From the September 1994 issue of Boardwatch: Verona, New Jersey since 03/83. Sysop: Mark Rapp. Using PCBoard 15.2 with 11 lines on MS-DOS 80486 with 5100 MB storage. Hayes at 28800 bps. No fee. PCBoard 15.x alpha site. NJ's preferred BBS for the professional 11 yrs running. HiSpeed lines for easy access. Gold mine of the best-quality, latest files, games, info. Many mail networks including Internet. Trial access provided. Major credit cards.
As of this writing (September 2001), a single attempt to call the system was made. Unfortunately, only endless rings were heard from the other end of the phone. It is possible that this system has finally retired." - Brian Bernstein "Northlink actually began in 1982. In 1985, it switched software to Color64, and ran that for the entire rest of its run, from 1985 to 2005. It was always a 300/1200 baud BBS, though I remember some talk of trying to get it to hit 2400. The hardware, if I remember right, was a regular old C64 with a RAMLink and a CMD HD-200. After some temporary downtime in 2003 due to aging hardware and the health issues of the sysop, it finally went down permanently in 2005. The sysop, Bruce Travers, passed away in 2008 from complications related to cancer and heart disease. He was a good guy. I actually have some buffered message board postings from the 1993-1994 period, mostly of Bruce talking about the history of the board. It's in PETSCII format because it was a Commodore board, so I'm not sure how to best go about translating that to something that doesn't look bizarre, but you're welcome to it if you'd like." - AJH
A noteworthy item about this system was that it featured special access areas for students and faculty of Drew University." - Brian Bernstein
BEACON STUDIOS BBS, 201.863.5253, Union City. M with 23 lines @14.4K. 14 CDRom's of files. 2 International Chat hook ups nightly. Games, E-Mail the world through the Internet, Fidonel, Majornet, Worldlink and Chatlink, Tailored memberships available. Tech support 201.863.5603 - BBS Magazine October 1995
TRI-STATE, Northeast's Largest Growing System, 7 lines, 1-201-935-8634, Up to 19,200, Mail, BBS Links, Live Conferences and more. - BBS Magazine November, 1994 TRI-STATE, Northeast's Largest Growing System. 7 iines, 1-201-935-8634, Up to 19.200. Mail, BBS Links, Live Conferences and more. - BBS Magazine March, 1995
"Yes, Ron's BBS was originally on a Zeus-4 and then various Commodore machines (mostly Amigas). I think he might have had the Unix clone (Xenix if I remember right) on a PC for a while. It also used C-Net software for a good portion of the time it was up. Ron's own code was mostly just on the Zeus and then (extensive) expansions on C-Net." - Conrad Dunkerson, in a message to Gerhard Bartsch (Der Strand BBS). Both good friends of Ron's..." "I am the original Sysop of The Dragon's Weyr BBS, as well as the author of DragonSoft BBS upon which it ran. The software was originally written for a 4-user CP/M-MP/M machine and migrated its way up into the world of IBM-PC's (running multi-user under DesqView) before I released the source code to Neil Clark of 2AM-BBS fame for him to use however he saw fit. The BBS in all its phases always ran at least two phone lines plus usually had at least two additional terminals in-house for locals and visitors to connect all at the same time." - Sauron
The following BBSes have been given some sort of comment, either by automatic
software that found deeper descriptions of a BBS, or mailed-in comments from
the System Operators. It is presented to give a better idea of the thoughts
behind some of the BBSes.
201-226-0623
The Hidden Stronghold
(1987-1992)Andy Young GBBS Pro
"The Hidden Stronghold was a GBBS Pro system for trading Apple ][ software. This system made good use of the ProTERM emulation setting on Apple terminal software. It was a good system." - Brian Bernstein
201-239-0001
Verona, NJ MicroSellar BBS
(1983-1996)Mark Rapp, Verona, New Jersey since 03/83 PCBoard
, PCBoard 15.2
From the January 1996 issue of Boardwatch: PCBoard 15.x alpha site. NJ's preferred BBS for the Pro 12 yrs running. 20+ hi-speed 28.8K lines. Charter m ember BBS Direct provides local access #'s for easy access. Best quality latest files games info gold mine. Many mail networks including Internet. Trial access provided. Major credit cards.
201-256-7499
West Paterson, NJ The AJAX (Extra Strength) BBS, The Ajax
(1990-1994)Alan Kobb Auntie BBS
"I ran Ajax from 1990 through 1994. For a time, Auntie was the only BBS in New Jersey with a dedicated Scuba Diver's section. Also covered computer hardware and software and adult discussions (more toward politics and religion than sex.) I eventually shut down the BBS when it started to take too much time to run it according to my own standards. (I insisted on checking each uploaded file and message.) The main reason for running the BBS was to meet people, make friends and learn. I did all of those. I used Auntie BBS Software written by Wes Meier of the Walnut Creek BBS in California. Auntie was unique in offering excellent Sysop control and logging, the best fully-threaded message base around, and doorway access." - Alan Kobb
201-327-7808
Allendale, NJ Eastern Alliance
(1983-1987)The Tracer Customized Tele-Cat ][ + Ascii Express
"Ran 202/212 AppleCat as well as USR 9600HST, Sider 20 Meg Hard Drive. Distro Point for PPG, Digital Gang and First Class for Apple Warez. Interactive gaming for credit and intergrated ASCII Express module to count download sectors won in gaming area." - James Wynen, "The Tracer"
201-327-8245
Ramsey, NJ Hotel California
(1982-1988)Curt Stapleton RBBS, Colossus, Wildcat!
