Just wonding if anyone has any insight on dos bbs software popularity back in the 1990s. I know BBS software could be split into categories ranging from hobby to commercial and due to the fact its 2025 numbers wont really be available. That said, its a fun topic. I remember some rage posts (fido) back in the day on what BBS software was best/most used/etc <g>.

I used Spitfire bbs back then. It was in the categorie of Hobby and was only $85 for any amount of nodes you could get it to run on. Mike Woltz was the owner/programmer and once a year he would publish Spitfire Registered Stats in his Newsletter. The following is Spitfire BBS reg stats for the of 1994. I think Spitfire did pretty good.. Thoughts?


Year of 1994

__________________1991_1992_1993_1994 * Amount Increased
AE................ 0 5 6 7 1
AP................ 0 11 8 12 4
Alaska............ 14 18 20 19 Decreased Alabama........... 7 11 13 22 9
Arkansas.......... 12 11 10 13 3
Arizona........... 40 51 61 57 Decreased California........ 105 134 150 158 8
Colorado.......... 5 4 7 13 5
Connecticut....... 15 19 24 21 3
Delaware.......... 17 31 28 27 Decreased Florida........... 46 70 80 96 16
Georgia........... 18 25 34 38 2
Hawaii............ 0 3 4 5 1
Iowa.............. 38 49 66 79 13
Idaho............. 8 12 14 17 3
Illinois.......... 50 80 84 86 3
Indiana........... 19 27 43 57 14
Kansas............ 13 23 24 26 2
Kentucky.......... 5 22 26 34 8
Louisiana......... 21 33 44 50 16
Massachusetts..... 15 12 20 22 2
Maryland.......... 11 16 14 15 1
Maine............. 18 34 33 27 Decreased Michigan.......... 17 25 32 33 1
Minnesota......... 4 9 15 16 1
Missouri.......... 14 21 28 38 10
Mississippi....... 9 11 11 17 6
Montana........... 2 4 4 9 3
North Carolina.... 19 26 34 52 18
North Dakota...... 1 2 1 0 Decreased Nebraska.......... 24 26 31 39 8
New Hampshire..... 1 2 9 14 5
New Jersey......... 16 25 28 33 5
New Mexico........ 4 7 8 10 2
Nevada............ 34 43 35 31 Decreased
New York.......... 31 40 37 54 17
Ohio.............. 34 52 64 77 13
Oklahoma.......... 10 11 21 23 2
Oregon............ 10 23 31 38 7
Pennsylvania...... 30 45 64 62 Decreased
Rhode Island...... 5 11 8 7 Decreased
South Carolina.... 16 12 13 20 7
South Dakota...... 6 5 6 7 1
Tennessee......... 9 11 19 29 10
Texas............. 65 119 136 145 9
Utah.............. 5 5 4 6 2
Virginia.......... 15 23 29 29 No Change Washington........ 18 33 27 30 3
West Virginia..... 6 5 4 4 No Change Wisconsin......... 12 20 24 28 4
Wyoming........... 0 2 6 8 2
Argentina......... 0 0 1 0 Decreased Australia......... 11 7 7 13 6
Belgium........... 0 0 1 1 No Change Brazil............ 1 1 2 2 No Change Canada............ 89 116 148 153 5
Central America... 0 0 0 1 1
England........... 7 13 9 8 Decreased France............ 7 16 18 18 No Change Germany........... 0 0 2 2 No Change Greece............ 0 0 1 1 No Change Guam.............. 1 3 10 7 Decreased Iceland........... 0 0 1 1 No Change Israel............ 1 1 1 1 No Change Italy............. 1 1 2 1 Decreased Liechtenstein..... 0 0 1 1 No Change Netherlands....... 9 13 12 9 Decreased
New Zealand....... 14 17 8 10 2
Portugal.......... 2 7 12 8 Decreased
Puerto Rico....... 5 4 7 6 Decreased Scotland.......... 1 1 1 2 1
Saudia Arabia..... 0 0 2 4 2
Singapore......... 0 1 0 0 No Change
South Korea....... 0 0 1 1 No Change
Virgin Islands.... 0 0 1 1 No Change Venezuela......... 0 0 0 1 1
West Indies....... 0 1 0 1 No Change


