Giving comms a 1980s CIX of paint
David Crookes talks to the brains behind what was once the UK’s largest conferencing system: the Compulink Information eXchange
David Crookes talks to the brains behind what was once the UK’s largest conferencing system: the Compulink Information eXchange (CIX).
T he world seems to have forgotten that by the time Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989, computer users had already been going online for some time. They were using their modems to dial in to mostly text-based bulletin board systems (BBSes), letting them send messages, access software or even chat with like-minded people.
It was an exciting time for these technological pioneers, and likewise for the people behind the scenes making things happen. The system operators, known as sysops, needed dedicated PCs, phone lines and lots of cash and time to keep them running. But they were enthusiastic, passionate and keen to experiment.
“I think my main inspiration for running a BBS came from watching the film WarGames,” said a laughing Frank Thornley, who became a key figure in early UK computer comms. He evolved his BBS into the UK’s hugely influential and popular conferencing system Compulink Information eXchange (CIX), which he ran with his wife, Sylvia. It was used in offices and homes up and down the country, quickly becoming the natural home for early PC Pro readers and contributors alike.
For Thornley, CIX was a natural progression. Having developed an interest in tech and computers, he had served an apprenticeship at the aircraft manufacturing group Hawker Siddeley from 1973. Sent to college, he learned Boolean logic, semiconductors and programming and he built his first computer – a Science of Cambridge MK14 – later that decade.
Along with Sylvia, he created the Compulink User Group, building a large library of public domain and shareware software for DOS users. As well as offering to send floppy disks in the post (in exchange for a small fee), Thornley used a program called the Computerized Bulletin Board System (CBBS) to deliver software to anyone who had a modem. It became very popular but there was a natural limit to the number of people who could log on at any one time.
“The modem line was busy 24/7,” said Mat Sims, who began working for Compulink straight from school. “Frank and Sylvia had a couple of phone lines to a couple of unconnected computers running the same BBS and we tried a number of ways to get multiple people on the same computers simultaneously – one of which was FidoNet.”
Bit of Byte
FidoNet was establishing itself as a network of bulletin boards. “It was node-based and allowed users to relay messages around the world,” Thornley said of the globe’s first international dial-up network of machines. Compulink became the UK’s central node for Fido email but Thornley was always on the lookout for ways to improve the BBS service. He found the answer in the pages of Byte magazine.
“I was reading an article in 1984 about Byte Information eXchange (BIX),” Thornley said. “At the time, the Compulink Fido had six dial-in lines so I contacted Byte to ask if they would allow Compulink to host BIX in the UK. Unfortunately, Byte declined.” Undeterred, Thornley visited the University of Guelph, which developed the CoSy conferencing system that BIX was based on. He arrived back at the office on Woodbridge Road, Guildford, with a licence and a
copy of CoSy on an 18-track QIC-150 quarter-inch cartridge. He then bought an expensive NCR Tower 32 Unix system with six serial ports to host it. A coder called Terry Thompson worked on the initial porting of CoSy to allow multiple simultaneous connections.
“This allowed people to download the software they wanted, and they could talk about or receive support for this software,” said Sims. CIX was born, launching commercially in 1987 as an extension of a standard BBS – one that allowed the uploading and downloading of files but, crucially, the ability to discuss various topics with multiple users logging in at once.
A good CIX
CIX (which moved to The Sanctuary, Surbiton, in 1988), worked by allowing users to take part in “conferences” dedicated to a particular interest. Many were lively and friendships were soon struck, keeping folk going back time and time again. “With CIX, anyone could start their own conference, set up their own topics, upload their own files and moderate it as they saw fit, meaning each conference was like a mini BBS,” said Sims.
But what made CIX particularly invaluable at the time was its ability to let users have as close to a real-time conversation as possible without picking up the phone. If everyone was online at the same time, ideas and instructions could be distributed very quickly to sizeable groups. Yet even if they weren’t all logged on, they would be able to pick up on conversations and discussions in their own time.
Since a conference could be restricted to particular members, it became a perfect service for companies where staff were spread over various locations and it grew so popular that, in 1992, CIX was attracting 4,000 calls each day. However, as well as workrelated matters, you would find people discussing pretty much anything, from computing and football to games and moustaches. Users were simply having fun.
All they needed to access the system was a computer, modem, phone line and a credit card to pay for the monthly subscription. They also needed a few moments to get their head around the system because it wasn’t as user-friendly as some BBSes to begin with, thanks to CIX eschewing a menu system for one based on command lines.
