Historical Computer Links

This is a page of links to items of historical importance to the Internet and computers as a whole. It includes vintage computer systems and services which are online and accessible in the present age. If any links are broken, have changed, or you'd like to submit a site or system for review, please write the e-mail address in the footer of this page. To keep the list manageable, I am only including Bulletin Board Systems which have special historical significance.

Please help me to keep this list updated and useful by taking the time to let me know about any broken links. I really appreciate it.

Please submit/point me toward anything you think should be included here. Note that this page is new and additions are being made from my personal archive and bookmarks on a daily basis.

Lastly, I am interested in historical computing/networks from parts of the world outside the US. Please send me anything at all related to historical computing, old systems still connected to the Internet, and so forth.



Contents

  1. Old or arcane systems & protocols still accessible via the Internet - Live Systems
  2. Historical Internet / ARPANET Posts and Documents
  3. Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) - Some of these are modern systems
  4. Emulation - Running old platforms / software on modern hardware


Links

Old or arcane systems & protocols still accessible via the Internet - Live Systems

  • Gopher [ Wikipedia ] - a hypertext-based search-and-retrieval protocol which once provided services similar to the modern-day World Wide Web from about 1991 to 1993. In 1993, the University of Minnesota sought to start charging for its implementation, thereby effectively dooming it. In any case, while the World Wide Web won out, there are a small number of gopher servers running today. Firefox supports the gopher protocol, but later versions of IE do not. You can also find old dedicated gopher clients for some systems (esp. UNIX/UNIX-likes).

    If you went online via a shell account in the early 1990s, you would most definitely have used gopher.


  • 8 bit microcomputers / "home computers" [ Wikipedia ] - Via hardware hacking and/or ultra-optimized software engineering, 80s-era 8-bit computer systems have been connected to the Internet in a variety of interesting ways. Some have connected emulated systems to the Internet via their modern PC host. some use a PC to bridge an incoming telnet connection to an original 8-bit system using old modem-based software (such as BBS software). Still others connect their old systems directly to the Internet using a latter-day Ethernet card. These systems represent a heroic effort to preserve computing history in a live state.

    • Luddite's Amazing Apple IIe Web Server: [ http://ld8.org:6502/ ] - This is original Apple IIe hardware connected directly to the Internet via the Uthernet Ethernet card and the Contiki OS.
    • c64web: [ http://www.c64web.com ] - c64web. This is an original Commodore 64 connected directly to the Internet via the Contiki OS. Click the Click Here! to go online with our Commodore 64 web-server link to actually access the Commodore-hosted webserver.
    • Commodore BBS Outpost: [ http://cbbsoutpost.servebbs.com/ ] - Via tcpser and original hardware or via emulation, there are now several telnettable Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 BBSes on the Internet running vintage software like C-Net, Image, and All-American. These are the systems which formed the core of the Commodore BBS scene in the 1980s. Now that there are a few well-defined procedures for bringing vintage Commodore BBSes onto the Internet, hopefully we will see more. If you want to really jack into the 80s BBS scene, this is your best bet.

      In order to view the Commodore character/glyph set, PETSCII, you'll want to download CGTerm. Syncterm also handles PETSCII, along with ATASCII for Atari systems and ANSI for everything else. Most Commodore systems also support standard ASCII via your OS's telnet client, but you're missing out if you don't connect using PETSCII.
    • Atari BBS List: [ http://www.dataswamp.net/computerhistory/archives/bbs/ataribbs.txt ] - Original and possibly emulated Atari 8 bit systems online. Some are running on classic systems like the venerable Atari 800XL. You'll probably want to use Syncterm so you can connect with ATASCII, the Atari 8-bit computers' native character set.
    • The Age of Reason: [ telnet://aor.retroarchive.org ] - Finally, a telnettable GBBS Pro system running on original Apple 2 hardware. If you want to see what a mid-80s 8 bit Apple BBS was like, here is (to my knowledge), your only opportunity!
    • Diversi-Dials: [ http://www.ddial.com ] - Before IRC, there was Diversi-Dial or ddial for short. Take a bunch of modems and an equivalent number of phone lines, hook them up to an Apple II system, install Bill Basham's ddial software, and people could chat as they do today on IRC. Each ddial could link to other ddials, forming a network. A fairly vibrant social scene grew up around ddials -- users would frequently gather for bowling meets and parties, and form friendships which, if the mailing list is any indication, persist into the modern age. Because connecting to ddial meant dialing directly into a phone line, user communities could be fairly local (since not everyone could afford or was willing to use illicit methods to make long distance calls to the system).