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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: xbit to All on Thu Jul 03 2025 07:15 am

Just wonding if anyone has any insight on dos bbs software popularity back in the 1990s. I know BBS software could be split into categories ranging from hobby to commercial and due to the fact its 2025 numbers wont really be available. That said, its a fun topic. I remember some rage posts (fido) back in the day on what BBS software was best/most used/etc <g>.

I used Spitfire bbs back then. It was in the categorie of Hobby and was only $85 for any amount of nodes you could get it to run on. Mike Woltz was the owner/programmer and once a year he would publish Spitfire Registered Stats in his Newsletter. The following is Spitfire BBS reg stats for the of 1994. I think Spitfire did pretty good.. Thoughts?

i'm in the upper midwest. the bbs softwares we ran were a few odd ones, and then renegade, iniquity, telegard, RA, and tbbs. oh a few really popular vadv bbses.

i never saw a spitfire bbs until the telnet age.
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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: xbit to All on Thu Jul 03 2025 07:15 am

Just wonding if anyone has any insight on dos bbs software popularity back in the 1990s. I know BBS software could be split into categories ranging from hobby to commercial and due to the fact its 2025 numbers wont really be available. That said, its a fun topic. I remember some rage posts (fido) back in the day on what BBS software was best/most used/etc <g>.

I think Spitfire did pretty good.. Thoughts?

I don't have any hard stats, but in the early-mid 90s, I lived in an area (where I still live) which I think had a good number of BBSes. I remember the following BBS software being used on the various BBSes in my area (in no particular order): RemoteAccess, Spitfire, Wildcat, MajorBBS, Maximus, Telegard, T.A.G, Searchlight, PCBoard, WWIV, EzyCom..

I remember reading somewhere that RemoteAccess was one of the most popular. Indeed, there were quite a lot of add-ons that supported RemoteAccess.. I don't really know specific stats on RemoteAccess or other BBS software though.

Nightfox

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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: Nightfox to xbit on Thu Jul 03 2025 09:44:47

...Telegard, T.A.G, Searchlight, PCBoard, WWIV, EzyCom...

Hey, glad to see TAG represented. That was probably the most popular platform in my area, and the one I used on my short-lived BBS (Shades of Gray). I actually found a copy of it online. I'm hoping I can modify it to be Telnet accessible.

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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: xbit to All on Thu Jul 03 2025 07:15 am

I know BBS software could be split into categories ranging
from hobby to commercial

I don't think that was really possible. As you said, Spitfire was popular with hobbyists, but yet was $85 to purchase/register. PCBoard (as an example) was clearly commercial, but was still popular with hobbyists and elite/scene BBSes. So I don't think the whole PD/pirate (or whatever) split was really ever that cut and dry.

I get that you're asking about BBS software popularity; you might find those details/stats from BBS lists of the time (e.g. the USBBS list, https://web.archive.org/web/20021129023218/http://www.usbbs.org/).
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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: Mortar to Nightfox on Thu Jul 03 2025 02:36 pm

...Telegard, T.A.G, Searchlight, PCBoard, WWIV, EzyCom...

Hey, glad to see TAG represented. That was probably the most popular platform in my area, and the one I used on my short-lived BBS (Shades of Gray). I actually found a copy of it online. I'm hoping I can modify it to be Telnet accessible.

If Spitfire BBS can be telnet accessible, I'm sure TAG can :) SF is not fossil aware and it has a date bug that hit on 1-1-2025. I got it working with Linux > win7 VM > Spitfire using NetSerial.

Woohoo! > https://x-bit.org/32bit.html

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Just wonding if anyone has any insight on dos bbs software popularity back in the 1990s. I know BBS software could be split into categories ranging from hobby to commercial and due to the fact its 2025 numbers wont really be available. That said, its a fun topic. I remember some rage posts (fido) back in the day on what BBS software was best/most used/etc <g>.

