Since WWIVnet had folded in the mid 90s, I stopped my WWIV board and went to VADV since Steve Winn was still supporting it and writing mods. He collaborated with Eli and they combined WWIVnet with VirtualNet to make AspectNet. Winn wrote a program to toss packets via an FTP routine and it united a lot of disenfranchised BBSs out there. It was Eli Sandford who convinced me that WWIVnet would be resurrected and to start up my old WWIV board again yet upgrade it and use telnet vs modem. I think I am dating myself yet I still run my VADV board named after my first WWIV board, "Mysteria Majicka". I was thinking that now WWIVnet has FTN capability, if I could add WWIVnet to it. I would have to use an external mailer like Taurus / Radius or D'Bridge, which interests me. What's a retired boy supposed to do but play?


<--> The Blood Stone BBS - Telnet & HTTP www.bsbbs.com <-->
\/ WWIVnet Node 1@707 - Sonoma County California \/
         
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

Since WWIVnet had folded in the mid 90s, I stopped my WWIV board and went
to VADV since Steve Winn was still supporting it and writing mods. He collaborated with Eli and they combined WWIVnet with VirtualNet to make AspectNet. Winn wrote a program to toss packets via an FTP routine and it united a lot of disenfranchised BBSs out there. It was Eli Sandford who convinced me that WWIVnet would be resurrected and to start up my old WWIV board again yet upgrade it and use telnet vs modem. I think I am dating myself yet I still run my VADV board named after my first WWIV board, "Mysteria Majicka". I was thinking that now WWIVnet has FTN capability, if
I could add WWIVnet to it. I would have to use an external mailer like Taurus / Radius or D'Bridge, which interests me. What's a retired boy supposed to do but play?

Virtualization is what brought me back. I was an early adopter of virtualizing all my stand alone "PC servers" years ago. I really wanted to see if I could do that exact thing with my old BBS PC that was sitting there which still had OS/2 Warp on it.

The project to bring it back to life in a VM was a success and the rest is history. Similar to your story, I was contacted by Eli to join WWIVnet once I had my system back online in a VM. I got things connecting with him and things started to take back off again like the good old days.

I still enjoy the hobby and hope to eventually have more time to tinker eventually.

- Mark

:.: Weather Station BBS · telnet://bbs.weather-station.org :.: :.: http://www.weather-station.org/bbs · Bel Air, Maryland - USA :.:
      
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

I still enjoy the hobby and hope to eventually have more time to tinker eventually.

- Mark

Any thoughts of retirement Mark?


<--> The Blood Stone BBS - Telnet & HTTP www.bsbbs.com <-->
\/ WWIVnet Node 1@707 - Sonoma County California \/
→      
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

The project to bring it back to life in a VM was a success and the rest
is history. Similar to your story, I was contacted by Eli to join
WWIVnet once I had my system back online in a VM. I got things
connecting with him and things started to take back off again like the
good old days.

Mark, I've heard Eli's name mentioned by just about everyone with nothing but affection and I can only imagine he was a huge loss. I've been around WWIV since 1989, originally in Arvada Colorado and have lost a couple of long time friends and heavy contributors to the glory days of WWIV. All of this was pre-telnet. What was Eli's alias? What BBS did he run?

I BBS I really enjoy calling but would love to know more of the history on is the Gate Keeper, is this any relation to Eli?

r3c0n

|08Gh|150|08sts |07in the |15Machine
|08ghostmachine.ddns.net|15:|08 t|151717 |08ssh|157777


          
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

I BBS I really enjoy calling but would love to know more of the history
on is the Gate Keeper, is this any relation to Eli?

Gate Keeper ran a bbs near Eli's home area.

→
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

Any thoughts of retirement Mark?

I think about it all the time.. :)

My plan is to work 4 more years. That will take me to almost 60 years old. Right now, I just signed a contract to get an in-ground pool installed this winter and fence. Shortly after that will be my man's best friend dog addition. Then I will be really closer to my retirement.

