From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Well, thanks to the FAQ post, I did find that ftp.gnu.org still exists.

So I opened port 20-21 in my firewall and downloaded emacs 30.2 for
Windows from their site.

It came down at a scorching 5Mbps.

I remember downloading the Dungeon Keeper demo on a T1 at work (1Mbps).

I don't know why I felt nostalgic any more. FTP is a pain.
--
Zag

West of House
There is a small mailbox here.

read leaflet

"WELCOME TO USENET!

USENET is a game of adventure, danger,
and low cunning. In it you will
explore some of the most amazing
territory ever seen by mortals. No
computer should be without it!"
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> writes:

Well, thanks to the FAQ post, I did find that ftp.gnu.org still exists.

So I opened port 20-21 in my firewall and downloaded emacs 30.2 for
Windows from their site.

It came down at a scorching 5Mbps.

I remember downloading the Dungeon Keeper demo on a T1 at work (1Mbps).

I don't know why I felt nostalgic any more. FTP is a pain.

Yah. As I understand it, one huge benefit HTTP had over FTP was the
common load sharing setups available for it which made HTTP easy to
scale. Not to mention the CDNs.

As for Emacs in Windows, it's now conveniently part of msys2. Then
again, msys2 is a bit of a mess, compared to just downloading the
installer.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 11:34:43 +0300, Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> writes:

Well, thanks to the FAQ post, I did find that ftp.gnu.org still exists.

So I opened port 20-21 in my firewall and downloaded emacs 30.2 for
Windows from their site.

It came down at a scorching 5Mbps.

I remember downloading the Dungeon Keeper demo on a T1 at work (1Mbps).

I don't know why I felt nostalgic any more. FTP is a pain.

Yah. As I understand it, one huge benefit HTTP had over FTP was the
common load sharing setups available for it which made HTTP easy to
scale. Not to mention the CDNs.

As for Emacs in Windows, it's now conveniently part of msys2. Then
again, msys2 is a bit of a mess, compared to just downloading the
installer.

I remember having to use FTP first to download files to my shell
account, and then following it up by using ZModem to download the
files from the shell to the local computer. Given the difference in
speeds, I always preferred the former. FTP went over the
administration's T1; ZModem over the phone line. The second part took
FOREVER to complete.

Not that FTPing was all that fast either (well, not compared to modern standards). I remember it could take ten to twenty minutes to download
a 1MB file, depending on how busy the office (or the FTP site) was. I
think the two disks of the "Doom Shareware" version took more than an
hour.

Worse, you couldn't do anything else with the connection until the
downloads were complete. Not like today, when you queue up a 50GB game download, then surf the web until it's done ;-)



--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Wed, 27 Aug 2025 17:29:01 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

Well, thanks to the FAQ post, I did find that ftp.gnu.org still exists.

So I opened port 20-21 in my firewall and downloaded emacs 30.2 for
Windows from their site.

It came down at a scorching 5Mbps.

I remember downloading the Dungeon Keeper demo on a T1 at work (1Mbps).

I don't know why I felt nostalgic any more. FTP is a pain.

I used to use a program that I think was called BulletProof Server or
something like that to transfer files back and forth between me and a
friend when we were younger. I had to learn about Port Forwarding to
get it to work. I only have vague memories of this now, no nostalgia
for it.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 11:34:43 +0300, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Anssi Saari wrote:

As for Emacs in Windows, it's now conveniently part of msys2. Then
again, msys2 is a bit of a mess, compared to just downloading the
installer.

Hah! I have an msys2 install already to run gmake for a couple of
customized source programs.

I have no idea why I'd want to use Emacs in it when I have Notepad++
readily available to deal with anything that comes my way.

But that's totally hillarious and I may grab the package with pacman just
for shits and giggles.
--
Zag

Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe,
and to utter freely according to conscience, above
all other liberties. ~John Milton
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 11:34:43 +0300, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Anssi Saari wrote:

As for Emacs in Windows, it's now conveniently part of msys2. Then
again, msys2 is a bit of a mess, compared to just downloading the
installer.

Ahahaha! It doesn't run in the terminal. It runs in a window!
--
Zag

Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe,
and to utter freely according to conscience, above
all other liberties. ~John Milton
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:

Well, thanks to the FAQ post, I did find that ftp.gnu.org still exists.

So I opened port 20-21 in my firewall and downloaded emacs 30.2 for
Windows from their site.

It came down at a scorching 5Mbps.

I remember downloading the Dungeon Keeper demo on a T1 at work (1Mbps).

I don't know why I felt nostalgic any more. FTP is a pain.

I used it a lot like on ftp.cdrom.com for DOOM files! Of course,
sharewares, demos, etc. for other games. Even on dial-up!
--
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." --Romans 8:28. Crappy humpy day.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
...

