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Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

thanksfortrumpetwinsock.com

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Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#11

Post by peckrob »

gww wrote: post #6
peckrob wrote: post #3

Oh man, the memories. For people who have grown up in a hyper-connected always-online world, it's hard to explain the pure joy of hearing the sound of your computer picking up the phone and sending those tones [0]. Because it meant going from isolated, disconnected and unitary to being part of a wider world. Suddenly, everything was at your fingertips and it was intoxicating to me as a teenager. Fire up Trumpet Winso…

Wow, MUDs I have not thought about the one I spent my teenage years playing until you mentioned them. I just checked and to my surprise it is still online. Too bad it looks like no one plays anymore.

Some of my best computer memories of that era are from playing various MUDs, and even 20+ years later I still keep up with some of the friends I met playing MUDs during those years.

Many of the MUDs I played on are sadly long gone, but a few are still around. I still connect every so often and chat with folks, maybe do a little light RP. Some of those same friends I've been playing with, on and off, for since the early to mid 90s. Even though we're scattered all over the world, it feels like we grew up together. I suppose, we kinda did.

It always struck me odd that MUD playership kinda died off, seeing as how there are many many more people using the Internet now than there were in the 90s. Even accounting for cultural changes and technology moving on, I would have guessed that be enough new people interested in the old ways to keep the population at least level, but alas that doesn't seem to be the case.

I'm glad I got to be a part of that era.

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#13

Post by [deleted] »

jeff_marshall wrote: post #10
api wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the first time I did the email around the world trick. Back then you could telnet to port 25 and type in a smtp header with a source route and send an email that would bounce across a dozen mail servers as it circumnavigated the globe. Fun times.

Yes! I did the telnet thing to mail servers while I was in high school to good effect ;). I would almost certainly cringe if I could see those mails today. Showing the school IT department what could be done with a semicolon in a URL on their servers would have gotten me suspended if it weren't for some understanding teachers. Thank god I only put a fork bomb (cringe of 2016 me is real) in there.

[deleted]

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#15

Post by ryan-allen »

gww wrote: post #6
peckrob wrote: post #3

Oh man, the memories. For people who have grown up in a hyper-connected always-online world, it's hard to explain the pure joy of hearing the sound of your computer picking up the phone and sending those tones [0]. Because it meant going from isolated, disconnected and unitary to being part of a wider world. Suddenly, everything was at your fingertips and it was intoxicating to me as a teenager. Fire up Trumpet Winso…

Wow, MUDs I have not thought about the one I spent my teenage years playing until you mentioned them. I just checked and to my surprise it is still online. Too bad it looks like no one plays anymore.

MUDs are still a thing! There are heaps of little bespoke ones here and there, and lots of resources on Reddit [0].

I played one called Major Mud back in the day. When World of Warcraft came out, I thought, it's about time!

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/MUD/

EDIT: Check out this MUD, which won MUD of the Month on the subreddit above: http://www.luminarimud.com/FMud/FMud.html

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#17

Post by jacques_chester »

jacquesm wrote: post #16

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=p_trumpet

Most of his comments were from this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2282875

FWIW, you should not use Paypal donations. Use payments instead. Otherwise that account will probably get locked again.

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#18

Post by sengork »

I wonder how much of his programming know-how could be attributed to the high school curriculum.

In the 1970s Tasmania was the best equipped Australian state for computer based subjects. A lot of the schools had terminals to a central computer[1]. Buses, I/O devices and assembler topics were covered as early as year 9 levels.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSTS/E

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#19

Post by bashinator »

SwellJoe wrote: post #5

I was using an Amiga with the Miami TCP stack back then, which I paid for. My first Windows machine had Windows 95, which had networking built-in. But, I'm happy that some folks have made good on their shareware obligations. Writing software was a lot more difficult back then...I sometimes can't believe anything ever got done before we had the Internet to research things (and I know I personally was a much less effec…

> Miami TCP stack back then, which I paid for.

Yeah, this whole thread brought back how TCP/IP and dialup stacks used to be commercial. Huge win for the BSD license if you ask me.

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#20

Post by coderdude »

samstave wrote: post #8
jeff_marshall wrote: post #4

I have fond memories of the transition from local BBSes (my parents were annoyed enough by my constant phoning of the local BBS to download commander keen and the like), to IP connectivity via Trumpet. The reach of the internet (esp IRC!) was mind-blowing for someone living in a relatively isolated community in Alaska at the time. I feel like I don't fully appreciate the gradual transition from dial-up and Trumpet to…

Heh. "local" -- ~1988 I was calling into BBSs in San Jose from Tahoe... the phone bill got to $926! I was grounded for a month. We wanted to play trade wars and the pit. Super fun. I also used to call up 411 (information, where you would call 411 and say "do you have a number for John Smith in lake tahoe ca?") -- and I would chat up the 411 operators for as long as possible - the contest being to see how long we coul…

I racked up a hefty bill one month for my mom back in day connecting to the net at all times of the night. The old Web was such a glorious thing. My favorite activity was to download images and animated GIFs so that I could have them forever. You just never knew if you'd find them again and having access to new content was a novel concept to me. I still have that folder. Backed up over 17 years just because I still can't let go of them.

Now I just play survival games and hoard items. I have no fear that I won't be able to find something I saw on the Web. It's harder to lose things forever. Such a different world and one I could not have imagined.

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