My image in my head is sitting by the pool, drinking a beer with my wife, son, and dog and not having to worry about schedules or getting up for work again.

Lots of exploring and other things will be on my agenda.

- Mark

:.: Weather Station BBS · telnet://bbs.weather-station.org :.: :.: http://www.weather-station.org/bbs · Bel Air, Maryland - USA :.:
p ╞"
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

Mark, I've heard Eli's name mentioned by just about everyone with nothing but affection and I can only imagine he was a huge loss. I've been around WWIV since 1989, originally in Arvada Colorado and have lost a couple of long time friends and heavy contributors to the glory days of WWIV. All of this was pre-telnet. What was Eli's alias? What BBS did he run?

I BBS I really enjoy calling but would love to know more of the history on is the Gate Keeper, is this any relation to Eli?

Gate Keeper was a good friend of Eli. He went by Eli Sanford and was only 38 years old when he passed. He sent us a message when he was in the hospital and that was the last time I heard from him. Really sad - but I was honored to have known him.

My goal after his legacy was to keep his WWIVnet vision alive and running.

- Mark

:.: Weather Station BBS · telnet://bbs.weather-station.org :.: :.: http://www.weather-station.org/bbs · Bel Air, Maryland - USA :.:
p ╞"
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

As respected as he was, I sure wish I had had an opportunity to meet him. 38 and a lover of WWIV BBS? Thats amazing! Also to your point, far to young to leave this world.

As for WWIVnet, glad you're keeping it up and going! I logged into your BBS yesterday and just LOVE WWIV when fully customized. Glad you're here Mark and much appreciate all you do!!!



On Thursday,December 05, 2024 at 08:57 PM, Weatherman wrote:

RE: Re: WWIVnet FTN
BY: Recon #1 @126

Mark, I've heard Eli's name mentioned by just about everyone with
nothing
but affection and I can only imagine he was a huge loss. I've
been around
WWIV since 1989, originally in Arvada Colorado and have lost a
couple of
long time friends and heavy contributors to the glory days of
WWIV. All of
this was pre-telnet. What was Eli's alias? What BBS did he run?

I BBS I really enjoy calling but would love to know more of the
history on
is the Gate Keeper, is this any relation to Eli?

Gate Keeper was a good friend of Eli. He went by Eli Sanford and was
only 38 years old when he passed. He sent us a message when he was in
the hospital and that was the last time I heard from him. Really sad -
but I was honored to have known him.

My goal after his legacy was to keep his WWIVnet vision alive and
running.

- Mark
♦1
♦2:.: Weather Station BBS ·
telnet://bbs.weather-station.org :.:
♦3:.: http://www.weather-station.org/bbs · Bel Air, Maryland
- USA :.:

|08Gh|150|08sts |07in the |15Machine
|08ghostmachine.ddns.net|15:|08 t|151717 |08ssh|157777


p ╞"→
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

As respected as he was, I sure wish I had had an opportunity to meet
him. 38 and a lover of WWIV BBS? Thats amazing! Also to your point,
far to young to leave this world.

Me and Eli worked to get WWIVnet back in shape around 2011. I even tried to beg some software makers to sell me some Net UP software to get the network rolling again.

→
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

As for WWIVnet, glad you're keeping it up and going! I logged into your
BBS yesterday and just LOVE WWIV when fully customized. Glad you're here Mark and much appreciate all you do!!!

My WWIV setup over here is historic at this point.. :) The foundation of it is WWIV 4.24a, with some code from 4.30, and more source mode mods than I can remember. Some original and lots of ones from the old days.

It is great to see the new version updates and lots of people keeping it going. One of these days I would like to run a parallel setup with both the historic and new just for fun.

- Mark

:.: Weather Station BBS · telnet://bbs.weather-station.org :.: :.: http://www.weather-station.org/bbs · Bel Air, Maryland - USA :.:
      
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

My goal after his legacy was to keep his WWIVnet vision alive and
running.

