What is tHe sHacK bBS?

A homebrew Bulletin Board System that ran from 1998 to 2006 — in its later years under the velvet.ath.cx hostname: message bases, file areas (g-files), doors and multi-user chat. It was reconstructed from the 2006-10-26 filesystem dump and now runs again in the browser.

Is the BBS really running, or is it a mockup?

Really running: the message bases, file areas, chat and presence operate live in the browser against the recovered system data. ANSI terminal sessions from the era are preserved as captures on the sister archive, sdelic.org.

How do I get an account?

Connect to the BBS terminal and apply at login the way dial-up users did, and the sysop provisions new accounts. The old etiquette still applies.

Screenshots

A text terminal never really gets screenshotted — it gets replayed. Each frame below is an original screen file from the dump, interpreted again in your browser with its colors alive. Think of them as the board's own photographs.

Arriving at the board

The last login screen: a spaceship over ocean waves, the sysops on the masthead, and the board's joke in the middle — “tHe sHit We DoN'T KnOW” — because every good board kept one mystery.

.   .    __..-\\\\    .      _       .
        `\\\\\\\\\\         (_) .  |
      .  `\\\\\\ _.\      O       -+-
 .        `\\\U\\   \   o          |
     .     `\\  \\\\~  _     .      
             |   \\\\~~~
.                                    .
  . (o)))\))\))))/)/)))/)/)))\))) .
      >                        \
      ) \o /  WeLCoMe To   \o/ )     .
 .    \   \   ~~~~~~~ ~~   \   \ .
      )  /  tHe sHacK bBS!   \ )
      \     ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~     \
   .  ) tHe sHit We DoN'T KnOW )   .
      \_._..________..____.._._>
     (o))//)////)\))/)))/)//))/)) .
 .     .     .          .      . 
    .           SysOps:     .       .
         . -+/=-oo==oo-=/+-   .
.--==--==--==--==-. .--==--==--==-==-.
| ==o KrEaToR o== | | oo/ Sdelic \oo |
`-==--==--==--==--' `-==--==-==--==--'

LOGIN — The login screen as it stood in 2006 — the spaceship, the waves, “WeLCoMe To tHe sHacK bBS”.

The main menu

Everything was one keystroke away. This final-generation menu is the board in its settled shape: post, read new, join rooms, users, chat, g-files, configure — and the Warren G quote riding the bottom, signature and all.


tHe sHacK bBS MAiNMeNu..

 ----+-____ __ ___ _  _____ __ _
 THE /  __// _/   / \/  __// _/ \
     \ (_       _/ . \_(  _    _/
   /\_)  \  _  /       \ / \   \
   \_____/_//__\___//__/___//__/ bBS..    SysOps: [KrEaToR] / [Sdelic]
 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
      (P) Post a Message      (Y) Ye Old cHaT RoOM  (X) StarFlight door
      (B) Read Dyslexicly     (/) Who's Online      (T) Date/Time Connect
 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
      (J) Join a Room!!       (U) Users & Posters   (G) G-pHiLe pHuN
  (SPACE) Read New Messages   (C) Configure Acct    (L) LogOut, GoodBye
 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= (?) this menu =-=-=-=-=-= 
  "Its kinda easy when ya liston to the gee'd up sound, pioneer speakers
 bumpin' as I smoke on the pound!"  --+)-  Warren G.

MAINMENU — The final main menu: single-key commands, sysops KrEaToR and Sdelic on the masthead.

Going private

At some point the board stopped taking walk-ins. The INVITE screen is all that survives of that decision — no announcement thread, just the front door changing its lock.


 -=> tHe sHacK is now a private system.
     joinable via only invitation. 
     please enter the invite password.

INVITE — The board went private: new accounts only through an invite password.

Joining up

The new-user menu, unchanged in spirit today on the rebuilt board: enter the keycode that was e-mailed to you, fix your e-mail, or leave a note for the sysop.



