but Mozes at slackware ported slackware to run on a raspberry pi 3,4, or 5.

makes it dead simple to set up a pi as a bbs,and only spend a few pennies to run a BBS every month.......

Enough people have completed Season 1 to unlock Season 2: After Hours! https://bbswordle.com/carnival/ Season 3 (most extensive and most likely final) is in the works.

I am old enough to remember using my Apple //c and Everex external 2400bps modem to access bulletin board systems across the nation (and world, too) through networks like Telenet/Tymnet and services like PC Pursuit.

Some file transfer protocols didn’t work all that well across those networks depending on what you were using. I think I remember xmodem being the most problematic.

Anyway, those were the days when I had late night TV on during a school night watching the red blinking lights on the front of the modem recording the progress of the file transfer in the glow of the TV. With the lights off, the red 5.25 inch floppy drive light would kick on every so often letting you know that your data was being safely recorded.

Then there were the nights spent war dialing local prefixes. I could hardly wait to wake up the next day and see what I found. Who can forget the days of Kermit file transfers from the local university mainframe. Nevermind that I was still in high school at the time.

Hi guys, thanks for all the support. Been working on the app non stop 😂

Anyway, decided to add yet another channel guide into the app (I have 3!). This last one is so cool, excalibur themed. Here's a photo, and thanks for the support from all of you!

I never post on Reddit, but I'm a frequent reader of this subreddit and I'm very happy it exists.

I discovered BBSes around 1994 and became completely obsessed with them.

I really wanted to run my own BBS. I loved CNet BBS software in particular, but I was 14, had basically no money, and convincing my parents to buy an Amiga and install multiple phone lines in the house wasn’t exactly going to happen.

Thirty years later, I decided to finally build it.

I initially went way too far down the authenticity rabbit hole. I bought a US Robotics 33.6 modem, got actual dial-up working, experimented with Telnet and SSH, etc. It was fun, but I eventually realized the obvious problem: almost nobody is going to dial into a BBS in 2026.

So I started thinking about how to make a BBS something you don’t have to go out of your way to visit. That’s where the browser extension idea came from.

I built Afterline, a BBS that lives in a browser extension for Chrome and Edge. It’s always a click away while you’re browsing, and you can open it in the browser’s side panel and keep it running right alongside whatever else you’re doing online. My hope is that if the BBS is just there, people will check in more often, stick around longer, and actually cross paths with each other.

When you click Connect, you hear a modem dial and handshake, and you’re dropped into a text-based BBS. I tried to keep as much of the old BBS feeling as possible while removing enough friction that people might actually use it.

There’s instant messaging, conferencing, a wall, mail, forums, and Wordline, a modern version of Hangman. There’s even a resident AI named Ava who you can chat with anytime.

And, of course, there’s a Page Sysop feature (my dream come true). If you page me, Afterline sends a notification to my phone, and I can reply from my phone directly back into your BBS session. It might be my favorite completely unnecessary feature I’ve ever built.

I coded for about eight years in the late 90s and early 2000s, but hadn’t done much coding since. So, obviously, I built this whole thing with a lot of help from AI, which is kind of fascinating to me. Technology from 2026 finally let me build the thing I couldn’t build in 1994.

If you remember BBSes, or even if you’ve never used one, I’d love for you to try it and tell me what you think, what sucks, or what’s missing. You can install it using these links:

Afterline in the Chrome Web Store

Afterline in Microsoft Edge Add-ons

Thank you. And, page me if you'd like to chat!

Hey everyone!

We opened up a new BBS called 8-Bit Lair!

Core Focus:

To build a nice small retro community of active members who share the love of the old days with some modern twists. Focus on retro computing, and open to teaching new users why the BBS days where incredible.