I can recall when I first brought my WWIV back online, Eli reached out to me to have me join his SVNnet. Was a lot of work, but he kept at it to get to the point where he was able to get the blessings to resurrect the WWIVnet. I remember You Mark, Matthew, David and I being pretty much the entire Net at that time.

Great to see so much development and progress over the years.

I really hope to have the time soon to be able to see what I can do to get my WWIV over to a linux or Windows 11 box and off this Win10.


<--> The Blood Stone BBS - Telnet & HTTP www.bsbbs.com <-->
\/ WWIVnet Node 1@707 - Sonoma County California \/
      
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

My WWIV setup over here is historic at this point.. :) The foundation
of it is WWIV 4.24a, with some code from 4.30, and more source mode mods than I can remember. Some original and lots of ones from the old days.

It had that "feel" I remember from my "old days" using WWIV for sure. I'm hoping one day I'll find my old zip drive and the disk that has my original BBS on it, but have a feeling I got rid of it .. if I recall .. it quit working.

It is great to see the new version updates and lots of people keeping it going. One of these days I would like to run a parallel setup with both
the historic and new just for fun.

I've really enjoyed customizing and modding my new WWIV BBS. I'd love to see a Weather Station on 5.9-dev! Looking forward to the day of seeing you work on one. Would love to see more WWIV'ers sharing their customization and modding tips! (poking ribs .. do it!) smilez.



|08Gh|150|08sts |07in the |15Machine
|08ghostmachine.ddns.net|15:|08 t|151717 |08ssh|157777


p ╞"→
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

Gate Keeper was a good friend of Eli. He went by Eli Sanford and was only 38 years old when he passed. He sent us a message when he
was in
the hospital and that was the last time I heard from him.
Really sad -
but I was honored to have known him.

My goal after his legacy was to keep his WWIVnet vision alive and running.

Didn't Eli's sister keep his FB page intact? I will take a look today


<--> The Blood Stone BBS - Telnet & HTTP www.bsbbs.com <-->
\/ WWIVnet Node 1@707 - Sonoma County California \/
p ╞"
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

I can recall when I first brought my WWIV back online, Eli reached out to me to have me join his SVNnet. Was a lot of work, but he kept at it to
get to the point where he was able to get the blessings to resurrect the WWIVnet. I remember You Mark, Matthew, David and I being pretty much the entire Net at that time.

I remember that as well. :) After being happy that I was able to convert my original BBS physical platform to a VM that worked, I was very ready for step #2 when Eli contacted me. I was very happy to see his dedication to bringing the network back again! It was great that we were all connected again even in our small group.

Rushfan really took us to the next WWIVnet level with the BinkP method for network transfers. That moved us away from the issues from SMTP which was great for many years when Frank Reid first created WINS.

Lots of history on how we got to where we are today - it has been lots of fun!

- Mark

:.: Weather Station BBS · telnet://bbs.weather-station.org :.: :.: http://www.weather-station.org/bbs · Bel Air, Maryland - USA :.:
      
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

I've really enjoyed customizing and modding my new WWIV BBS. I'd love to
see a Weather Station on 5.9-dev! Looking forward to the day of seeing you work on one. Would love to see more WWIV'ers sharing their customization
and modding tips! (poking ribs .. do it!) smilez.

Yeah, I still remember the days in the WWIV Mods message area where you looked forward to people mosting new mods. It was great. Sort of a historic version of GitHub. :)

- Mark

:.: Weather Station BBS · telnet://bbs.weather-station.org :.: :.: http://www.weather-station.org/bbs · Bel Air, Maryland - USA :.:
      
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

Me and Eli worked to get WWIVnet back in shape around 2011. I even tried
to beg some software makers to sell me some Net UP software to get the network rolling again.

