About the Editor
by: cr1mson@phatstar.org
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Hi'ya everybody!  This is a brief introduction about myself and my passion.
I've been computing since my late-dad hooked up a TRS-80 on a monochrome
screen.  I was captivated by it!  I didn't realize I'd still to this day
enjoy computers and technology up to this day and beyond.  I upgraded to
a Commodore(tm) 64 with a 1541 floppy drive and 1571 color screen with an
adapter on the back to get a color screen.  Moved on from then to a C128
with split C64/128.  The C128 was monochrome with more capabilities; I
don't recall doing much with it however.  Then to a 286, 386 and on to a
Pentium(tm) with a 14.4K modem.  I found the internet on the Wichita
State University bulletin board system here where I reside.  It included
free internet dial-up and Netscape Navigator for a short moment in time.
I'm a big fan of Mariah Carey so I did a google search and found IRC, so
I spent years chatting, hooking up my VCR to my computer to record MPEGs
and what-not.  Then moved on to creating websites of celebrities with
pictures I found on a new world wide web.  From then around December of
2009 I got an unexpected e-mail asking to start a Tradewars 2002 server
for this person and her friends to play on.  I remember back in the day
playing TW2002.  It was so popular back then.  I remember getting custom
BBS screens with a couple of Co-SysOps that wanted to help me out.  I
didn't know much about telnet and all that so I started reaching out to
other BBSes, figuring out various things like setting up message bases,
files areas and on-line doors.  I was unsatisfied that there wasn't much
teleconferencing happening on any of the boards I've called up to this
day.  I found a Discord(tm) server with others with common interests as
mine so we got it off well.  Interested in created my own door, so I
started programming, learning C++, aside with a little HTML, PHP
knowledge.  After awhile I started running Linux on a console platform
without a GUI.  I learned commands and such using Lynx.  Stumbled on
my favorite distro, Ubuntu(tm), currently running Lubuntu unto late.
I found a lot of my favorite friends on a module for Mystic which is a
BBS software I felt a lot SysOp friendly, so I installed MRC using a
script.  Just last night played a multiplayer game provided by Steam(tm)
and had a lot of fun.  Well, that about wraps it up for me.  Just a
little trail down memory lane.  I hope you enjoyed it.  You can reach me
at cr1mson@phatstar.org or even visit my blog at www.cr1mson.org.  I hope
to make more friends and support the TextMode, BBS Scene and all that
tech stuff that people like me enjoy so much!

Interested in Coding?
by: cr1mson@PHATstar.org

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Have you ever had a desire to do something new on your computer, but you
didn't know what it was?  Ever wonder what's behind the scenes of a program
written for a computer?  Well, I've got good news.  You can become a
computer programmer if a serious techy.

I have to admit, I'm not going to lie: It's not easy in the beginning, but
with practice, patience and repeat, you can have a programmed developed by
yourself or with a group of people.

What language do you think you'd be good at?  I suggest trying something
simple.  BASIC has been around for decades or even shell scripts for Linux.
You may wonder what I mean by BASIC.  That's the name of the language.
And, another term Linux you may not be familiar with is a computer system
operating language.  You might be wondering, okay, you've lost me already.
Don't worry, computers are based on 0's and 1's.  For a programmer, it may
be very difficult to program a large program of just using 0's and 1's.  So
there is programming software such as Visual Studio Community(tm) for
Windows(tm) and/or Code::Blocks if you're using something like Linux or
Raspberry Pi(tm).  Human language translates into these 0's and 1's.  If
you don't know what 0 means, it just means false and 1 means true.  A 
series of commands with yes and no's.  Computers these days can compute
these much faster than ever before with the right equipment.

I love technology and encourage you to invest some time into trying to code
with your preferred computer language and trying to build a small project.
The base of the computer technology needs more serious programmers.  Don't
get me wrong, everybody's (practically) does it already.  And, you can too.

​Bulletin Board Systems
SysOps vs. Users
by: cr1mson@PHATstar.org
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Have you ever wondered what it was like before the internet?  Well, I tell
you, a lot of people were into Bulletin Board Systems before this new modern
age era.

A bulletin board back in the 80's and early 90's were a lot like how the
internet is today.  You had message base conference areas much like a large
audience of people like social media.  There was also netmail which is like
private messages such as today's e-mail system.  There were even text based
on-line games people played which could be played across the world; these
games had to exchange data files called game packets from a central hub and
distribute it out to other hubs throughout other countries.  It was quite
costly back then to even afford ten phone lines and the equipment tied into
it.  There was teleconferencing much like texting on your phone.  BBSing
simply is a retro/vintage type of spreading information and entertainment
much like we see today.

A SysOp or a System Operator had much control of the BBS.  Some had
Co-SysOp(s) to help maintain it and moderators to filter unwanted contact.
There were a lot fewer systems back then.  It was more of a user base with
hundreds of thousands of users across the globe.

Today, just about anybody can setup a BBS so the SysOp vs. User ratio has
changed dramatically in the past decades.  A lot of software is cheap and
the price to run one can be cheap as well.  I encourage more users on
existing systems to motivate the BBS scene by posting messages,
participating in teleconference chats, perhaps get a little gaming in there
for those interested, upload more files than download.

Together, let's work for a common purpose.  That purpose being to keep the
BBS community alive and well, to spread information technology to those
that have an eager passion for it.  Information should by all means be free
just like living water.  Take a step up and spread the word to your friends
what BBSing means to you in a positive way.  It can be fun for all ages and
you can possibly make a lot of friends and spend time learning something
new each and every day.

So, the question is: Is BBSing better than the Internet?  I believe the
internet is laziness; just point and click to anything you want.  BBSing
took a lot of time, hard work and felt a lot like more of a real community.

Now that you know a little about the past, lets not reinvent the wheel, but
change its direction.  Lets keep the dreams of BBS SysOps and BBS Users
alive by spending quality time on them.  I encourage it.