- FidoNet was a simply wonderful innovation, and it was a reflection of the creativity of its author - Tom Jennings - and his views of community and identity.
https://grokipedia.com/page/tom_jennings
Tom was working on FidoNet in 1984, the same time my Iris co-founders and I had begun work on what became Lotus Notes. Architecturally, those of us who were working on collaborative systems in that era were shaped by the decentralized architecture of USEnet - inspired and motivated by the observation that a community could be brought together by something technologically as simple as uucp.
Both dial-up focused, Tom took this in the direction of a decentralized BBS, while I took it in the direction of masterless replicated nosql databases we called 'notefiles'. Identity being at the core, Tom was focused more on public community while we focused on private collaboration.
It was such an exciting time for emergent decentralization, shaped by a strong dose of 60's idealism.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21670035
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hackers_Conference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypherpunk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Compute...
https://www.stevenlevy.com/crypto
- Last I checked it was still quite alive with quite a few BBS systems, though admittedly that was a few years ago.
Looks like you can still hook up to it using a Synchronet BBS anyway using the steps available here: https://wiki.synchro.net/howto:fidonet
The homepage for FIDONet itself is here: https://www.fidonet.org/
And the Zone 1 Hub, Dark Realms (a Renegade BBS since 1994) is here: https://www.darkrealms.ca/ It has node lists available if you're looking for systems to connect from.
- FidoNet was great fun. Despite finding it difficult to remember any useful numbers in my life (credit card, NI etc) I can still remember my FidoNet addresses from when I was a youngster.
I'm not sure how I'd feel about an archive though, I'm sure I wrote a lot of childish nonsense on it! like a lot of things, perhaps best left as a happy memory...
by QuantumAtom
1 subcomments
- For those who want to learn more, there is a BBS documentary: https://archive.org/details/bbs_documentary
- It became famous in Italy even among non-techies because it was involved in a large scale police operation in 1494 dubbed the "Fidonet crackdown".
https://www.wired.com/1994/08/hacker-crackdown-italian-style...
by throw0101d
4 subcomments
- I also remember using the BlueWave offline mail reader:
* https://en.everybodywiki.com/Blue_Wave_(mail_reader)
As well as the QWK and SOUP file formats (the latter when I started on Usenet as well):
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWK_(file_format)
* https://web.archive.org/web/20080509070947/http://combee.tec...
And Tradewars 2002 'door game':
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_Wars
* https://breakintochat.com/wiki/TradeWars_2002
* https://breakintochat.com/wiki/BBS_door_game
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Door_(bulletin_board_system)
- Of course!
There was a time we were encouraged to be friendly with Russia, and many Russian devs were on Fidonet. This was actually how some I knew were recruited to work for western companies.
by flyinghamster
0 subcomment
- As with so many old things, it's still alive, but it's down to the die-hards. I still miss it, though - I participated in Net 232 (Champaign-Urbana) for a while, then Net 115 in Chicago. We had some great gatherings back in those days, but in the Chicago area, the scene blew away pretty quickly when the internet opened up.
- https://www.fidonet.org/
- It's somewhat alive. I still run a BBS and am the NC (net coordinator) for Wisconsin/Minnesota/North and South Dakota. (an area that used to be considered a "Region" back around the turn of the millennium). My FidoNet address is: 1:154/30 (and also 1:154/0)
There are 9 FidoNet nodes in my net. (154) I added 2 new ones within the last month or so.
My BBS is accessible at: https://warensemble.com It can also be accessed via SSH, Telnet, and possibly dialup but the program that handles my modem often checks out on me without warning (usually after a dropped call, which happens far too often over a VOIP line)
The joke is that Fidonet will eventually just be 2 sysops sending netmail back and forth to each other, where they argue about the policies and methods of how that mail is sent.
- Episode 4 of the BBS documentary covers Fidonet and is worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng0NE4lDP2U
by agentultra
0 subcomment
- I was a user of Fidonet and Fido mail back in the day before I had managed to score me an email address. That was before most people even knew that there was an Internet.
- I still have my node address memorized. The very late 1980s and mid 90s were the very best era for the vibe of hobbyist computing. Amazing ANSI art and text driven menus still fill my heart with joy.
