Functional BBS-style menued interface to Google

GoogleBBS is a functional BBS-style text interface to Google implemented in JavaScript. The creator, Austria's Masswerk, gave it this one-line description: "Google BBS Terminal – What Google would have looked like in the 80s."

GoogleBBS (via Waxy)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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daen

Aww. We boingboinged his quota.
http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul

It worked for me. Turn up the volume for double-plus nostalgia.
- daen
  
  Did you actually try searching? I got:
  
  “ERROR: Quota Exceeded. Please see http://code.google.com/apis/websearch”
  - http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
    
    Nope, just heard that 2800 baud handshake and started obsessing over the fact that it didn’t “boing boing” the way I recalled my old Tandy doing. I get your error message now. Though, it’s after some pleasant static.
    - daen
      
      Yes, it does bring back memories. Specifically of BT stiffing me over the phone bill …
    - http://aqfl.net Ant
      
      2800? You mean 2400? 28800?
      - http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
        
        You’re right, it must have been one of those, though I can’t remember. I think my first was something like 800 baud.
        
        I do recall I was rockin’ 640k of RAM and a 4 color monitor, so I was living large.
      - http://aqfl.net Ant
        
        Jim, you mean 300. No such thing as 800. I remember these dial-up modem speed values: 300, 1200, 2400, 9600, 14400, 26400 (my phone lines — ugh!), 28800, 31200, 53000, etc. However, dial-up modems speed change on the fly. You only see these with CONNECT results. OK, I’m old.
      - http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
        
        Must have been 1200 then. I recall earlier envying a friend’s 300 baud. He shoplifted it to get on Compuserve.
        
        To the rest of us, that made him David Lightman.
- Benjamin Eugene NElson
  
  @antd00d:disqus
  >> Might mean 300 baud.. like my first modem. The Tandy CoCo rules!
SoItBegins

So it only looks like that for members of Anonymous?
Church

The Bing version works.
blepom

This reminds me. Is there any old-school* BBS still active that can be used with current-day tech such as ssh or (I know, I know) telnet?

*old school in terms of interface. I miss the old dialup times.
- http://aqfl.net Ant
  
  Google search. I got this: http://www.bbsfinder.com :P … I miss the old days too. :(
  - digi_owl
    
    I bumped into a claim once that BBSs (using telnet these days) were still popular in Japan or South Korea.
    - blepom
      
      Yes and no. What they call “BBS” is pretty much a 4chan-style board, both imageboards and just text. I know, it’s odd for us.
      - digi_owl
        
        Heh, hammered japan bbs into duckduckgo and it spat back a bunch of links i was unsure i wanted to click on. By the titles alone i suspect i could risk having some cops knocking on my door in short order…
      - blepom
        
        @turn_self_off:disqus
        Replying here as it doesn’t let me do a direct reply.
        
        Well, those take any topic, and I never stumbled into any with material that could cause that effect, so no idea what titles you saw (unless you were just making a joke).
      - digi_owl
        
        @blepom well there was some references to preteens or something i think. As a certain chemistry blogger said about some highly reactive stuff, best be moving smartly down the hall.
    - Benjamin Eugene NElson
      
      User Friendly, the web comic ran one…. but last I checked it was full up and you couldn’t get in.. :(
      
      I wanna play LORD again… !
      - digi_owl
        
        Darn, now i am reminded that Illiad is on extended “leave”.
      - Benjamin Eugene NElson
        
        @turn_self_off:disqus
        
        Maybe now would be a good time to catch up on the 5 years or so of strips i haven’t read yet…
  - blepom
    
    Thanks! Will be giving those a try!
    (And about google, I am finding their searches so unrelated to what I actually search, on a regular basis, that I am slowly getting discouraged about using it…)
- Philip Storry
  
  There’s Monochrome: http://www.mono.org/
  
  A UK based BBS which was created as a university student’s project, and was very popular amongst students in UK computer labs in the late 90′s. (As in hundreds of concurrent users, requiring four or so machines to meet demand.)
  