I remember having to use FTP first to download files to my shell
account, and then following it up by using ZModem to download the
files from the shell to the local computer. Given the difference in
speeds, I always preferred the former. FTP went over the
administration's T1; ZModem over the phone line. The second part took
FOREVER to complete.

Not that FTPing was all that fast either (well, not compared to modern standards). I remember it could take ten to twenty minutes to download
a 1MB file, depending on how busy the office (or the FTP site) was. I
think the two disks of the "Doom Shareware" version took more than an
hour.

Worse, you couldn't do anything else with the connection until the
downloads were complete. Not like today, when you queue up a 50GB game download, then surf the web until it's done ;-)

Same here with universities' shell accounts. And then I learned Tia and
SLiRP that emulates SLIP and PPP. So, the Internet fun went big for my
friends and me. Also, I still use shell accounts. ;)
--
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." --Romans 8:28. Crappy humpy day.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:35:55 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Zaghadka wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 11:34:43 +0300, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Anssi Saari wrote:

As for Emacs in Windows, it's now conveniently part of msys2. Then
again, msys2 is a bit of a mess, compared to just downloading the >>installer.

Ahahaha! It doesn't run in the terminal. It runs in a window!

Lots of prereqs: `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
:: Processing package changes...
( 1/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-jansson
( 2/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libyaml
( 3/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-wineditline
( 4/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-pcre2
( 5/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-ctags
( 6/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libgccjit
( 7/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-texinfo
( 8/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-xpm-nox
( 9/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-brotli
(10/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libpng
(11/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-python-packaging
(12/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-glib2
(13/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-graphite2
(14/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-harfbuzz
(15/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-freetype
(16/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libunistring
(17/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libidn2
(18/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtasn1
(19/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-nettle
(20/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-p11-kit
(21/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-gnutls
(22/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libwasmtime
(23/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtree-sitter
(24/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-emacs

Everything I've come to expect from emacs. I'm surprised there's no mingw-w64-x86_64-gkitchen-sink.
--
Zag

I thought I could organize freedom, how very
Scandinavian of me. ...Björk
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 8/28/2025 8:52 PM, Zaghadka wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:35:55 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Zaghadka wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 11:34:43 +0300, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Anssi Saari wrote:

As for Emacs in Windows, it's now conveniently part of msys2. Then
again, msys2 is a bit of a mess, compared to just downloading the
installer.

Ahahaha! It doesn't run in the terminal. It runs in a window!

Lots of prereqs: `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
:: Processing package changes...
( 1/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-jansson
( 2/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libyaml
( 3/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-wineditline
( 4/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-pcre2
( 5/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-ctags
( 6/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libgccjit
( 7/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-texinfo
( 8/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-xpm-nox
( 9/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-brotli
(10/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libpng
(11/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-python-packaging
(12/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-glib2
(13/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-graphite2
(14/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-harfbuzz
(15/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-freetype
(16/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libunistring
(17/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libidn2
(18/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtasn1
(19/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-nettle
(20/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-p11-kit
(21/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-gnutls
(22/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libwasmtime
(23/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtree-sitter
(24/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-emacs

Everything I've come to expect from emacs. I'm surprised there's no mingw-w64-x86_64-gkitchen-sink.

Isn't that part of mingw-w64-x86_64-p11-kit? :P
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote in news:sq82bk5i0sg1ila56iamt8vsv39r0r9ivn@4ax.com:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:35:55 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Zaghadka wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 11:34:43 +0300, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Anssi Saari wrote:

As for Emacs in Windows, it's now conveniently part of msys2. Then
again, msys2 is a bit of a mess, compared to just downloading the >>>installer.

Ahahaha! It doesn't run in the terminal. It runs in a window!

Lots of prereqs: `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
:: Processing package changes...
( 1/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-jansson
( 2/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libyaml
( 3/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-wineditline
( 4/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-pcre2
( 5/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-ctags
( 6/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libgccjit
( 7/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-texinfo
( 8/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-xpm-nox
( 9/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-brotli
(10/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libpng
(11/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-python-packaging
(12/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-glib2
(13/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-graphite2
(14/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-harfbuzz
(15/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-freetype
(16/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libunistring
(17/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libidn2
(18/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtasn1
(19/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-nettle
(20/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-p11-kit
(21/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-gnutls
(22/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libwasmtime
(23/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtree-sitter
(24/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-emacs

Everything I've come to expect from emacs. I'm surprised there's no mingw-w64-x86_64-gkitchen-sink.

Yeah, emacs sucks and always has. Real geeks use VI. (g, d, & r)
--
Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos -- the only sysadmins that matter
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 8/28/2025 9:33 PM, Mark P. Nelson wrote:

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote in news:sq82bk5i0sg1ila56iamt8vsv39r0r9ivn@4ax.com:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:35:55 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Zaghadka wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 11:34:43 +0300, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Anssi Saari wrote:

As for Emacs in Windows, it's now conveniently part of msys2. Then
again, msys2 is a bit of a mess, compared to just downloading the
installer.

