How long has TOTSE been around?
In 1989 I started a dial-up BBS system called & the Temple of the Screaming Electron with an old 8088 PC XT clone with a 20MB hard drive and a 2400 baud modem running DOS and DMG BBS software. Because of the limited hard drive space, I started collecting and distributing small text files on every subject imaginable. Text files do not take up much room — you can fit thousands of them on a 20MB drive. In pre-web days, one of the few ways to find unique and interesting information on controversial subjects was to call a dial-up BBS and either read their text files on-line (at 2400 baud) or download their text files to read at your leisure. Because time and bandwidth was limited, most BBS operators restricted who could access their systems and limited how long a user could remain connected to their system. Within two years &TOTSE BBS was using Remote Access (RA) BBS software running on 4 servers with 4 phone lines and 14400bps “high speed” modems. It was also the center (and founding memb
