The story behind Bingoware.

Back in the day, circa 1980’s the internet was just starting to develop into what we know today. The state of the art operating system at the time was Windows 3.1. Memory was selling for about $100 per megabyte, and 4 megabytes of ram was considered huge. A computers CPU was running at somewhere around 16 mhz and a 500 meg hard drive was considered to be “unfillable”.

A very popular hobby or past time of computer enthusiasts was to operate a Bulletin Board System or BBS as they were called. A BBS was a program that could be installed on your home computer. Other people could then call into your computer, via modem and access the bulletin board.

They could send other users of your BBS e-mail. They could post messages, play very simple computer games, and even download files. The bbs software packages were known by a variarty of names, such as Mustang, Renegade, PowerBBS  and Virtual Bulletin Board System or VBBS.

VBBS was the BBS system I opted for when I was first learning my way around the computer world. It was a DOS based program, written in a program language called Quick Basic. VBBS was one of the more popular programs and was installed on thousands of computers around the world.  

 The person running the BBS and on whose computer the program was installed was called the System Operator or SysOp. The BBS of this era was a very rudimentary form of what would later come to be called the internet. In most cases, only one user could be logged into your computer as any given time. Some SysOps had 2 phone lines, allowing for 2 people to be “online” at the same time. I remember one BBS what had 8 lines. Of course, in most cases, the expenses were paid for out of the SysOp’s own pocket.

One of the things that made the VBBS program attractive was the fact it had the ability to run “scripts” in Quick Basic, This allowed a SysOp the ability to actually write computer programs, including games, that could then be used on his or her own BBS. This of course assumed the SysOp had the programming knowledge necessary to do this.

However, since Quick Basic was a simple programming language to learn, relatively speaking, I was actually able to teach myself to program, just by reading the scripts written by other SysOps.

Keep in mind, at this time, most modems in use were 2400 baud modems. This means the modem was only able to download 2,400 characters a second.  This was only slightly faster than the movement of a glacier. It was therefore necessary to use DOS based graphics and text. The graphics commonly employed was a crude, block style of picture using what was known as ANSI code. Colors were limited to some very simple blues, reds, greens, yellows, cyans and a few others.

Each SysOp would give their BBS a name. I chose the name The Bingo Parlor BBS. Why you might ask? At the time, I was an avid bingo player, and I used my bingo winnings to support my BBS hobby. My SysOp name was, not surprisingly, Bingo. Each BBS had an area where the SysOp could list the names, phone numbers and short description of fellow BBS’s. It was common for SysOps to cooperate and advertise each others BBS, thus spreading the word of what other BBS’s were out there.

It was also common for SysOps who had the knowledge, to write various programs or scripts that could be shared with other SysOps on the “network”, which for my particular BBS at that time was called VirtualNet. While my earliest programs were pretty simply and basic, I soon learned to write more sophisticated programs and games.

As my skill and knowledge increased I began to be come well known throughout VirtualNet as someone who turned out quality programs. Regular  computer programs of that generation came in 2 flavors. Freeware was a program that was free for you to use for as long was you wished. Shareware was a program that allowed you to use it but you were then expected to send a small fee to the programmer who created it.

Taking a cue from this, I started to refer to my VBBS programs as Bingoware. This told other SysOps in the VBBS community that this program was written by Bingo, of the Bingo Parlor BBS and because of my reputation they knew they were going to get a well written, quality piece of work. I had written well over 100 programs of various types and uses, from games to SysOp utilities. My programs could be found in the SysOp File download areas of VBBS boards around the world. Other SysOps would email me and ask if I could debug a program they were working on, or request I write them a custom program.

But alas, technology, like time moves on. The internet grew by leaps and bounds. Faster modems allowed for faster download of more graphic intensive sites. In fighting and discontent throughout the VirtualNet community along with the demise of support by the original creator of the VBBS program, eventually led to it’s demise. I could go for 3-4 days without a single person logging onto my BBS. Finally, in June of 1996, I pulled the plug on the Bingo Parlor BBS.

Today, all that remains of those glory days, is the name by which my programs were known and respected, Bingoware.

And now you know the rest of the story…….

Home