"Started with an IBM PC, 640K and hayes smartmodem (300 baud). System upgrades over time: Quadram quadboard, Hercules graphics card, Peachtree 10MB hard disk, 1200 baud hayes smartmodem. 24/7 (except when I was playing games or my dad actually had to use it for work)." - Curt Stapleton
201-335-2253
Hasbrough Heights, NJ InfoHost Demo BBS
(1993)A-Comm Electronics Inc.
Demo BBS for InfoHost BBS Software - Multiline - Database
201-337-1327
Franklin Lakes, NJ FLEUG, Franklin Lakes ROS, The Data Exchange, The Data Exchange BBS
(1984-1995)John Dougherty RoboBoard
, RCPM, ROS (Remote Operating System), MBBS, Worldgroup
"The BBS originally started out as the FLEUG (Franklin Lakes Epson Users Group) running the RCPM (Remote C/PM) BBS. The BBS ran only at night (yes, I used the computer during the day) for users of the Epson QX-10 computer and also supported the Epson series of printers. The board originally started out running on two 360K floppy drives; the first drive held the BBS programs and message areas, and the second drive would hold the support programs, text files & utilities. The main problem I had with the RCPM software was the fact that people had direct access to your computer and its drives and user areas. When I decided to install a hard disk, I switched to the brand new ROS BBS software, since it handled the bulletin board operations without allowing users direct access to your hard drive areas. I changed to an MSDOS system about the same time as the ROS software author, so ROS was ported to the MSDOS operating system (about 1985~1986) and I continued to run that. ROS soon was able to handle two nodes running under a multitasking software (DoubleDOS, Desqview) so I installed another phone line, bought a newer computer and another modem and let the BBS to run 24 hours a day. I Switched to MBBS around February 1990, mainly because of the ability to run multi-node operation on a single computer. I had 10 nodes up and running when I finally shut the system down on April 1995. I saw the writing on the wall; there was really no need for local BBS systems when you have the World Wide Web available." - John Dougherty
201-337-9214
Oakland, NJTwilight Manor BBS
(1984-1986)-=>shadow<=- (Pete Murphy) FoReM BBS
"I was a pretty young teenager when I got my Atari 1200xl and 1050 modem - and soon discovered the world of BBS’s (but was limited to only local numbers to avoid a toll charge). Some of the common ones I visited in the area were Devil’s Tower in Wyckoff, Skylands BBS in Ringwood, Sonnet BBS in Wayne and later Tumbleweed’s Castle in Wayne. Before long I wanted to run my own BBS, and realized the 1050 didn’t have autoanswer! So I swapped some pirated games with some guy in Wayne for a used MPP modem. It was a blast figuring out how to modify the code and creating my little ‘Twilight Manor BBS’ and started messaging and trading with other Atari nerds in the area, I’ll never forget the first time I heard a digitized song - it was a 20 second clip of Madonna’s ‘Dress You Up’ that a user uploaded to my board - which took ALL DAY to upload. XD Good times."
201-376-0816
Northlink
(1982-2001)Bruce Travers C64
"North*link was (is?) a C64 based system that has been around since the mid-1980's. Run out of Springfield, NJ, it was never an extremely popular system. However, it stands as one of the longest running Commodore 8-bit based BBS systems in history. Even at the turn of the millennium, it was still running off of its antiquated 300/1200 baud modem.
201-376-6337
Dronefone
(1986-1990)Drone (Brian J. Bernstein) Compunet BBS
"Dronefone was an Apple //e based system with (originally) 2 floppy drives that eventually made it up to a 20MB Sider hard drive. From its beginning, it always ran custom software written by the Sysop. It averaged somewhere about 30-40 calls a day at its best, and was one of the first 2400 baud systems in the area. It was a member of "The BBS Triumverate", which included the systems "Middle Earth" (IBM based in Livingston) and "The Iron Castle" (C64/128 based in Florham Park). It should be noted that most of the content from this system has been archived and will one day be available on the web." - Brian Bernstein
201-376-9025
Springfield, NJ Springfield Public Schools
(1993)
FrEdMail System
201-377-8245
Drew Univ I, The Drew Underground
(1986-1989)Neil Clarke and Chris Gorman 2AM BBS
"The Drew Underground was a 2-line BBS system that was written and run by two computer science students at Drew University in Madison, NJ. The IBM PC based software was written in Pascal by the sysops, and was used by several BBS systems in the area. The two line ability was introduced when the system acquired a hard drive multiplexer for the pair of Zenith (?) PCs.