      Ddial was a memorable part of 80s cyberculture. While there have been semi-successful attempts at running ddial on original software (with telephony hardware to bridge telnet into the modems), most attempts have been via emulation (both emulating the Apple II environment running Basham's ddial software, and writing software on modern platforms which imitates the classic ddial experience).

  • Other systems: This includes other old operating systems and protocols.

    • Deathrow OpenVMS Cluster: [ http://deathrow.vistech.net/ ] - Though OpenVMS is a contemporary and viable OS, I include this public access OpenVMS system here for those who fondly remember (or fondly remember wondering about) VAX systems. (No further VAXen were manufactured after 2005). Deathrow is a free, public access OpenVMS cluster which allows guest logins. You can finally take a look...
    • SDF Public Access TWENEX (DEC TOPS-20): [ http://www.twenex.org/ ] - SDF's public access TOPS-20 system. This one is a real treat if you're into old operating systems. Mostly abandoned by the late 1980s (according to Wikipedia), TOPS-20 (aka Twenex) was initially released in 1976 for the DEC PDP-10. You can telnet right in for some timesharing goodness after creating a free account on the twenex.org web page.
    • The Wofford Witch (DEC RSTS/E): [ http://www.woffordwitch.com ] - Simulated PDP-11 environment accessible via Telnet. This is based on an old PDP-11/40 system from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The system simulates RSTS/E.

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Historical Internet / ARPANET Posts and Documents + Other Misc

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Bulletin Board Systems (BBS)

You might be surprised to learn that there are still anywhere from several hundred to several thousand BBSes still in existence, almost all accessible through the Internet. When the Internet killed the BBS scene in the middle 1990s, some sysops carried on unfazed. Other succumbed, only to get the itch and put up telnet-accessible BBSes years later. Today, several classic x86 BBS packages are still actively developed. Among them are the now evolved-into-groupware Citadel and the still classic-in-style Synchronet. Each of these packages is now well integrated with the Internet, offering built-in Internet e-mail, Usenet, and other modern facilities. The modern BBS world suffers some cultural problems, such as lack of user interest and monoculture (in part owing to Synchronet's superiority and therefore dominance). You will find some interesting stuff out there but you're going to have to explore a bit. And why not? It's not like you're going to have to concern yourself with long distance charges anymore. I wrote a bit about the issues of the modern BBS scene awhile back.

  • BBS: The Documentary: [ http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/ ] - Jason Scott's laudable and substantial documentary on the BBS scene. I recommend this highly. It includes interviews with names you'll recognize if you were there, or names you should learn if you weren't.
  • textfiles.com: Offering the massed digital collection of Jason Scott, this is the single best starting point for exploring what the BBS age was all about:
    • [ http://www.textfiles.com ] - This site is an archive of text files (or g-files, or t-files), buffer dumps, and other relics of the BBS era. Text files were self-contained compositions, rants, essays, how-tos, soliloquys, fiction, and diatribes which were passed around from system to system forming a kind of electronic reading library. Composed largely by teenagers, some of these are hilariously puerile. Some of them are dangerous (how-to pyrotechnics, explosives, etc.). Others are of historical import. Some are charming and entertaining in a contemporary context. At any rate, this collection, perhaps more than any other, is a window into the culture of the BBS scene, when it was active and vibrant.
    • [ http://artscene.textfiles.com/ ] - The "digital graffiti" of the online scene of the 80s and 90s. You can get a glimpse of the artistic side of the BBS scene, utilizing 16 colors and an extended chararacter set. Some of this stuff is still visually stunning, in my opinion. It was amazing what you could do with an ordinary text terminal and ANSI.
    • [ http://cd.textfiles.com/ ] - A collection of shareware CDs. These were often offered in BBS file sections. They were a way to attract callers, even though a lot of the stuff on these CDs was garbage. Still, a fair number of classic games were also distributed this way.
    • [ http://bbslist.textfiles.com/ ] - An ambitious attempt at at a list of every BBS there ever was, this is the product of user submissions and shell script slicing, dicing, and combination of old BBS lists.
    • [ http://audio.textfiles.com/ ] - Hacker teleconferences, presentations, and other related audio.
    • [ http://ascii.textfiles.com/ ] - Jason's blog on these issues and others. Always worth a read.

