Retrocomputing enthusiasts are always ready to configure and maintain old systems, but the rest of us just want to relive the experience without going all the way back. Recently we explored how to send an email in 1984 using videotex, an old generic term that also covers BBS. For those who don't know what a BBS is, you can find a special version of Google that mimics both its appearance and functionality.
BBS were the terror of phone lines, and I say that from personal experience. Access was slow and expensive, but it was also glorious. Modems recited their strange incantation (often drawing the fury of parents woken by the noise at two in the morning), and suddenly we could retrieve files from miles away.
At some point in the '90s, BBS gave up their privileged position to the advance of the Internet, although they didn't disappear completely. Taiwan's PTT BBS is still active, and it's estimated to have 1.5 million registered users in that country. On the other hand, a couple of Google searches will lead us to lists of BBS that survive today, but let's do that differently. What if we use Google imitating the appearance of a BBS?
Google BBS: Retro Glory
Google BBS Terminal is inspired by a video from SquirrelMonkey.com published in January 2012, which shows what a real Google BBS edition would have been like in the '80s. Shortly after, the folks at masswerk.at decided to turn it into an active service, and it's actually quite good. JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, and the Fixedsys Excelsior 3.00 font form the ideal team for Google BBS Terminal, but the story doesn't end there. There's also a version called Google60 that takes us twenty years further back, with punched cards and tape backups.
Navigating the BBS is quite easy: each line has an assigned key that we must press to confirm our selection. Of course, the BBS illusion ends once we open a link, as it throws us to its 'modern' version, but those who want to prolong this a bit can always download a copy of the Lynx browser and browse the Web in pure text...
https://old.neoteo.com/windows-1-0-emula-el-primer-windows-en-tu-navegador/