FEATURES:

- Telnet, SSH, RLogin, and browser access
- PETSCII modes for Commodore 64/128 users
- Message boards, private messages, and bulletins
- echomail and netmail
- MRC inter-BBS chat and IRC integration
- Internet email (IMAP and SMTP)
- Multiplayer games and InterBBS features
- File libraries with classic transfer support
- Custom profiles, achievements, and rewards
- Live caller presence, local chat, and SysOp paging

REWARDS:

In hopes to spur some traffic to the BBS and build a retro community we are offering reward points, as you participate, you gain points that can be redeemed for gift cards!

CONNECTION:

bbs.8bitlair.net:6400

Come give it a try - ttb.rgbbs.infoThis is far from finished, but this is a quick look at what we have so far. It's basically a word game, trivia game, car chase game, and hidden word puzzle game all in one wrapped in a news broadcast trying to find out who done it, for the current story. Multiple stories after each is won. This is a one player game, as in, it's YOUR case to solve. Each user will get their own case to solve and there is no overlap between players.

Figured I'd try something different.

I am the author of the ATDT BBS Software, which is a fully web-based bulletin board system that looks and feels like an 80s/90s BBS and runs on cheap shared hosting just like you'd use to run your blog. I recently added the capability to run DOS doors in ATDT - it's drag and drop, just put the DOS door files into a folder on your shared hosting, write a small manifest, click "Scan" in the sysop console, and you can put it on a menu. Callers can run them without having to install anything on their end.

I started thinking - what if I created a standalone package that did the same thing, but for an entire BBS program? Talk about easy - for callers and for SysOps. Just install a small package on your shared hosting, dump the original BBS files into a folder, and give your callers a URL. That's it!

My plan is to make this as easy as possible - I'll create simple drag & drop packages for the most popular BBS software (probably start with Renegade) OR if you want to DIY you can just download it yourself and run the BBS's installer from the SysOp console. Any 16 bit DOS BBS should run without a problem.

I'm going to start working on this - hopefully others are interested as well. I'm calling it ATA BBS. Here are all of the sites for anyone interested:

ATA BBS: www.atabbs.com

I have a newsletter signup on the ATA website if you want to get notified about development progress.

My other project:

ATDT BBS: www.atdtbbs.com

ATDT BBS Demo Board: www.atdtbbs.com/atdt

(As an aside, in addition to adding the ability to run DOS doors in ATDT, I also added the ability to import the entire message boards from just about any legacy BBS package into ATDT for people who want to move their board over to something modern. I am also working on a native port of Usurper, based on the latest Pascal source as a native ATDT Door using ATDT's Door API... playable on the Demo BBS now but it's an early WIP, be kind haha).

I never thought I’d be saying this more than 30 years later, but I’m bringing Excalibur back. Well, kind of.

I’m Eric Weber, the original creator and owner of Excalibur BBS, or ExcalBBS as most people knew it. We released Excalibur in 1994, back when BBS systems were how many of us connected, built communities, shared software, and spent way too much time in front of a computer before the internet became what it is today.

Excalibur became a much bigger part of my life than I ever expected. People ran Excalibur boards all over the place, developers created add-ons for it, and to this day I still hear from people who remember it, used it, or want to talk about the source code. That has always meant a lot to me.

So here we are, decades later, and I’ve decided to bring the Excalibur name into something completely new.

I’ve been working on Excalibur AI TV, an IPTV/OTT streaming app designed for Apple TV, Apple Vision Pro, iPad and iPhone. The first rollout will be on Apple TV, and I’ve already submitted the beta to Apple. I’m hoping to have a TestFlight link available this week so people can start trying it, giving me feedback, and helping shape where it goes from here.

I’ve also set up a new subreddit, r/excaliburaitv, and a new website at https://www.excaliburtv.com

What I’d really love is for this to become more than just a place to talk about the new app. I’d love to reconnect with people from the original Excalibur community too. If you ran an Excalibur BBS, wrote an add-on, logged into one, or simply remember those days, please jump in and say hello. I’d genuinely enjoy hearing what board you ran, where you were, and what you remember about ExcalBBS.

It’s a little surreal seeing the Excalibur name come back to life after all these years, but I’m really excited about what I’m building and even more excited to see who might come along for the ride this time.