    I think it is safe to say that if a horde of evil AI barbarians rise from the digital soup of the Internet in search of libraries to sack, they will probably start with textfiles.com. Fair warning: You can spend a whole lot of time at this site.

  • US BBS List: [ http://www.usbbs.org/ ] - Published since 1984, Brent Yandell soldiers on, continuing to provide a list of BBSes in the United States and Canada. This is an excellent place to start if you are curious to check out modern BBSes. You can telnet to most of these.
  • The BBS Corner's Telnet & Dialup BBS Guide: [ http://www.telnetbbsguide.com/ ] - Another useful list of Bulletin Board Systems along with instructions on how to telnet to a BBS. This is a good place to start if you've never used telnet or never connected to a BBS before. There are a lot of other introductory materials on BBSes here as well.
  • BBSmates: [ http://www.bbsmates.com/ ] - This is a gathering place for BBS communities of defunct bulletin boards, some going back to the 1980s. This site enables users to re-establish contact with other members of those boards.
  • Commodore BBS List: [ http://cbbsoutpost.servebbs.com ] - Via tcpser and original hardware or via emulation, there are now several telnettable Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 BBSes on the Internet running vintage software like C-Net, Image, and All-American. These are the systems which formed the core of the Commodore BBS scene in the 1980s. Now that there are a few well-defined procedures for bringing vintage Commodore BBSes onto the Internet, hopefully we will see more. If you want to really jack into the 80s BBS scene, this is your best bet.

    In order to view the Commodore character/glyph set, PETSCII, you'll want to download CGTerm. Syncterm also handles PETSCII, along with ATASCII for Atari systems and ANSI for everything else. Most Commodore systems also support standard ASCII via your OS's telnet client, but you're missing out if you don't connect using PETSCII.
  • Atari BBS List: [ http://www.dataswamp.net/computerhistory/archives/bbs/ataribbs.txt ] - Original and possibly emulated Atari 8 bit systems online. Some are running on classic systems like the venerable Atari 800XL. You'll probably want to use Syncterm so you can connect with ATASCII, the Atari 8-bit computers' native character set.
  • The Age of Reason: [ telnet://aor.retroarchive.org ] - Finally, a telnettable GBBS Pro system running on original Apple 2 hardware. If you want to see what a mid-80s 8 bit Apple BBS was like, here is (to my knowledge), your only opportunity!

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Emulation - old platforms / software on modern systems

It doesn't quite get the press I think it should, but this is the age of virtualization. You can run almost anything on modern hardware with minimal fuss. You can find old software images in the usual places. While some has been released/re-licensed as "free to distribute," much of it is still covered by copyright. Nevertheless, it remains widely available. This is not an exhaustive list of emulators. These are just the ones I use and recommend.

  • 8 bit Computers: [ MESS (Windows) ] and [ XMESS ] (UNIX-likes) (Offline? Checked 2009-05-08) - These emulate just about every 8 bit system you'd want, including Commodore, Atari, BBC Micro, Apple, TI, and others. MESS is a sort of jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none when it comes to emulation. It will not provide the kind of advanced features that emulators dedicated to a specific platform will, but in most cases, MESS will get the job done, especially if you just want to run some old games. In order for these to work, you will need the ROMs, which you'll have to find on your own. Instructions are available for how to dump the ROMs from systems you own. At present I use XMESS to emulate an Apple //e, Commodore 64, TI-99/4a (with speech synthesis for Parsec!), Atari 800, Colecovision, Atari 5200, and Atari 7800. This is impressive for one application. It supports many, many more platforms I don't presently use. I can't imagine having a desktop without it.
  • Commodore 64/128: [ VICE ] - Because I have more extensive needs for Commodore emulation, having grown up a Commodore user and Sysop, I require some more functionality than the otherwise quite capable XMESS provides. VICE does the trick. I have read that it can emulate Ethernet, and so be used to host telnettable Commodore BBSes, but I have not been able to make this work on GNU/Linux.

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