Freenets on 300 BPS modem

Ghislain · Post by **Ghislain** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:00 am

Back in the 1997-98 I didn't have a PC (which was funny because I worked as a techie for an ISP to provide support for Windows 95/98/3.1 and Macintosh). So I used my Commodore 64 and a 300bps modem to connect to my local freenet (National Capital Freenet in Ottawa, http://www.ncf.ca).

It was quite funny during that 9 month period (before I finally bought a PC) where I would use my C64 to send email to my friends and family, and post on forums and the text would wrap at 40 characters.

Now that I have my "real" VIC-20 back, I'm thinking of using it to dial into my local freenet again (Calgary, http://www.calcna.ab.ca). It does cost $30 a year, however. I think it would be useful because a lot of times my wife is on the computer and I need to send something by email or look up something on the internet. I actually might use my VIC-20 to dial into the PBX at work to make changes to the phone system (don't need freenet for that, however).

vic user · Post by **vic user** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:28 am

freenets are awesome, and although they have become ghost towns now, i don't miss the early nineties, phoning over and over again in hopes of getting a non-busy line!

do you still remember your id from your ottawa days?

i got a new freenet acc i use it often with older computers, like a mac se30. works great, and as long as i stick to text, i find it faster than my pentium with a 33.6 modem.

the ottawa freenet just started offering dsl connections for $30.00 a month. i think i might go that route.

hope you get the vic telnetting away!

chris

6502dude · Post by **6502dude** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:30 am

There are still a few (not many) BBS systems in North America still on PSTN that may be dialed up via real hardware.

http://www.dmine.com/dialbbs/dialbbs.htm

If you have a LD plan package that has large block of unused minutes, then you can experiment a bit more.

However, even non plan LD rates are no where near what they once were in the hayday of BBSing.

I have called a few on the list with Kaypro 10 and C128 at 1200bps

Ghislain · Post by **Ghislain** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:37 pm

vic user wrote:freenets are awesome, and although they have become ghost towns now, i don't miss the early nineties, phoning over and over again in hopes of getting a non-busy line!

Getting a free line was usually the highlight of my day. I tend to look at the "bad old days" with rose-colored glasses, so I'll probably enjoy the novelty of text coming on my TV screen at the blistering rate of 300 bits per second for about 10 minutes!

do you still remember your id from your ottawa days?

dh374 -- I used it from 1996 to 2000. I remember posting a message on one of the ncf forums offering a cassette of VIC-20 software in the summer of 1996 (games that I made like Pitfall, Meteor Zone, etc) for $2. I had a grand total of TWO responses--and I just decided to give it to them for free. Were you one of these people, perchance?

i got a new freenet acc i use it often with older computers, like a mac se30. works great, and as long as i stick to text, i find it faster than my pentium with a 33.6 modem.

the ottawa freenet just started offering dsl connections for $30.00 a month. i think i might go that route.

hope you get the vic telnetting away!

chris

I remember in the last few months of ncf where they wanted to start charging something like $50-$60 a year for the service. Did they lower their prices?

Ghislain · Post by **Ghislain** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:40 pm

6502dude wrote:There are still a few (not many) BBS systems in North America still on PSTN that may be dialed up via real hardware.

http://www.dmine.com/dialbbs/dialbbs.htm

Thanks for the site, I'll definitely check these out.

If you have a LD plan package that has large block of unused minutes, then you can experiment a bit more.

However, even non plan LD rates are no where near what they once were in the hayday of BBSing.

I have called a few on the list with Kaypro 10 and C128 at 1200bps

You can even get free long distance if you like. I use phonehog.com. I've acquired about 300 free LD minutes by just responding to online surveys and to spam.

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:23 pm

Chris, I can't remember if I ever mentioned it, but I was on NCF between 1993-1997 when I lived in Ottawa on and off while I was a student. My ID was au922 . Probably defunct now. I dialled in with good old Telix on my DOS PC, then later Telnet from my ISP or work account. It was an interesting community, lots of unique content.

vic user · Post by **vic user** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 5:43 am

dh374 -- I used it from 1996 to 2000. I remember posting a message on one of the ncf forums offering a cassette of VIC-20 software in the summer of 1996 (games that I made like Pitfall, Meteor Zone, etc) for $2. I had a grand total of TWO responses--and I just decided to give it to them for free. Were you one of these people, perchance?

no, i wasn't one of those people. i only got a vic 20 about 3 years ago i think. used to make fun of them

I remember in the last few months of ncf where they wanted to start charging something like $50-$60 a year for the service. Did they lower their prices?

well i guess technically freenet is still free, although they sure would like it if you gave $5.00 a month or so.

the high speed lines they are offering are different, in that you have to pay every month for the service, but from what i gather, this is cheaper than rogers or bell etc..?

Chris, I can't remember if I ever mentioned it, but I was on NCF between 1993-1997 when I lived in Ottawa on and off while I was a student. My ID was au922 . Probably defunct now. I dialled in with good old Telix on my DOS PC, then later Telnet from my ISP or work account. It was an interesting community, lots of unique content.

wow, i had no idea you lived here for a time. were you going to both carleton and u of o?

freenet and GEnie were big distractions for me during uni.!

you might still be able to get your old account unarchived. mine was archived (ae647) but i went the easy route and signed up new, and now i am ex809

they sound like stormtrooper designations!

chris

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 7:29 am

vic user wrote:wow, i had no idea you lived here for a time. were you going to both carleton and u of o?

Actually, I was in the Co-op Education program at the University of Waterloo, an excellent program that mixes classes and real-life work experience. Some of my job placements were in Ottawa.

Ghislain · Post by **Ghislain** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 10:57 pm

I finally did it--I posted a message to usenet (comp.sys.cbm) with my VIC-20:

http://tinyurl.com/a7hxl

In true VIC fashion, I made sure to be in 22 column mode when I posted. Of course, MightyTerm has an 80 column (split into two screens) mode, and I'll be using that to "surf" the internet

There's no chance of me posting here with the VIC. This forum (and pretty much 95% of websites as well) is not very compatible with the Lynx 2.5 text-based web browser. However, I can still post and read to usenet, read email, and telnet to MUDs at port 23 to play text-based internet RPG games. Web browsing is out of the question, however.

A 1200 baud, a 1200 baud, my kingdom for a 1200 baud modem

CurtisP · Post by **CurtisP** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:29 pm

I have a cable modem and a home network with multiple PC's. What I really need to do is put a modem on my linux box, then I can connect my vic/64/whatever to it...

One of these days when I have the time and ambition...