Ahahaha! It doesn't run in the terminal. It runs in a window!

Lots of prereqs:
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
:: Processing package changes...
( 1/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-jansson
( 2/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libyaml
( 3/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-wineditline
( 4/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-pcre2
( 5/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-ctags
( 6/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libgccjit
( 7/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-texinfo
( 8/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-xpm-nox
( 9/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-brotli
(10/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libpng
(11/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-python-packaging
(12/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-glib2
(13/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-graphite2
(14/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-harfbuzz
(15/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-freetype
(16/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libunistring
(17/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libidn2
(18/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtasn1
(19/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-nettle
(20/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-p11-kit
(21/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-gnutls
(22/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libwasmtime
(23/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtree-sitter
(24/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-emacs

Everything I've come to expect from emacs. I'm surprised there's no
mingw-w64-x86_64-gkitchen-sink.

Yeah, emacs sucks and always has. Real geeks use VI. (g, d, & r)

No they don't. Real geeks use BINARY!
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 07:11:46 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 8/28/2025 9:33 PM, Mark P. Nelson wrote:

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:sq82bk5i0sg1ila56iamt8vsv39r0r9ivn@4ax.com:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:35:55 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Zaghadka wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 11:34:43 +0300, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Anssi Saari wrote:

As for Emacs in Windows, it's now conveniently part of msys2. Then
again, msys2 is a bit of a mess, compared to just downloading the
installer.

Ahahaha! It doesn't run in the terminal. It runs in a window!

Lots of prereqs:
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
:: Processing package changes...
( 1/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-jansson
( 2/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libyaml
( 3/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-wineditline
( 4/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-pcre2
( 5/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-ctags
( 6/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libgccjit
( 7/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-texinfo
( 8/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-xpm-nox
( 9/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-brotli
(10/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libpng
(11/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-python-packaging
(12/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-glib2
(13/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-graphite2
(14/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-harfbuzz
(15/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-freetype
(16/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libunistring
(17/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libidn2
(18/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtasn1
(19/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-nettle
(20/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-p11-kit
(21/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-gnutls
(22/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libwasmtime
(23/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtree-sitter
(24/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-emacs

Everything I've come to expect from emacs. I'm surprised there's no
mingw-w64-x86_64-gkitchen-sink.

Yeah, emacs sucks and always has. Real geeks use VI. (g, d, & r)

No they don't. Real geeks use BINARY!

And then input the data using punchcards.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 12:57:47 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 07:11:46 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 8/28/2025 9:33 PM, Mark P. Nelson wrote:

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:sq82bk5i0sg1ila56iamt8vsv39r0r9ivn@4ax.com:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:35:55 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Zaghadka wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 11:34:43 +0300, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, >>>>> Anssi Saari wrote:

As for Emacs in Windows, it's now conveniently part of msys2. Then >>>>>> again, msys2 is a bit of a mess, compared to just downloading the
installer.

Ahahaha! It doesn't run in the terminal. It runs in a window!

Lots of prereqs:
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
:: Processing package changes...
( 1/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-jansson
( 2/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libyaml
( 3/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-wineditline
( 4/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-pcre2
( 5/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-ctags
( 6/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libgccjit
( 7/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-texinfo
( 8/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-xpm-nox
( 9/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-brotli
(10/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libpng
(11/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-python-packaging
(12/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-glib2
(13/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-graphite2
(14/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-harfbuzz
(15/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-freetype
(16/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libunistring
(17/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libidn2
(18/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtasn1
(19/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-nettle
(20/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-p11-kit
(21/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-gnutls
(22/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libwasmtime
(23/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-libtree-sitter
(24/24) installing mingw-w64-x86_64-emacs

Everything I've come to expect from emacs. I'm surprised there's no
mingw-w64-x86_64-gkitchen-sink.

Yeah, emacs sucks and always has. Real geeks use VI. (g, d, & r)

No they don't. Real geeks use BINARY!

And then input the data using punchcards.

No they don't. They input it one byte at a time on the eight switches on
the front of the computer and then press the button!
--
Zag

Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe,
and to utter freely according to conscience, above
all other liberties. ~John Milton
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 22:04:26 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 12:57:47 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 07:11:46 -0700, Dimensional Traveler

<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

No they don't. Real geeks use BINARY!

And then input the data using punchcards.

No they don't. They input it one byte at a time on the eight switches on
the front of the computer and then press the button!

Heh. You don't know how long, while writing my comment, I flip-flopped
between "punch cards" and "enter the data using front-panel toggle
switches" before finally settling on the former.

I'm sure if I'd picked the toggle switches, somebody would have piped
up about punch cards ;-)

Maybe we can agree that both options are equally geeky?


--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 8/30/2025 8:18 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 22:04:26 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 12:57:47 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 07:11:46 -0700, Dimensional Traveler

<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

No they don't. Real geeks use BINARY!

And then input the data using punchcards.