201-383-8684
Newton, NJ Second Portal
(1995-1997)Vinny Abello RemoteAccess
, Remote Access
"I started Second Portal as a hobby just to see how a BBS worked from the other side of things. I was totally hooked and loved maintaining it. Fidonet was a joy to be part of. Many of the things I learned about automation and system maintenance from Second Portal I apply today at my current job. Although it was a small BBS, we had a very large collection of door games enjoyed by many people. It's funny, but many people that used the board I later met inadvertently through some walk of life. I have even worked with a few of them and still work with one at my current job! :) The board was eventually shut down after I returned from a short lived attempt at college which I turned out not enjoying. I wanted my phone line for Internet access. Sorry guys! ;) I'm still into the same things, but now I'm a network engineering at Tellurian Networks working mainly with servers and routers and everything else you can possibly think of that an ISP has to do. I enjoy the latter more. I'm glad to have been part of some piece of the NJ BBS history! :)" - Vinny Abello
201-385-2821
Dumont, NJ The Board! II
(1995-1996)Gerry Ferra Galacticomm WorldGroup 1.01
From the January 1996 issue of Boardwatch: Since 10/95 Sysop: Gerry Ferra. Using Galacticomm WorldGroup 1.01 with 8 lines on MS-DOS 486 Pentium, with 12000MB storage Cardinal at 14400. Free trial period. Many different subscripition plans. NJ newest system with file areas with 2 CD-ROMs, many games, a cas ino, and lots of forums. Also we are a local area hub for Major.
201-398-2953
Sparta, NJUpside Down, Upside Down BBS, Upsidedown BBS P/W = Run, UPSIDEDOWN BBS P/W = RUN
(1985-1988)Dan Eriksen Ascii Express, T-net, Cat-Fer
"Customized modem handshake to auto detect bell 103/202/212 modes for AE, Cat-Fer, or BBS. AppleCat Modem with 20meg siders, Hack/Phreak/Warez (only for Elite users) http://www.textfiles.com/100/ad.txt" - Dan Eriksen
201-399-4772
Eastern New Jersey Net, EchoLink #13, Essex County Hub, Essex County NJ HUB, Hub 200 EchoMail Coordinator, Hub 900 Echo/File Distributor, Hub 900 Echomail Dude #2, Hub 900 Help Desk, Innovative Solutions, Innovative Solutions Online, Net 107 EchoMail Coord (NEC), Net 107 Tech Ops. (NTO), Net 107 Tech Ops. (NTO), Net 2630 Help Desk, Ogate/NEC, The T.E.R.N. BBS
(1993-2000)Scott Drake, Ogate/NEC QuickBBS
ListKeeper: New Jersey BBS's
201-427-9802
Hawthorne, NJ Theta BBS, THE DIANETICS/SCIENTOLOGY BBS
(1994-1995)Frank Silvestro TBBS
THE DIANETICS/SCIENTOLOGY BBS, (201) 427-9802, Hawthorne, NJ. Sysop: Frank Silvestro. The official Dianetics(R) and Scientology (R) BBS with 2 Gigs, conferences, etc. The ONLY BBS that can guarantee TRUE Dianetics/Scientology material. Are you handling life or is life handling you? - BBS Magazine November, 1994
201-428-3959
Parsippany, NJ The Party Zone
(1983-1984)Jeff Koyen
"I was 13 when I got my Atari 800; I started a BBS the next year, as soon as my parents gave me my own phone line. Soon enough, my friend and I were swapping warez and swiping phone codes so we could dial into west coast BBSes. I almost lost my virginity to an "older" woman (20s) who met me on another BBS (it's probably on your list). She took me to the mall and bought me floppy discs. I was too scared to go through with it. These days. they'd call her a predator. Ah, god bless the pre-internet days." - Jeff Koyzen
201-432-2535
Coliseum 3 Nodes, COLISEUM [3NDZ], COLISEUM #1, COLISEUM [3NDZ]
(1992-1995)American Gladiator
Afl/Inc Member BBS
201-436-9732
Bayonne, NJ The Classic Gaming Network
(Present)Frostydasnowman WINS
"This bbs is only open Friday-Sunday starting at 5:00pm Eastern Time, and closing 10:00pm Sunday night. Includes everything retro...We are always working at making it better...It's currently work in progress. Please be patient with us. Thank you!" - Frostdasnowman
201-445-8152
Waldwick, NJ Salem's Lot
(1985-1994)Vindicator WWIV, Synchronet
"Originally started in 1985 with a Commodore 64 and running on the NATCO BBS System. It then grew up to a Commodore Amiga for a about a year before I moved it over to a PC Compatible system. Finally took it down when I went back to school in 94." - Vindicator
201-457-0893
Bound Brook, NJCBBS, SJ Electronic Mail Center
(1980-1985)6800 CBBS
Cited in S-100 Micro Systems Magazine (January/February 1980 Issue)
201-464-9251
New Providence, NJ What BBS?
