T h e U n t e r n e t
Initalising - (verbosity, curt)
(typical Unternet handshake code) |
* Unternet Inroduction - By Roger Daulton *
Many people do not realise that the evolution of the Internethas seen a rather chaotic mix of protocols and standards, only the most popular of which is the 'Web'. Before the domination of the internet by the Web in 1995 a range of different methods of data exchange were in use. A few of these standards are in still general use, such as FTP, USENET and the various forms of E-mail. An even greater amount however have been virtually abandoned (pun intended) in favour for the all encompassing Web. Past victims include: Finger, Telnet (nearly), Gopher and of course the Unternet. Whilst Gopher Space can be accessed through most of today's browsers, and Web interfaces for 'fingering' are still available, the wealth of information contained on the few remaining Unternet hosts has remained largely inaccessible. Until now. |
 An Unternet Workstation |
Please keep in mind that this representation of the Unternet is just that,
a representation of 150 odd Unternet 'nodes' centralised on one server and
formatted and converted to HTML. If you wish to experience a more faithful
reproduction of the Unternet set your monitor's resolution to as low as possible
and stick strips of translucent orange plastic over the screen to emulate
an old 'dumb terminal'. Most importantly you should stare at the 'handshake'
code at the top left hand corner of this page for approximately 2 to 3 minutes
before reading each node. Of course there is such a thing as taking
nostalgia too far... |