I went on the hunt as well to try and reach out to original WWIV Utility programmers to see if I could obtain source codes for them. I managed to get many of them but there was a few that I either couldn't get or was lost.

I made contact with Jafo and he sent me source to what he still had, and so did Morgul. Actually Morgul was the first one I contacted and got the source (WWIVTOSS) which is what I still use over here for the WWIV<->FTN gateway.

- Mark

:.: Weather Station BBS · telnet://bbs.weather-station.org :.: :.: http://www.weather-station.org/bbs · Bel Air, Maryland - USA :.:
      
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

Rushfan really took us to the next WWIVnet level with the BinkP method
for network transfers. That moved us away from the issues from SMTP
which was great for many years when Frank Reid first created WINS.

I really love WWIVnet. It was so fun getting the new subs.lst, or reading the sub advertisements, both on WWIV and ICEnet back in the day. I also liked being able to add my own and all of the flag settings, it really brought more control of the network experience for the user and BBS theme back into the hands of each SysOp. I have many FTN's I subscribe to, and love them all, however FTN's are more restrictive from that prospective (adding subs and the flag options). WWIV networking is just fantatic in my opinion. I'm really glad it's here and that there are so many dedicated to preserving and advancing it.

r3c0n

|08Gh|150|08sts |07in the |15Machine
|08ghostmachine.ddns.net|15:|08 t|151717 |08ssh|157777


p ╞"→
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

Yeah, I still remember the days in the WWIV Mods message area where you looked forward to people mosting new mods. It was great. Sort of a historic version of GitHub. :)

Yeah I'm not an expert nor major fan of GitHub. I like some aspects but not others. It is better than the ol' WWIV Mod messages with the mulitple page instructions I'd print out to add more advanced mods. However, it is more difficult to find each contributors github pages and follow them as they may not be specific WWIV dev's, but write mods and or provide useful utilities and or create doors. Apam did introduce me to the "search" feature which should reduce quite a few of my stupid questions (smilez). I've enjoyed using that to find code within the source. I'm still "clunky" at making forking, making changes, and comitting the changes. I'm not even sure how to tell where I can and can not do so; afraid of screwing something up. But I'm learning, slowly, as I have time. I've really enjoyed getting into the source and making little changes here and there.


|08Gh|150|08sts |07in the |15Machine
|08ghostmachine.ddns.net|15:|08 t|151717 |08ssh|157777


          
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

I really love WWIVnet. It was so fun getting the new subs.lst, or
reading the sub advertisements, both on WWIV and ICEnet back in the day.

Someone should resurrect IceNet. Where is Holly Hobby these days?


<--> The Blood Stone BBS - Telnet & HTTP www.bsbbs.com <-->
\/ WWIVnet Node 1@707 - Sonoma County California \/
→      
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

Funny you mention that .. maybe it'll resurrect in spirit but under a different name ;)

Don't know where Holly is though :)

I did find (On Marks BBS) and downloaded an old ICEnet subslist. Man I just love WWIV networking so much moreso than FTN. I think I know three guys looking for beta testers for some kinda thing like that.

RE: Re: WWIVnet FTN
BY: Recon #1 @126

I really love WWIVnet. It was so fun getting the new subs.lst, or reading the sub advertisements, both on WWIV and ICEnet back in
the day.

Someone should resurrect IceNet. Where is Holly Hobby these days?

♦1
♦2<--> The Blood Stone BBS - Telnet & HTTP www.bsbbs.com <-->
♦3 \/ WWIVnet Node 1@707 - Sonoma County California \/

|08Gh|150|08sts |07in the |15Machine
|08ghostmachine.ddns.net|15:|08 t|151717 |08ssh|157777


          
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

Yeah I'm not an expert nor major fan of GitHub. I like some aspects but
not others. It is better than the ol' WWIV Mod messages with the mulitple page instructions I'd print out to add more advanced mods. However, it is more difficult to find each contributors github pages and follow them as they may not be specific WWIV dev's, but write mods and or provide useful utilities and or create doors. Apam did introduce me to the "search"
feature which should reduce quite a few of my stupid questions (smilez).