No they don't. They input it one byte at a time on the eight switches on
the front of the computer and then press the button!

Heh. You don't know how long, while writing my comment, I flip-flopped between "punch cards" and "enter the data using front-panel toggle
switches" before finally settling on the former.

I'm sure if I'd picked the toggle switches, somebody would have piped
up about punch cards ;-)

Maybe we can agree that both options are equally geeky?

No, toggle switches are more geeky because you can't drop a bundle of
them forcing you to spend hours to put them all back in order. ;)
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sat, 30 Aug 2025 11:18:02 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 22:04:26 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 12:57:47 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 07:11:46 -0700, Dimensional Traveler

<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

No they don't. Real geeks use BINARY!

And then input the data using punchcards.

No they don't. They input it one byte at a time on the eight switches on >>the front of the computer and then press the button!

Heh. You don't know how long, while writing my comment, I flip-flopped >between "punch cards" and "enter the data using front-panel toggle
switches" before finally settling on the former.

I'm sure if I'd picked the toggle switches, somebody would have piped
up about punch cards ;-)

Maybe we can agree that both options are equally geeky?

I dunno. Probably typing in a BASIC program from some enthusiast magazine consisting entirely of DATA statements. That's way geekier. I mean, that
means it was actually machine code and you were just POKEing it into
memory, byte by byte, with BASIC. It always ended in SYS (addr). You were basically a very slow tape drive.

DATA(73,32,97,109,32,116,104,101,32,103,101,101,107,105,101,115,116, 32,103,101,101,107,32,111,102,32,116,104,101,109,32,97,108,108,33)

But sometimes they were actually in BASIC. Just as tedious, but you might
learn something along the way! Here's an example from "COMPUTE!"

https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/BASIC-code.jpg

Ahh. Player-missile graphics. Remember those?
--
Zag

Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe,
and to utter freely according to conscience, above
all other liberties. ~John Milton
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

I remember having to use FTP first to download files to my shell
account, and then following it up by using ZModem to download the
files from the shell to the local computer. Given the difference in
speeds, I always preferred the former. FTP went over the
administration's T1; ZModem over the phone line. The second part took
FOREVER to complete.

Ah, Zmodem. Fond memories, usually anything with Zmodem had resume so
you could continue partial downloads. Like if someone picked up the
phone receiver while you were downloading... Amazingly web browsers
don't have resume even today.

Worse, you couldn't do anything else with the connection until the
downloads were complete. Not like today, when you queue up a 50GB game download, then surf the web until it's done ;-)

Well, there was the NCSA telnet thingy which had FTP in it. Come to
think of it, I think NCSA telnet had an FTP *server* in it, so once
setup, you connected from the shell machine to your PC.

I managed a slip connection through the terminal server at my university somewhen, early 90s I guess. I'm pretty sure I got a 14.4kbps modem in
1993 so thereabouts.

Anyways, there was quite a collection of bits and bobs to get that going
in old MS-DOS. Something like, load a packet driver, run something that
could dial the modem like maybe kermit, then exit kermit without hanging
up and start SLIP and I think you got to setup your IP addresses
manually, then finally start NCSA telnet. I don't remember if SLIP was a
TSR or what since somehow you could run that in the background. In
MS-DOS. And no, I didn't figure out how to do all this, someone posted instructions.

But with this setup you could download from the shell machine using FTP
and simultaneously telnet in the shell machine to read Usenet or chat on
IRC while downloading. Not that it was great, the background download
made interactive use rather clunky. But more fun than staring at the
download progress bar.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> looked up from reading
the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the
signs say:

<snip>

... Amazingly web browsers
don't have resume even today.

Yes they do, sometimes.

I was downloading something a couple days back and the download "failed"
I hit retry and it picked up from where it left off and completed in
seconds instead of starting the whole download from scratch.

I've done this in the past with dl's I started before going shopping or
to bed, finding out it failed only when I got back to the computer, then hitting retry/resume and it picked up where it left off hours later.

Firefox. Dunno if others do it, but I imagine so.

The problem is that various websites do not support resume, but that's
not the fault of the browser.

<snip>

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:39:42 +0300, Anssi Saari wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

I remember having to use FTP first to download files to my shell
account, and then following it up by using ZModem to download the files
from the shell to the local computer. Given the difference in speeds, I
always preferred the former. FTP went over the administration's T1;
ZModem over the phone line. The second part took FOREVER to complete.

Ah, Zmodem. Fond memories, usually anything with Zmodem had resume so
you could continue partial downloads. Like if someone picked up the
phone receiver while you were downloading... Amazingly web browsers
don't have resume even today.

Worse, you couldn't do anything else with the connection until the
downloads were complete. Not like today, when you queue up a 50GB game
download, then surf the web until it's done ;-)

Well, there was the NCSA telnet thingy which had FTP in it. Come to
think of it, I think NCSA telnet had an FTP *server* in it, so once
setup, you connected from the shell machine to your PC.

