Bulletin board system

A computer server that lets users connect to post messages, share files, and exchange information, often through a dial-up connection.

Dial-up Internet access: Internet access established by dialing a telephone number over a modem. Many BBS users reached remote systems by dialing their phone lines.
CBBS: The first public dial-up bulletin board system, launched in Chicago in 1978. Its launch established the recognizable BBS model.
Message board: An online discussion space where people post messages for others to read and answer. The message board was the BBS’s central tool for asynchronous discussion.
Usenet: A distributed discussion system that exchanges newsgroup posts among networked computers. Usenet distributed discussions across connected hosts rather than centering them on one dial-up system.
Modem: A device that modulates and demodulates signals to transmit digital data over communications channels. A modem carried data between a caller’s computer and a dial-up BBS.
Ward Christensen: An American computer programmer who co-created CBBS and the XMODEM file-transfer protocol. Christensen built CBBS with Randy Suess.
Shareware: Software distributed for evaluation, with payment requested for continued use or full features. BBS file libraries helped shareware reach personal-computer users.
CompuServe: A commercial online service that offered email, discussion forums, news, and other services. CompuServe offered centrally managed services on a larger commercial scale.
Terminal emulator: Software that emulates a text terminal for interacting with a remote computer. Callers used terminal software to display BBS text and issue commands.
Randy Suess: An American computer engineer who co-created CBBS with Ward Christensen. Suess supplied the computer hardware and helped bring the first BBS online.

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