starlight flagship!?
I owned my first modem back in 1994, a Taiwan-made Prolink 1414LE 14400 bps modem. Owning a modem was considered "a rich-man's want" and morever, the Internet was relatively little known to many. You may ask, "What about modem-to-modem head-on games like "Command & Conquer" or "StarCraft"? Well, that used to be a couple of years in the future... |
| M y "speedy" 14.4 Kbps modem cost me a whopping S$400 but with some tie-in offers from TeleView, it just cost S$99. The uses of a modem in 1994 was limited. Rather, it was used mainly to dial-up Bulletin Board Services, of BBS as well-known to many of those days. A BBS is not quite as graphical as what you know see on the Internet. It is built upon DOS-based ANSi text graphics. The SysOps, or System Operator of the BBS generally uses more popular software such as RemoteAccess or PCBoard to run their BBS. A terminal program is used to dial-up a BBS and it functions basically like text-based web browser.
A special point to note about BBSes in Singapore is that most are single-node systems operated by students. A single-node BBS allows only one person to log-in and use the services provided by the BBS. A fixed amount of online time is allocated to that log-in account and the next person can only log-in when the former log-off or runs out of time. |
| T he main problem with single-node BBSes is enduring the redialling sessions and beating the other callers to getting a successful login to your favourite BBS. This process can take forever especially when dialing-up the popular BBSes. The feeling of getting a successful login can be exhilirating, especially when you hear the modem's "handshaking" process... beep beep... beep toot beep... zzz zzz..., followed by a welcome screen decorated with beautiful ANSi graphics, "Welcome to XYZ BBS!" after a successful login. A popular single-node BBS can serve as many as 50 users a day, if it runs 24 hours a day with each user allocated 30 minutes online time.
S ome BBSes features certain themes and caters to a specific group of people with a particular interest. Others are general and have diversified interests among its' users. It was quite a challenge for SySops to attract new users to their BBS especially if there were some 400 BBSes in operation around the island at it's peak. Most BBSes are operated free-of-charge for callers of their BBS. The cost of operating / maintaining the BBS is often absorbed by the SySop although some SySops do accept monetary contributions from their users. The present BBS scene is rather pathetic now with the advent of the World Wide Web. Although some 100 or less BBSes are still in operation, not all are doing well. |
| I started my own BBS in 1995 when I was exposed to the lively and active BBS community. After doing some "homework", I've setup my PC to run a BBS with the following hardware config:- 486DX2-66 Intel PC; 420MB HDD; and a 2X CD-ROM Drive. The software I used were RemoteAccess 2.02+ running in MS-DOS 5.0 and DesqView as my DOS "multitasker".
A fter much testing and smoothing out problems with the RemoteAccess configurations with my best friend, Jackson Ng, the hardwork paid off and Starlight Express BBS, the official name of my BBS went "live" on 8 January 1995. Much to my unexpected delight, more than 50 people signed up my BBS in less than 3 days. It ran 120 days until one fateful Saturday morning on the 7 May 1995, my HDD suffered a severe crash. Starlight Express was lost and all seems lost for me. |
| A lthough Starlight Express BBS was online for 4 months, 315 members signed up for its service. It was also the home for JWare and DraZy Software Productions. It also was host to the Legend of the Red Dragon (L.O.R.D.) doorgames competition and attracted 32 participants competing for top rankings for fun and for prizes too. But the hapiness ended abruptly after that HDD crash. On the bright side, operating the Starlight Express left me with fond memories. I've made friendships, had interacted with different people, learnt PC technical knowledge as well as the responsibilitles of being a SySop.
M any of you must be wondering at this moment: "What has The Starlight Flagship (or Express?) got to do with this bulletin board stuff?" "You mean to say your BBS was it?", but my BBS was never a strong contender for that title at all. However, if you have guessed that it was my Prolink 1414LE modem, as mentioned earlier, you are right! This "little black box" never fail me in any event and had remained faithful even after the passing of "The Starlight Express Universe". |
| A s I recalled, when I had wanted to sell my Prolink in favour of a faster U.S. Robotics 28.8 Kbps modem, Jackson jokingly chided me, "Hey! How can you sell your trustworthy modem just like that?" "It is just like your "Starlight Express" flagship, serving you well throughout it's duration of existence." I had agreed with him totally about this. However, my Prolink was sold to his friend. It will be forever remembered as the flagship of "The Starlight Express".
December 25, 1998 Revised on January 07, 1999