I managed a slip connection through the terminal server at my university somewhen, early 90s I guess. I'm pretty sure I got a 14.4kbps modem in
1993 so thereabouts.

Anyways, there was quite a collection of bits and bobs to get that going
in old MS-DOS. Something like, load a packet driver, run something that
could dial the modem like maybe kermit, then exit kermit without hanging
up and start SLIP and I think you got to setup your IP addresses
manually, then finally start NCSA telnet. I don't remember if SLIP was a
TSR or what since somehow you could run that in the background. In
MS-DOS. And no, I didn't figure out how to do all this, someone posted instructions.

But with this setup you could download from the shell machine using FTP
and simultaneously telnet in the shell machine to read Usenet or chat on
IRC while downloading. Not that it was great, the background download
made interactive use rather clunky. But more fun than staring at the
download progress bar.

I got lucky. I was a student worker in Computing Services at the local
campus, where we had a phone line just sitting there...and a 2400 baud modem...and a PC that could run KA9Q NOS...this was 1991, when the
campus had just got an internet connection.

So I set up the PC to serve SLIP, set up proxy arp for an unused address,
ran a similar setup at home, and fiddled with ftp, telnet, and general
geeky things. No campus shell server for students in those days,
but there was an HP-UX 8 server that I could telnet to and run rn.

One of the student lab assistants got interested in this newfangled
Internet thing, and ftp'ed to my home computer from his lab. He was
jazzed that such a thing was possible.

Then a few months later, "Linux happened." I applied to the Computing
and Information Sciences department to take "Special Studies in Computer Science" to build a Linux host students could use. The campus HP3000 was
named "Garfield", and the library's HP9000 was "Odie", so naturally it had
to be named "Nermal". So after a few months of development, Nermal
went online for the students, and there was much rejoicing. That was late 1992.

That lab assistant I mentioned was working in Computer Services by then,
and set up the first CWIS for any community college in California, using gopher.

To make a long story short, he suggested that we could start an ISP. So
after figuring some back-of-the-envelope accounting we did. Started out
as a shell provider with our own USENET feed via PageSAT. Internet was
via a 56K ADN frame-relay connection. That was 1994.

After a few months of running this out of his mother's house, PacBell told
us they didn't care what shenanigans we pulled, they weren't going to
run any more phone lines to the residence. (We had 17 at the time.) So
we moved downtown and "got serious" with a T1. Then a T3 -- probably
earlier than we needed it, but our customers _loved_ it.

(I could go on and on about the whole thing, which is why I've been
trying to develop the discipline to write a book about it.)

One of the big reasons we got into the business was to have
faster internet. Now we sell residential fiber-to-the-home,
10Gigabits/sec.
--
-Scott System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3090Ti 24G
OS: Linux 6.16.4 D: Mint 22.1 DE: Xfce 4.18
NVIDIA: 580.76.05 Mem: 258G
""Keyboard? How quaint!" - Scotty"
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:39:42 +0300, Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:

Ah, Zmodem. Fond memories, usually anything with Zmodem had resume so
you could continue partial downloads. Like if someone picked up the
phone receiver while you were downloading... Amazingly web browsers
don't have resume even today.

Side note: Firefox and Chrome _can_ resume downloads, if the server
allows it.

Worse, you couldn't do anything else with the connection until the
downloads were complete. Not like today, when you queue up a 50GB game
download, then surf the web until it's done ;-)

Anyways, there was quite a collection of bits and bobs to get that going
in old MS-DOS. Something like, load a packet driver, run something that
could dial the modem like maybe kermit, then exit kermit without hanging
up and start SLIP and I think you got to setup your IP addresses
manually, then finally start NCSA telnet. I don't remember if SLIP was a
TSR or what since somehow you could run that in the background. In
MS-DOS. And no, I didn't figure out how to do all this, someone posted >instructions.

I honestly don't remember most of the details of downloading stuff in
my DOS days. Mostly, it was handled transparently behind my back; I
connected to the client software and it loaded any necessary drivers.
I was only starting with DOS computing, so a lot of the HOW was beyond
me anyway. I started getting a bit better at things once I migrated to
Windows 95, and had to learn about stuff like TCP/IP. But fortunately
I was able to skip most of the messy days of early networking ;-)

But anyway, the ancient client we used was definitely single-threaded.
You'd start the download and just wait... and wait... and wait.


--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 9/1/2025 6:47 AM, vallor wrote:

On Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:39:42 +0300, Anssi Saari wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

I remember having to use FTP first to download files to my shell
account, and then following it up by using ZModem to download the files
from the shell to the local computer. Given the difference in speeds, I
always preferred the former. FTP went over the administration's T1;
ZModem over the phone line. The second part took FOREVER to complete.

Ah, Zmodem. Fond memories, usually anything with Zmodem had resume so
you could continue partial downloads. Like if someone picked up the
phone receiver while you were downloading... Amazingly web browsers
don't have resume even today.