(1986-1989)What Sibley Syntech BBS
"What BBS? was a unique system run out of New Providence, NJ by an omniscient being. The unique humor and writing abilities of the sysop made this system a quite enjoyable experience. The fact that it was run on a Commodore 64 didn't bother most people because the site's content was just too much fun. No online games or anything, just a fantastic group of creative energies contributing to the experience that was What BBS?" - Brian Bernstein
201-467-2739
Elizabeth, NJFOG-41
(1986)George Porcella
Osborne Group (FOG AMO #138) member supported system, Osborne Group (FOG AMO #138) member supported system,
201-492-2396
Blomingdale, NJ Megaplex
(1992-1994)Michael Ludwick MajorBBS, Major BBS
"Megaplex actually lives on today. It started off as a 4 line sci-fi image download (6 CD changer) and small chat. Then moved to the internet as Chatropolis.com. It is now a thriving adult chat community with 2000 simultaneous users at peak and a 24hr average of 1600+ chatters. It's a shame not many BBS's made the transition to the net. We were one of the first and had to write our own software in the early 90's to do it. All the time hearing it can't be done and nobody will come. Well we rate as high as 5200 on Alexa and generate 15,000 paid memberships per year. My early days in the late 80's early 90's with BBS'ing has been a major source of our success. We now run on a cluster of quad core *NIX boxes filling a half rack at Peer1. We now run on a 100Mbit connection and in 1996 we were one of the first T3's in NJ at a cost of 72,000.00 per month! But faith and a clear picture that I didn't want to be a cliquey site that booted anyone that said something the least bit offensive has continued our growth to this day." - Michael Ludwick
201-584-6308
ParaPet
(1995-1997)Pat Toner PCBoard
"There was a group of us who all ran BBS's who used to hang together every Saturday night, and it was in getting to know a few members of this group in the first place that I got interested in running a BBS and finally did. Mine was only a small BBS, but I still had 150 users and never advertised it anywhere! People found a lot by word-of-mouth. Other local sysops tended to know each other over the BBS chat, if not in person." - Pat Toner
201-586-8905
Rockaway, NJ The Tammy Board BBS
(1990-1997)Elaine Stewart, Tammy Barth PC-Board, Wildcat
"The Tammy Board was a bit unique in that is was started and run by myself and my teenage daughter at the time...she was the 'Tammy' part! It was a good way for mother & daughter to share a common interest in computers. A gathering of all the local SYSOPS and many of their users would happen every Friday night at either my house or the House of the SYSOP of Jezebels Parlor. We called ourselves the FNG (Friday Night Group!) Sometimes as many as 30 or more would come, sometimes dragging their computers along to be looked at and fixed by the 'FNG' experts! All these years later many of us are still very good friends and still get together whenever we can." - Elaine (Stewart) Manganello
201-586-9891
Rockaway, NJ The Dark End
(1992-1994)Dreadful Warrior (Mike Hetman) AmiExpress
"The Dark End was popular during its time for having distinctly 9 ongoing message boards with topics ranging from flirting to history to computers to simply arguing. In its early days, The Dark End was also an experiment in gothic ANSI art as skulls, swords and imagery of blood graced the system. In some ways, it was meant to be a virtual online horror show as even the SysOp claimed to roost in Lost Souls Cemetery. Although the BBS only ran on one phone line, there was no shortage of callers or files to download and the SysOp was often available to chat with users." - Mike Hetman
201-625-8929
Rockaway, NJ AE Line: RUN, The Upside Down AE Line, Upsidedown AE Line, UPSIDEDOWN AE LINE
(1984-1986)Dan DAmelio Ascii Express
"Ascii Express Line for Software Uploads and Download, later transitioned into The Upside Down BSS ][" - Dan DAmelio
201-647-3054
HACKENSACK, NJVoyager BBS
Chris Kmosko Voyager BBS (Custom)
"The BBS was basically "a fantasy space game modeled after a popular Dungeons & Dragons type game called Traveler" with 10,000 planets in a 1,600,000 sector galaxy. I do not know the exact timespan, but it was not long if I recall correctly. The BBS was written in Pascal. I am also attaching a copy of the manual. Good thing I was able to retrieve the file off of a failing backup tape. Sadly, I have been unable to find if Voyager BBS or the software still exists. It was a fun game." - Sean Farley
201-652-4829
Glen Rock, NJEastern Entertainment Exchange (E3!)
(1993-1995)Ed Lawrence MBBS
"I started this BBS as a chat and gaming board. We were one of the first to add the multiplayer DOOM module for MBBS and it was a big hit! When I first started this board it had 4 phone lines that we needed to request from the TelCo. They didn't have anymore available lines so they took some unused lines that were designated for the police station. The Telco had to ask permission and the police were curious why a residence would need 4 phone lines, thinking it could be a bookie operation. They called to inquire about it and after about 5 minutes of trying to explain what a computer BBS was all about, they gave up and said good luck! As others have stated, 1995 the writing was sadly on the wall and I decided to pack it in. Had lots of fun nights gaming!"
