[HN Gopher] The Simtel.net MS-DOS Collection
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       The Simtel.net MS-DOS Collection
        
       Author : todsacerdoti
       Score  : 81 points
       Date   : 2021-02-16 18:36 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.lanet.lv)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.lanet.lv)
        
       | unixhero wrote:
       | For any thing else I recommend ExoDos Collection. It is amazing.
       | I want to build a room in my house dedicated to it.
        
         | FlyMoreRockets wrote:
         | First I've heard of the ExoDos collection, thanks for bringing
         | this to my attention.
        
       | mwcampbell wrote:
       | I uploaded a program to this collection in 1995, when I was about
       | 15. It was a terminal front-end program called MTerm. It relied
       | on a FOSSIL driver (a serial port driver for DOS) and ANSI.SYS
       | (or compatible) to do the real work of communication and display,
       | respectively. And the Ui was pretty minimal. As such, it was
       | quite worthless, really just a vanity project (good thing it was
       | freeware). Still, as far as I can recall, it was the first
       | program that I ever actually released to the public.
        
       | Thoreandan wrote:
       | The SIMTEL20 collection ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simtel )
       | was maintained by the late Keith Petersen - W8SDZ.
       | 
       | Keith passed away in 2017, aged 80 (
       | https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/freep/obituary.aspx?n=keit... )
       | 
       | I was happy to have met him and thanked him for his services.
        
         | jes wrote:
         | In the amateur radio community, hams who pass away are known as
         | "Silent Keys," a reference to a telegraph (Morse Code) key that
         | is no longer being used. The phrase is poignant to me.
         | 
         | At 61 years of age passing away is for me a thought that
         | appears more and more often in consciousness. Yet it's not
         | scary or something I dread.
        
           | Jayschwa wrote:
           | > Yet it's not scary or something I dread.
           | 
           | Has that always been the case for you, or is it something
           | that has gotten easier to think about as you've aged?
        
             | jes wrote:
             | I think it's been that I had the sense that I had to
             | accomplish great things before I passed away. Strong sense
             | of ego, I think.
             | 
             | Over the last five years or so, my perspective has changed
             | such that I don't feel any need to accomplish big things or
             | act in ways that are self-aggrandizing. One of the things I
             | work on from time to time is trying to dissolve a sense of
             | ego.
             | 
             | I think all of life comes down to luck, at a very high
             | level or in a very abstract sense. I don't believe in free
             | will, and I don't think anyone knows why they are doing
             | what they are doing in any meaningful way. I do think the
             | brain confabulates great stories for ourselves and others
             | to explain our actions in the world.
             | 
             | I have mentioned this before, but I like the "Chill Step"
             | recordings of Alan Watts on YouTube. Maybe his philosophy
             | is just a comforting story, but honestly, would anyone want
             | a story that prevented them from being at ease in the
             | world?
             | 
             | Thank you for that question.
        
         | myself248 wrote:
         | Whoah! I had no idea this started locally. That might explain
         | why it was later hosted by Oakland.edu, as well. The excursion
         | to White Sands being temporary... ;)
        
       | mtippett wrote:
       | Oooh! The memories. First year university in Australia and
       | discovering the internet, IPs and FTP. Everything felt _so_
       | accessible then. Even 20 3.5 " disks for an install of SLS Linux
       | felt easy and effortless... _Now, shoot me if I need to transfer
       | not in a network_.
        
       | otherflavors wrote:
       | This site can't be reached
       | 
       | sunsite.lanet.lv's server IP address could not be found.
        
         | emayljames wrote:
         | https://ftp.sunet.se/mirror/archive/ftp.sunet.se/pub/simteln...
        
         | joerango wrote:
         | If you browse around lanet.lv on ftp, there is this file:
         | /pub/simtelnet/README Content below.
         | 
         | -----------
         | 
         | This mirror of Simtel.net is closed due to lack of hardware.
         | 
         | You can find all of these files (except deleted old ones) at
         | other mirrors. For Latvian visitors Swedish mirror is
         | recomended:
         | ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/simtelnet/
         | 
         | All file and directory names are identical as they used to be
         | in this server under simtelnet directory.
         | 
         | For the web interface of Simtel.net archives look at
         | http://www.simtel.net/
         | 
         | EDIT: the referenced site doesn't seem to have the mentioned
         | directory anymore.
        
           | madars wrote:
           | https://ftp.sunet.se/mirror/archive/ftp.sunet.se/pub/simteln.
           | .. and the ZIP files in there seem to work for me
        
         | Wowfunhappy wrote:
         | Huh, working here...
        
           | ASalazarMX wrote:
           | Try to download any ZIP, it redirects to sunsite.lanet.lv
           | which fails.
        
       | tpmx wrote:
       | This was such a huge part of my life as a non-BBS-connected 14-19
       | year old in the 90s. First via CD-ROM in 1992/1993. Then via the
       | Internet from 1995/1996 and onwards.
       | 
       | It was maintained by people working for the US Army at White
       | Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The first atomic bomb site
       | (Trinity) is nearby:
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simtel
       | 
       | Getting access to the SIMTEL CD-ROM was a fantastic revelation
       | for me - so much glorious source code. Especially the
       | turbopas/vga directories - but really, that whole CD-ROM kept me
       | busy and learning for years.
        
       | ggambetta wrote:
       | Oh wow, I had forgotten about this. I uploaded a small utility to
       | stabilize joystic values when I was 15 or so, and it is still
       | there 25 years later :o
       | https://ftp.sunet.se/mirror/archive/ftp.sunet.se/pub/simteln...
        
       | giantrobot wrote:
       | The IA has a number of SIMTEL ISOs in their Walnut Creek CD-ROM
       | collection [0]. Makes for easy burning for a retro machine.
       | 
       | [0] https://archive.org/details/walnutcreekcdrom
        
       | sgt wrote:
       | I remember this. Couldn't help feel both excited and a bit ripped
       | off. Being 10 or 11 at the time, seeing things like TeX and
       | X-Windows made me think of Texas and X-wing. They didn't work at
       | all and for sure weren't entertaining.
        
       | tyingq wrote:
       | Crynware packet drivers and NCSA telnet. <- What popped in my
       | mind when I saw the title.
        
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       (page generated 2021-02-16 23:00 UTC)