Worse, you couldn't do anything else with the connection until the
downloads were complete. Not like today, when you queue up a 50GB game
download, then surf the web until it's done ;-)

Well, there was the NCSA telnet thingy which had FTP in it. Come to
think of it, I think NCSA telnet had an FTP *server* in it, so once
setup, you connected from the shell machine to your PC.

I managed a slip connection through the terminal server at my university
somewhen, early 90s I guess. I'm pretty sure I got a 14.4kbps modem in
1993 so thereabouts.

Anyways, there was quite a collection of bits and bobs to get that going
in old MS-DOS. Something like, load a packet driver, run something that
could dial the modem like maybe kermit, then exit kermit without hanging
up and start SLIP and I think you got to setup your IP addresses
manually, then finally start NCSA telnet. I don't remember if SLIP was a
TSR or what since somehow you could run that in the background. In
MS-DOS. And no, I didn't figure out how to do all this, someone posted
instructions.

But with this setup you could download from the shell machine using FTP
and simultaneously telnet in the shell machine to read Usenet or chat on
IRC while downloading. Not that it was great, the background download
made interactive use rather clunky. But more fun than staring at the
download progress bar.

I got lucky. I was a student worker in Computing Services at the local campus, where we had a phone line just sitting there...and a 2400 baud modem...and a PC that could run KA9Q NOS...this was 1991, when the
campus had just got an internet connection.

So I set up the PC to serve SLIP, set up proxy arp for an unused address,
ran a similar setup at home, and fiddled with ftp, telnet, and general
geeky things. No campus shell server for students in those days,
but there was an HP-UX 8 server that I could telnet to and run rn.

One of the student lab assistants got interested in this newfangled
Internet thing, and ftp'ed to my home computer from his lab. He was
jazzed that such a thing was possible.

Then a few months later, "Linux happened." I applied to the Computing
and Information Sciences department to take "Special Studies in Computer Science" to build a Linux host students could use. The campus HP3000 was named "Garfield", and the library's HP9000 was "Odie", so naturally it had
to be named "Nermal". So after a few months of development, Nermal
went online for the students, and there was much rejoicing. That was late 1992.

That lab assistant I mentioned was working in Computer Services by then,
and set up the first CWIS for any community college in California, using gopher.

To make a long story short, he suggested that we could start an ISP. So after figuring some back-of-the-envelope accounting we did. Started out
as a shell provider with our own USENET feed via PageSAT. Internet was
via a 56K ADN frame-relay connection. That was 1994.

After a few months of running this out of his mother's house, PacBell told
us they didn't care what shenanigans we pulled, they weren't going to
run any more phone lines to the residence. (We had 17 at the time.) So
we moved downtown and "got serious" with a T1. Then a T3 -- probably
earlier than we needed it, but our customers _loved_ it.

(I could go on and on about the whole thing, which is why I've been
trying to develop the discipline to write a book about it.)

One of the big reasons we got into the business was to have
faster internet. Now we sell residential fiber-to-the-home,
10Gigabits/sec.

I think you dropped a zero in that last sentence. My ISP fiber optic is
100 gig/sec. (But then again other ISPs over the same physical lines
only offer 50 at most so....)
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Mon, 1 Sep 2025 10:25:48 -0700, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 9/1/2025 6:47 AM, vallor wrote:

On Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:39:42 +0300, Anssi Saari wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

I remember having to use FTP first to download files to my shell
account, and then following it up by using ZModem to download the
files from the shell to the local computer. Given the difference in
speeds, I always preferred the former. FTP went over the
administration's T1; ZModem over the phone line. The second part took
FOREVER to complete.

Ah, Zmodem. Fond memories, usually anything with Zmodem had resume so
you could continue partial downloads. Like if someone picked up the
phone receiver while you were downloading... Amazingly web browsers
don't have resume even today.

Worse, you couldn't do anything else with the connection until the
downloads were complete. Not like today, when you queue up a 50GB
game download, then surf the web until it's done ;-)

Well, there was the NCSA telnet thingy which had FTP in it. Come to
think of it, I think NCSA telnet had an FTP *server* in it, so once
setup, you connected from the shell machine to your PC.

I managed a slip connection through the terminal server at my
university somewhen, early 90s I guess. I'm pretty sure I got a
14.4kbps modem in 1993 so thereabouts.

Anyways, there was quite a collection of bits and bobs to get that
going in old MS-DOS. Something like, load a packet driver, run
something that could dial the modem like maybe kermit, then exit
kermit without hanging up and start SLIP and I think you got to setup
your IP addresses manually, then finally start NCSA telnet. I don't
remember if SLIP was a TSR or what since somehow you could run that in
the background. In MS-DOS. And no, I didn't figure out how to do all
this, someone posted instructions.

