Shaky Future for Commodore Internet Access? Recently a number of Commodore users have found themselves shut out of the Internet and even convenient Email usage, as a number if Internet Service Providers (ISP's) have discontinued their support for text-based systems. A member of the Oxnard Commodore club who uses the Los Angeles Freenet service was told that their software was not Y2K compliant and they would be stopping text based service by the end of the year. They also told him that this would probably be true of most other Freenets throughout the country; however there is at least a possibility that this is just a way to get rid of an unprofitable segment of the business. This prompted an Email exchange on the subject on the Commodore MaiLink exchange list. Three links were provided that supposedly list Internet Service Providers: http://www.primus.com/staff/peggy/provider.html - This one produce a "site not found" message. http://www.consumerworld.org - This lists thousands of services, not just computer stuff; it includes the following "yellow pages" link): http://www.superpages.com/ (This still requires a good deal of searching). http://duke.usask.ca/~scottp/free.html - This one lists Freenets around the world. It does produce an extensive world-wide list, but for many U.S. based providers there is no way to determine the location without linking to the service, a process that could prove tedious. To the best of our knowledge, there is no Freenet service in the Fresno area. In some cases, a service that is not too far away may be cost-effective even with long-distance charges. The closest that can be identified from the list is in the San Jose area. We contacted Silicon Valley Public Access Link, where we found the following: "Our Classic Internet Service is designed for users with limited incomes, older computers, or for those for whom pictures are of little value. This service works well with most any terminal or PC, and a modem. We recommend this service for those using DOS, or running a 286 (IBM PC/AT) or older computers." The price is $40 per year. By limiting one's usage, and reading and preparing Email off-line, it should not be difficult to use a service like this from Fresno and stay well under the typical $20 per month that most ISP's charge for full service. (SV-PAL, 1777 Hamilton Ave, Suite 208A, San Jose, CA 95125; Web site: http://www.svpal.org/services/classic.html Email: support@svpal.org Voice Mail: 408-448-3072 Two popular free Email services, hotmail.com and juno.com were reported to require a PC, but one user at least was able to access the sites with his Commodore by going through his state library. Commodore telecommunications expert Gaelyne R. Gasson of Australia provided this information: Juno uses proprietary software that they give away free--and make up for it by showing advertising to their users. In some ways they could be related to what AOL was to Qlink, as AOL still requires their own software, designed to run only on specific platforms. This by itself excludes Commodore. Juno made the decision that they would only create software to use their service for specific computer platforms. Unlike AOL/Q-Link, Juno didn't close doors to us, they simply didn't open any to begin with. Not long ago, hotmail.com started using secure pages for access to keep people's passwords safe. This in turn caused problems for several Lynx/Commodore users as most ISP's don't as a rule set up Lynx so it can access secure web sites. It CAN be done (ours is set up this way), but it requires that Lynx be patched and some systems administrators don't like taking this extra step. This is why a lot of Commodore users have assumed that it can only be accessed with Windows/IBM. I don't really recommend hotmail.com though, as they really don't support text users in any way. At least friendlyemail.com uses alternative text, offers non-frames type pages, and best of all, they actually listened when I explained how they might improve their system so people who use Lynx can access their services. The web is a part of the whole of the Internet. As in yes, you can make cheese from milk, and cheese is a dairy product, but cheese is not milk. Over the years, we have heard various formats of: "It won't work because I'm using a Commodore computer." In place of the word "It", pick any of the following: 1. The modem; 2. The BBS; 3. The Internet Provider; 4. The download (ymodem, zmodem, xmodem); 5. The upload (ymodem, zmodem, xmodem); 6. The fax machine on the other end of the phone line; 7. Some Web sites. Actually, none of these things can tell what's connecting to it. There are times when there are some reasons why something won't work that might at first glance seem like it's related to the computer type in use, but when investigated or looked at logically, it turns not the fault of using a Commodore. It's easy to blame the computer. And even easier to blame our beloved C='s as they're such an easy (and often unfair) target. For example, the problem with using Hotmail relates to an update they made to the way their web server works when accepting passwords. They now use encryption and this requires a web browser that can handle encryption. Lynx CAN handle this, but has to be specially set up to do so, and we need to ask our systems administrators if they would do this for us. The question to ask is "Can you please update Lynx so it uses SSL or Secure Socket Layers? The information about it is at: http://www.slcc.edu/lynx/release2-8-2/ssl.html" To come to a point, I was just able, with my Commodore, access my Hotmail account using Lynx--the one I've set up to handle secure connections. It wasn't at all easy; there were a dozen offers of cookies and such, but I did get to a mail box and I was able to read my mail. Oh, I also got a screen telling me that my browser wasn't very "good" and I should "update" to either Explorer or Netscape and was given a link to download Explorer (for those who don't know, Hotmail is owned by Microsoft). However, the next link was to access my mail and I used that one. To prove I could also reply to mail, I replied to one of the Spam messages (that's all I ever get at that account) but sent it to my Email address here. Unfortunately, some web designers have decided they don't want to deal with Lynx users at all and so actually check to see what browser is being used and exclude us. I use it in the opposite way and make sure our pages are friendly for Lynx--especially when using something that displays great for other users but not in Lynx; for instance side by side type table displays. I check if a user is visiting with Lynx, and if so, display the same information pre-formatted especially for Lynx but show it differently for other users. But, Lynx can be used on many different computer types. If something won't work with Lynx, it's not the fault of our beloved Commodores, it's because Lynx either isn't set up, or the web master has decided to exclude us from their sites. The other thing to note is that with Lynx and other browsers you can actually change what type of browser yours is logged as. For Lynx, this is in the options menu. It is not a good idea though, because for instance, my pages would look horrible with Lynx if you took out that identifier and believe it or not, I'm sure there are others out there too. There's even a list of Lynx friendly web sites at http://www.crl.com/%7Esubir/lynx.html As to SLIP, this is software on both sides of the modem (at the Internet provider and on the home computer). SLIP is available for the Commodore but only in demo format at this point. It and probably PPP too is coming though. I just don't know how soon. Contact Gaelyne at gaelyne@videocam.net.au or visit her Web site at http://videocam.net.au/ Note: This article was written in mid-1999. As of February 2000 Maurice Randall is finishing a graphic browser for Commodore (The Wave); and there still seem to be plenty of text-based options available.) From "The Interface," newsletter of Fresno Commodore User Group via The Commodore Information Center web site (http://home.att.net/~rmestel/commodore.html)