201-656-3942
Jersey City, NJJewish Community Cent
, Jewish Online Service, LUACH, JEWISH ONLINE SERVICE
(1994-1996), Alex Wieder PCBoard
LUACH, JEWISH ONLINE SERVICE, 201 .656.3942, Sysop: Alex Wieder, Meet exciting people at Shlomo's Electronic Cafe! Discuss the latest books in Sifriya or the Palestine issue in the Knesset. Knesset. Join Nashim to discuss women & Judaism, or learn in the Bais Med rash. Databases, files, Internet and more!!! - BBS Magazine November, 1994
201-662-9274
Guttenburg, NJ The Dark House
(1994-1996)Dan Lopez Wildcat
"The Darkhouse had internet email, Usenet newsgroups. and tons of files to download, with over 4 cd's online. Some very popular Doors (Online games) such as Bordello. The BBS had 4 lines which were usually all busy throughout the day, and a nightly PPTP connection to download/upload the new messages and emails going out to the net. " - Dan Lopez
201-667-9717
Nutley, NJ Don Luby's Iron BBS and Fisherman's Paradise
Dead Ed
"The home of Northern New Jersey's most heartless war board, and functional HQ of it's least continent gang of thugs, the Sons of Ed Gelb (SOEG)." - D. Waldman
201-703-2500
Fair Lawn, NJ Mirage BBS, Realm of Mirage BBS
(1994-2004)Julia Howe, Julia Hiroko Howe (Iris or Cyr3n) MajorBBS, Worldgroup 3x (Major BBS)
"Realm Of Mirage BBS started out as a 8-node chat system in 1994 and quickly grew into an 80-node system after offering residential ISP services. The board was known as Mirage, Cyberwar BBS, Cyber Warrior, or Cyber Warrior ISP. Other staff involved as SysOps were Marian Montagnino, Vega, and MudOps Mike O'Brien and Stacey Pazana." - Julia Hiroko Howe
201-705-3787
Newark, NJ Newark School District
(1993)
FrEdMail System
201-712-1507
Radio One!, Radio-One! BBS
(1990-1996)Mike Nappi Wildcat
"3 node system running OS2 and wildcat with one unix (BSD version) node. IN addition to the usual items on BBS, Offered UUCP store-forward gateway access to fidonet e-mail to internet e-mail by around 1993. Was named for BBC Radio-One, as in the Hendrix song Radio One." - Mike Nappi
201-729-7046
Sparta, NJCandlelight Online, Candlelight Online!, Remote Host
(1990-1996)John Schumacher MajorBBS
"Remote Host started in 1990 as a 2 line BBS in Cedar Knolls, moved to Sparta NJ and expanded to 6 lines. Remote Host was renamed to Candlelight Online in 1994 until the system went offline in 1996." - John Schumacher
201-743-2314
Bloomfield, NJ The Gamer's Exchange
(1989-1994)Mark J. Astarita Wildcat
"Wow, was it really that long ago. The years are right, actually I am not sure about the telephone number, but that is the one you have. I am an attorney, and started the BBS, for video game information in either 1988 or 1989. What a great time I had, figuring out the software and everything else that was required to run a multiline Wildcat board in the late 80s. I was an Echo coordinator in Fidonet - gee what was my address, I think, nah, I looked it up - my last address was 2605:156, here is the listing from 1992 - ,156,The_Gamers'_Exchange,Glen_Ridge_NJ,Mark_Astarita,1-201-509-7851,9600,CM,XX,HST,V32 I was around before that, this is my listing which started in 1991, I had the 743 number before that, but can't seem to find the details. Heck, its over 10 years ago. Anyway, I was in fidonet when the big split occurred in 107. Man, how important did we think that stuff was at the time. I helped start Globalnet in the 90s, and finally shut down the board in 1994 when I started a web site. Today that web site is SECLaw.com, one of the most active legal specific sites in the world. It was all about timing, too bad I didn't register business.com when I registered vgis.com in 1989! Good luck with your project!" - Mark Astarita
201-753-1225
Piscataway, NJACG-NJ Apple User Group ABBS
(1980)ABBS
Cited in S-100 Micro Systems Magazine (January/February 1980 Issue)
201-753-9758
ACGNJ BBS #2
(1983-1990)Kevin Tillbrook RBBS
"I used to run an RBBS system for the Amateur Computer Group of NJ (ACGNJ) for a number of years. It was run on a Zenith PC w/20 meg HD and later using DesqView for multi-tasking (which was way too slow on that hardware). I had a BBS running before that, but this is what I am noted for." - Kevin Tillbrook
201-765-0350
Florham Park, NJ Old Dirt Road
(1984-1991)Black Belt Hamster/ Jim Anderson Ivory Joe BBS derivatives
"This started as a message board but quickly evolved into an xchange. Averaged 0-2 days warez but also had very active message board- and lots of war boards. Ran on a c64 with 300-1200 baud, eventually went to 2400 on an SX-64 and ended on conversion to Amiga and lingering interest on continuing with the c64." - Jim Anderson (Blackbelt Hamster)
201-785-1830