Since people would rack up a phone bill while using CIX, the developers sought to speed up the process of getting around the system. Command lines were seen as ideal because, once learned, users could type a command such as
JOIN AMSTRAD and go straight to a conference of their choice. To help keep costs low, it was also possible to download messages in bulk, place them in a temporary area called Scratchpad and read them later using an offline reader.
What’s in a name?
Introduced in 1991 when dial-up was yet to be a thing in the UK, the process involved in offline reading was referred to as “blinking” and, for CIX users, this phrase along with Scratchpad and offline reader became part of the system’s terminology.
There was certainly a lot of jargon to get to grips with. Some of it originated from the original CoSy software–terms such as “conferences” and “topics” – but the user base came up with their own as well, from“as far as I can see” (AFAIC) and “frequently asked questions ”( FAQ) to“in my honest opinion ”( IMHO) and“if you see what I mean ”( IY SWIM ).
“They had these acronyms – LOL, RTFM, ROFL – and perhaps they came from elsewhere but I’m not sure,” said Sims. “These were first used because people dialled up and it cost them serious money. Line noise was also a big problem so getting your message done and dusted in as short a time as possible was really
“You would find people discussing pretty much anything via CIX, from computing and football to games and moustaches”
important. They also started coming up with text emoticons.”
Indeed, a lot of the terminology related to modern-day forums and social media has its roots in BBSes and CIX. Discussions within conferences were called “threads”, typing in caps was considered shouting, and there were “lurkers” and “flamers”, respectively not contributing or leaving abusive replies.
Not that CIX was unfriendly. In general, communities felt friendlier than today, perhaps because they were smaller. But there were some problems. CIX occasionally attracted undesirable behaviour and the team needed to watch out for credit card fraud, software theft, breach of copyright, pornography, system break-ins and malicious damage, according to Gordon Hundley who spoke to
Amiga Shopper magazine about such matters in September 1993.
“Gordon was our Unix guru and he designed and maintained our hardware and systems,” said Thornley. Hundley looked to close potential loopholes and he worked on the security of the system, including credit card validation. The moderators of the conferences also looked out for viruses by checking uploaded files. “Moderators ran their own forums so stopped people getting out of hand,” said Sims. “There was just the right balance between keeping people happy and complete anarchy.”
Order, order
The other problem faced by CIX was keeping everything running smoothly. “As CIX became more popular, we needed more and more modems and phone lines to allow our expanding userbase to connect to the conferencing system,” said Thornley. “This is where Ameol, written by the exceptionally talented Steve Palmer, gave CIX a competitive edge against the early online services like Telecom Gold and CompuServe.”
CIX became a valuable resource as companies began to see the value in offering support for their products. Tech firms would use CIX to help users with software issues and they would either dish out advice to all or restrict access to registered users.
If the latter was the case, you would generally be able to find an alternative open conversation in which users would assist each other. Another major benefit of using CIX over making a phone call was that users could rattle off some useful code or upload a program that could then be instantly shared.
Computer enthusiasts, software developers and scores of journalists all made good use of CIX. “As a journo or programmer, you could get feedback direct from your audiences and it was generally constructive, unlike much of social media now,” Sims said. “As a software company, you could provide support and your customers could help you out by providing support too. Journos and programmers also had their own closed areas where they could hang out together.”
Even the Liberal Democrats used it. “Unfortunately the government at the time considered email and online services a fad,” Thornley lamented.
“Everyone was judged by their postings and it didn’t matter who you were, what you looked like or what your education was”
For many users, however, CIX felt like a leveller. “Everyone on it was judged by their postings and it didn’t matter who you were, what you looked like or what your education was – people just saw your messages and if you made your messages appealing, you earned respect,” Sims added.
Back to the future
What you may find surprising is that CIX still exists. In 1998, two years after CIX offered a dial-up internet service, it was subject to a management buyout, with Sims having become general manager and the Thornleys remaining at the company for three more years. It then changed hands a few more times, eventually being purchased by the ISP ICUK in 2011.
“I had an emotional attachment to the service and because ICUK needed a retail arm, CIX became a good fit and it’s now an ISP in its own right again,” said ICUK director Leslie Costar. “I was a customer who went to work there so I knew how it worked. CIX customers are generally technically minded so they wouldn’t be a massive support burden either.”
The original CIX is also still running underneath a modern front end. “You can still telnet to cix.co.uk and log into CIX just like you could back in 1986,” Sims said. “Some of the early forums were Amiga, Comms, Unix and PC. Unfortunately, over the years moderators have sometimes purged old messages but a lot of early messages are still about.” Logging on is bound to evoke some ome memories.