Usenet, BBS, Gopher, etc.

>>59447624
a complete waste of time..?
innovation happens for a reason.

city i lived in still had a few dialup bbses even in the late 90s. would go on them with a junky toshiba laptop + 28.8k modem for files and door games until i got real-ass internet in late 2000. fun times

as for these days, got a unix shell account at sdf.org that i keep logged into for funsies

>>59447624
Antiquated

>innovation happens for a reason.

Because it will make someone a lot of money?

>>59447624
Sounds cool
How can I start?

File: sdf24.jpg (46KB, 600x285px) Image search: [Google]

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>>59447818

sdf.org if you aint too stupid to know how to ssh & shit. will even host a gopher site for you

>>59447955
>sdf.org
what's on there

Nice televideo u got there

>>59448024

USERS (free)
200MB disk quota / 5,000 files divided into 4 areas
mutt, pop3, imap, icq, twitter, bsflite (aim), local irc
games, mud, lynx, gopher, TOPS-20
http://yourlogin.sdf.org
(over 50 domains to choose from)
traceroute, ping, whois, dig and more
- after account validation -
inbound ssh, ftp and sftp connections
elm, pine, alpine, mailx and rmail
webmail interface
bash, ksh, tcsh, rc and zsh
ed, ex, vi, pico, nano and emacs
shell, awk and sed based CGI
USENET access (read/post), ClariNET access
hundreds of shell/network utilities

ARPA ($36 one-time)
600MB disk quota / 15,000 files divided into 4 areas
lifetime membership for only $36
all features of the 'users' account
voting rights on system features and policies
private 'arpa' member server
outbound telnet, ssh, sftp, ftp, ytalk, irc, snarf, wget
Basic VoIP access (internet only, no PSTN access)
gcc, elisp, perl, php, python, ruby
Twitter (ttytter), SDF VoIP (non-PSTN), Voicemail and conferencing
UUCP mail and USENET / ClariNET newsfeed via dialup or TCP
50 domains to choose from for your URL
full CGI access for php, perl, python, ruby

MetaARPA ($9 quarterly)
1000MB disk quota / 45,000 files divided into 3 areas / 5,000 for /mail
200GB disk quota on the MetaArray
ARPA membership is required (waiver)
access to private MetaARPA and MetaArray servers
SSL encryption on personal web site
Umetered personal website transfer quota
cron jobs managed via 'mkcron', screen, OpenLISP
Proxying via bouncers like irssi, psybnc
ssh tunnel/forwarding with alt port
access to svn, git, rsync and java
may write tutorials and system software
dynamic domain name service (mdns.org)
MOTD source code contrib access
MySQL database on the MetaArray with DBA membership
SMTP SSL Auth for remote outgoing mail
Google Reader alternative: tt-rss
can validate the account of any new user

I get a lot of use out of them, and using something like lynx to browse the net, because I live in an allegedly first world country but our local internet will shit the bed and revert to dial-up speed for days on end and no one (not even BT) knows why.

File: Screenshot_2017-03-17_13-17-49.png (54KB, 447x601px) Image search: [Google]

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See you in GopherSpace, boys...

>>59447624
I don't know, but seeing someone use "--" to separate their signature instead of "-- " was like the 90s version of newfags can't triforce.

Also I sometimes reply old style with my text under the quotes instead of typing everything above the quoted email for the lulz, it confuses the fuck out of people at work and they come to yell at me.

File: kekchan.png (74KB, 1240x811px) Image search: [Google]

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>>59447624
Most based form of computing.
High signal/noise ratio for information.
Probably will become more popular again due to work of anon.

>>59448219
>MetaARPA
thanks
this sounds worth it

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>mfw usenet is actually more lively than a lot of the old forums I used to go on which are almost entirely dead

I trued Usenet for downloading today and it was horrible. It had none of the music I was able to easily find on semi-public trackers (RuTracker).

>>59448985
It was harder to mindlessly shitpost like it is with modern inernet.

>>59449660
>usenet is only for binaries

Literally the cancer that killed it and made ISPs stop hosting their own servers.

>>59447666
Yeah, look at all the great (((innovation))) shitting up the web today, Satan.

>>59449921
>he doesn't like javascript that slows your computer down worse than flash and tracks you worse than cookies both at the same time and without any way of knows what part of what script is doing it

>>59448662
>praises old protocols for the high signal to noise ratio for information available on them
>at the same time posts about making those more popular with a picture of a textboard named after a major problem that lowered the signal to noise ratio on a board on 4chan, with visible threads that were also related to the lowering of the signal to noise ratio on 4chan
Is this shitposting or are you actually that oblivious?

>>59447624
Very comfy, but ultimately unpractical.

>>59450371
I have a tiny CRT screen/VHS combo in the corner of my desk, and I replaced the VHS area with a Pi that I use for things like Usenet, BBSs, IRC, etc.

When I have my actual computer off and just that on it gets REAL comfy real quick.

File: gopherspace.png (103KB, 1609x914px) Image search: [Google]

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>>59448478
It's a Gopher system, I know this!