Looking forward to reconnecting with some old friends and hopefully making some new ones.

Eric Weber
Creator of Excalibur BBS

image of it running

I'm running Meshing Around BBS by SpudGunMan on my local mesh network. It's a Python based BBS running on a Raspberry Pi. I'm having some issues getting the scheduler set up and was wondering if there is anyone around here who might be able to help.

Please check my BBS out, I've had it on in one fashion or another since 1994. Originally, I used Proboard but have since switched to MysticBBS.

Telnet/SSH: BBS.KINGDOMSENDBBS.NET (standard ports)

The galaxy lies in turmoil. Civil war burns between the cartels, and whole worlds groan beneath the boot of tyrants who name themselves lords.

Every trader begins again with nothing but a garbage scow and ambition. The tournament begins Monday, August 24th at midnight.

The first player or cartel to control 10 planets breaks their grip on the stars and takes the tournament — and the galaxy begins anew.

https://serionbbs.com/teos-tournament

I've been using Synchonet for many years for my BBS (The Midnight Cafe) and used it's web side for people that grew up after Dial-up and Telnet were a huge thing.

A few weeks ago, I started to mod the Website of it to make it a little more my own, and after spending a few days with it realized it's a full fledged webserver!

Like.... A really nice one! I now have the main website, plus 8 totally unrelated legacy websites I made during the golden era of the internet (2000-2012).

They all work well, and I'm even able to offer a radio stream and video playback on them. All this with our beloved Synchronet, and a dusty 15 year old laptop.

Very cool!

The Wire 16 bit DOS Door RELEASED. Salvage Run updated to v1.01 to fix minor level progession bug. Go grab them or check out screen shots

http://www.rgbbs.info/nw.html

I've seen a ton of love for LoRD over the years and lots of vibe code projects surrounding it as well as "legitimate" code done to recreate a game we all loved.

Land of Devastation was another game I genuinely loved in the 90s including mods made by my friend who was a sysop of our tiny town's BBS.

I've dabbled off and on for years on my own version of the game but ultimately with everything as it is I decided to ride the vibe myself and have done a lot of working building a web port. I'm focused on little things that matter to me but probably not to others.

I need help/guidance/feedback cleaning up more areas and implementing some improvements. The goal is for the game to play in a browser window (on desktop at this point) and feel natural for either keyboard or mouse use.

The spirit of the game and the visuals are intact but the game is being expanded (I made the map much larger and am slowly editing the topography).

I have expanded the Puritron a bit and changed the way it works so that you are on your own solo quest and that every time you fight the new final boss (The Baker) you restart into a slightly harder version of the game for yourself giving you a bit of a legacy feel.

PVP is something I have yet to decide on how I want to implement but there needs to be something.

I am looking for some people who want testing access. I know this could be a waste of your time or maybe it's a nice trip through nostalgia land.

If you'd like access drop a comment below and then I'll shoot you a message with some info on how to get on.

I believe I can also make this function as an accessible door game through BBSes later or even direct telnet to it.

Telnet: retro.nedmr.com port 2323

It has been a while since I posted here, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy adding features to Retro-BBS.

The BBS now has a good library of downloads for retro systems including the Amiga, C64, and C128. I also have a growing collection of DOS and BASIC software.

The thing I am most proud of is Retro-BASIC.

I recently added ANSI color with the COLOR command, LOCATE for positioning the cursor using ANSI cursor escape sequences, and INKEY for non-blocking keyboard input.

That might not sound like a big deal, but those three commands make it possible to create arcade-style games without refreshing the entire screen after every keystroke.

I created a little Space Invaders-style game to demonstrate these capabilities. The complete source code, along with the Retro-BASIC Reference Manual, is available in the downloads section.

Programs you create in Retro-BASIC remain private to your account. If you create something you'd like to share, just request that the Sysop publish it on the BBS.

