Mystic BBS is a bulletin board system

Bulletin board system

A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...

 software program

Computer program

A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...

 started in 1994. Mystic is the first DOS

DOS

DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...

-based BBS software program to support a native telnet server. It has since been ported to Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, OS/2

OS/2

OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...

, OSX

OSX

-Technology:*OS-X, an operating system for the Zilog Z80*DC/OSx, 1980s-era Unix operating system by Pyramid Technology-Other:*Kosciusko-Attala County Airport in Kosciusko, Mississippi, by IATA code*OSX, a Brazilian shipbuilding company, part of the EBX Group...

, and Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

.

Some of the more notable features of Mystic BBS include:

• Proprietary scripting language called Mystic Programming Language (MPL).
• Dynamic menus and fully customizable prompt
  Command Prompt
  Command Prompt is the Microsoft-supplied command-line interpreter on OS/2, Windows CE and on Windows NT-based operating systems...
  
  s.
• Multiple user-selectable themes.
• DOOR32
  BBS door
  A door is a computer program, on a bulletin board system, that runs outside of the main bulletin board program. Sometimes called external programs, doors are the most common way to add games, utilities, and other extensions to BBSes. From the 1990s on, most BBS software had the capability to...
  
   support (James Coyle was one of the original authors of DOOR32).
• Automatic random ANSI
  ANSI art
  ANSI art is a computer art form that was widely used at one time on BBSes. It is similar to ASCII art, but constructed from a larger set of 256 letters, numbers, and symbols — all codes found in IBM code page 437, often referred to as extended ASCII and used in MS-DOS and Unix environments...
  
   display (i.e. ansi.ans, ansi.an1, ansi.an2, etc would display randomly).
• A fully featured ACS (access control system).
• Telnet server
• Advanced, feature-rich message base system/
• Linux distributions available

Attracted to the flexibility and potential that the scripting language provides, a number groups, such as ACiDic BBS modding

ACiD Productions

ACiD Productions is a digital art group. Founded in 1990, the group originally specialized in ANSI artwork for BBSes. More recently, they have extended their reach into other graphical media and computer software development...

, Cyberia, Demonic, DoRE, Vanguard, wOE!mODDING and Wicked formed for the sole purpose of writing BBS mods

Modding

Modding is a slang expression that is derived from the verb "modify". Modding refers to the act of modifying a piece of hardware or software or anything else for that matter, to perform a function not originally conceived or intended by the designer...

 for SysOp

SysOp

A sysop is an administrator of a multi-user computer system, such as a bulletin board system or an online service virtual community. It may also be used to refer to administrators of other Internet-based network services....

s who run Mystic.

External links

• Mystic BBS website
• Interview with author, g00r00 (reprint from wOEzine, December 1998)

BBS' That Run Mystic

• [telnet://miserybbs.com Misery BBS (run by netsurge - home of the mystic bbs php library]
• [telnet://blackthursday.net Black Thursday BBS] (Run by skatter since the late '90s)
• [telnet://nnl.darktech.org Never Never Land BBS] (419 area code oldest bbs since '91)
• [telnet://clutch.darktech.org Clutch BBS] (Originally launched in `95)
• [telnet://d1st.org Distortion BBS]
• [telnet://mythology.darktech.org Mythology BBS] Originally launched in '94
• [telnet://fluph.darktech.org Fluph BBS] (304 area code launched in '97)