QuantumLink RELOADED!

For those who care, work is progressing nicely on the Internet re-implementation of the Commodore(tm) QuantumLink service. The hope is to re-introduce the basic service on the 20th Anniversary of the Q-Link introduction: November 1, 2005. There is still plenty to implement, and information to load, but the infrastructure looks to be in place. We've secured the quantum-link.org domain for information and the eventual web portal. As of this week, the service has been set up for continuous operation, with new code drops loaded in the early mornings. the server can be accessed at qlink.quantum-link.org:5190 by a real Commodore C64/128 using an RS232 interface cabled to the Internet via PC or RS232-to-Ethernet adapter. The server can also be accessed via the VICE and WinVICE C64 emulator. Details for both configurations are posted on the www.quantum-link.org home page. As of 8-30-2005, People Connection and all main information areas are functional, as is email, online messages, and message bases. File transfers will be implemented soon, and then the basic People Connection games. Re-implementing Club Caribe and the Habitat system are also goals of the project, though more ambitious and will not be attempted before the launch. Although the server is still in pre-alpha stage, it regularly hosts a lively chat in the PC Lobby with a dozen or so users. I encourage you to join us for some fun alpha and beta testing. The system will be demonstrated and a discussion on the methods for re-implementing this complex service given at the SWRAP EXPO in Chicago, IL on September 17th, 2005. Although many folks have given support to the project, a few deserve special mention. I want to thank the following individuals: Keith Henrickson, who spent countless hours with the Q-Link client runnng in the VICE monitor deciphering and reverse engineering large portions of the Q-Link command structure and verb set. Keith has also continued to oncover new portions of the verb set, including message bases and file transfers Keith Elkin, whose archived videotaped Q-Link sessions proved instrumental in setting message layouts, response strings, and timing. Raymond Day, who managed to archive a trace of 2 actual Q-Link user sessions. One provided the key to fully implementing the information areas, and allowed the extraction of 200+ menu items and 100+ files from the original system, and the other held information crucial to implementing message bases and provided insights on how the file areas operated. The VICE Emulator team. Without this tool, development would not have progressed to this state. Jim -- Jim Brain, Brain Innovations brain at jbrain.com http://www.jbrain.com Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, Old CBM computers, and Good Times!