46134,30,03/11/93,JERRY SCHNEIDER,WARD CHRISTENSEN
CBBS HISTORY,
Ward:

I have several questions to ask you about the history of
CBBS/Chicago for a computer history project that I am working on:

1.  When did the system actually go on-line?  Do you know the exact
date in February 1978?

2.  What system was it running on?  Type of computer and
configuration?

3.  The BBS software you designed, what was its name?  Was both it
and the system itself called CBBS?

4.  Did you actually put CBBS into the public domain and make it
available to others?

5.  How did you and Randy Suess get involved in computers?  Were
both of you "electronics freaks" or "amateur radio buffs" first or
did you start with computers?  If so, in what way?

6.  In what city was CBBS first installed?

7.  Do you have any photographs or slides (preferably in color) of
you and Randy and/or your first system?  Or both?

Thanks for any assistance you can give.  If you would like to talk
voice, I can be reached at 703-764-0272 or, if you can provide me
with a voice number, I would be happy to contact you directly.

46135,11,03/11/93,JERRY SCHNEIDER,WARD CHRISTENSEN
MORE QUESTIONS,JERY
Here are a couple of additional questions that have come to mind:

1.  What user group did you and Randy belong to?  CACHE?

2.  Did MODEM -- the CP/M communications program you wrote -- come
before CBBS or after?

Thanks again.  By the way, I did get the on-line date (2/16/78) and
system info (North Star Horizon) from your bulletins.

    jerry
46234,13,05/08/93,WARD CHRISTENSEN,FERNANDO VALDERRAMA
XMODEM IN C,
  Sorry, I don't know.	I think it would be easy to find - I'd try
Compuserve, BIX, or perhaps Gene Plantz' system - those are the three
biggest systems I know.  But I've never looked for it.	I did the original
in assembler.
  The "Ward Board" at 708-849-1132 has some C for the CRC routines in
the low #'d msgs like 4-5-6-7 somewhere, but not the entire protocol.
  Randy (Co-inventor of CBBS) has source on his Unix system, but I don't
think he's accepting new users right now - maybe out of disk space.  If
you can get in it is in /src somewhere - rzsz (Zmodem stuff, with X and Y
modem as subsets) is in /src/unix/rzsz (but this is for a unix system).
  Chinet is at (312) 283-0559 for guest access, I think, but the logon
tonight said "no guest access" -has for about 2 days.  Folks are trying
to find why.  Maybe he's just in a bad mood, I dunno.
46235,05,05/08/93,WARD CHRISTENSEN,JEFF ROSTON
SCROLLING,
Traditional ASCII ^S to stop, and ^Q to start, work fine here.	Actually,
I turn any chars typed while CBBS is scrolling, into control chars, so
actually just an "S" or "s" would work.  And for simplicity (and for
tradition since CP/M worked this way) another S will start it again.
  Sorry for the problems.
46334,05,06/16/93,BENJAMIN COHEN,WARD CHRISTENSEN
R/COMPUTER CHRONICLES,
1979?  I think they had the right date; at least when I heard the
question I KNEW that they had the right date.  Randal's right; the
ignorance of the panel on some points was amazing (but they knew
some things I didn't know, too).  There was nothing quite as bad as
last year's "What does the ERASE command do in MS-DOS?"
46335,08,06/17/93,BENJAMIN COHEN,ANDY SHAPIRO
R/LAPTOPS,
Second thoughts.  The laptop that I really covet at the moment is the
new Canon with the built-in bubble jet printer.  Sigh.	Still around
$2.5K+.  On the more reasonable size is the Gateway 2000 Handbook.  At 2.2
pounds, small in size, $1295 (last I saw), only a 286, it's small enough
to make the difference between a laptop you take wherever you think you'll
need one and the laptop you carry EVERYWHERE all the time.  There are some
other entrants in this size range, I think.  The keyboard really is big
enough; my ex-partner reviewed it and really liked it.
46434,01,08/26/93,ROY LIPSCOMB,MICHAEL SHARTIAG
R/PROBLEM WITH 20 MHZ 286,
Michael, please see preceding message.	Thanks for you help.
46534,06,12/17/93,ALEX ZELL,JEFF GRAY
STILLWATERS BBS LIST,NONO
   The Stillwaters BBS list is now maintained by The Hideaway BBS
in Chicago's south suburbs at  708-748-1911.  It may be downloaded
by guests within the brief time limit permitted.  Two versions are
available:  CBBS1293.nam (73K, ASCII) or CBBS1293.zip (23K).
  The list may also be found on Randy Suess' Chinet in /usr/public.
New users may logon to Chinet at 312-283-0559.
46535,16,12/17/93,STEVE FARMILANT,ANDY SHAPIRO
R/CPM BASIC TO DOS BASIC?,
It's a program that prints a report for a Luria-Nebraska neuropsychological
examination, written in the stone age in CP/M...
By the way, I converted all of the .bas files to ASCII, and they ran
with no problem...I had problems in the past with only converting
the main program, which could not find all of the chained files.  Having
converted all 10 or so small programs, I'm up and running, with the notable
exception of the frustrating inability to print to my printer...The program
is lousy with CHR$ commands that alter the font, since some of the report
is bold, some expanded, some compressed print.
I'm attempting to update, literally, the program...Currently, the program
is running with the finest technology of 1970.
.
Thanks for the ideas about removing the CHR$ commands...But this idea would
not work, since some of the graphs would be distorted if not condensed.
As for the BASIC manual...Hey -- it just might come to that.
s