Totowa, NJ The Meeting House
(1991)Bill Kreps Phoenix RCS 1.07
"The Meeting House was born out of my efforts in developing a fido<->uunet gateway for my employer (Res-Q - FidoNet Node 1:269/133) Not in your list. See http://www.mit.edu/afs/athena/reference/net-directory/maps/uucp.bak/u.usa.nj.3 Res-Q and the company that owned it are long gone. They were pleased with the system, but were not willing to let me put as much "personal" time into it as I wanted. I developed The Meeting House as a means to improve and refine my skills, and to accomodate users who had no interest in the company, but liked my board. The Meeting House ran on a 286-16 with 2Mb Ram and a 20Mb partition. I still have the entire BBS (not including downloads) archived on 2, 1.2Mb floppy disks (5.25" media) and could bring it back up tomorrow if I really thought it would serve a purpose. Hmmm.....? Nah......." - Bill Kreps
201-785-1990
West Paterson, NJ The Final Level, Final Level (GS Only)
(1987-1994)High Voltage Digi-Net (GBBS Clone), Pro-Talk
"This was my bbs which supported Apple //gs, then had a short span of time on the Amiga, and finaly died off in 94. I had the phone number up until 1996, when I moved. Nuff Said.." - High Voltage
201-797-3319
Elmwood Park, NJ Bermuda TRiangle, Red Alert
(1995-1997)[dev] Pcboard
"ASBEST CREW HEADQUARTERS" - Dev
201-818-4894
Allendale, NJ The UnderGround Oasis - TUGO
(1991-1994)Mister Twister SPeCTRuM, Extreme, Prodoor, PCBoard
"BBS started off small with 1 node and a few local lamers. Ended up with 3 nodes, 500 megs incoming per week, plenty of great ansis from iCE, GRiM, etc. Member board and even WHQ to countless groups -- over 90% LD callers with most heavy users coming from Germany! Eventually the Internet took over my life and I closed it down. I still have all my ansis and a zip of the BBS itself. :)" - Mister Twister
201-822-0527
The Iron Castle
(1987-1989)Iron Knight C-Net
"A member of "The BBS Triumverate", this Commodore 64 (later C128) based system featured good discussion and story boards, and some public domain Commodore 64/128 file transfers. A typical assortment of doors were available." - Brian Bernstein
201-822-8325
Madison, NJ The Wolfpack, Wolfpack
(1985)Gerhard Bartsch FidoNet
"This was the inital incarnation of my BBS and was run on my new IBM-PC with dual 360k floppy drives, which replaced the old TRS-80 Mod I. Der Strand superceeded The Wolfpack, but was based out of Washington DC for a short while when I was in the USAF. Eventually it ran on an IBM clone with a i486 processor and a 1 or 2GB drive, and the wonderous US Robotics 9600HST modem!" - Gerhard Bartsch
201-825-7206
Mahwah , NJ The Operating Room
(1989-1991)The Doctor Searchlight
"Ran this BBS for about 2 years until I moved to Illinois to go to medical school. Had a great little community feel to it." - The Doctor
201-835-9316
Pompton Plains, NJ Metal Madness BBS
(1986-1988)Chris Mekelburg Commodore CNET
"This was a BBS I ran while in High School. Based around Heavy Metal Music. I called myself Slayer. Good Times were had. Thanks!" - Chris Mekelburg
201-836-0258
Teaneck, NJThe Crystal Ship
(1983-1986)Adam Chernichaw, Mike Toth, Jacques Rosenbaum Networks
"We modified the software (it was in Basic) and gave it away for free. We had a loose network of bbs’ (I believe around 50 in its prime) across the US that we called “The Federation”. Was a lot of fun. Highlight of the time was a war we had with the “Roman Empire”, another group of boards, where we would crash each other’s boards."
201-845-8250
Cave of Cerebus BBS, RM Software
(1994-1995)Rosemarie Fox C-Net-Amiga
Product: C-Net 128
201-848-8217
Wyckoff, NJFOG-49
(1986)Peter Suroff
PRASCA Member PRASCA Member
201-854-2728
THE SPIRIT OF PLAY
(1995)The Major BBS
THE SPIRIT OF PLAY, 201 .854.2728. Nothing but play here! Running The Major BBS ivith 4 lines. Tradewars. Global Destruction and Nova Trek are just a few of the top-notch games played here. How about multi-user Doom, Heretic and Spectre VR! Call now! - BBS Magazine October 1995
201-863-5253
Union City, NJ Beacon Street Studios, BEACON STUDIOS 9, BEACON STUDIOS BBS, Beacon Studios BBS
(1993-1996)Conrad Koblack, Conrad & Scott, Union City, New Jersey since 01/93, Conrad Scott MajorBBS
, MajorBBS 6.21
From the September 1994 issue of Boardwatch: Union City, New Jersey since 01/93. Sysop: Conrad & Scott. Using Major BBS 6.11 with 15 lines on MS-DOS 80486 with 15090 MB storage. Supra at 14400 bps. $.50 Hourly fee. NJ's largest database of downloadable files with 20 CDs on-line. Free downloads for new users with 60 min. allowed daily. Two National Chat hookups every night. InterNet, UseNet, FidoNet, MajorNet, WorldLink and ChatLink.