I still think that some of those systems are easier to use than what we have now.
I miss the quality of EchoMail conversations with friends around the world. I even ended up moderating a few echoes myself after mods had moved on.
Good times.
- Huh, 10 years ago: "Ask HN: Remember FidoNet?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12216932
Has fewer replies than this!
by loloquwowndueo
0 subcomment
- the local communities we built around a handful of BBSes in Mexico City back in the mid-90s were incredibly close-knit. We’d meet in person a few times a year, and it resulted in life-long friendships, business partnerships and more. Fidonet allowed growing this even more - you didn’t have to connect to 5 different BBS every day to stay in contact with your friends, and the ability to communicate with foreign BBSes and the Internet was also magical and a nice perk us BBS operators could offer our users.
4:975/X !
Around 1995/96 the advent of commercial consumer Internet swept most BBSes away, which was unfortunate because the local, close-knit aspect of that early community was entirely lost.
by steve1977
1 subcomments
- I also remember the MausNet. This was a German speaking counterpart so to speak. Interestingly, I remember it from my Atari days, even though it was initially a Apple network (Münster Apple User Service).
- PunterNet, the C64 BBS by Steve Punter, was far more popular for a time. The C64 was the most sold computer of all time, and may still be.
It wasn't until later that clones existed and became popular, and then FidoNet dwarfed PunterNet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64
It has been listed in the Guinness World Records as the best-selling desktop computer model of all time.
I used to run a board. Was beyond fun.
- yes! don't remember my number, Zone 4 for sure (Argentina).
Exchanging messages with people on the other side of the world felt like magic at the time (even though it took many hours/days for a msg to round-trip)
I also run "Sudaka's BBS" based on Maximus/2, with many interactive "apps" I'd developed using Maximus' proprietary C-like language. Great high-school times.
I can still hear my parents complaining about my monopolizing the phone line every night :-)
- It was really popular in Ukraine in the late '90s, before Internet became widely available. [Former point of 2:4614/1]
- I started on the MICOM (Microcomputer Club of Melbourne) BBS that was started and run by Peter Jetson around 1983/84, initially with a single phone line. It was home grown software, but eventually became part of Fidonet.
I found an old listing for it. I don't think Peter still runs it :)
3:633/371 Micom CBCS
by nickdothutton
0 subcomment
- Given the high cost of professional textbooks and my modest means as a youngster, FidoNet and BBS provided me with access to a wealth of knowledge, software, and friendly expertise.
Sometimes the first dreams of something new are the most vivid.
- I'm too young to have used it myself but from what I know it was huge in Russia in the 90s.
by robertcope
0 subcomment
- I was more active on WWIVnet, but I definitely remember Fidonet! Good times.
- I remember, and ran a node for a while. I think it is alive today in spirit through forums like this. The original needs and limitations that drove the creation of Fidonet have been dead for decades though.
by invaliduser
0 subcomment
- 2:320/104 represent!
- Yes, but only what was mirrored to usenet: https://usenetarchives.com/groups.php?c=fido
But usenetarchives has had some enshittification happen.
This one still has some of the more fun files: http://textfiles.com/bbs/FIDONET/
There is also a Giganews dump on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/giganews
And this one: https://archive.org/details/usenet-fido
Google stopped being useful for usenet a while ago but still has some if you can find it.
by ivan_gammel
0 subcomment
- Yes, remember. 2:5010/7 went live with the wind of change. Went dark when the winds changed.
by throwaway_20357
0 subcomment
- There surely must be some BBS backup tapes somewhere that at least contain some of the boards?
- Just discovered that Debian still has ifmail and binkd packages.
by grumpysysop
1 subcomments
- Get off my lawn!
- 2:5019/19
- I do remember. :) Posted the same question ten years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12216932 The archives are almost completely gone and only a small fraction is available on internet. Perhaps some still exist on old harddrives - but I wouldn't count on it. Disk space wasn't cheap back then.
by david_iqlabs
2 subcomments
- [flagged]
- https://www.google.com/search?q=is+fidonet+alive+today
https://www.google.com/search?q=is+fidonet+archived+anywhere
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