Remember when online communities felt small, personal, and often ran out of someone’s basement? Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Bulletin Board Systems—or BBSs—were the go-to digital hangouts for hobbyists, gamers, and early internet users. These systems, which only allowed one or two people to connect at a time via dial-up modems, featured message boards, games, and file sharing—all navigated through simple text menus. Unexpectedly, BBSs are making a quiet resurgence today, thanks to new radio technology and an increasing interest in online communities that live beyond the din of mainstream social media.
From Dial-Up to LoRa: Technology Has Come a Long Way
Early BBSs were based on phone lines and modems, which meant you would have to wait your turn—and hope that someone else wasn’t already dialed in. Today, a new generation of BBS enthusiasts is employing LoRa, a low-bandwidth, long-range radio protocol that is favored by hobbyists and the Internet of Things movement. LoRa’s capacity to send tiny packets of data over large distances has created new opportunities for peer-to-peer exchange, presenting a new way to connect without using traditional internet.
The Meshtastic Mesh: Building Wireless Communities
Perhaps the most promising advance in this area is Meshtastic, an open-source effort that hacks LoRa radios with mesh networking. That makes devices self-associate with one another, passing messages from node to node and reaching much farther than a single radio. With Meshtastic, you can build a BBS accessible to anybody in the range of the mesh network’s nodes—no internet connection required. It’s an updated twist on the offline spirit of the old BBS days.
Getting a Modern BBS Up and Running: Hardware and Software
Starting a Meshtastic-fueled BBS is simpler than you may think. Open-source programs such as TC2-BBS, created by the Comms Channel, are a Python-based, lightweight system that performs well on low-end hardware such as a Raspberry Pi Zero. The software interfaces with a Meshtastic radio—such as the RAKwireless WisBlock—over USB, and maintains operation with modest power requirements. The WisBlock comes with both LoRa and Bluetooth antennas, so setup is simple using a companion smartphone app.
One user reported installing TC2-BBS on a Raspberry Pi 3, connecting it to a WisBlock radio, and running the radio off a separate power supply to sidestep low-voltage troubles. After connecting, their BBS came online on New York City’s growing Meshtastic mesh, and they could leave messages for anyone within three hops away.
Limitations and Features of BBSs Today
Although TC2-BBS is by no means mature, it already infuses some of that retro flavor. Users can send and receive mail, and the system has store-and-forward email between nodes of BBS—a throwback to FidoNet. And there’s even a fortune-cookie mode that’s reminiscent of classic Unix geek fun. But a lot of old friends like file downloads and door games have not been implemented yet, and the interface is still plain. Yet that plainness is part of the charm. There’s something great about finding a new node and experiencing what it can provide.
Bringing Back Real-World Notifications: The Red Flag Hack
Another of the most innovative flourishes in this reboot is bringing back physical message notifications. By hacking the Python script and exploiting the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins, you can cause a real-world reaction when a new message is received. In another build, an Arduino Nano waits for a signal from the Pi and hoists a small red flag with a tiny servo motor. Pushing a button drops the flag to signify the message as read. It’s a playful, haptic touch that connects the digital and physical realms in an old-school way.
The New Digital Frontier: Why BBSs Matter Now
So why are folks going back to BBSs during the smartphone, social feed, and always-connected era? For most, it’s about recapturing a slower, more deliberate type of online community. BBSs provide a counterexample—spaces free from algorithms, targeted ads, and infinite scrolls. And with software like Meshtastic and LoRa, creating these networks has never been easier. This is not nostalgia; it is a future-facing approach to building grass-roots digital communities that center on people, not platforms. The BBS might have begun some years ago, but its ethos is more applicable today than ever before.
