a 2400 baud Multi-Tech modem through a userport serial adapter. It ran on four 3.5" floppy drives, 3 for storage, and 1 for the system. Over the 10 years, it answered over 30,000 calls. It was a popular site for messages. I would often talk to users and then they would leave messages as well. Had many friendships from the board." - Rich Jones
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717-534-1460
HERSHEY, PA |
The Library
(1987-1988) |
| GBBS Pro |
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717-540-8570
PAXTONIA, PA |
Pa Connection, Pennsylvania Connection
(1989-1994) |
George Borg | |
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717-560-1750
Elizabethtown, PA |
The Tusk
(1988-1998) |
Mike Dissinger | |
|
"The BBS continued to run until 1998. It ran on an Amiga 3000 using a BBS package called DLG." - Christopher Aymar
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717-561-8145
PAXTANG, PA |
TEC-BOARD, Tec-Board UNIX, TEC-Board,Unix
(1989-1996) |
Bob Lester | RBBS |
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717-561-8150
PAXTANG, PA |
MegaBoard RBBS XXX 153m, Megaboard ]I[, Megaboard ][, Megaboard ]I[
(1987-1994) |
Eric Givler | |
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717-563-1279
|
Outer Perimeter PCB1 REL 80m, The Outer Perimeter
(1989-1994) |
Jeff Wolfe | PCBoard |
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717-564-9519
PAXTANG, PA |
CrossFire
(1989-1992) |
Tim Geisweit | |
|
717-569-9967
EAST PETERSBURG, PA |
Byte Bucket
(1984-1990) |
Joe Calkins | Custom |
|
"This was a great BBS that was run on a mainframe that the SYSOP's father had. The program was made by the sysop. Had great message boards with tipics like Creation vs. Evolution, The Flamingo Club and more. There was a section for jokes, but you couldn't name any specific race or group... so you had to say "random ethnic" like "a random ethnic is being chased by the KKK" and stuff. Great BBS." - Eric Anderson
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717-586-2112
|
BULLET-80 Clarks Summit
(1982-1983) |
| |
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717-588-7549
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AZTEC Books/Pocono Mtn/ParaNet Gateway, AZTEC's Pocono Mountain BBS, Parallax/Para Network Omicron, Parallax/ParaNet Omicron, Pocono Mountain BBS, Pocono Mtn/ParaNet Gateway, PoconoMountain, PoconoMtn
, Tenochtitlan
(1989-1997) |
Paul Faeder, Paul6 Faeder | QuickBBS
|
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717-588-7636
Bushkill, PA |
The Enterprise BBS
(1985-1990) |
Russel Miranda, Robert Miranda | Various On C64, Amiga |
|
"This Enterprise BBS started on a C64 with CNet64 software and two C1541 (170K) disk drives, later including a C1581 (880K). In 1987 it was moved to an Amiga and included packages that briefly included Atredes, then switched to Paragon/Starnet/MEBBS as that package transformed and changed owners. On the Amiga, Russel Miranda wrote the MailStorm FidoNet mail processor that was later donated to the MEBBS version of the BBS product by William (Bill) Bowling. Robert Miranda (me) contributed ZTick (FileBone control) to the 3rd party FidoNet utilities provided with MEBBS, which was a complete rework of an earlier Starnet-based effort by Russel Miranda. The BBS later was seen online as per your records as GVP BBS (215) and Phoenix BBS (717) through 1994. Also, I know there was another 717-223-based BBS during the mid-80's for about 2 years (85-87 I think), run by Ed Chrissey, and was located in the area now known now as 'Foxmoore' between Marshals Creek and Bushkill, PA., but the name is eluding me at the moment. This BBS was popular because Alan Davenport (Al's Cabin 717), who wrote an offshoot of the popular Tradewars game (later renamed to Yankee Trader), was friends with the sysop. It was very popular because the 223 exchange was free to the Bushkill/Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg area and also to many of the Mount Pocono area. "Another note: Pocono BBS, Don Isenberg - was operating much longer