The Pentode The Pentode |
"The Pentode" was a BBS in You see, your modem is not limited to dialing only Microsoft, or AOL, or your ISP (Internet Service Provider). In fact your modem is capable of dialing ANY telephone number. And you don't need "the internet" to do this. Some people and businesses in many cities used to run computers in their homes or offices that had modems and Bulletin Board Systems. Then you could have your modem dial their modem, connect to their computer, and peruse their bulletin board system. There were many different types of systems or programs, with different commands. And there were many different reasons for having a BBS: business, social, clubs, software, etc. You would use a "terminal emulator" - a program on your computer that would talk to the modem and make your computer function as a "terminal" that could send text commands to the remote computer. Nowadays everyone uses a different type of connection protocol, called "PPP", to connect to corporate sites that provide internet access. While the WWW (World Wide Web) is wonderful, I lament the fact that it killed BBS's. They used to provide LOCAL computer forums where you could have real meetings, activities, promotions, or parties associated with BBS, and go meet your other local computer users.
A lot of the friends I made in the SLO area, I made through
The Pentode.
It provided forums for intellectual discussion and argument about the topics
people most love to argue about - politics, religion, etc. As well as discussions
about many other areas, community events, etc. etc. And the quality of the
discussion was quite good.
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