Today, 46 Years ago the first #bbs goes online.

On February 16th 1977 in Chicago (IL,USA) Ward
Christensen and Randy Suess are about to finishing the last steps before switching the #CBBS #online.

The CBBS was the first Computerized #bulletin #board #system and would not only mark the Milestone for the Onlineage. It also allowed to invent and grow subcultures like the #demoscene. If your computer had a modem attached to it you could explore the world though it, since you're no longer physical bound to a location to do so.

In the upcoming years of #bbsing the #ansi char set would spark a whole #ArtScene that is still
present and activ today. The #ANSIart Scene. Even the exchange of text messages and files would break out of the local BBS. Tom Jennings created the #fidonet which was no less than a network that spans the world and allows the communication beyond all borders.

Some new #ansiart I've been working on with my pal Tainted... Happy 60th Birthday to Sam Kieth, creator of The Maxx, one of the 90s ANSI scene's favorite subjects.

#ansi #textmode #textmodeart #pixelart #retrographics #bbs #demoscene #samkieth #themaxx #isz

#introduction Greetings, everyone, from the Mistigris computer art collective! We started releasing artpacks in area code 604's #BBS PC underground scene in 1994, full of #ANSIart, #ASCIIart, #MODmusic, #EMags and other good stuff, extending into the early Internet (first homepage on Geocities, many hours whiled away on the IRC) but drying up and evaporating by the turn of the century in the transition from the BBS/CLI to Web/GUI paradigm.

Then we stewed in nostalgia until hosting a reunion for our 20th anniversary in 2014, which got us back on track to releasing artpacks again -- now with representation from vintage #textmode art fellow traveler forms such as #PETSCII, #ShiftJIS and #teletext!

Mostly we organize through our Discord (invite at https://discord.com/invite/9R84QUN ) but are always happy to represent wherever the creative techy folks are to be found!