I used Spitfire bbs back then. It was in the categorie of Hobby and was only $85 for any amount of nodes you could get it to run on. Mike Woltz was the owner/programmer and once a year he would publish Spitfire Registered Stats in
his Newsletter. The following is Spitfire BBS reg stats for the of 1994. I think Spitfire did pretty good.. Thoughts?

I still have some of the old GT Power nodelists around somewhere so I could probably track its use somewhat, if I wanted to.

Where I lived, you could dial into GT Power, PC Board, WWIV, C-NET,
Wildcat, and a couple of other one-offs. One board I called a lot ran RBBS until he switched to GT Power. Another ran some software on a Coco system
that I don't remember the name of, and I never saw it anywhere else.
Another system, called Track 68000, also ran something unique on what I
think was non-PC clone hardware.

The local library BBS, and a few others, ran Opus or clones. There were *a lot* of part-time CNET boards... some would come and go and others were
around for a while.

Telegard and Renegade both seemed to be popular a little later, not long
before I moved out of that area. Major and Maximus maybe, too.

I don't remember visiting a Spitfire BBS, but that doesn't mean there were none.


* SLMR 2.1a * "We use language??" - Beavis
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� Synchronet � CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTP

Spitfire BBS reg stats for the of 1994

What does a BBS have. Files. Messages. Chat. That's about it. Linux
is a multiuser timesharing system. You can run a compiler via telnet.

Linux crushed them all. Open source won. Shareware lost. No contest.

* SLMR 2.1a *

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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: xbit to Mortar on Thu Jul 03 2025 01:58 pm

be Telnet accessible.

If Spitfire BBS can be telnet accessible, I'm sure TAG can :) SF is not foss

Woohoo! > https://x-bit.org/32bit.html

but don't you have to change the date or something?
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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: Mortar to Nightfox on Thu Jul 03 2025 02:36 pm

Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: Nightfox to xbit on Thu Jul 03 2025 09:44:47

...Telegard, T.A.G, Searchlight, PCBoard, WWIV, EzyCom...

Hey, glad to see TAG represented. That was probably the most popular platform in my area, and the one I used on my short-lived
BBS (Shades of Gray). I actually found a copy of it online. I'm
hoping I can modify it to be Telnet accessible.

Oh i forgot to mention in my state we had plenty of wildcrap! bbses.
rarely were they modified. sometimes the sysop name wasn't changed.

i know of one bbs that ran for several years with no msgs, no doorgames, no �sysop name. it was just a stock wildcat bbs with no purpose.
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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: xbit to All on Thu Jul 03 2025 07:15 am

Just wonding if anyone has any insight on dos bbs software popularity back i the 1990s. I know BBS software could be split into categories ranging from hobby to commercial and due to the fact its 2025 numbers wont really be available. That said, its a fun topic. I remember some rage posts (fido) bac

I think it depended on the boards near you, given the cost of toll and LD calls. Some packages, like Max, Spitfire and remote access had a wide reach, but in the East bay of SF, TAG and Telegard boards were very popular. TAG was popular, I think, because one of the cooler semi-underground boards ran it.

Telegard had a support othernet based out of the East Bay, and that helped the popularity.

Across the bay on the Peninsula and Silicon Valley (and partly San Francisco) were all Forum boards.

I ran Opus first for a short time, then Telegard, then Maximus.

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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: Digital Man to xbit on Thu Jul 03 2025 01:58 pm

Re: 90s bbs software popularity

I used to run SBBS ( SuperBBS ) was what it was called at the time back when I was younger. I've been trying to figure out how to get one of these running again for a minute, and I'm really glad I got mine up! I miss the days of dialing into these and playing the door games and what not. I used to play Tradwars, LORD, and BRE all the time. I got Tradewars and LORD loaded, but gotta find a BRE to run. I'm super thankful for this DOVE-Net stuff too. This is nice.



