Name : The Official ProBoard History Updated : January 21, 2001 Started : 1996 to present Hosted By: Frank Robbins From : ProBoard Innovations aka Tools of the Trade WebSite : http://winramturbo.com/pbi/ aka : Unofficial ProBoard Historian-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most of the ProBoard history contained here has been derived from Official ProBoard documents and from other Support sources. This document is a living historical record with frequent changes being posted as significant events occur in the life and times of ProBoard! If you have any information that you would like to share here, or if something is incorrect or needs to be included, please feel free to contact me with a short description of your concerns. To see if a current email address is available for any of the ProBoard people identified below, please check the ProBoard Who's Who at: http://winramturbo.com/pbi/ww/ww.htm ***************************************************** ********* ProBoard Support & Registration Sites (1990-2001) ************ ***************************************************** 2000 - Beta Testing of ProBoard v2.20 Continues ======================================================================== PUBLIC BETA v2.20f Released (14-Dec-2000) TeleGrafix releases PUBLIC BETA version 2.20f of ProBoard which has an expiration date of 15-Mar-2001. PUBLIC BETA v2.20e Released (14-Sep-2000) TeleGrafix releases PUBLIC BETA version 2.20e of ProBoard which has an expiration date of 15-Dec-2000. PUBLIC BETA v2.20d Released (01-Jun-2000) TeleGrafix releases PUBLIC BETA version 2.20d of ProBoard which has an expiration date of 01-Sep-2000. PUBLIC BETA v2.20c Released (02-Mar-2000) TeleGrafix releases PUBLIC BETA version 2.20c of ProBoard which has an expiration date of 01-Jun-2000. ProBoard Report - Working & Broken PEXes for Y2000 Released (04-Jan-2000) Frank Robbins (ProBoard Innovations) has compiled a listing of PEXes that have been reported working and broken. Some of the broken PEXes have minor defects and are still operational while some of the broken PEXes either produce erroneous information or have stopped working altogether! This listing will be continually updated as long as new info is being furnished to Frank Robbins. More information concerning the PEX Report can be found at: http://winramturbo.com/pbi/ PUBLIC BETA v2.20b Released (01-Jan-2000) TeleGrafix releases PUBLIC BETA version 2.20b of ProBoard which has an expiration date of 01-March-2000. This BETA version is limited to 2 nodes. More information concerning the PUBLIC BETA release is at: http://winramturbo.com/pbi/ 1999 - Beta Testing Started for ProBoard v2.20b (10-Dec-1999) ======================================================================== ProBoard Beta Testers Selected (29-Oct-1999) TeleGrafix sends out official notification to selected Beta Testers for version 2.20b of ProBoard. Each Beta tester must be a registered user of the ProBoard software package. To verify eligiblity, selectees are required to send a copy of their registration key file (regkey.pb) to TeleGrafix. When TeleGrafix receives the key file, a message with Beta software attached and the new "Serial Number" and "Activation Code" will be sent to those Beta Team members! The long used key file registration system is being replaced starting with ProBoard v2.20b and later. In order to use v2.20b, SysOps will need to have a TeleGrafix assigned "Serial Number" and an "Activation Code" to unlock the software. Without this new registration information, unregistered ProBoard BBS software will revert to the "unregistered demo edition" with limitations. The notorious Y2K bug has been addressed in v2.20b. A modest fee will be charged for this upgrade and will be announced at the time the upgrade first becomes available! ProBoard Beta Testers are Solicited by TeleGrafix (20-Jun-1999) TeleGrafix annonced that Beta Testers wishing to test the beta version of ProBoard with the Y2K fix send specific requested info to TeleGrafix. This info will be used to select a small group of qualified SysOps for beta testing. ProBoard Registrations v2.16 (26-Apr-1999) Being accepted at TeleGrafix by email only to: clawson@telegrafix.com Dennis Murphy former DMJ BBS System/2 Host of the current ProBoard Mailing List (1997 to present) Frank Robbins ProBoard Innovations Unofficial ProBoard Info Support Site (1996 to present) Unofficial ProBoard Historian. (Oct-1996 to present) Home of the ProBoard FAQ (1996 to present) Home of the ProBoard Major Issues (1998 to present) Home of the ProBoard Who's Who Registry (Mar-1998 to present) Home of the ProBoard Wish List (1998 to present) TGPBN