JohnPolka

Very cool! Glad it's now available! I switched the fTelnet client for the Basement BBS to use ATASCII. One can check it out at http://basementbbs.ddns.net:7000/ -JP

If you're willing to go the ST route, I would recommend it. There are fewer ST BBSs, so you probably stand a better chance at carving out your own unique niche with it. -JP

I'm glad you saw the announcement about Len. It's great to hear from you after our time on the CFN Atari SIG! It's been awhile. Thanks for the clarification on Kay Savetz's role with the Atari SIG Archive. There is still a lot of useful information there today. I still find myself referring to the CFN archives every once in awhile. -JP

Len's passing brings a roller coaster of emotions for me. My feelings are varying between sadness and feeling damn proud that he invited me on that great Atari project we called The Cleveland Freenet Atari Special Interest Group (SIG). I met him in the 80s on the Freenet when he became an Atari SIGOp. We were both the same age and in high school at the time. He would soon take over the Atari SIG, which was mostly idle due to the current SIGOp becoming ill and unable to keep up with it anymore. He then invited me, Scott Meredith, and Phil Chow to also become Atari SIGOps to help reboot the SIG. Len would later add SIGOps Michael Current, Craig Lisowski, Bruce D. Nelson, Fred Horvat, Barry Cantin, Kevin Steele, Pete Haller, Douglas Wokoun, Steven Tucker, and Tony Thomas. Under his leadership, we turned that Atari SIG into the World's largest free repository of Atari news and information. It rivaled the Atari SIGs on the online pay systems CompuServe and Genie. It was literally the "AtariAge" of the 80s and 90s (which is the premiere website for Atari information today). Len was an Atari Super Fan. I knew of few others who were bigger Atari fans than him. He would regularly write letters to Atari telling them what they need to do to better market their products. Atari Corp President, Sam Tramiel, was so impressed with Len's letters that he had someone from Atari contact Len and ask for his resume. Len was still in high school when this happened, and when Atari learned this, they decided not to offer him a job. But there is no doubt in my mind, that had Atari Corp survived the 90s, Len probably would have landed a job with them after college. In fact, had Len not been ill the last few years, he might have been able to work for today's Atari. One of the fondest memories I have with Len is when he asked me to be the editor of our Cleveland Freenet Atari SIG Newsletter C.A.I.N., which stood for the Central Atari Information Network. Len wore a lot of hats as the Atari SIG Manager. He dedicated most of his free time to the SIG. But he realized he could not do it all. And when he saw there was a need for a newsletter, he asked me to be the editor of the newsletter. I was flattered and honored that he entrusted me with that endeavor. The goal of the newsletter was not to just promote the Cleveland Freenet Atari SIG, but it was also to provide breaking news from Atari Corp and original articles from our Atari SIGOps and members. Atari Corp, by this time, saw us as a major player with the Atari Community and included us in their press releases. Again, this would not have happened if it were not for Len's leadership. The newsletter was published on the Atari SIG and emailed to subscribers worldwide. The second fondest memory was when Len, me, and Fred Horvat put together an Atari Show. The show was held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Kirtland, Ohio on August 7, 1994. Several Atari vendors were present including ICD and Toad Computers. We had a rare Atari Falcon030 computer on display. We raffled three new Jaguar Game Systems that Atari Corp donated to the show, as well as a Tempest 2000 cartridge and some other games. The show was described by an attendee afterwards as "Disney-like." At the time, it felt like a last hurrah for Atari users. It certainly was a last hurrah for Atari Corp as they would get swallowed up by hard drive manufacturer, JTS Inc. in 1996. The Cleveland Freenet would eventually go offline on September 30, 1999, due to Y2K concerns in the software and waning interest due to the availability of the World Wide Web. It was around this time that I would lose contact with Len for many years. From time to time, I would try to find him on the web. Sometimes I would find an email address, but my email to that email address would either bounce or go unanswered. Then Len would resurface on Facebook in 2014. We were able to resume our friendship on Facebook where we left off 15 years prior. On July 31, 2019, Len gave me the bad news on Facebook that he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. It was not looking good at all. I really thought I was going to lose my friend within days, or maybe months at best. But Len was a fighter and he put up an amazing fight for the next 4+ years. In fact, when we chatted this past December, he informed me that his oncologist wanted him to go to hospice, but he was not ready to give up his fight. So, he kept fighting that cancer until the end. He will forever be an inspiration in my life. Before the Freenet went offline in 1999, Steven Tucker and Michael Current both archived the Cleveland Freenet Atari SIG, and both posted their archives of the SIG on the web (see https://www.atariarchives.org/cfn/ and https://atarimax.com/freenet/). It's through these archives that Len's memory gets to live on. So, thank you Steven and Michael for maintaining those archives! And a big thank you to Len for your contributions to Atari History, and most importantly, for your friendship! -JP