That_One_Guy
Thatbbs.hopto.org
SSH/Telnet

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Re: 90s bbs software
By: Jcurtis to XBIT on Thu Jul 03 2025 05:53 pm

Ya, unfortunately it did. These are still fun to have though. Maybe when us old timers die these things will die for good.. I hope not. Very awesome still.


That_One_Guy
Thatbbs.hopto.org
SSH/Telnet

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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: MRO to xbit on Thu Jul 03 2025 09:22 pm

If Spitfire BBS can be telnet accessible, I'm sure TAG can :) SF is not foss
Woohoo! > https://x-bit.org/32bit.html

but don't you have to change the date or something?

yes. no but's about it.
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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: TOG to Digital Man on Fri Jul 04 2025 01:20 am

Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: Digital Man to xbit on Thu Jul 03 2025 01:58 pm

Re: 90s bbs software popularity

I used to run SBBS ( SuperBBS ) was what it was called at the time
back when I was younger. I've been trying to figure out how to get
one of these running again for a minute, and I'm really glad I got
mine up! I miss the days of dialing into these and playing the door
games and what not. I used to play Tradwars, LORD, and BRE all the

i played with a cool AI bbs that would change to meet the user's interests. i �wish i could find that sucker. it was pretty cool. like if it thought you �were a krad d00d it would slowly change the interface strings and options �from being a straight laced boring bbs software to a 'leet' style.
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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: xbit to MRO on Fri Jul 04 2025 06:17 am

but don't you have to change the date or something?

yes. no but's about it.

well that's kinda deal breaker for me. if i have to modify
the date to something it's not i'm not going to use it. i'd rather emulate
the interface.
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� Synchronet � ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

If Spitfire BBS can be telnet accessible, I'm sure TAG can :) SF is not fossil
aware and it has a date bug that hit on 1-1-2025. I got it working with Linux win7 VM > Spitfire using NetSerial.

Woohoo! > https://x-bit.org/32bit.html

I still have my old GT Power board running. It is not telnet aware but I
was able to get it working under linux > haproxy > DOSBox-X.

Before that, it was working under linux > haproxy > tty0tty > tcpser >
dosemu. Actually, one node still runs using that. ;)

GT Power is real picky about the serial port and will barf on other
emulators because they are not "hardware like" enough. It is also not
fossil aware but will usually work with one. If it will run and
be telnet aware, I figure just about any DOS BBS software ought to work.


* SLMR 2.1a * Southern Serves the South
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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: xbit to All on Thu Jul 03 2025 07:15 am

Just wonding if anyone has any insight on dos bbs software popularity back i the 1990s. I know BBS software could be split into categories ranging from

I want to say it was regional, because when I talk to BBSers from other states, they report different software being "dominant" in their area.

In Arizona, it was very much split between public domain and pirate boards. Almost all of the pirate ones ran some Forum derivitive, like Vision-X (very popular at the time). The multi-line boards tended to run MajorBBS. The public domain ones had Wildcat! and I think some Citadel and Spitfire. Oh, I just remembered "Celerity" as another possible Forum hack that was big.

We even had a couple 8bit BBSes (Atari and Commodore) stick around through the 90s. Unfortunately, I don't think we had any Atari ST or Amiga ones, at least not for any extended period of time. There may have been an Amiga one around for a little while.

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Re: 90s bbs software popularity
By: phigan to xbit on Fri Jul 04 2025 12:21 pm

In Arizona, it was very much split between public domain and pirate boards. Almost all of the pirate ones ran some Forum derivitive, like Vision-X (very

Hah, after reading some of the other responses, I realized I totally blocked out WWIV, Telegard, and Renegade out of my memory :). In both public domain and pirate boards, there were TONS of those spread out. Like, for every other BBS software board, there were two running one of those staples.

PCBoard was another one in the public domain list (here in AZ) that I missed.

Surprisingly, we didn't have many TAG boards.

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