Terminated (Oct-1999) The Global ProBoard Network (TGPBN) in the United States hosted by Todd Cochrane terminates service Oct-1999 due to little or no activity. Walter Reihle at TreeTop BBS was unable to reassume duties. The Russian ProBoard NetWork (TRPBN) (May-1999 to present) TRPBN was found May 1999 by the ProBoard SysOps at Saint-Petersburg, Russia for coverage in Russia only! Point of Contact: Ted Stingray TGPBN Nodelist Purged (Apr-1999) The Nodelist for the Global ProBoard Network (TGPBN) in the United States was purged April 1999 of inactive ProBoard sites by: Frank Robbins ProBoard Innovations http://winramturbo.com/pbi/ Todd Cochrane BBS Networks & Hafa Adai Exchange http://www.bbsnets.com/ TGPBN Changes Hosts (Mar-1999) The Global ProBoard Network (TGPBN) in the United States hosted by Walter Reihle at TreeTop BBS has passed the torch to Todd Cochrane at BBS Networks March 1999 to assume TGPBN duties while Walter undergoes serious surgery. 1998 - Last PB Product Released by Philippe Leybaert 20-May-1997 ======================================================================== Philippe Leybaert The Home of ProBoard Worldwide PB Support/Reg (1990-1998) Constantin Spiess The Dealer's BBS PB Support/Reg Germany (1993-98) Chuck King Silverado Online BBS PB Support/Reg USA & Canada (1997-1998) Eddie van Loon DqP Official PB Support/Reg Netherlands (1996-1998) ProBoard sold to TeleGrafix (18-Nov-1998) All registration sites closed! Pat Clawson Telegrafix Communications, Inc ProBoard BBS source code being examined. Author of PB - Pat Clawson (18-Nov-1998 to present) Dennis Murphy former DMJ BBS System/2 Host of ProBoard Mailing List (1997 to present) Frank Robbins ProBoard Innovations Unofficial ProBoard Info Support Site (1996 to present) Unofficial ProBoard Historian. (Oct-1996 to present) Home of the ProBoard FAQ (1996 to present) Home of the ProBoard Major Issues (1998 to present) Home of the ProBoard Who's Who Registry (Mar-1998 to present) Home of the ProBoard Wish List (1998 to present) On November 18th, 1998, Patrick Clawson of Telegrafix Communications, Inc stated that elements of both ProBoard and Searchlight BBS technologies, along with TeleGrafix's award-winning Remote Imaging Protocol (RIPscrip) rapid Internet vector graphics technology, will be incorporated in a new TeleGrafix product under development that is code named "Cherokee. ************************************************************************ PB NEWS Gilles Hemberg (The Church bbs) was the last person to publish a series of PBNews articles. Gilles is a ProBoard PEX Writer and was the unofficial ProBoard liasion between Philippe Leybaert (the previous owner of ProBoard) and the ProBoard community before ProBoard was sold to TeleGrafix on 18-Nov-1998. ************************************************************************ TGPBN Changes Hosts (???98 - Mar-1999) The Global ProBoard Network (TGPBN) in the United States hosted by Arthur Stark at Top's Diamond Mine has passed the torch to Walter Reihle at TreeTop BBS to assume TGPBN duties as Art leaves ProBoard. ProBoard IRC Discussion (7-Aug-1998) An IRC chat with the former developer of ProBoard BBS Philippe Leybaert regarding the possible future of ProBoard. Philippe is looking for someone to take over the ProBoard project. Logs are available of the conversation! 1997 PB216 released 20-May-1997 Version 2.16 uses the identical pb_sdk.h file that first appeared in PB v2.15 which has a bug in an incomplete header file. The lib was alright. Just some lines (about 20), concerning the new features (specifically the CONFIG-structure) haven't been added to the pb_sdk.h file. This bug would affect newly compiled PEX programs that used this version of the pb_sdk.h file. For a corrected version of pb_sdk.h for PB v2.16, download sdk215.zip from pcmicro.com at: ftp://ftp.pcmicro.com/proboard_pex/sdk215.zip This bug fix was prepared by Christian Schulz at UNO at: http://www.tu-harburg.de/kt1/uno/ ProCFG allows you to insert, delete, move and sort message areas and file areas. ======================================================================== Philippe Leybaert The Home of ProBoard Worldwide PB Support/Reg (1990-1998) Constantin Spiess The Dealer's BBS PB Support/Reg Germany (1993-1998) Ken Givens ChessBoard BBS Retired PB Support/Reg USA #1 (1996-1997) Chuck King Silverado Online BBS PB Support/Reg USA #2 (1996-1997) PB Support/Reg USA & Canada (1997-1998) Eddie van Loon DqP Official PB Support/Reg Netherlands (1996-1998) Dennis Murphy former DMJ BBS System/2 Host of ProBoard Mailing List (1997 to present) Frank Robbins ProBoard Innovations Unofficial ProBoard Info Support Site (1996 to present) Unofficial ProBoard Historian. (Oct-1996 to present) Home of the ProBoard FAQ (1996 to present) TGPBN Revived (Nov97-???98) The Global ProBoard Network (TGPBN) in the United States revived by Arthur Stark at Top's Diamond Mine. ************************************************************************ PB NEWS Dennis Murphy (the former DMJ BBS System/2) decided to activate the ProBoard Newletter again. Dennis was able to publish his first and last copy of PBNews in January 1997, before other pressing requirements took him away from this effort! ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ Proboard Mailing List Activated: July 1997 to present Dennis Murphy is the host of the ProBoard Mailing List, to subscribe: http://winramturbo.com/pbi/md/pbmail.htm and also is a computer programmer. He retired from his duties as Moderator of the Fido ProBoard Echo. ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ PB-Lib C/C++ Programming Library Branislav L. Slantchev Silicon Creations Inc. For ProBoard PEX Writers and general programmers. See 1995 for specific definiton of PB-Lib. First Release: Jul--1995 Final Release: Apr-1997 (PB-Lib v3.0) ************************************************************************ 1996 PB215 released 05-May-1996 Version 2.15 had an incomplete header file. The library was alright. Just some lines (about 20), concerning the new features (specifically the CONFIG-structure) haven't been added to the pb_sdk.h file. This same bug file is in version 2.16 also! This bug would affect newly compiled PEX programs that used this version of the pb_sdk.h file. For a corrected version of pb_sdk.h for pb_215, download sdk215.zip from Pacific Coast Micro at: ftp://ftp.pcmicro.com/proboard_pex/sdk215.zip A Full-Screen message editor was now included! Default protocols and languages were now supported. Message and File area Groups were supported better. ======================================================================== Philippe Leybaert The Home of ProBoard Worldwide PB Support/Reg (1990-1998) Constantin Spiess The Dealer's BBS PB Support/Reg Germany (1993-1998) Ken Givens ChessBoard BBS Retired PB Support/Reg USA #1 (1996-1997) Chuck King Silverado Online BBS PB Support/Reg USA #2 (1996-1997) Eddie van Loon DqP Official PB Support/Reg Netherlands (1996-1998) Brett Wilkinson Eternal Entropy BBS Retired PB Support/Reg Australia (1996-1997) ************************************************************************ Alain Schellinck The Happy House Retired PEX Writer Belgium (1996) Originally developed TheEdit and TheChat. After being active for more than seven (7) years in FidoNet, it was time for Alain to do something else. He has a family and two kids who want to spend some time with him too and a job that takes a lot of his time. In 1996, Alain decided to leave FidoNet and to quit his BBS. TheEdit and TheChat are probably the two most used PEXes on ProBoard BBSes. Alain thought it would not be fair to quit development, support and distribution. Another Programmer would continue further development of his widely used programs! After a few talks with Constantin Spiess from Germany, both men agreed that Constantin would be totally responsible for and also own the sources and the programs. Constantin would handle further support and distribution, while Alain would support him in the background. Constantin has since further developed TheEdit and released version 2.11 and no other versions have been released since this one. ************************************************************************ ProBoard Official WebSite Goes Online (Sep-1996) Original Domain Name: proboard.be Present Domain Name: proboard.com As of the date of this document, proboard.com is still registered to the original owner (Philippe Leybaert) and apparently never have been transferred to the new owner (Pat Clawson) according to Internic records in the United States! ProBoard Innovations by: Frank Robbins ProBoard Innovations http://winramturbo.com/pbi/ voluntarily assumes role of Unofficial ProBoard Info Support Site after the last and the biggest ProBoard Support Site by Sarah & Faye Pearson of the former Fe-line Software in the United Kingdom closes in Dec96! Assumes responsibility of the PB FAQ from the Pearsons. (1996 to present) Assumes Unofficial duties as ProBoard Historian. (Oct96 to present) TGPBN Terminates (Dec-1996) The Global ProBoard Network (TGPBN) in the United States hosted by Sarah & Faye Pearson (email not available) of the former Fe-line Software in the United Kingdom terminates service Dec96 as the Pearsons leave ProBoard. TGPBN Revived (???96) The Global ProBoard Network (TGPBN) in the United States revived by: Branislav Slantchev at the former Silicon Creations Inc. Sarah & Faye Pearson at the former Fe-line Software Arthur Stark at Top's Diamond Mine ************************************************************************ PB-Lib C/C++ Programming Library Branislav L. Slantchev Silicon Creations Inc. For ProBoard PEX Writers and general programmers. See 1995 for specific definiton of PB-Lib. First Release: Jul-1995 Final Release: Apr-1997 (PB-Lib v3.0) ************************************************************************ 1995 PB210 released 21-Jul-1995 Version 2.10 now supported modem connect speeds up to 115200. It was now possible to display ANSI files or run PEX from a language prompt. External upload scanners were now supported. ProBoard now stores message area information in MESSAGES.PB rather then MSGAREAS.PB as the previous versions did. MODEM.PRO used in previous versions was now called MODEM.PB. The login procedure could now be replaced with a PEX. PB211 released 27-Aug-1995 Version 2.11 was released for the registered users only due to an error in the program. It searched for a valid keyfile, and returned to the DOS prompt when it couldn't find one. Note that PB v2.12 (with exactly the same features) was released only a few days after PB v2.11... For this reason, PB v2.11 was not widely distributed and will not be listed here for downloading! Files that were tagged and not downloaded when a user logged off will still be tagged at the next logon. The maximum number of AKAs was increased from 20 to 50. PB212 released 09-Sep-1995 Version 2.12 has the same features as PB v2.11 except PB v2.12 was released for all users, instead of registered users only as was the case with PB v2.11! Files that were tagged and not downloaded when a user logged off will still be tagged at the next logon. The maximum number of AKAs was increased from 20 to 50. ======================================================================== Philippe Leybaert The Home of ProBoard Worldwide PB Support/Reg (1990-1998) Constantin Spiess The Dealer's BBS PB Support/Reg Germany (1993-1998) Sarah & Faye Pearson Fe-line Software Retired PB Support/Reg UK (1995-1996) David Silver The Silverado Retired PB Reg US (1995-1996) Reinier De Groot Multiline Paradise Retired PB Support Netherlands (1995-1996) Graeme Adamson HNR BBS Retired PB Support/Reg South Africa (1995-1996) Shyhchang Yu PLAY BBS Retired PB Support/Reg Taiwan (1995-1996) Peter Rideout Gemini Solutions BBS Retired PB Support/Reg Australia (1995-1996) ************************************************************************ PB NEWS The original concept of the PB Newsletter was a collective effort by: Warren Davis (the former North Georgia Online). Warren was also a PB PEX Writer of Visual Basic programs under the GWARE label. Josh Jones () Brandon Whitten () Warren published the first issue of the ProBoard Newsletter in Sep-1995. The ProBoard Newsletter has been commonly referred to as PBNews! Warren published 4 issues (Sep-1995 - Dec-1995) of PBNews and apparently stopped further issues due to LACK of contributing article support from the ProBoard community after repeated requests for same! ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ Proboard Mailing List From: Alvin Brinson Newsgroups: alt.bbs,alt.bbs.allsysop,alt.bbs.internet,alt.bbs.ads Subject: Proboard Mailing List Date: Sun, 14 May 1995 01:45:14 -0500 Organization: USiS Internet Services +713 682 1666 Lines: 18 NNTP-Posting-Host: usis.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Check out the Proboard Mailing List - for ProBoard sysops, PEX coders, and anyone interested in Proboard! [ Alvin Brinson ] [ FidoNet 1:106/7008 ] ---------------------------------------------- [ **>> Proboard Mailing List Coordinator <** ] [ send to: listserver@eterninc.blkbox.com ] [ "CONNECT proboardlist" in body of message! ] Unknown how long this PB Maling List lasted! Alvin's ProBoard background included: Hosted the first ProBoard Mailing List! Founded the alt.bbs.proboard NewsGroup! Ran a FTP site for PB (ftp.shsu.edu) at Sam Houston State Univ (TX). Was a ProBoard PEX Writer! ************************************************************************ ************************************************************************ PB-Lib C/C++ Programming Library Branislav L. Slantchev Silicon Creations Inc. For ProBoard PEX Writers and general programmers. Comprehensive library with special features for seamless ProBoard SDK compatibility. You can compile PEX and EXE files from the same source code. All SDK global variables are automatically available for normal executables. Advanced classes with: terminal emulator A??