Date: Sun, 02 Jul 2000 10:34:22 -700
From: Walter Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Old ZOOM zoomer
John:
I ran a BBS for three years on a laptop. That computer is still
functional. My hardware problems were mainly limited to burned out
power supplies and crashed hard drives -- the overheating power
supply causing the hard disk crash. I liked using the laptop because
of, among other things, the space it saved. Back in 1989, 100
megabytes of diskspace was plenty for a BBS that was not oriented
toward file upload/download. Between an onboard 20 megabyte hard disk
and an external 85 megabyte hard disk, I had all the space I needed,
and on a laptop. In the summer, I was grateful for the fact the
laptop didn't make any real heat. (we have no air-conditioning where
I live) I also liked the relative invulnerability to brief failure of
electrical service. Back then, I ran the BBS modem and external hard
disk on a UPS, and the computer itself, of course, could run for a
period of time from its rechargeable battery without electrical
service. Thus, the occasional power failures (usually of no more than
5 to 10 seconds) during Winter windstorms did not mean the BBS was
down or had to go through a reboot cycle after power came back on.
But, all this certainly could not have worked out for a BIG BBS
-- one with several phone lines and the need to support upload and
download of LOTS of files. I had a friend who ran such a BBS. It was
as though the hardware -- the computers, the modems, the LAN as well
as phone cables, the whir of power supply fans, and all else --
dominated his existence in terms of their physical prominence in his
small home. That wasn't for me -- even when I was the most addicted
to SysOping as I ever was. SysOping ended for me in 1992, and I've
never had the slightest urge to put up my own website. It's just not
the same... :-)
Walter Scott
In Message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, John Gregory
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> had the following to say on Sun, 2 Jul 2000
06:41:53 -0500:
JG>I think 24/7 operation with the XT/ATs of those days was always
JG>pushing things a bit but at least the PCs didn't run so hot and were
JG>usually contained in a rugged and sensibly sized case; not like some
JG> of the sardine tins they come in today <g>
<><> News & Views, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, are the Net <><>
NTReader v0.27b(O)/Beta (Registered) in conjunction with Net-Tamer.
********************************************************
To unsubscribe from this list,
send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the single word
Unsubscribe
as the subject.
You MUST use the same address with which you subscribed!
********************************************************
