The SA BBS Scene

However geographically isolated, socio-politically shunned or technologically delayed the country may have been, South Africa most certainly had a vibrant and flourishing BBS community. At its analogue peak during the early 90's it could easily keep up with those in more technically proficient territories.

Then the Internet came along.

This memorial site is a collection of anecdotes, bulletins, documents, essays, images, lists, memories, nostalgia, photos, and any other related matter recalling the South African bulletin board scene of the 80's and 90's.

SA BBS is an active project. Content will be added as it is discovered and processed.

If you're a SysOp or user from the old days and have any additional and relevant material you'd be willing to share or donate, I'd love to hear from you. Contact me via this page.

RTFM

Manuals, guidelines, FAQs, documents, articles, announcements

FIDOCON 1990 - ZONE 5 - from FidoNews 7-41 (Niel Uys, 1990)
Fidonet Policy for NET 7101 - Rev. a (Richard Peer, 1992)
Announcement for FidoCon '93 on 15 May 1993 in Sandton (Rob Fisher, 1993)
User Manual for the InfoSearch Fidonet Database Tool (Niel Uys, 1993)
USRobotics Sportster 14400 Fax Settings for SA phone lines (Unknown, 1994?)
Offline Mailing on Bulletin Board Systems in South Africa (David Segall, 1994)
RsaNET Policy Statement (Rob Fisher and Greg Murrell, 1995)
Fidonet Echomail List for Region 71 (Mimi Milstein, 1995)

SOFTEL Online Systems mini catalogue (1992)

An article on Roblist, the de facto BBS list for the country (December 2010)

Memory Dump

In their own words: Ex-SysOps and users bare their souls and recount their adventures

In the beginning there was Beltel (Derek Walker, November 2007)
The story of Shockwave BBS (Andrew Murray, December 2010)
The story of the HMVH Corporation BBS (Herby Hönigsperger, July 2011)
The story of the Ideas BBS (Harry Brindley, March 2012)

Photo Shop

Those magnificent wo/men and/or their computing machines

Fidonet Conference '93 Photos

Raw Data

Miscellaneous lists of bulletin board systems

Henk Wolsink's African BBS List (Rev. 23/09/92)
Henk Wolsink's African BBS List (Rev. 26/04/93)
RF9304: Roblist, April 1993
RF9305: Roblist, May 1993
RF9312: Roblist, December 1993
RF9402: Roblist, February 1994
RF9501: Roblist, January 1995
RF9612: Roblist, December 1996 (final issue)

A list of all known Bulletin Board Systems in South Africa