Q:
Why is your
Spitfire BBS
named 32-Bit?
Spitfire is a
16bit
dos app?
A: Back in the mid
90s the term
"32-Bit" was
all the rage.
So
when coming up
with a name
for my first
BBS that's
what I
picked. It was
running on a
486-SX 25 and
that's a 32bit
CPU so I guess
that could
justify it but
the real
reason
is because to
pull users
into a "32-Bit
BBS"
<g>. And
it
worked because
my one node
BBS was very
active due to
LoRD
and Interbbs
BRE/FE.
Q: Why did you become a sysop?
A: My first computer
was a 486-SX
25 and a
2400bps modem.
It
came with a
free 30 day
sub to Prodigy
online and
when
that ran out i
found the
world of local
BBS's. I was
hooked and
soon after i
downloaded the
Spitfire
software.
Q:
What
hardware/software
did you have
for the 32-Bit
BBS?
A: 486-Sx 25, 160 meg conner hdd, 4 megs ram, 2400bps modem
running on ms
dos 5.0,
qemm/desqview
and win 3.11.
Q: Qemm and Desqview? I though your first
BBS was one
node?
A: Well, I had one
phone line for
the BBS
callers and
one for
my local
logons.
Q: What hardware are you running now?
A:
Both X-Bit (Sync) and 32-Bit BBS (Spitfire) are running
on a Gateway
FX tower with
an INTeL i9
920 2.67GHZ
CPU,
4gb ram, 128gb
& 256gb
SSD and a AMD
HD 7800 vid
card.
Q:
How and
when did The
X-Bit come
about?
A: I built The X-Bit
in 2001 due to
missing the
hobby. After
a
quick internet
search i found
Synchronet and
was
surprised that
a BBS could be
accessed via
telnet rather
than a POTs
line. And also
Sync had many
modern
services
like SMTP,
SSH, etc. It
was a no
brainer. I
conducted a
restore from
my old
Spitfire BBS
backups,
grabbed some
ANSI displays,
changed the
name from
32-Bit BBS to
X-Bit
and *boom*
x-bit was
born.
Q: How actave were/are your BBS's?
A: As I stated my first BBS in the 90s, 32bit BBS, had just
one phone line. It was very actave and almost as soon as
a person would log off another would call in.
In 2001 when I started The X-Bit, and i guess many callers
were also feeling very nostalgic because it was crazy
actave. No longer being restricted to the number of phone
lines you had and thanks to Synchronet BBS software and
telnet, The X-Bit recived 100's of calls a day. I
remember getting bbs messages from Intel, MS, SUN, etc
engeeners saying how excited they were to access a BBS
again. X-Bit was one of the most actave BBS's in the world
back in the early/mid 2000s and thanks to this timeline
I'm almost at 400k logins today. I've archived logs of
X-Bit's daily logons that can be reviewed.
Sadly, systems access is no longer what it was and calls
have dropped but who knows, perhaps another wave of
nostalgia will hit again some day? <g> Regardless building
and running our systems at x-bit.org is just as fun as it
was in the 90s!
Q: Why did you
rebuild your
Spitfire BBS
if X-Bit was
alive?
A: Because it was my
first love and
with the help
of
NetSerial I
was able to
rebuild it and
offer
connections
via telnet.
Plus, retro
rules
<g>.
Q: What's the primary focus of your BBS's?
A: Door games! I've
always had a
healthy file
base, FTN
networks like
Fido, SFNet,
Dove-NET,
etc.. but i
love door
games and the
worlds that
they offer.
Q: Why did you take down X-Bit BBS in 2008
and again in
2011?
A: The main reason
was real life
work started
taking most
all
of my time.
Q: Didn't you run an InterBBS League?
A: Yes! It was named
The X-League
and I offered
Leagues 777,
701, 444, 610
and 13. In
fact at one
time for a few
years
league 777 was
the largest
BRE and FE
league in the
world.
We had some
good wars ;). Note, i no longer run this
InterBBS League but I restored it's webpage for review.
Q: Do you do your own ANSI?
A: No, but I'm pretty good
at modifying
others to fit
the
x-bit theme.
The BBS world
has some VERY
amazing artist
and in no way
can i even
touch that
skill set.
Q: What's with the ANSI sci-guy on both X-Bit and
32-Bit bbs?
A: That's Dr. Bit or dr. x
:) I found him
in an ANSI
pack
back in 1994
and was
adopted as the
official
mascot at
that point.
Also this x-bit
ansi
was created by
gj! and
given to me
for use on the
x-bit in 2023.