Public Access Unix, BBS, Conferencing

[Louis Schmittroth]

I am planning to setup a UNIX or XENIX public access system for
some volunteer groups in northern Alberta.  I run a Xenix 386
system here at home, and have installed a few for customers.  In
addition we have in our group several with AT&T UNIX 386 experience,
but nobody has ISC or ESIX experience.  
 
This will be a non-profit service with donated hardware.
We plan to give the user e-mail, a conferencing system, some Usenet
groups, and possibly a BBS system.  If there were one package that
would replace the BBS, conferencing system, and e-mail, so much
the better.  We have experience with an older version of CoSy, and
like some of it.  I was hoping that there might be something better
out there now, and either cheap or free.
 
We are assuming that the user is a non-sophisticated user of MS-DOS
or a Mac, or whatever, and either has a communications package, or
we will send him a public domain program.  I know this has been
hashed around some time ago, but I would like to get some up-to-date
recommendations:
 
        -Conferencing systems, public domain, or if commercial, cost
        -BBS.  I know about XBBS, is there anything else?
        -UNIX/Xenix/SCO/ISC/AT&T (I read the recent stuff in comp.unix.i386)
        -public domain comm software UNIX/XENIX/MS-DOS/MAC...
        -Any general advice.
 
We have a source of hardware at "dealer cost,"  and we will likely
go with a 386-20 with 4MB RAM, an ESDI or SCSI 150MB disk, and an
8-port board.  Any recommendations here would also be welcome, but
IF we go SCO, then it would likely be ESDI, and if ISC then SCSI, right?

e-mail or post replies.  If there is an interest I will summarize.
 
Louis Schmittroth
Friends of the Athabasca Environmental Association