The massive pre-internet network known as 'BBS' ran on machines like this.



Before the internet became widespread, people connected to online services called 'BBS (Bulletin Board System).' A blog recently featured a photograph that symbolizes that era.

An old photo of a very large BBS

https://rachelbythebay.com/w/2022/01/26/swcbbs/

The following photo was posted by Rachel Kroll, who has worked as a system administrator for many years. It shows dozens of PCs and modems lined up.



This was a BBS terminal operated by a company called Software Creations, and was particularly known as a distribution hub for shareware and games. Game developers like Apogee used it.




From what Mr. Kroll has found, Software Creations was a massive BBS with up to 134 nodes. It is thought that one machine corresponded to one 'node,' handled one telephone line, and processed one user at a time. The photo shows 16 machines on one shelf, and there appear to be four such shelves, meaning that 64 machines are installed in this frame alone. It is likely that there were many more machines to accommodate the 134 nodes.

Kroll pointed out, 'As you can see in the upper right of the photo, it looks like there are two modems on top of some of the machines. It's possible that they were using DESQview to achieve simple multitasking and support two users with one machine. Imagine how much power these machines were consuming. All the heat they generated had to be expelled from the room, so that's how much air conditioning they needed. A considerable amount of power must have been being used.'

Incidentally, Ward Christensen, a co-developer of BBS, was alive until 2024.

[Obituary] Ward Christensen, co-developer of the electronic bulletin board system 'BBS,' dies at age 78 - GIGAZINE



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in Hardware, Posted by log1p_kr