Yeah, GitHub is different than the old WWIV Mod subs. I do however really like the open source scene which in almost all cases lives on GitHub. My honest opinion is there are so many high quality open source projects - many of them being better than software that companies pay money to use.

A perfect example is Home Assistant. It has a fast, intuitive, modern, interface that is leaps and bounds better than most paid company based software. It blows my mind just how poor some software is these days that companies actually pay money to use. Loads of issues, horrible interface, slow, etc. Maybe it is just a healthcare thing, but we have lots of crap software.

It is always refreshing to me to see the massive open source community these days with so many advanced projects that are often better than any paid software.

- Mark

:.: Weather Station BBS · telnet://bbs.weather-station.org :.: :.: http://www.weather-station.org/bbs · Bel Air, Maryland - USA :.:
      
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

Yeah, GitHub is different than the old WWIV Mod subs. I do however
really like the open source scene which in almost all cases lives on
GitHub. My honest opinion is there are so many high quality open source projects - many of them being better than software that companies pay
money to use.

I love open source, always have, and have a github account, I've been learning it more since the restart of my WWIV hobby. Finding "new things" is something I've not explored outside of those people I follow for the sake of the hobby. Once I figure out what I'm doing with my RPI5, I'm sure I'll have to figure out how to navigate it better.

A perfect example is Home Assistant. It has a fast, intuitive, modern, interface that is leaps and bounds better than most paid company based software. It blows my mind just how poor some software is these days
that companies actually pay money to use. Loads of issues, horrible interface, slow, etc. Maybe it is just a healthcare thing, but we have
lots of crap software.

From a patient prospective, Healthcare for sure :) I can't speak for it's employees.

It is always refreshing to me to see the massive open source community
these days with so many advanced projects that are often better than any paid software.

Might be nice to see a subboard around github/open source recommendations.

|08Gh|150|08sts |07in the |15Machine
|08ghostmachine.ddns.net|15:|08 t|151717 |08ssh|157777


p ╞"→
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

I love open source, always have, and have a github account, I've been learning it more since the restart of my WWIV hobby. Finding "new
things" is something I've not explored outside of those people I follow
for the sake of the hobby. Once I figure out what I'm doing with my
RPI5, I'm sure I'll have to figure out how to navigate it better.

That's one great thing about WWIV. It got me started C programming in 1987 which helped me figure out what I wanted to do for a career. Others more recently have also said that they've learned skills from using and contributing to WWIV that has helped them in their careers as well. It's been a fun hobby that has always had a positive and educational benefit to me and many others.
rushfan



--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)

That's one great thing about WWIV. It got me started C programming in 1987 which helped me figure out what I wanted to do for a career. Others more recently have also said that they've learned skills from using and contributing to WWIV that has helped them in their careers as well. It's been a fun hobby that has always had a positive and educational benefit to me and many others. rushfan

Yes, I'm another one to add to the list in that category. What got me into computers was I won a Vic-20 in a Mother's Day essay contest when I was around 11 years old. My Mom won loads of stuff, it was on the radio, TV, etc.

My Vic-20 sat in my closet for many months as I had no interest in it at first. More interested in weather and electronics. Then one rainy day I pulled it out of the box and the rest was history.

Then I got into BBSing (started on Apple //c), but later went PC/286 and WWIV somewhere in the mid 80s. I was very interested in modems, data transfers, etc. Eventually leading my career into technology and even later into data networking. I started professionally in the field when I was 18 years old - working in IT at Maryland National Bank.

I still enjoy it the same these days and glad that this sort of guided me further into where I needed to be.

- Mark

:.: Weather Station BBS · telnet://bbs.weather-station.org :.: :.: http://www.weather-station.org/bbs · Bel Air, Maryland - USA :.:
      
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (11:1/101.0)