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Post by wsoft on Mar 28, 2024 8:22:33 GMT
Be glad that Genie still has mirrors of its archives. If you'd been a member of Compuserves's CBMAPP forum you'd be rather peeved about the constant "hey we can't help it but we're moving into a web format now and they tell us we need to delete stuff" sort of mode. From 1998 until 2000, more and more of the old files were deleted under the precept that *somebody* was making a CD of them all. Lo and behold there is *nothing* to be found these days. John Ianetta, one of their more derserving sysops argued that the files should be preserved, however all the files were left under the charge of a certain Marte Brengle who simply said *yes* to everything requred of her... such as making room for a web interface.
The 2 or 3 years that I was a member of Compuserve were mostly spent in the CBMAPP forum. I first got to meet Jim Butterfield there, who originally suggested that I should make loading programs from other CBM computers possible from ws dos, which actually worked after version 5. You could talk with that guy about anything. From the invasion of the Japanese on December the 7th 1941 on up, we all chatted. Cockroaches who would spout the narrative would interject and a team of us conservatives made certain they were put in place. Shame that such a great repository of CBM software went the way of the unicorn but that's the way it happened.
102541,420
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Post by wsoft on Mar 28, 2024 8:52:27 GMT
In contrast to CBMAPP on Compuserve, during my short experience with Genie I found that to be a simple repository of software where nobody was spouting a narrative at you, nobody was deleting their files and in fact I actually had some fun there.
There was a group for the C64 users, the 128-users and another for the Amiga users. Every forum had their own community where they could chat in real time. Once I was invited on a *raid*
A bunch of us 64 and 128 users went over to the Amiga user forum there and spammed them with rude comments. It was all about laughs though and nobody was insulted. The next day the Amiga guys would raid our own forum, etc. It was pretty funny actually, especially when you consider that we did everything using the equipment we owned.
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Post by c128old on Mar 28, 2024 19:17:46 GMT
That ‘raid’ would use a c64 at less than 1200baud (half duplex)
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Post by wsoft on Apr 16, 2024 7:30:54 GMT
In 1995 and 96 I used a slower modem like the ones you just mentioned but even then technology was moving. With the advent of the Swiftlink, CMD promised speeds of up to 28.8K but when I bought mine in late 1995 I quickly discovered that the highest compatible speeds for Commodore 8-bit machines was more like 4096 baud. I spent quite a bit of money buying a US Robotics 14.4K modem only to discover that an 8-bit computer couldn't keep up. It would drop data about as fast as I could drop a basketball at a Gym class in 1974.. Back in those days, I thought that *everything* was possible using a C128 computer if you were willing to pay for the right hardware. I wound up being ripped off because of the data loss.
In the end, "Hype" is the magic word that defined whatever success that CMD had pertaining to the Swiftlink. NOT saying it was a bad piece of hardware, but it was definately a waste of money because less than a year later I was playing Quake on a Pentium 90.
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Post by robertb on Apr 16, 2024 10:08:29 GMT
In 1995 and 96 I used a slower modem like the ones you just mentioned but even then technology was moving. With the advent of the Swiftlink, CMD promised speeds of up to 28.8K but when I bought mine in late 1995 I quickly discovered that the highest compatible speeds for Commodore 8-bit machines was more like 4096 baud. I spent quite a bit of money buying a US Robotics 14.4K modem only to discover that an 8-bit computer couldn't keep up. I used a Commodore 128DCR, a Turbo 232, an external Zoom 2945L 56K modem, and DesTerm 2.01, the C128DCR in 80-column mode and running at 2 MHz.. In the Stockton, California area, I was able to get up to 28K but not any higher. When I brought the same set-up to the San Francisco Bay Area, I was able to get up to 40K. Conclusion - the telephone lines vary in speed, depending on the area. Truly, Robert Bernardo Fresno Commodore User Group - www.dickestel.com/fcug.htmSouthern California Commodore & Amiga Network - www.portcommodore.com/sccan |
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Post by wsoft on Apr 16, 2024 10:15:13 GMT
Wow. That was a really fast transfer rate for an 8-bit machine. I was using the same version of DesTerm v2 that you just mentioned (NOT compatible with WsDos mind you) but hey maybe it was Compuserve.
BTW All of that happened in Modesto, California... only about a half hour drive to the south of Stockton on highway 99.
I used to drive tow trucks for a company in Modesto that I believe still does the contracts for triple A. There used to be two seperate names for this company but for now it is Scenic Shell.
Yes I remember those days. You show up for an accident slamming heavy metal or country into the cab speakers sayin "YEAH I get to control highway traffic and turn over a car".
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