Connect to a 1980s Atari Bbs Through the Web

It would have been cool to see at the time. I missed this era of BBSing, coming in around 1992-1996 or so as I finished HS and into my early 20's. I also have run a telnet BBS since 2002, but it's in a very broken state for a couple years and just haven't had the time and motivation to get it fixed. Mostly around DOS-based CP437 usage.

I've been wanting to get a generic door service with versions to at least support DOS as well as Commodore 64 (to start) doors with connections over WSS. I'm so green on Commodore emulation though, so that will be fun by the time I retire in a couple decades, I might have something working.

>The guys who had access to this were very lucky.

Accessed my first Atari 8-bit BBS as a kid in 1985 with my Atari 800 and 300 baud modem, lucky to upgrade to an Atari 130 XE soon after (also 8-bit). It was a whole different world.

Aside from the glacially slow connection speed, virtually every BBS back then was single line. This meant constant busy signals and endless redialing (pulse dialing, not touch tone!) in an attempt to get through and connect. Daily login time to each BBS was limited so that others could get on. Most BBSs used an upload to download ratio for files/warez in order to block leechers. Phone calls were very expensive back then too! Even calling numbers within your area code (which was subdivided into sections with different rates) carried a per minute charge. The more selective boards required referrals and/or references to have your account accepted.

It was the Wild West back then and truly a great time.