We now have a music playlist for Baud Day! Check it out! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs1SQTEFTiN1hpI7XSwZgetQTMp0U60hU&si=yGMkEt4UGK8A3beU -JP

We will celebrate "The Squeal" with the "Most Appeal" on March 12, 2024! https://www.southernamis.com/baudday

Very cool! I asked my step dad who also worked for AT&T and he said that employees back then had a set amount of free long distance minutes per month. What a blast to call all those BBSs back then, eh? You don't still have any of these BBS lists, do you? -JP

That's hilarious...the first hard drive I bought was a used 5MB hard drive. When it arrived, it included a diagnostic test print out. The print out mentioned a bunch of bad sectors. So, I called the company that sold it to me and they said it must have been sent to me by mistake. So, I returned it and they shipped me a Lapine 10 meg hard drive (Lapine was the brand name). That was the hard drive for my BBS for awhile. I then added a second hard drive sometime later. I think the second one was a 20MB hard drive. -JP

Yep. I did the same thing. I kept a box fan on the MIO while it operated the Basement BBS 24/7. Back in 2017, when I unpacked my old MIO for the first time in years, I found a few strains of white fur in it. I am pretty sure that fur belonged to our old mascot, "The Basement Cat", which was notorious for climbing on top of the BBS' keyboard while someone was online. This would, of course, mess with the online user's BBS session. There is still an individual who, to this day, still thinks it was me messing with their BBS session while they were online. But what really happened was that I heard the chat bell going off, I saw the cat on the keyboard, who immediately jumped off when he saw me enter the room. When I broke into chat, this user proceeded to cuss me out. I told him it was the cat and he didn't believe me. Moving forward, I put a box onto of the Atari 800XL to protect the 800XL from the cat. That didn't stop the cat. I would still catch him on top of the box. At least he was no longer messing with users' BBS sessions. hahahaha For those who have not already seen this...there is a tribute page with some photos and nice ATASCII dedicated to the Basement Cat at http://basementbbs.ddns.net:7000/basement-cat.html -JP

I should have guessed Hogan's Heroes. Sergeant Schultz is your favorite character on that show, eh? -JP

4TBs of "Abbott and Costello", "Three Stooges", "Laurel and Hardy", "Buster Keaton", and "Charlie Chaplin" movies, eh? -JP

Thanks for the update. I called, posted some messages, then tried the voting booth and it locked up. -JP

It's your birthday too? Happy Birthday! It's also Ashley Aubra Jones' birthday. She's getting lots of birthday wishes on your hacked Facebook account today. -JP

Version 2.1a was the last version released by Orion Microsystems (Keith Ledbetter and Chris King's company). My step dad (who ran Part-Time BBS node x7) and myself (Basement BBS node x127), did not upgrade past version 2.1a. -JP

...or better yet, will "Ashley Aubra Jones" be doing the live stream. -JP

Look on the bright side. Your posts in all the Atari Facebook Groups are getting a lot more attention now. -JP

Not sure what you're asking. "Ashley Aubra Jones" posted her assets on Russ' FB page next to Russ' pictures of Jesus. I can look at pictures of her, then glance over at Jesus and ask for forgiveness. It's a nice set up actually.