201-864-1680
Union City, NJ Chat Shack
(1992-1995)Vic Guzzetta Galaticomm Major BBS
"Best guess on the timespan. I'm going with the phone number you have. This BBS had about 8 lines. Although it probably had other common BBS features, it was primarily dedicated to chatting. They did charge for access, but the price was quite reasonable -- $15 bought a large number of "credits", for lots of chatting. I was an occasional chatter, so the $15 lasted several months. The members were quite friendly, even to occasional folks like me. From time to time they'd use one of their lines to crosslink with another BBS. Usually this was one evening every week or two, so there was a lot of anticipation and excitement when it did happen. One of their frequent linkups was with Chat Chalet in Marlboro. That board had a similarly friendly group. I still remember this guy "Sarge" -- quite a character, quite friendly too. Ah, memories... geez that was over 10 years ago, and at 2400 baud (I'm sure the board supported faster, but that's all I had)." - Tom Strano
201-869-8385
North Bergen, NJ Central Control!
(1986-1989)Deeply Shrouded Diversi-Dial/D-Dial
"CC was one of the first multi-line systems I ran. The phone company sent a representative over to my house to find out why in God's green earth I needed 7 telephone lines in addition to the 2 the house already had. I was told I took up the wiring for the entire block. The lines are still there, but the hardware is long gone. I can still remember the day my system went up, and how fun it was to link around the country to other ddials. I also recall the day my system went offline. 30 seconds before I pulled the switch, the girl I loved logged in. The lines were disconnected the next day. I've made one or two very good friends from my ddial days and many many people who didn't like me or my system at all. I miss running the system. Perhaps I may put it back online one day when I'm much older and greyer." - Deeply Shrouded
201-874-6833
Princeton, NJPrinceton Forum 80
(1980)Forum-80
Cited in S-100 Micro Systems Magazine (January/February 1980 Issue)
201-933-1031
Rutherford, NJ Metal Militia
(1990-1994)TIM TDS Amiga Sky
"It was a single line system run on an Amiga 2000 HD, still have it in my basement. I was in high school running this. It may have started in 1988. It was 2400 baud. I think I still have the bbs manual somewhere." Tim TDS
201-935-1485
Lyndhurst, NJ HUB 500 EchoMail Coord, Star BBS Network, Starship 2, Starship II, Starship II
, Starship ][ BBS, The Galileo 7, The Starship ][ BBS, The Starship ][ BBS
(1980-1997)Peter Buonomo, Philip J Buonom, Phil Buonomo, Philip J Buonomo, Rutherford, New Jersey since 07/80, Philip J. Buonomo TBBS, TBBS 2.2
From the September 1994 issue of Boardwatch: Rutherford, New Jersey since 07/80. Sysop: Philip J Buonomo. Using TBBS 2.3 with 32 lines on MS-DOS 80486 with 10000 MB storage. All v.32bis Supportd at 19200 bps. $$0-75 No fee req fee. Operating for 14+ years, Starship is one of the longest running, most successful bbs systems EVER! FREE public access, Adult & non-adult topics, chat, files, games, & data-bases. USR, Hayes, Telebit, v.32bis 19.2 kbaud modems online, full internet access!
201-935-8634
NorthEast, NJTRI-STATE
(1992-1995)
TRI-STATE, Northeast's Largest Growing System, 7 lines, 1-201-935-8634, Up to 19,200, Mail, BBS Links, Live Conferences and more.
201-939-5160
Wallington , NJ Sector 64 BBS
(1982-1985)Redline CNet
"Commodore 64 running CNet software. Has 2 never seen before or since Commodore 1 GIG drives (still have them). Started at 300 baud, went to 2400." - Redline
201-955-6050
North Arlington, NJ North Arlington Schools
(1993)
FrEdMail System
201-962-9067
Ringwood, NJ Bluebeard's Blackboard
(1985-1997)Tom Beard, Bluebeard TAG Version 2.6g
"This system was started in NJ as a C-Net system, but changed to a TAG system before moving to Michigan, then to New York State where I closed it. Up 12 years in all. You have my name listed as "Tom Beard", but my name is "Thom Kirby". Thanks for the entry!" - Thom Kirby (Bluebeard)
201-968-1074
Piscataway, NJABBS Apple Group N.J., Piscataway, ACG-NJ Apple User Group ABBS
(1980-1985)ABBS
Cited in S-100 Micro Systems Magazine (January/February 1980 Issue)
201-992-0834
Livingston, NJ Dragon's Weyr, Dragon's Weyr BBS, Dragon'sWeyr, Dragron's Weyr, The Dragon's Weyr
(1984-1993)Ron Stanions, Sauron, Dragon Master DragonSoft, DragonSoft / C-Net
"The Dragon's Weyr was a system that ran out of Livingston, NJ on IBM PC hardware. DragonSoft was custom software written by the Sysop, and featured a custom scripting language called AutoScript. The theme of the site was based on Dragon mythology and computers." - Brian J. Bernstein
201-992-2475
Livinston, NJ, Atlantis
(1983-1986)David Brett FoRum modfied by Sysop
"Used Ascii Graphics and pioneered into one of the first BBS's with real color graphics in 1985" - David Brett
201-992-9893
Livingston, NJ BMBBS The Hospital, General Hospital, The Hospital, GENERAL HOSPITAL
(1984-1989)Byte Master BMBBS
"The Hospital was the home base for BMBBS software. Based out of Livingston, NJ, this was an IBM PC based system (originally Apple ][)." - Brian Bernstein
202-327-5725
Allendale, NJ The Eastern Alliance
(1983-1987)James Wynen Cat-term 2.0
"Ran 202/212 AppleCat as well as USR 9600HST, 20 Meg Hard Drive. Distro Point for PPG, Hit-Man & other Apple Warez. Interactive gaming for credit and intergrated ASCII Express module to count download sectors won in gaming area." - James Wynen, "The Tracer"
202-337-4694
Washington, DCPSBBS Washington, Program Store Forum 80
(1980-1984)Forum 80
Cited in S-100 Micro Systems Magazine (January/February 1980 Issue)
202-363-0364
Washington, DCDuke's Domain
The Duke, Adam the Mike WWIV
"Lively discussions about politics, tech, and LARPing, among other things, with a very active story board where users took turns adding to an ever-growing, never-ending story. A number of game doors were installed, with the most popular among users being Legend of the Red Dragon and TradeWars2002. There was also a modest downloads section. Users were allotted 45 minutes per day, which could be split between multiple calls. WWIVnet was supported, and network messages were transferred at night. A script would run upon login which had something around a 10 - 20% chance of subjecting the user to a turn-based battle with the Snark from Alice in Wonderland. If the user lost, they would lose all of their time for the day. If they won, they would receive extra time. Both The Duke and Adam the Mike would sometimes interrupt a session and live chat with the users. Adam was The Duke's son."
