I decided to make it 100% Amiga, for and about the Amiga only. A powerful computer like the Amiga deserves a 2400 baud modem, which I am using. After I bought the modem, it took about three weeks to get the extra phone line installed and to properly set up in order to go on line. On March 1 Oth, 1986, I opened my electronic doors and the Amiga Mouse Users Group (A.M.U.G.) was born. It was not long before I discovered that I wasn't alone, there were several other Amiga BBS's already. I was in for many more pleasant surprises from that day onward. Public Domain Paradise There is an amazing amount of Public Domain software for the Amiga and one way to access it, is by modem. You may say, "Public Domain? If it was any good someone would have sold it." This is simply not true. The Amiga presents a challenge to programmers. The attraction to Amiga's features is incredible. Many programmers want to share their accomplishments, so they release their software creations to the Public Domain. There are literally hundreds of useful utilities, games, new Dos commands, and productivity software programs just waiting for you on a local BBS. If art or music is your cup of tea, you can find more picture and song files than you will know what to do with. In addition to all of this software, you will also find new fonts, languages, printer drivers for printers that are not on the Dos disk and exciting demos of soon to be released products. If that is not enough, the educational benefit of owning a modem is highly valuable. If you have a question about anything that has to do with using or programming the Amiga, you will most likely be able to find the answer through a message left on an Amiga BBS. BBS VS. Telecommunications Service When you have a modem you have many choices of where to call. As of this writing there are over 250 Amiga related BBS telephone numbers in the A.M.U.G. BBS list. BBS's are located all over the U.S. and Canada. There are also telecommunication services such as People Link and Compuserve which have extensive Amiga sections.