This is what BBSing at 300 baud looks like.
In 1984, this was about as good as it got for me.
Tonight, I needed to hit a couple of Atari / ATASCII BBSs and all I had at hand was a C64. So..I used "AtariTerm", which does ATASCII, but tops out at 300 baud.
It's like riding a bike through a neighborhood you usually fly though at 40MPH. You see and notice things you would usually miss.
I am no stranger to 300 baud, but it's been a while.
A snippet of tonight's BBSing...
Dark Force BBS rendered in VT52 in a Mega ST 2
As the snow keeps falling outside, I am reminded that snowdays are the best time to BBS. Always have been.
https://bytecellar.com/2022/01/11/bbsing-in-the-snow-is-the-best-way-to-log-in/
Ugh ... sprites and animation are so hard. And the limitations of creating this for IGS makes them even harder!
No wonder I waited six years since the last time I attempted to make an animation with a story/dialogue.
I made a ton of progress on Calvin today, and I wrote a script. Hopefully now I can stop spinning my wheels on the coding, and bear down on putting it all together.
I have updated my BBSing resource page, for anyone with a hankerin' to "dial in" once again.
I've been working on a new IGS animation involving this guy, who was pretty popular back during IGS heyday in the early 1990s.
Animation is pretty tough, but some of the constraints imposed by the IGS format (plus my own personal constraints) are making really hard. It's also challenging to draw these sprites!
But I think I've finally landed on a sequence of events I can draw -- and make fit in the available space.
Decided to Give Mast another shot. Looking to refollow as many as I can from the "old site".
Long time fan of #msdos games (Sierra, Apogee, etc), #BBSing, and #ANSIart.
If you're into #retrocomputing, why not stop by my #bbs and say hi? I run all the classic door games, make lots of my own original mods, and am connected to several cool message networks (like #fidonet & #fsxNet).
From full-blown graphical user interfaces, to strategy and dice games, the point-and-click features of "Instant Graphics and Sound" made some radically different experiences possible on a humble Atari ST bulletin board system.
https://breakintochat.com/blog/2024/09/13/instant-graphics-and-sound-part-5-point-and-click/
This is part 5 of my #longreads series on IGS. Boosts appreciated!
"CUBES.IG" is a great example of Steve Turnbull's IGS work.
The animation begins with five cubes rotating in different directions, and a cascade of sound effects.
Then he used IGS' loop command to paint a trippy moiré background by repeatedly drawing lines.
Needless to say, you couldn't see or hear anything quite like this on other BBSes in 1990.
How about some #RetroComputing #LongReads to relax with this weekend?
https://breakintochat.com/blog/category/instant-graphics-and-sound/
Discover the artist, the programmers, and the community who made cool — but forgotten — art, animation, and games for Atari ST bulletin boards using a protocol called "Instant Graphics and Sound."
(Boosts greatly appreciated!)
As soon as he discovered IGS, Steve Turnbull began making art that went "far beyond colored boxes with text in them".
He crafted vibrant, playful animations, punctuated by sound effects.
"I soon started to hear from many sysops and users who were astonished with what was happening on their screens," he wrote later.
Besides working as a scenic artist, and playing with Atari ST computers, Steve Turnbull also loved slope soaring -- designing and flying gliders.
When he began drawing with "Instant Graphics!", his love for airplanes found expression in his earliest IG pieces, which were basically animated advertisements for his "Pharaoh" glider kits.
Steve Turnbull worked in showbiz and lived in sunny Laguna Beach, Calif.
A visual thinker, he had become disenchanted with the text-only world of Atari ST bulletin board systems.
Then he discovered "Instant Graphics!" in 1990 — and he began unleashing a torrent of art.
This is part 4 of my #longreads series on IGS. Boosts appreciated!
Looking for some retrocomputing long reads to relax with this weekend?
Check out the first three parts of my history of "Instant Graphics and Sound" on Break Into Chat!
https://breakintochat.com/blog/category/instant-graphics-and-sound/
The latest part begins by looking at user groups, the lifeblood of any local Atari community.
Interested in an authentic BBS experience? Check out the Bitzone under SDF Vintage Systems https://sdf.org (also available via telnet login as ‘bitzone’)
message boards, chat and games!
Got DNS working and logged in to Level 29 BBS on the NeXTstation.
Happy Baud Day, everyone!!
3/12/24
In honor of this singular occasion, I share two facing pages from the modem section of a 1983 Inmac computer supply catalog, for your enjoyment.
Let the festivities commence!
I was able to get the Spectrum Next on to Particles BBS via it's onboard ESP8266 tonight in a sort of half-assed manner..using a BASIC program included with NextOS to get the ESP to pipe TCP data to port 6400 at Particles.
There are some issues, but it's progress...
Ambassador 