/WC/PCB complete listbox solution cursorkey keyboard support file access and manipulation ProBoard language interface feature-extendable line editor data structures (lists trees) FILES.BBS processing & parsing First Release: Jul-1995 Final Release: Apr-1997 (PB-Lib v3.0) ************************************************************************ 1994 PB200 released 01-Feb-1994 Version 2.00 added JAM support. New fully supported areas were multiple language, RIP graphics, internal file tagging and internal QWK (using a PEX). User files were now fully RA 2.01 compatible. Menu options were greatly improved. All PEXes written for PB_131 or earlier are no longer supported. PB201 released 05-Apr-1994 Version 2.01 was the last version of ProBoard to carry Alain Schellinck's TimeBank (tbnk200.zip) program. ======================================================================== Philippe Leybaert The Home of ProBoard Worldwide PB Support/Reg (1990-1998) Constantin Spiess The Dealer's BBS PB Support/Reg Germany (1993-1998) Mattias Pettersson City BBS Retired PB Support Sweden (1994-1995) Alain Fontaine Base 999 Retired PB Support Luxembourg (1994-1996) Klaus Harms Abakus-Trendmail-BBS Retired PB Support Germany (1994-1995) Christian Kraus OnTron Australia BBS Retired PB Support/Reg Australia (1994-1995) 1993 PB130 released 30-Jan-1993 Version 1.30 was the first version to support Squish and *.MSG message base formats. The maximum number of message bases and file areas were increased from 200 to 10,000 each. The 16.8k and 28.8k modem connect messages were now supported. The MSGINF file was now supported when shelling to an external message editor. PB131 released 07-Aug-1993 Version 1.31 has a 10 second delay in unregistered mode, when logging in locally. Philippe Leybaert The Home of ProBoard Worldwide PB Support/Reg (1990-1998) Constantin Spiess The Dealer's BBS PB Support/Reg Germany (1993-1998) Paul Wijhenke Flash-Point Retired PB Support Netherlands (1993) Raymond Wozencroft Kookaburra Australia BBS Retired PB Support Australia (1993) Ralph Jans The Lone Star Retired PB Support Luxembourg (1993) Alain Schellinck The Happy House Retired PB Support Belgium (1993-1995) 1992 PB122 released 17-Aug-1992 Version 1.22 contains the pre-release of EFL 1.30, the famous file tagging program designed for ProBoard. ======================================================================== Philippe Leybaert The Home of ProBoard Worldwide PB Support/Reg (1990-1998) Jim Biggs The O-Zone BBS Retired PB Support USA (1992-1993) Retired PB Support/Reg USA & Canada (1994-1995) Paul Tabara Rivendell BBS Retired PB Support USA (1992) Retired PB Support/Reg USA & Canada (1992-1993) 1992 PB121 released 28-Mar-1992 Version 1.21 was the first version to support /F=+ /F=- /M=+ /M=- in the GOTO and GOSUB menu functions to switch to the next file or message area. A System Password was now supported, for private bbses. ======================================================================== Philippe Leybaert The Home of ProBoard Worldwide PB Support/Reg (1990-1998) Jim Biggs The O-Zone BBS Retired PB Support USA (1992-1993) Retired PB Support/Reg USA & Canada (1994-1995) Paul Tabara Rivendell BBS Retired PB Support USA (1992) Retired PB Support/Reg USA & Canada (1992-1993) 1991 PB116 released 30-Sep-1991 Version 1.16 now has a unique new feature, a Software Development Kit (SDK) which allows you to write your own extensions to ProBoard with a C or C++ compiler. CONVERT utility which comes with ProBoard now has an option to create RA system files (FILES.RA,MESSAGES.RA, SYSINFO.BBS,TIMELOG.BBS,CONFIG.RA). ======================================================================== Philippe Leybaert Worldwide PB Support/Reg (1990-1998) Alain Luckx Computron BBS Retired PB Support Belgium (1991-1992) Marc Van Loocke ?BBS Retired PB Support Benelux (1991-1992) Karen Charland ?BBS Retired PB Support/Reg USA (1991-1992) Peter Ptok Travel Info Net Retired PB Support/Reg Canada (1991-1992) Mike Wagner Milling A-Round Retired PB Support USA (1991-1992) Retired PB Support/Reg USA & Canada (1992) 1990 PB??? released ?? ??? ?? ======================================================================== Philippe Leybaert Worldwide PB Support/Reg (1990-1998) The Home of ProBoard PB Reg Europe except NL (1993) ProBoard Registration Europe except Germany & NL (1993-????) PB Support/Reg Belgium (1993-1998) Philippe Leybaert Worldwide PB Support/Reg (1990-1998) Co-Author of ProBoard (1990-1992) Author of PB (1993-1998) Rutger Lasuy ?BBS Co-Author of ProBoard (1990-1992) Retired PB Support/Reg Europe (1990-1992) THE PROBOARD DREAM BEGINS!