Fidonet in 2023

9 points by Jae999 3y ago ↗ HN

Is Fidonet still running in 2023? I never actually got to use fido net in the early 90s but have read a lot about it recently. Is sounded really awesome at a time when the internet was only really available to a select minority of people. If it is still running please post a link.

Thank you.

8 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 31.5 ms ] thread

znpy 3y ago ↗

Not sure about fidonet, but many bbses are still running and are accessible via telnet over tcp/ip, no need to get a dialup modem.

Jae999 3y ago ↗

Ya, there are some cool bbs's out there. I saw the doc and that is what got me curious about fidonet. I just want to see how it works, what it is like to use, etc.

IcePic 3y ago ↗

I used to use it until a year ago or two, via a fido->usenet gw and then reading the groups in Thunderbird. It is alive, but dwindling and is (sorry to say) very little like what it was in the middle of the 90s.

Jae999 3y ago ↗

What bbs did you use?

IcePic 3y ago ↗

This one:

https://www.fidonet.fi/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=nntp:nntp

Jae999 3y ago ↗

Thank you. I'm going to check it out.

helph67 3y ago ↗

You may find this excellent documentary interesting. http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/

lholden 3y ago ↗

Fidonet still exists! There are a fair number of BBSs that participate in it still. You can find more information on https://www.fidonet.org/

There is also fsxnet, which is based on the same tech, but more open. https://fsxnet.nz/start

I had a personal BBS that I ran that was on both for a few years.