PRESS RELEASE 28 JULY 1997
KEY # FOR THE INTERNET VIEWDATA REVIVAL 

If you don't remember Prestel, Micronet, or user prompts in green
instructing you to "KEY 1 TO STORE MESSAGE, KEY 2 TO ERASE" then there's
a big hole in your life. You missed out on one of the cosiest eras of
computer communications in the UK.

Throughout the 1980s, many owners of BBC Micros (and other, lesser home
computers) invested in their first 300 baud modems and wiggled cables
expectantly trying to get through to Prestel without making too much
noise in the room in the hope that the acoustic coupling would hold.
Eventually, with the dawn of the auto-answering modem, such as the
Dataphone Designer, users were connecting their computers to their home
phone lines and allowing people to dial in; the bulletin board was born.
Some people wrote their own software which they passed on to others to
use for running bulletin boards. Of the multitude of hosts available -
CARBBS, EBBS, PDHost - thankfully only VHost made the transition from 8
bit BBC Micro to 32 bit Acorn Archimedes. During its heyday, Viewdata was
the standard for more than 50 bulletin boards in the UK.

If you've forgotten those chunky, colourful teletext graphics, you can
now relive the experience over your Internet connection; join the
Internet Viewdata Revival. Some of the names at the forefront of the
bulletin board scene in the 1980's have got together to present the
Internet's first non-commercial Viewdata bulletin board, Heaven. It runs
on an Acorn A5000 using a multi-user Viewdata host package called VHost.
With finance no longer an issue, it's possible to allow up to 16
simultaneous connections via the Internet, which is nowhere near VHost's
capacity. Finally, the multi user chat system, BCS, will be of use.

Why bother? James Coates, one of the "viewdata names" behind the revival
commented, "Why not? Running a BBS was and still is great fun. It's a
world away from the billions of articles flowing through usenet, it's
more pretty than telnetting to a talker, and less risky than IRCing with
a potential complete nutter on the other side of the globe. Thanks to the
internet, bulletin boards can now be a local call away; wherever you are
in the world."

Heaven is currently undergoing the last stages of beta-testing and will
be permanently available via the Internet from the beginning of August.
Beta-testing has been underway since early June when Heaven was running
on Viewdata virgin James Cronin's Acorn RiscPC in his bedroom at Magdalen
College, Oxford.

Heaven Viewdata BBS http://www.heaven.affection.net/
telnet://heaven.affection.net:23/ 

INFORMATION FOR EDITORS: 

Heaven is run by James Coates, and hosted by Oaktree Internet Solutions.
It is believed to be the world's first non-commercial Internet Viewdata
Bulletin Board system and is being run, primarily for fun. VHost is
written by Gareth Babb and is a multi user Viewdata host and messaging
system for RISC OS based machines. It is running in conjunction with Hugo
Fiennes' TelnetIN application which allows connections over the Internet.
Gareth is a Viewdata stalwart and believes smilies should be banned.

TelnetIN is written by Hugo Fiennes, one of the many people involved with
the development of the premier Internet suite for RISC OS machines, "ANT
Internet Suite". It allows connections across the Internet rather than
via modems and works with any existing RISC OS bulletin board host
software.

Oaktree Internet Solutions have provided a computer with network card and
connection on which to run Heaven. They also provide web and domain
hosting services at competitive prices. More information can be found at
http://www.oaktree.co.uk/

Viewdata telnet clients for a variety of platforms are available from
Heaven's website at http://www.heaven.affection.net/

CCl4, probably the world's only remaining dial-in Viewdata BBS is still
available, 24 hours a day in the UK on +44 (0)1482 798249 at speeds up to
14k4.

James Coates works for Virgin Net designing and implementing web pages
for the Virgin Group. Gareth Babb is a freelance programmer. Hugo Fiennes
is a student and accomplished coder. James Cronin is a freelance IT
consultant who is currently working for Virgin Net.

For more information, contact James Coates; jamesc@affection.net, or log
in to Heaven and send mail to "God". James Coates is available via
telephone on 07010 707 307.