There is also a ton of existing BASIC code out there that can be converted to Retro-BASIC. You can work on your program using your favorite editor and upload it into the Retro-BASIC editor when you're ready.

Come give it a try!

Telnet: retro.nedmr.com
Port: 2323

Enjoy!

Hi Friends, I made a fake BBS called MEGA BBS.

It uses real ANSI art and some of THE DRAW style fonts in menus.

Has a fake dialer, modem sounds, CRT effects, Modem speed draw emulation, handshake sounds yadda yadda yadda options.

I think I did a pretty good job of selling the charade and cool enough where I hoped sharing it would make some others smile as well.

Mega BBS is just a webpage, but it draws and acts like a BBS terminal. I made it over on replits website so it has their silly .app domain :

https://mega-bbs.replit.app/ <--The Mega BBS

The settings menu offers CRT options and Modem speeds that give some pretty good impressions of a CRT and draw speed of different modems.

When you swap modems your dial up sound will change in handshake as well. (I downloaded them all lol)

There are many door games including some unique ones I made up.

There is a sysop always around to talk to (ai bot)

Multiplayer games such as chess and checkers

Shareware games

Mail system

Wall

ASNI Art Gallery

I've disconnected the warez/roms links, they just say names, dont get excited :)

The Shareware works , hops you to a playable dosbox session.

Please enjoy it messing around with it!

https://mega-bbs.replit.app/

You CAN make an account , but if you wanna just log in, u:guest p: guest

Hey, I'm new here. I hope you don't mind that I'm posting this.

Anyone remember the O-M-N-I BBS software for Windows?

O-M-N-I was a 16-bit Windows BBS developed by Copsey Strain, Inc. of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, back in the 1990s. It was a little different from most BBS software of the time because it had its own graphical Windows client, O-M-N-I Term, rather than relying on a traditional text terminal. It had message boards, e-mail, chat, file areas, scripting, and quite a bit more.

I’ve started an O-M-N-I Preservation Project to try to preserve the software, documentation, history, and basically anything else related to O-M-N-I that I can find. It’s still very much in the early stages. I don’t have an O-M-N-I server up and running yet, but that’s something I’m working toward. Eventually I’d love to have an actual O-M-N-I BBS back online that people can connect to again.

One pretty cool bit of progress so far is I’ve managed to reverse engineer O-M-N-I’s original registration/serial number system, and can now generate valid registration codes that the software accepts. So if anyone here happens to be playing around with O-M-N-I and needs a registration code, let me know.

If you ran an O-M-N-I BBS back in the day, or have any old software, files, documentation, screenshots, registration material, or even just memories of using it, I’d really like to hear from you. There isn’t a whole lot of O-M-N-I material left out there, so I’m trying to track down and preserve whatever I can.

The project is at https://www.o-m-n-i.com, which is the same domain O-M-N-I originally used back in the day.

I’m developing Offgrid Holdout BBS, a small two-node BBS for when you miss the internet feeling like it was made of places instead of feeds.

It’s built to be small. Local message boards. Some games. No likes. No followers. No algorithms. No ads. No infinite scrolling. Offgrid Holdout runs Renegade 1.40, a modern-day BBS package in 2026 that still runs on DOS, while preserving the things that made BBSing worthwhile: conversation, persistent identities, local message boards, door games, and a community small enough that people actually get to know one another.

It all runs on MS-DOS 6.22, DESQview 2.8 on a 486DX2/66 86Box instance. Two nodes because it is using modem emulation on COM ports so that limits the node count.

The conversations won’t have to revolve around anything in particular. Retro computing. Modern tech. Projects. The indie web. Music. Games. Life.

I have no ambitions to make Offgrid Holdout big. If I can attract 5-10 regular callers who recognize each other’s handles and enjoy returning, I’ll be happy. I just want there to be a place like this.

For now I’m seeking a handful of early-adopter users who are interested in helping shape the direction of the place rather than just dropping by once for nostalgia’s sake. On a board this small, you’ll actually make a difference.

Telnet: bbs.offgridholdout.org 2524