[Coco] A nostalgic Coco BBS message

Thu Sep 10 16:29:18 EDT 2015

Bill, 
do you remember of the sealed envelop, that came with your brand new Coco in the 80's? 
It contained a User ID Number and a Password, with an introductory usage credit of $15 that let you use the Free Practice Forum? 
See the short lines, suitable for the 40 column Coco!
-----------------------------------------
CompuServe Information Service
 14:30 PDT Saturday 23-Sep-89

     Copyright (c) 1989
   CompuServe Incorporated
     All Rights Reserved

CONNECT RATES (per connect hour)

           Prime/      Standard/
           Daytime     Evening
 BAUD      $/Hour      $/Hour
 -------------------------------
 up to 300 $6.00      $ 6.00
 450*      $6.00      $ 6.00
 1200      $12.50      $12.50
 2400*     $12.50      $12.50
 4800**    $32.50      $29.00
 9600**    $47.50      $44.00

 * Not available from all locations
 ** Requires hardwired network connection 
and is not available from all locations.

COMMUNICATIONS SURCHARGES
 (per connect hour)
 1 CompuServe Network
 2 Telenet
 3 TYMNET
 4 DataPac
 5 Computer Sciences Corporation
 6 LATA Networks

Your User ID Number is: 
73040,1213   
Please write your User ID Number down
Press <CR> for more !
Your Confidential Password is: 
POSSUM.DRILL
Please write your Password down
Press <CR> for more !
Please verify that you have
copied the User ID number and
password down correctly by
entering them at the following
prompts.
User ID Number: 73040,1213
Password: ****************
That is correct. Please store
your User ID number and password
in separate and secure
locations. You are responsible
for all usage made under this
newly created User ID number.
As part of processing your
member registration, we are
creating a new password to be
effective on a future date.
(Your User ID number will remain
the same and will not be mailed
to you). The new password and
its effective date will be
mailed to you at the address you
entered. Until you receive this
Press <CR> for more !
second password and it is in
effect, you will be subject to
our account limitations for new members.

You may now log on the Service
and begin using your
introductory usage credit of $15.
At the next User ID number and
password prompts, enter the new
permanent User ID number and
temporary password which you
have just obtained. Note that
your password does not print out
Press <CR> for more !
as you enter it - this is a
security precaution for your
protection.
User ID: 73040,1213
Password: **************
CompuServe Information Service
 14:30 PDT Saturday 23-Sep-89
     Copyright (c) 1989
   CompuServe Incorporated
     All Rights Reserved
Thank you for becoming a member of CompuServe.
CompuServe (FREE) TOUR
Press <CR> !
Welcome to The Free Practice Forum, V. 4D(104)
     Mike Schoenbach
     (Primary Sysop)

Kandur

Thursday, September 10, 2015, 11:27:38 AM, you wrote:
> Art, in "hindsight", I am glad I could never afford "CompuServe" or
> "Delphi"(I didn't even have a checking account in those days) as I would've
> probably ended up divorced and in the poor house LMAO
> My wife truely understood the term "Computer Widow".

> I did have a friend who had accounts with both CI$ and Delphi and I would
> load up my Coco system, take it to his house and we would do "all-nighters"
> downloading stuff and copying it to disk. He would be downloading to his
> Ken-Ton system, copy it over to floppy, I would then make copies with my Coco
> while he started the next download. We "consumed mass quantities" of beer and pizza on those nights :-)

> Bill Pierce
> "Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no way to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull

> My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
> https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
> Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
> Global Moderator for TRS-80/Tandy Color Computer Forums
> http://www.tandycoco.com/forum/

> ooogalapasooo at aol.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Arthur Flexser <flexser at fiu.edu>
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Thu, Sep 10, 2015 1:31 pm
> Subject: Re: [Coco] A nostalgic Coco BBS message

> Your wife should be thankful you weren't addicted to CompuServe, where the
> bills

> Art

> On
> Thu, Sep 10, 2015 at 1:27 PM, Bill Pierce via Coco
> <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> wrote:

> hour I spent on a BBS... and
>> all the money back that I spent on "long
> distance" calls to "out-of-town"
>> BBS's. When my wife would see me at the Coco
> and the familiar "comm"
>> program running (whichever I was using at the time),
> she would ask "how
>> much is this one gonna cost us?"
>> In the last years of my
> 1st Coco 3 (lost in the flooding of hurricane
>> Floyd in '99), I had a 2nd
> telephone line just for my computers. I would
>> still tie up the house line as I
> would have my PC on AOL (pre-internet) on
>> one line and my Coco on a BBS on the
> other. My wife threatened to get her
>> own "private line" just so she could use
> the phone!

>> Bill Pierce
>> "Charlie stole the handle, and the train it
> won't stop going, no way to
>> slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull

> My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3

> https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
>> Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for
> CocoPedia
>> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
>> Global Moderator
> for TRS-80/Tandy Color Computer Forums
>> http://www.tandycoco.com/forum/

> ooogalapasooo at aol.com

>> --
>> Coco mailing list

> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco

> --

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> list
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