But with this setup you could download from the shell machine using
FTP and simultaneously telnet in the shell machine to read Usenet or
chat on IRC while downloading. Not that it was great, the background
download made interactive use rather clunky. But more fun than staring
at the download progress bar.

I got lucky. I was a student worker in Computing Services at the local
campus, where we had a phone line just sitting there...and a 2400 baud
modem...and a PC that could run KA9Q NOS...this was 1991, when the
campus had just got an internet connection.

So I set up the PC to serve SLIP, set up proxy arp for an unused
address, ran a similar setup at home, and fiddled with ftp, telnet, and
general geeky things. No campus shell server for students in those
days,
but there was an HP-UX 8 server that I could telnet to and run rn.

One of the student lab assistants got interested in this newfangled
Internet thing, and ftp'ed to my home computer from his lab. He was
jazzed that such a thing was possible.

Then a few months later, "Linux happened." I applied to the Computing
and Information Sciences department to take "Special Studies in
Computer Science" to build a Linux host students could use. The campus
HP3000 was named "Garfield", and the library's HP9000 was "Odie", so
naturally it had to be named "Nermal". So after a few months of
development, Nermal went online for the students, and there was much
rejoicing. That was late 1992.

That lab assistant I mentioned was working in Computer Services by
then, and set up the first CWIS for any community college in
California, using gopher.

To make a long story short, he suggested that we could start an ISP.
So after figuring some back-of-the-envelope accounting we did. Started
out as a shell provider with our own USENET feed via PageSAT. Internet
was via a 56K ADN frame-relay connection. That was 1994.

After a few months of running this out of his mother's house, PacBell
told us they didn't care what shenanigans we pulled, they weren't going
to run any more phone lines to the residence. (We had 17 at the time.)
So we moved downtown and "got serious" with a T1. Then a T3 --
probably earlier than we needed it, but our customers _loved_ it.

(I could go on and on about the whole thing, which is why I've been
trying to develop the discipline to write a book about it.)

One of the big reasons we got into the business was to have faster
internet. Now we sell residential fiber-to-the-home, 10Gigabits/sec.

I think you dropped a zero in that last sentence. My ISP fiber optic is
100 gig/sec. (But then again other ISPs over the same physical lines
only offer 50 at most so....)

Well, we'd been working on selling 100Gbits/sec, but I didn't realize
we'd done it.

And I didn't want to mention it because it sounds too incredible, and
I don't have all the details.

Is your workstation connected to the Net at that speed? Mine only
has two 10Gbit NIC's, I'd have to buy a 100Gbit NIC to partake.

(I'm not talking 100Megabit/sec. 100 Gigabit.)

Also, AT&T fiber -- our next-to-fastest competitor -- only
does 5 Gigabits/sec...for (it says here) $255/mo. We're
60 bucks/month for twice that speed.
--
-Scott System76 Thelio Mega v1.1 x86_64 NVIDIA RTX 3090Ti 24G
OS: Linux 6.16.4 D: Mint 22.1 DE: Xfce 4.18
NVIDIA: 580.76.05 Mem: 258G
scott@sonic.net -- since 1994
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:39:42 +0300, Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:

Ah, Zmodem. Fond memories, usually anything with Zmodem had resume so
you could continue partial downloads. Like if someone picked up the
phone receiver while you were downloading... Amazingly web browsers
don't have resume even today.

Side note: Firefox and Chrome _can_ resume downloads, if the server
allows it.

Worse, you couldn't do anything else with the connection until the
downloads were complete. Not like today, when you queue up a 50GB game
download, then surf the web until it's done ;-)

Anyways, there was quite a collection of bits and bobs to get that going
in old MS-DOS. Something like, load a packet driver, run something that >could dial the modem like maybe kermit, then exit kermit without hanging
up and start SLIP and I think you got to setup your IP addresses
manually, then finally start NCSA telnet. I don't remember if SLIP was a >TSR or what since somehow you could run that in the background. In
MS-DOS. And no, I didn't figure out how to do all this, someone posted >instructions.

I honestly don't remember most of the details of downloading stuff in
my DOS days. Mostly, it was handled transparently behind my back; I
connected to the client software and it loaded any necessary drivers.
I was only starting with DOS computing, so a lot of the HOW was beyond
me anyway. I started getting a bit better at things once I migrated to Windows 95, and had to learn about stuff like TCP/IP. But fortunately
I was able to skip most of the messy days of early networking ;-)

But anyway, the ancient client we used was definitely single-threaded.
You'd start the download and just wait... and wait... and wait.

Remember HS/Link that can could download, upload, and even chat very
slowly. ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HS/Link
--
"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." --Psalm 91:1. :) Labor Day, USA!
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 2 Sep 2025 00:51:33 -0000 (UTC), in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, vallor wrote:

On Mon, 1 Sep 2025 10:25:48 -0700, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 9/1/2025 6:47 AM, vallor wrote:

On Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:39:42 +0300, Anssi Saari wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

I remember having to use FTP first to download files to my shell
account, and then following it up by using ZModem to download the
files from the shell to the local computer. Given the difference in
speeds, I always preferred the former. FTP went over the
administration's T1; ZModem over the phone line. The second part took >>>>> FOREVER to complete.

