bolha.us

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vga256back in the early 90s, there were many, many different options for running a bbs on IBM/DOS compatibles. many were descendants of source code that had been written, and re-written, and modded by various authors. arguably, the most beautiful of all of them (in terms of built-in ansi menuing) was iNiQUiTY by mike fricker. iniq was a rewrite of Telegard, which itself was a rewrite of WWIV's source code.in the late 90s, the web was already going full tilt and i started to feel a pang of nostalgia for ansi and dial-up. i found out that mike released the software into the public domain, and iniquity had a new website, and new owners were rekindling development. it died after that, and the website and all knowledge of the site disappeared into obscuritytonight, after trying to remember an url for 20 years (because I misremembered it), i finally found the original url for iniquity's website. i really miss this era - it was trying to reconcile ansi, ascii and web graphics in a single design:<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030322235549/http://iniquitybbs.com/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20030322235549/http://iniquitybbs.com/</a>mike went on to an incredibly successful career in game development, and is now the technical director at epic games<a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/bbs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bbs</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/webPreservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#webPreservation</a>

pablolarah🟡🔵 The Confiscation of Digital Memory by Kaloyan Kolev IG @kaloyanez at Arena @are.na <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/KaloyanKolev" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#KaloyanKolev</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/WebPreservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#WebPreservation</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Vbox7" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Vbox7</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Bulgaria" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Bulgaria</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/video" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#video</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/Internet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Internet</a> <a href="https://mastodon.social/tags/AreDotna" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#AreDotna</a> <a href="https://www.are.na/editorial/the-confiscation-of-digital-memory" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://www.are.na/editorial/the-confiscation-of-digital-memory</a>

vga256back in the early and mid-90s, getting on the net meant you were a university student, or had corporate access through a big company. getting online wasn't easy.worse, even if you had a dialup number and login, there was no such thing as a tcp/ip stack built-in to Windows 3.1. even if you *did* have a winsock stack, you'd still need a file downloading protocol, gopher client, world wide web client, ftp client, email client. just getting your machine off the ground was nearly impossible unless you could grab these from a local BBSto make things simpler, universities began offering dial-up internet software packages to their students and staff.in 1994, my mom was an undergrad student at the University of Alberta. our family had just bought an IBM PS/1 with a 2400 baud modem, and i was abusing the hell out of our single phone line at night visiting local BBSes.she somehow found out that the university was selling internet dial-up software for $10 to students, and brought home the diskette pack with her. along with a USR Sportster 14.4k modem, she gave me the install diskettes as a valentine's day gift.it had a slick setup program that enabled SLIP using Trumpet Winsock, and provided a local (free!) dial-up number for access.after 25 years, i finally tracked down a few versions of those diskettes. i've imaged them and uploaded them all to IA.the first version of the dial-up package in 1994 was called WinSLIP. it had no PPP support yet, but contained some really cool shareware internet utilities like HGopher and NCSA Mosaic. this would have been the earliest programs offered for Windows 3.1WinSLIP/MSKermit 1994/95: <a href="https://archive.org/details/ua_winslip" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/ua_winslip</a>The second version of the software was renamed to NetSurf. It stripped out most of the obscure shareware sadly, and replaced them with Netscape 2 and Eudora Light. The new version of Trumpet Winsock offered PPP which was a huge improvement:NetSurf 1996/97: <a href="https://archive.org/details/ua_netsurf_96" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/ua_netsurf_96</a>Now well into the Windows 95 era, the 1997/98 software was shipped on a CD with a hilarious "multimedia" installer/help program designed in Macromedia Director:NetSurf 1997/98: <a href="https://archive.org/details/netsurf-97-starter-kit" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/netsurf-97-starter-kit</a>I hope this brings back some memories for fellow U of A alumni :)<a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/softwarePreservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#softwarePreservation</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/webPreservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#webPreservation</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/win31" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#win31</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/worldWideWeb" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#worldWideWeb</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/yeg" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#yeg</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/bbs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bbs</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/alberta" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#alberta</a>

vga256there is something wonderfully y2k about this Yahoo! branded rubiks cube i found in a thrift store years agolike a pure expression of the unbridled hope for the millennium and shareholders’ dreams encased in plastic<a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/y2k" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#y2k</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/webPreservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#webPreservation</a>

vga256⚰️ 🥲<a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/indiegamedev" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#indiegamedev</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/worldWideWeb" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#worldWideWeb</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/webPreservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#webPreservation</a>

vga256in february 2000, Be announced it was releasing its BeOS operating system for free.here is the website around the free launch. i sure do miss that swoopy web design aesthetic with handcrafted nav icons and lighting effects.<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20000815093906/http://www.be.com/products/freebeos/beosspecs.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20000815093906/http://www.be.com/products/freebeos/beosspecs.html</a><a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/worldWideWeb" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#worldWideWeb</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/webPreservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#webPreservation</a>

vga256good news: Web Wise Seniors - E-Mail Part 2 - Advanced Techniques is now online for your perusalthanks Stephen for your knockout lectures on Windows XP and Outlook Express 😻 <a href="https://youtu.be/0iXpwy__h50" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/0iXpwy__h50</a><a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/filmPreservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#filmPreservation</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/webPreservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#webPreservation</a>

vga256i've noticed in recent years that the laudable return to personal homepages has generally brought with it a very specific re-imagining of 1990s web design - usually lo-fi 1994 html-only and neon cyberpunkish affairs with loud animated gifs. lost in that specific imaginary are 1996-1997 corporate designs that brought a slightly more conservative aesthetic that nonetheless remained playful.if you played Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb, Dinotopia, or Faery Tale Adventure 2 you would remember The Dreamers Guild. this is their corporate site still live and maintained by joe pearce and brad schenck.<a href="https://inherittheearth.net/dgi/indexnf.htm" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank">https://inherittheearth.net/dgi/indexnf.htm</a><a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/webHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#webHistory</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/worldwideWeb" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#worldwideWeb</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/webPreservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#webPreservation</a> <a href="https://dialup.cafe/tags/gameHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#gameHistory</a>

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