ATKeep

ATKeep

Original author(s)	Brent Barrett
Initial release	1986 (1986)
Written in	BASIC-XE
Operating system	SpartaDOS
Platform	Atari 800XL
Related	Novucivitas

From CitaNews:

ATKeep is a Citadel-like BBS system for eight-bit Ataris. We visited ATKeep #1 several weeks ago and found it to be very un-Citadel-ish, but we had logged in as an inexperienced user. Brent Barrett, author of the software, advises that the "expert" level is highly similar to the CP/M version of Citadel.

ATKeep runs under SpartaDOS and requires BASIC XE and 128K of RAM. ATKeep 1 is US 916-726-4989; ATKeep 2 is US 916-723-4585.

The following is condensed from the official ATKeep history:

Brent Barrett, newly out of high school and *very* interested in the new telecommunications world he had found, discovered a "different" type of BBS. This BBS was called a "Citadel" and it was such a unique experience for him that he decided he just *had* to have it for his machine.

Owning only a TI-99/4A and an Atari 800Xl, he opted for the Atari, since he had more support hardware for that machine. Spending hours, even days at a time coding the original "shell" of the BBS, he sprang forth with MBBBS version 1.0 on March 24th, 1986.

MBBBS (Message Base Bulletin Board System) was very primitive when compared to ATKeep 7.0, or even 4.0 for that matter.

MBBBS was changed to Atari Keep, or, ATKeep for short, around version the time version 4.0 was released (June 15, 1986). The name was given to the system by Robert Louis Zeppa, who, unfortunately, passed away not to long after that time.

The biggest improvment of all: the system was no longer limited to the 1030 or XM301 modem -- it had been rewritten to accomodate the 850 or PRC interface allowing use of ANY Hayes compatible modem. Thus, ATKeep went 1200 baud for the first time. Version 8.0 is currently under construction, its main feature will be its modular design. It will allow the "chaining" of programs limited only by the individual system's storage space.