202-363-1865
Washington, DC NWDS Lights & Magix
(1983-1985)John Singleton Networks BBS
"I ran NWDS while in high school, and actually met my first girlfriend through it. NWDS started out as a stock Networks BBS on an Apple II+ with a Hayes Micromodem (300baud) and 5mb hard drive. I gradually rewrote all of it to include better email, online multiplayer games (taking turns each signon), graphic displays (HGR line drawings), and a romance-matchmaking game. I went pay somewhere in there because I was only earning $3.85/hr, and couldn't afford to keep the BBS going myself. NWDS was one of the more sophisticated BBSes, and so had a loyal local following. In the last year, I had about 50 paying subscribers. Lightning eventually took the BBS down, and I couldn't afford to repair the hardware. I look back at those first years online as some of the most magical ever. All the marvel and excitement of something new was there... and it was all as naive as were the 80's innocent." - John Singleton
202-364-3084
Washington, DC AIM NET
(1991-1998)Charles Maranto TBBS
"The early 90s was an exciting time to run a BBS. We SYSOPS felt like real pioneers. I built this BBS for an organization in Washington DC and it was really cool to have people from across the country dialing in to read our publications and interact with us online. About 10 other organizations began sending me material to post on my BBS and I saw it as a growing clearing house for newsletters, publications and other info. I had about 10 lines coming into my BBS via an X.25 PAD to Sprint's PDN. I knew the online world was on the cusp of something much bigger. A very exciting and fun time." - Charles Maranto
202-512-1387
Washington, DCUS GPO, USGPO, GPO WINDO Online Service
(1993-1996)US Government Printing Office None
Fed Information from EPA, DOE, State Department - others.
202-561-9026
Bolling Airforce Base, Washington, DC Mount Olympus, Mt Olympus
(1988-1989)Jeff Hellige QuickBBS
"It was actually run out of my co-sysop's townhouse, as I did all the development on a Tandy 1000HX and it didn't have a hard disk. The BBS itself ran happily off of the HX's dual floppy setup though and that is how it was tested. My cosysop's name was Mike, though I'm afraid I don't remember his last name. It was taken offline when he had a hard disk crash. Until I found your list, I no longer remembered the phone number that was used and browsing the lists for the 301/202/703 area codes brings back a lot of memories. I'm currently in the process of resurrecting Mount Olympus as a Telnet BBS, still using QuickBBS. It is already functional on my local network using NetFOSS. I currently have screenshots from one of my backups put up on my webpage at http://www.cchaven.com. Thanks for the memories. Take care." - Jeff Hellige
202-586-8658
Washington, DCEnergy Information
, Energy Information Administration, Energy Info Admin E-Publications
(1992-1994)US Department of Energy
Variety of Petroleum/Coal/Electricity Energy Statistic
202-646-2887
Washington, DCFederal Emergency Management (FEMA) BBS, SALEMDUG (D. Wade), SALEMDUG BBS, State and Local Emergency Medical, State and Local EMS, State and Local FEMA User Groups
, State and Local Emergency Mgmt.
(1989-1995)Federal Emergency Management Agency PCBoard
Hazardous Materials/National Dam Watch/Emergency Info
202-653-0351
Washington, DCUnited States Naval Observatory BBS, USNO Time of Day (Tech Support BBS), USNO Time of Day for Clocks
(1990-1993)US Naval Observatory
Xmits ASCII Time String - Sync Your PC to USNO Atomic Clock
202-653-1079
Washington, DCGPS Data/USNO ADS
, The Naval Observatory, U.S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY
, US Naval Observatory BBS
(1987-1994)US Department of Commerce US Naval Observatory
Time - Date - Sunrise - Sunset - Enter @ TCO for Commands
202-686-0059
Washington, DC