                           
    WeLCoMe To THe sHacK   
                           

Newbie Menu:
~~~~~~ ~~~~~
  <e>nter keycode, <c>hange email, <n>ote to sysop, <l>ogoff.

NewUserMenu — The new-user menu: keycode, e-mail change, note to the sysop.

Life on the board

The message of the day — a tree, and a stance:


                   |
                  |.|
                  |.|
                 |\./|
                 |\./|
..               |\./|               .
  \^.\          |\\.//|          /.^/
   \--.|\       |\\.//|       /|.--/
     \--.| \    |\\.//|    / |.--/
      \---.|\    |\./|    /|.---/
         \--.|\  |\./|  /|.--/
            \ .\  |.|  /. /
  _ -_^_^_^_-  \ \\ // /  -_^_^_^_- _
    - -/_/_/- ^ ^  |  ^ ^ -\_\_\- -
              LEGALIZE IT!

MOTD — The message of the day: the tree that greeted every caller.

And the color help screen, teaching the caret codes that still work in posts:

  Colors can be used when posting a
message.  Type the ^ key, that is -not-
the CTRL key, but the SHIFT-6 on most
keyboards.  Colors are fun!  :)

Key   Color           Key   Color
~~~   ~~~~~           ~~~   ~~~~~
 ^R = Bright Red       ^r = Dark Red
 ^G = Light Green      ^g = Dark Green
 ^Y = Bright Yellow    ^y = Dark Yellow
 ^B = Light Blue       ^b = Dark Blue
 ^M = Light Magenta    ^m = Magenta
 ^C = Bright Cyan      ^c = Dark Cyan
 ^W = Bright White     ^w = Off white

 ^Z = Dark Gray        ^D = The Default

colors-help — How to color your posts: the ^-caret color codes, still honored by the rebuilt board.

The door

StarFlight's console — the board's other universe:


.~-~=~-~v~-~=~-~v~-~=~-~v~-~=~-~v~-~=~.
|.  .   .      .     +   .     .   +  |
+    .    .   STaR FLiGhT   .   .     +
| .     .        v 1.o    .           |
|  .  + (EXpLoRe tHe UNiVeRSe!)  .    |
|     .           .       .        .  |
`~=~-~v~-~=~-~v~-~=~-~v~-~=~-~v~-~=~-~'

gamelogo — STaR FLiGhT — the door game’s title screen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 XXXX SHiP CoNtRoL'S ANd CoMPuTeR XXXX 
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
.====<Computer>====.===<Navagation>===.
| A]nalyzae Planet | M]ap the Planets |
| U]plink Console  | F]ind Warp Path  |
| E]xamine Logs    | W]arp!           |
.===<More Stuff>===:=<General Stuff>==.
| B]attle a Player | L]ist of Players |
| V]iew Status     | Q]uit to bbs     |
.=<Planet Actions>=:=<Planet Actions>=.
| 1] Trade Goods   | 2] Galactic Bank |
| 3] Dock Shipyard | 4] BeamTo Pub    |
| 5] BeamTo Swamps | 6] BeamTo Hills  |
`==================:=================='

SHIPMENU — StarFlight’s ship console: analyze planets, warp, battle other players.

Leaving

The logoff art, and the shell feature that was — honestly — never coming back:


           |
         \ _ /
       -= (_) =-
         /   \         _\/_
           |           //o\  _\/_
    _____ _ __ __ ____ _ | __/o\\ _
  =-=-_-__=_-= _=_=-=_,-'|"'""-|-,_
   =- _=-=- -_=-=_,-"          |
     =- =- -=.--"

logout — Logoff art — the goodbye.

This feature has been disabled until furthur notice!

shelldown — Shell access: disabled “until furthur notice” — as it ever was.

The full registry — every recovered screen, including all five menu generations — is in the ANSI archive. Full terminal session captures from the era are on sdelic.org.