  It’s quieter these days, sadly. First Livejournal and then Facebook took their toll on the user base, which has shrunk considerably. Many ideas have been discussed to get users in, but few actions taken – because discussing it is so much more fun than doing something!
  Oh, and much of the user base is British – so for some new users the humour can be mistaken for derisory, insulting and sarcastic.
  
  But users of Monochrome are never, ever sarcastic. Oh no. That simply wouldn’t do…
  - blepom
    
    Ah, that was precisely what I wanted to see.
    And, well, sarcasm and Britain come on the same package, usually. Thanks for the warning though.
- toupeira
  
  Well… you can watch Star Wars in ASCII with “telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl “. For more stuff check out http://www.telnet.org/htm/places.htm
  - blepom
    
    Ah, I already saw it centuries ago. But good thing you posted in case someone didn’t! I am not even a Star Wars fan but it’s still awesome to see around.
StarryGordon

I suppose you could use lynx; then everything would look like the ’80s.
- digi_owl
  
  Terminal based browsers can be a lifesaver when X11 blows up…
  - N R Cisi
    
    Being an old-timer, I frequently astound the children by running stuff from the command line. Haven’t written any assembler in a while, though.
jhertzli

Is there also a Google Compu$erve forum for the 1990s?
bcsizemo

There is not nearly enough ASCII art compared to the BBS’s I frequented…
- Andrew Singleton
  
  Sadly not enough volunteers to convert the google doodles into ansi art.
  - http://aqfl.net Ant
    
    Someone should do that. :D I think there is an automated converter too.
Quinx

Oh man . . . downloading text at 1200 baud! The 1980s were awesome on an Amiga 2000.
http://twitter.com/HubrisSonic HubrisSonic

I just got a new Hayes 14,400 baud modem, will this work with my system?
- Andrew Singleton
  
  Don’t worry man. It’ll work. It’ll just go at the slower speed.
  
  Also. Doooooood. 14.4? I’m still on 9600.
  - http://aqfl.net Ant
    
    Bah you guys. Try 300!
Paul Renault

Why does the modem’s speaker turn on again when you enter the search term?
- Andrew Singleton
  
  Because how else are you gonna hear the bits moving around?
- http://aqfl.net Ant
  
  Yes, that bugged me!!!
http://twitter.com/mbaldelli Michael Baldelli

As I commented to a friend, it’s pretty clear it was made by someone born in the 90s (and doesn’t quite remember what it was like to connect to a BBS). The handshake’s good (and brought back memories), but it should’ve stopped before the screen started filling in. Further, it shouldn’t have made any noise once you were fully connected and performing a search.
- Andrew Singleton
  
  Even so. It’s something to smile about.
  
  Sure you can complain at the lack of ansi art or the plainness of the welcome screen, but c’on. Google’s always been minimalist.
- http://aqfl.net Ant
  
  Totally. Unless you picked up the phone to listen. Hehe!
MossWatson

I miss TheDraw
- http://aqfl.net Ant
  
  Ah yea, ANSI, ANSImation, ANSI music (ugh), etc.
  
  Have you watched BBS Documentary? http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/
jnordb

Geez…I spent entirely too much time on local BBS systems during my youth. My favorite local one was called “The Temples of Syrinx” and had the song playing with the red star ASCII art… luckily, it was at 2400 baud so it all loaded (relatively) quickly.
- http://aqfl.net Ant
  
  Heh, 9600 was fast to me back then. I remember 2400 watching each character appear on screen. :D
JBTW

I miss FIDOnet…

God, I’m old
- http://aqfl.net Ant
  
  I miss waiting for those new post downloads on FidoNet!
niktemadur

Can you imagine the search suggestions in such an interface?

Iran Contra Fawn Hall bikini wallpapers
World series game 6 Bill Buckner
Italy politics Cicciolina parliament
Where can I buy a real Coca Cola?
Funny standup Andrew Dice Clay
Ryan Lenethen

Unless you put door games on it and TW2002 I’m not interested… :)