Stocks of factory fresh computers, just waiting for a party to find them?

[Cypher2266]

Just ran across this article - looks like exactly the kind of haul a party might be sent to retrieve for Civ/Milgov - factory sealed (obsolete) but still useful computers.

https://crast.net/366350/he-had-held...-them-on-ebay/

[kato13]

I worked at Frestone tires ~1990 we were literally building an Intranet from scratch (not using the internet but our own dedicated phone lines). Attempting to wire all 1500 service locations and all our other inftrstructure we owned together into a single network. Ambitious and the Largest IT faluire (1.1 billion for naught) up to that time.

We had 1600 of the most advanced workstations of the time, stored in a huge safe, which a near as I could tell was fully shielded from EMP (no radio signals of any kind in the room). They were behind a 3 inch steel door, on wooden shelves, powered off with no cables connected.

The timeline for my specific case is too early, but, the internet never really going public due to cold war security concerns and general tech malaise instead of the "tech boom" could explain a 5 year shift. If that is the case, players going to the 34th floor of 205 North Michigan would find a priceless treasure trove.

Canon kinda has to have that shift in tech as I think the creators of T2k, in 1984, like everyone else underestimated how common PCs would be in 1997. Estimates put the total number of units at something like 400 Million world wide at that time. Even if only one in a thousand survived, RESET does not have much value. (Which is why I changed it to be similar to linux which could run on ANY surviving processor, use clustered chips, and connect disparate networks)

Whoa.. that's almost like making a massive corporate CompuServe, GENie, or just a Bulletin Board System. Were you tying them together with OPX lines, Frame Relay, or something else?

Easy to forget those were all alt-Internet platforms back in the day. Makes me want to spin up a new, Computer: 2 very much needed, TW2K game...

The Last BBS...

[kato13]

OPX. Well more than half the cost went to AT&T (infrastructure, hardware, consulting). When Bridgestone took over Firestone, they gave us 180 days to get everything connected before pulling the plug. We got 256 connected before they killed us.

AT&T was so happy with our CTO purchasing habits they gave him a VP position after Firestone let him go.

[Tegyrius]

- C.

[bash]

Originally Posted by Tegyrius

- C.

That is great.

[Ursus Maior]

Different question: If I wanted to build a BBS(-like) system in full vintage look to support my Twilight campaign (or any RPG set in the 80s or 90s), which software could do that. Again, it needs to look and feel like a BBS, but anything skinned accordingly would do just fine.

Any suggestions?

[Higgipedia]

Originally Posted by Ursus Maior

Different question: If I wanted to build a BBS(-like) system in full vintage look to support my Twilight campaign (or any RPG set in the 80s or 90s), which software could do that. Again, it needs to look and feel like a BBS, but anything skinned accordingly would do just fine.

Any suggestions?

The Telnet BBS Guide has links to a bunch of BBSs that are on the internet. While it doesn't have instructions on how to get yours on there, I'd imagine the BBSs on the list would have some clues for you.

[Ursus Maior]

Originally Posted by Higgipedia

The Telnet BBS Guide has links to a bunch of BBSs that are on the internet. While it doesn't have instructions on how to get yours on there, I'd imagine the BBSs on the list would have some clues for you.

Ah, thanks, I'll go and look there then. Fascinating stuff. I haven't been on a BBS for over 20 years.