Slashdot Mirror
Quantum Link Reverse Engineered
JeffLedger writes "A group of retro-geeks have rebuilt the old Quantum Link system to allow both emulated and real c64's to sign in over the Internet using the original software. Before it was called America Online, Quantum Link provided a pre-Internet online service to Commodore users."
"Before it was called, America Online, Quantum Link provided a pre-Internet online service to Commodore users."
Should be:
"Before it was called America Online, Quantum Link provided a pre-Internet online service to Commodore users."
Also a good time to try out that C=64 TCP/IP adapter: http://www.dunkels.com/adam/tfe/
I am not a crackpot.
"Online" used to mean the MODEM had a carrier back in older terminal software
All these "pixel art" sites and work you see are nothing more than a rip off of Habitat. AFAIK that's one of the oldest programs/systems using avatars.
So then somewhere along the line, it became AppleLink: Personal Edition, and THEN it became AOL Online later. Oh, I remember those magazine ads of AppleLink vaguely well.
So were Commodores cut out of the network somewhere?
After version 2.0, even the Apple II people that helped maintain, and fund the early years were cut out the network through interface 'updates'.
Or that the printer was ready and waiting for stuff to print.
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Huh? tcpser compiles fine for Linux... That's how I run it, and I wrote it. Of course, Windows users need cygwin, but I can't solve all the world's problems today. Jim
I've been involved in the beta testing of the server for the past month so I know what kind of questions everybody has (since I've been asking most of them myself already).
Q: Will/Does the implantation support Super-Q, Rabbit Jacks Casino, Club Caribe, etc?
A: Right now, only the basic (Q-link 4.0) games work such as Hangman, Battleship, Chess, etc.. Since the hard part (the q-link & x.25 pad stuff) has been pretty much conquered, the rest of the lot should come with time. The only real exception to that rule is Club Caribe--it's not impossible that it can be supported, but it certainly is the hardest thing to implement and also last on the developers' list. Rabbit Jack Casino is on the top of that list I think. One of the developers has gotten Puzzler to work (part of super Q) but only independently since the server itself doesn't support Super-Q....but progress is being made.
Q: How many users does the system support? (Since the old service ran on a Stratus 200 with 8 12Mhz
68010's)
A: Well, we'll see after the slashdoting I suppose. I should be able to handle much more on modern hardware. Keep in mind when you automatically join the People Connection you are dumped into the lobby--the Lobby supports (as all rooms in the PC) up to 23 users, and when the limit is reached it creates a new lobby and dumps new users into it.
Q: What works so far? What works and what will cause the client to freeze?
A: Pretty much all of the People connection (that includes email, IM's, panels, and games that don't require super-q or cc), The Commodore Connection (only one download is available right now for testing), Customer Service (message boards are at about 90%). Most of the other areas 'work' but haven't been populated with content yet. Any old timer Q-linkers that may have saved stuff from these areas are encouraged to help us out. Oh yah, the "Let Q-Link pick my partners" when starting a game option will most certainly freeze your client.
Q: Does it work under Linux?
A: Sure does, although it's a bit more involved that doing it through Windows with our specially patched Winvice 1.6, or even just running TCPserve and connecting with a real C64/C128 via a RS232 adapter and null-modem cable. If your using Mac OS X (Like I am) your kind of screwed though.. unless you have the genius to compile the latest Vice with RS232 emulation for Mac OS X. Otherwise, the site has all of the tools you'll need, assuming it doesn't get Slashdoted.
Q: Got a mirror? (In case the main site get's slashdotted)
A: Sort of. http://www.circleofthunder.com/downloads.html
I have the Q-link v4 disk up there along with some extra goodies (games discs 1/2 + CC & Super-Q). I don't have the patched version of WinVICE 1.6 though.
Those are the biggies I can think of off the top of my head. If you have anymore questions (not spelling or grammar related), post em here.
"The Wright brothers were the first to fly with a heavier-than-air machine, but boy did they have a lousy plane"
You'll to be content with PEOPLE CONNECTION for a while. SuperQ required a while new set of commands, which we have not completely figured out. Jim
SuperQ isn't supported yet, but it's high on the priority list I believe. At the current rate of development I think we'll have it up and running in a month or two. (knock on wood).
I was never big into the whole SuperQ think myself. I spent maybe 99% of my time in Club Caribe (like a lot of other serious losers did).
"The Wright brothers were the first to fly with a heavier-than-air machine, but boy did they have a lousy plane"
Not to be picky or anything, but thats an ethernet adapter not an TCP/IP adapter ... TCP and IP being protocols and not physical things :-)
Club Caribe is not too tough to reverse engineer the protocol, but you also have to implement the entire Habitat/CC server component. I have some code to do that, but implementing the basic service has been the top priority.
Jim
Quantum Link was America Online?
Sorry, you got that backwards, America Online was Quantum Link.
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