File: serveimage.jpg (7KB, 480x360px) Image search: [Google]

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>>59450766
kek

File: gvr.png (36KB, 1594x877px) Image search: [Google]

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>>59451292
gopherfs + fsv would be more accurate, but GopherVR is pretty cute too

File: GopherVR.jpg (81KB, 1272x544px) Image search: [Google]

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>>59450766

Usenet was my first experience in CP But I was 14 at the time so it wasn't too bad.

>have sunos shell from my local dialup ISP
>use trn to download from alt.binaries.whatever
>ftp binaries to local win3.1 machine to view them
>CP everywhere

>>59447624
>pure text methods of discussion and information exchange

You mean reading and writing? Pretty good, no complaints. Its served humanity well for a few thousand years now.

Note no pic. Pure text response.

File: SDF.jpg (112KB, 800x600px) Image search: [Google]

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Pretty interesting history SDF.ORG has:

>Super Dimension Fortress (SDF, also known as freeshell.org) is a non-profit public access UNIX shell provider on the Internet. It has been in continual operation since 1987 as a non-profit social club. The name is derived from the Japanese anime series The Super Dimension Fortress Macross; the original SDF server was a BBS for anime fans.[1] From its BBS roots, which have been well documented as part of the BBS: The Documentary project, SDF has grown into a feature-rich provider serving members around the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDF_Public_Access_Unix_System

>>59452203
> 30 years of weaboo neckbeards

>>59452235
man, do i feel old...

File: 1484441181406.jpg (218KB, 1280x1149px) Image search: [Google]

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>>59447624
I still use Gopher. It's actually a good source of information.

>>59452203
>>59452235
Tale as old as time.

>>59452384

It's just that cute 2d girls and cool robots are the best thing in the world, and we don't have cool robots yet but we do have computers.

And if that's wrong then I don't wanna be right.

Love pure-text interfaces and networking, which is weird since I'm 27 so have no 'nostalgia' for them. I just love their simplicity, and low resource requirements.

If it wasn't for several websites that need javascript to browse/post on I could probably use a shitty old laptop as my only computer.

>>59452479
tfw I'll be dead before sexy cybernetic companions are commonplace and socially tolerated.

>>59452624
I too like pure-text interfaces but only in line-mode (ie the read from stdin and output to stdout) if it's a tui then I prefer to use a gui.

File: Screenshot_2017-03-17_18-32-16.png (97KB, 218x241px) Image search: [Google]

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>>59452444
>"Hey anon, have you seen the new Facebook Messenger? Isn't it GREAT!?"
>"I use Gopher, and have a public Unix shell account. No ads pummeling my eyes, I like that better."

>>59452624
>>59452857
Plaintext has a strange beauty to it. Maybe because it can be piped, or because it's so essentially simple, with a strong emphasis on information unlike the modern web.
May even be because we're 1337 kiddie tryhards, I really like the fact that plaintext can be understood by just about any computer with almost no restrictions, and it lends itself to editing with some of the best tools out there (such as vi*, sed, awk, etc).

>>59448219
shit this is pretty fuggin cool

>>59453034
I like it because it's portable. Not to be a doom-monger but I have a really pessimistic outlook on the longevity of our current glut of data.

>>59447624
pictures and graphics can be informative and nice, too, but

sometimes you just want/need pure text content. it's beautiful

>>59448662
What is this?

>>59447739
Avoid the com (yes it is a shitty chatroom) if you go there, it is very cringeworthy and seem to love politics.

>>59447666
>447666
yes, and that's reason is:
an economy driven by the masses AKA normalfags

>>59451550

when your closet republican boyfriend walks in on you having vr sex with a chick

>>59456811
What's the bulletin board like?

File: Anime-girl-questionmark.jpg (31KB, 200x160px) Image search: [Google]

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>>59449921
>Satan

File: sk@sk_009-1.png (42KB, 816x511px) Image search: [Google]

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>>59454440
> I have a really pessimistic outlook on the longevity of our current glut of data.

I think the real issue is that people have this mistaken idea that much of it DESERVES to be saved.

>>59447624
It makes me look like an uberhacker and is easy on my internet connection.

>>59461234
https://danluu.com/web-bloat/

http://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/

http://www.floodgap.com/retrotech/hytelnet/

>>59460407
hello, reddit

>>59461639
Interesting article, I'm really fed up with bloat too.
I also consume mostly text on the internet, yet even basic blog websites seem to have so much unnecessary styling, functions and scripts.
Feels like a breath of fresh air when reading plain HTML pages, or better yet, a plain text page.

I'm soon going to be working in webdev environments, I hope I can take my ideals with me and work on performance in the web.

>>59461953
Could go with the best of both and use <pre> tags and then put all the links at the bottom, or separate from the flow of information like in gopher.

Though nowadays using css to force a max-width of monospace would be better due to all the small-screen phones and then 32" 4K monitors making a hectic environment.

>>59452444
Any cool holes to recommend?

>>59447955
is that like a VPS?

>>59461953
Have you seen the program vee?

It outputs blogs that look like this:
http://www.0x743.com/

>>59466166
base account is a username on whatever unix they got running right on metal, but yeah they also have vps services for sale

http://sdf1.org/index.cgi?vps

>>59448662
what is this?