Ah, Zmodem. Fond memories, usually anything with Zmodem had resume so
you could continue partial downloads. Like if someone picked up the
phone receiver while you were downloading... Amazingly web browsers
don't have resume even today.

Worse, you couldn't do anything else with the connection until the
downloads were complete. Not like today, when you queue up a 50GB
game download, then surf the web until it's done ;-)

Well, there was the NCSA telnet thingy which had FTP in it. Come to
think of it, I think NCSA telnet had an FTP *server* in it, so once
setup, you connected from the shell machine to your PC.

I managed a slip connection through the terminal server at my
university somewhen, early 90s I guess. I'm pretty sure I got a
14.4kbps modem in 1993 so thereabouts.

Anyways, there was quite a collection of bits and bobs to get that
going in old MS-DOS. Something like, load a packet driver, run
something that could dial the modem like maybe kermit, then exit
kermit without hanging up and start SLIP and I think you got to setup
your IP addresses manually, then finally start NCSA telnet. I don't
remember if SLIP was a TSR or what since somehow you could run that in >>>> the background. In MS-DOS. And no, I didn't figure out how to do all
this, someone posted instructions.

But with this setup you could download from the shell machine using
FTP and simultaneously telnet in the shell machine to read Usenet or
chat on IRC while downloading. Not that it was great, the background
download made interactive use rather clunky. But more fun than staring >>>> at the download progress bar.

I got lucky. I was a student worker in Computing Services at the local
campus, where we had a phone line just sitting there...and a 2400 baud
modem...and a PC that could run KA9Q NOS...this was 1991, when the
campus had just got an internet connection.

So I set up the PC to serve SLIP, set up proxy arp for an unused
address, ran a similar setup at home, and fiddled with ftp, telnet, and
general geeky things. No campus shell server for students in those
days,
but there was an HP-UX 8 server that I could telnet to and run rn.

One of the student lab assistants got interested in this newfangled
Internet thing, and ftp'ed to my home computer from his lab. He was
jazzed that such a thing was possible.

Then a few months later, "Linux happened." I applied to the Computing
and Information Sciences department to take "Special Studies in
Computer Science" to build a Linux host students could use. The campus
HP3000 was named "Garfield", and the library's HP9000 was "Odie", so
naturally it had to be named "Nermal". So after a few months of
development, Nermal went online for the students, and there was much
rejoicing. That was late 1992.

That lab assistant I mentioned was working in Computer Services by
then, and set up the first CWIS for any community college in
California, using gopher.

To make a long story short, he suggested that we could start an ISP.
So after figuring some back-of-the-envelope accounting we did. Started
out as a shell provider with our own USENET feed via PageSAT. Internet
was via a 56K ADN frame-relay connection. That was 1994.

After a few months of running this out of his mother's house, PacBell
told us they didn't care what shenanigans we pulled, they weren't going
to run any more phone lines to the residence. (We had 17 at the time.)
So we moved downtown and "got serious" with a T1. Then a T3 --
probably earlier than we needed it, but our customers _loved_ it.

(I could go on and on about the whole thing, which is why I've been
trying to develop the discipline to write a book about it.)

One of the big reasons we got into the business was to have faster
internet. Now we sell residential fiber-to-the-home, 10Gigabits/sec.

I think you dropped a zero in that last sentence. My ISP fiber optic is
100 gig/sec. (But then again other ISPs over the same physical lines
only offer 50 at most so....)

Well, we'd been working on selling 100Gbits/sec, but I didn't realize
we'd done it.

And I didn't want to mention it because it sounds too incredible, and
I don't have all the details.

Is your workstation connected to the Net at that speed? Mine only
has two 10Gbit NIC's, I'd have to buy a 100Gbit NIC to partake.

(I'm not talking 100Megabit/sec. 100 Gigabit.)

Also, AT&T fiber -- our next-to-fastest competitor -- only
does 5 Gigabits/sec...for (it says here) $255/mo. We're
60 bucks/month for twice that speed.

LOL. Where I am I pay $60/month for 600Mbps/600Mbps. The alternative is
cable, which gets you something like 1Gbps(down)/30Mbps(up) if you pay an
arm and a leg to them. The arm and leg is mostly because any plans that
are less than top-of-the-line give you *10*Mbps up. No. I didn't omit a
zero.

TDS, my fiber company, offers 8Gbps, but it's *expensive*. Even 1Gpbs is $80/mo. 8 is $230.
--
Zag

Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe,
and to utter freely according to conscience, above
all other liberties. ~John Milton
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> writes:

No they don't. Real geeks use BINARY!

Nope, it's the butterfly effect that they use. https://xkcd.com/378/
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