than you have listed (at least since 1985, and possibly earler) and claimed to be the longest running Pocono area BBS. I attended many User/Sysop parties during the time and knew him wel back then. I can also confirm most of your info on Paul Faeder's PoconoMtn BBS, as I knew him, and he lived in the Pine Ridge private community at the time, next to mine. A note about the Motherboard franchise of pirate BBS's: Bart Kaplan was the Sysop and 'franchiser', originating in NY, but moved to Royersford, PA for about 6 months in 1989-90 timeframe. It ran on the latest USR modems in basic-box '386's that used Novell Netware 2x linked with 10Base-2 Ethernet. He was a roomate for 7-8 months and a co-worker during that time. "One final note - Joe Mollica of various BBS's at 215-551-1485 was in operation from 1987 when he retured from the armed services that year and returned home to his native Philadelphia. His Philadelphia Amiga Users Group BBS incarnation was run on an Amiga 2000 with 5 high speed lines, and was supplemented by Great Valley Products (Amiga 3rd party HW developer in Paoli/King of Prussia) with hard disks, 68030/68040 processor cards, and high speed serial ports, and ran Paragon/Starnet/MEBBS from 1989 onward. His was one of the few BBS's in the area (excluding the specialized configuration the Z1C George Peace had) at the time that could handle a week's FidoNet mail feed off the satelite backbone feed when it occasionally had problems." - Robert Miranda
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717-597-7105
GREENCASTLE, PA |
Hackers Corner
(1988) |
| Red Ryder Host |
|
717-632-4385
HANOVER, PA |
TeleCommunicator
(1989-1990) |
| |
|
717-657-2223
Harrisburg, PA |
Future Zonegate, Net270 Mail System, North America, The Other BBS, The Other BBS [Mail], The Other BBS 1:1/0
(1989-1994) |
George Peace, Z1C | |
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Fidonet Zone Coordinator for North America 1:1/0
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717-657-4992
Harrisburg, PA |
WIZ/TIB, Wizard Systems, Wiz/Tib TI/99 BBS
(1980-1994) |
John Core, Dave Ratcliffe, David Ratcliffe | Custom |
|
"1st BBS in Harrisburg area. Started with 110 baud. Mentioned in an AP story in several newspapers and a blurb in Time magazine. Near the end we were supporting Telebit PEP modems and were offering usenet and fidonet through a Pagesat satellite feed. Users dialed the main number (had several roll-over lines) and could select several different systems to log into. Often copied by others who claimed the changes were their idea. Most notibly by the library out of Hershey. We were also one of the test locations for AT&T's new service - caller ID which made it a lot of fun when abusers called and we knew who they were and called them back. "Wizards keep (general board) DYM#42 (sort of a fun matchmaker service) The Pit (online fantasy role playing game) the data factory (dedicated to TI99 users)." "We also sponsored a yearly Halloween party with people comming from several states away. System started with 8 apple II's and a corvus network. Ended with a Unix server." - John Core
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717-657-4997
PAXTONIA, PA |
WIZ/TIB
(1987-1989) |
| |
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717-657-8699
Harrisburg, PA |
Africa Gate, Central Pa HUB, FTPhub Distribuion, Harrisburg HUB, Oceania Gate, PA Online, Pa Online!, Penna. Online!, Penna.6Online! 8, Pennsylvania Online!, Ramblin' Wizard RCP/M (FOG System #10), The Other BBS, The Other BBS [Opus], FOG-10
(1981-2000) |
George Peace, peace | TBBS
, TBBS 2.3 |
|
From the September 1994 issue of Boardwatch: Harris-burg, Pennsylvania since 08/81. Sysop: George Peace. Using TBBS 2.2 with 16 lines on MS-DOS with 10000 MB storage. Hayes at 28800 bps. $8 Monthly fee. The gathering place for everyone. Files, chat, Internet, and more. The full FidoNet backbone and filebone and all Usenet Newsgroups are available. Inexpensive UUCP Accounts. Visa/MC. CP/M + Software. PRASCA Member. CP/M + Software. PRASCA Member.
