28 Jul
2005
28 Jul
'05
12:44 a.m.
I'm not sure how far afield Classic Computers goes, but I am interested
in anyone here who used, worked on, or knew about the QuantumLink
service for the Commodore 64/128 machines.
With help from someone who's spent lots of time deciphering the QLink
protocol, I am busy re-implementing the server. So far, the stock QLink
disk will login and show the main page, you can select any of the 7
"message" areas and the screen will show menus for each area, and I am
now working on implementing the "People Connection" chat system.
By no means I have made even a dent in all of the functionality of the
system (games, file downloads, etc.), but it is impressive to see the
old disks and serviuce running again. Currently, I have the basic chat
(join, leave, say) working for multiple users.
Sadly, I never used the original system, so I am lost as to how exactly
things progressed from screen to screen (where did you change you screen
name, for example), so I'm eager to hear from others.
Jim
--
Jim Brain, Brain Innovations
brain at jbrain.com http://www.jbrain.com
Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, Old CBM computers, and Good Times!
28 Jul
28 Jul
1:08 a.m.
At 12:44 AM 7/28/2005, you wrote:
I'm not sure how far afield Classic Computers goes,
but I am
interested in anyone here who used, worked on, or knew about the
QuantumLink service for the Commodore 64/128 machines.
I used Quantum Link years ago on my C64. I even have some old disks
around here some where. Dont have a lot of answers for you but if the
conversation gets started it will start coming back to me
=================================
Gene Ehrich
gehrich at tampabay.rr.com
1:19 a.m.
On Thu, July 28, 2005 12:44 am, Jim Brain said:
I'm not sure how far afield Classic Computers
goes, but I am interested
in anyone here who used, worked on, or knew about the QuantumLink
service for the Commodore 64/128 machines.
I used to work there (tho after it changed it's name from Quantum) and know
some of the implementors; I'll send word along and see what pops up. Things
got pretty busy in the 90's and I have no idea what was kept from the elder
days.
I have some baubles (qlink keychain, install disks); I don't think anyone kept
backup tapes of the server software, since it ran on Stratus minis, not
exactly something people had in their basements. Plus it was company
confidential, etc.
I do remember the qlink sunset (system shutdown) party in 1994 or 95 - one of
my friends walked around carrying a "Repent! The Reboot is Near!" sign,
spouting tounge-in-cheek predictions of doom and gloom. Hard to be very
gloomy, when you have free beer and snacks. We were sad but kinda happy,
since we no longer had to maintain the "if (client == qlink)" exceptions in
the server code.
Jeff
8:52 a.m.
I used pre-Quantum which was called "CVC" and you plugged a special CVC
modem into your Atari 2600 and could download games from there servers
over the phone line.
Curt
Jeff Davis wrote:
On Thu, July 28, 2005 12:44 am, Jim Brain said:
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.6/59 - Release Date: 7/27/2005
I'm not sure how far afield Classic Computers
goes, but I am interested
in anyone here who used, worked on, or knew about the QuantumLink
service for the Commodore 64/128 machines.
I used to work there (tho after it changed it's name from Quantum) and know
some of the implementors; I'll send word along and see what pops up. Things
got pretty busy in the 90's and I have no idea what was kept from the elder
days.
I have some baubles (qlink keychain, install disks); I don't think anyone kept
backup tapes of the server software, since it ran on Stratus minis, not
exactly something people had in their basements. Plus it was company
confidential, etc.
I do remember the qlink sunset (system shutdown) party in 1994 or 95 - one of
my friends walked around carrying a "Repent! The Reboot is Near!" sign,
spouting tounge-in-cheek predictions of doom and gloom. Hard to be very
gloomy, when you have free beer and snacks. We were sad but kinda happy,
since we no longer had to maintain the "if (client == qlink)" exceptions in
the server code.
Jeff
9:13 a.m.