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717-677-9573
BIGLERVILLE, PA |
THE DEAD BOARD
(1987) |
| |
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717-681-2620
COLUMBIA, PA |
Info World PC-MOS 386
(1989) |
| |
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717-686-2932
|
Guitarzan's, The Wammybar
(1989-1990) |
John Graziano | |
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717-686-3037
|
Al's Cabin, Fort Benning
(1989-1997) |
Alan Davenport, Al Davenport | |
|
717-697-3717
MECHANICSBURG, PA |
Genesis, Genesis 1st State, Genesis First State, Genesis PCBoard
(1985-1996) |
Gary Thurlow | PCBoard
|
|
717-697-7601
MECHANICSBURG, PA |
Aircomm ]I[, Reach OUT Bbs
(1989-1990) |
Larry Barnes | |
|
717-731-8966
CAMP HILL, PA |
The Cat's Castle BBS
(1988-1990) |
Dale Fedorchik | Wildcat |
|
717-757-4141
York, PA |
Bits & Bytes BBS, Bits 'N Bytes, Bits 'N Bytes BBS
(1989-1997) |
Bryan Leaman, Bryan S Leaman | PCBoard
|
|
From the September 1994 issue of Boardwatch: York, Pennsylvania since 09/89. Sysop: Bryan S Leaman. Using PCBoard 15.1 with 3 lines on MS-DOS with 3300 MB storage. US Robotics at 16800 bps. $23 Annual fee. Large MS-DOS file library including SIMTEL-20 Internet FTP archive, Internet E-Mail, Usenet newsgroups, RIME mail network, up-to-date NOAA weather forecasts, a wide variety of online games. multinode chat. New users receive instant access.
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717-759-1693
|
Columbia County HUB, Ne Pa, NePa BBS
(1989-1994) |
David Clark | |
|
717-763-0409
CAMP HILL, PA |
Pennsylvania Emergency Medical System, Pennsylvania EMS
(1989-1994) |
| |
|
717-763-8210
CAMP HILL, PA |
The Public Service BBS
(1989-1990) |
Chip Kroh | |
|
717-794-5268
Blue Ridge Summit, PA |
DEC-CATT-HOUSE
(1986) |
Bob Catt | |
|
717-839-9306
|
Pocono BBS
(1989-1992) |
Don Isenberg | |
|
717-845-5623
YORK, PA |
Staying In Touch
(1989) |
| Wildcat |
|
717-868-5435
Mountaintop, PA |
The Party Line, The Party Line BBS
(1985-1994) |
Jami Chism | MajorBBS |
|
717-876-4721
Archbald, PA |
N.E.P.A.T.S.
(1981-1985) |
John Hutchey | HBBS |
|
717-938-5568
LEWISBERRY, PA |
Microlink II, Privateer ]I[
(1987-1989) |
Craig Beible | |
|
717-944-0655
MIDDLETOWN, PA |
Bethlehem/Easton/Allentown/Reading, Central PA Net, Lebanon Area, Mdtn BBS, Mdtn BBS Post Office, Mdtn BBS [Node #1], mdtnbbs.com, Middletown BBS, Net270 Mail System, The Way Station, Way Station
(1987-1999) |
Gary Rux, garux | Opus
|
|
717-944-6604
MIDDLETOWN, PA |
Aircomm ]I[
(1989) |
Larry Barnes | |
|
717-944-6876
MIDDLETOWN, PA |
Dino ][, GHANET, NEC Central PA
(1988-1998) |
Tom Wagner | RBBS |
|
717-944-6877
MIDDLETOWN, PA |
DINO II RBBS, Dino ][, GHANET, NEC Central PA, Dino ][
(1987-1994) |
Tom Wagner | |
|
717-948-0212
MIDDLETOWN, PA |
Central PA Net, Lebanon Area, M'town BBS, Mdtn BBS, Mdtn BBS [Node #2], Middletown BBS, Net270 Mail System
(1987-1999) |
Gary Rux | |
|
717-992-2631
|
Pennsoft BBS, PennSoft PCBoard
(1989-1994) |
Peter Harrison | PCBoard |
|
46 Sysops currently listed.
59 BBSes Listed.
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