At 12:19 AM 7/28/2005, Jeff Davis wrote:
I used to work there (tho after it changed it's
name from Quantum) and know
some of the implementors; I'll send word along and see what pops up. Things
got pretty busy in the 90's and I have no idea what was kept from the elder
days.
Were you there during the time they offered the Amiga Link
service? I don't remember if it was developer-only or open
to the public, but I used it.
- John
9:38 a.m.
Amigalink? I don't recall that, I thought that it went right to the
Apple Support service after that which I remember using, I was
authorized Mac Systems and LaserWriter support and I got an Applecare
account to use the on-line resources from the service and I had thought
that Quantum was providing the backend support for that, right?
Curt
John Foust wrote:
At 12:19 AM 7/28/2005, Jeff Davis wrote:
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.6/59 - Release Date: 7/27/2005
I used to work there (tho after it changed
it's name from Quantum) and know
some of the implementors; I'll send word along and see what pops up. Things
got pretty busy in the 90's and I have no idea what was kept from the elder
days.
Were you there during the time they offered the Amiga Link
service? I don't remember if it was developer-only or open
to the public, but I used it.
- John
1:43 p.m.
On Thu, 28 Jul 2005, Jeff Davis wrote:
I have some baubles (qlink keychain, install disks); I
don't think anyone kept
backup tapes of the server software, since it ran on Stratus minis, not
exactly something people had in their basements. Plus it was company
confidential, etc.
Someone somewhere has to have backup tapes laying about.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
1:42 p.m.
On Wed, 27 Jul 2005, Jim Brain wrote:
I'm not sure how far afield Classic Computers
goes, but I am interested
in anyone here who used, worked on, or knew about the QuantumLink
service for the Commodore 64/128 machines.
With help from someone who's spent lots of time deciphering the QLink
protocol, I am busy re-implementing the server. So far, the stock QLink
disk will login and show the main page, you can select any of the 7
"message" areas and the screen will show menus for each area, and I am
now working on implementing the "People Connection" chat system.
Wow, cool restoration project!!
By no means I have made even a dent in all of the
functionality of the
system (games, file downloads, etc.), but it is impressive to see the
old disks and serviuce running again. Currently, I have the basic chat
(join, leave, say) working for multiple users.
Sadly, I never used the original system, so I am lost as to how exactly
things progressed from screen to screen (where did you change you screen
name, for example), so I'm eager to hear from others.
Did you ever try contacting former employees to see if maybe someone
somewhere preserved the code? I know at least one former employee (Doug
Coward) but he left before they became AOL.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
5:18 p.m.
On 7/28/05, Vintage Computer Festival <vcf at siconic.com> wrote:
Did you ever try contacting former employees to see if
maybe someone
somewhere preserved the code? I know at least one former employee (Doug
Coward) but he left before they became AOL.
I started at AOL (CompuServe) long after Qlink was gone. I don't
remember if any of the old code was in the CVS repository, but I also
never went digging too deeply for fear of repercussions, especially
not after asking a few of the old-timers about what happened to the
old 36-bit games, and getting a really stern query about what
"business use" I had in mind. :-/
-ethan
8:06 p.m.
Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
Wow, cool restoration project!!
It's coming along well. Chat seems to be working, including room
changes and such. I am playing with MySQL tonight to add DB support
(for multiple accounts, etc.)
Did you ever try contacting former employees to see if maybe someone
somewhere preserved the code? I know at least one former employee (Doug
Coward) but he left before they became AOL.
I don;t know any, but my queries have reached a few folks who stated
they would ask ex-employees. On the other hand, as I am not exactly
sure of the legalies of using such code, we are currently trying a
clean-room (or at least not-too-cluttered room) approach.
Jim
--
Jim Brain, Brain Innovations
brain at jbrain.com http://www.jbrain.com
Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, Old CBM computers, and Good Times!
6929
days inactive
6930
days old
9 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
brain＠jbrain.com -
curt＠atarimuseum.com -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
gehrich＠tampabay.rr.com -
jdaviscl2＠soupwizard.com -
jfoust＠threedee.com -
vcf＠siconic.com