Timex Sinclair and the internet
4 messages · 2008-12-11 → 2008-12-13 · Yahoo Group era · View archive on archive.org
Participants: rockbobster2mars, Fred, Adam Trionfo
Preserved from the Timex/Sinclair 2068 Yahoo Group (2001–2019), which is no longer online. Text reproduced from the archive.org archive; email addresses masked.
Messages
1. Re: [ts2068] Timex Sinclair and the internet
Fred · Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:46
On 11/12/2008, at 19:16, rockbobster2mars wrote:
> There are plenty of sites on the internet about these machines, but I
> am wondering about anyone actually using one of them to do something
> on the internet.
You could check out Spectranet <http://spectrum.alioth.net/doc/index.php/Main_Page
>, a 10/100 ethernet card for the Sinclair machines which has a
simple IRC client and streaming video at least.
Fred
2. Timex Sinclair and the internet
rockbobster2mars · Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:16
There are plenty of sites on the internet about these machines, but I
am wondering about anyone actually using one of them to do something
on the internet.
I did. I have a TS2068 that I used to get started with the BBS scene
in 1986 with the Westridge 2050 modem. 300 baud was slow enough that I
could read all the text as it scrolled across the screen.
I found the mod in Times Designs to convert the modem into a serial
port so I did that, and got the Specterm program to talk to it. I hung
a 2400 baud modem on it, but could only reliably get 1200 from it.
One BBS I would call had an internet gateway so I was able to send
email and navigate gophers on the internet from the TS2068.
I can only imagine what a browser for that machine would be like.
Robert
3. RE: Timex Sinclair and the internet
Adam Trionfo · Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:56
rockbobster2mars wrote:
>>
One BBS I would call had an internet gateway so I was able to send
email and navigate gophers on the internet from the TS2068.
>>
The Gopher protocol is from about 1990 (or so). Were you still using the 2068 as your main computer that late? Later, if you logged in through the a terminal, you could have used Lynx to surf the web. Did you ever do that?
I used my Atari 800XL in about 1995 to surf the net in 80 column-mode (via a software program called FlickerTerm) and logging into my ISP as a terminal (thus I was on a UNIX system). This wasn't my main computer at the time though (I did it more just to try it out). I'd find it very interesting to know how late you used your computer to "surf" the Internet via the BBS.
Adam
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4. Re: Timex Sinclair and the internet
rockbobster2mars · Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:02
This was 1990-1992 time frame. I was using the TS and an Atari 800xl
for BBS calls, which provided a net gateway. The Spectraterm program
handled ANSI well enough that it could navigate gopher menus. By late
1992 I had moved over to an Amiga, where I stayed for almost 5 years.
One other thing I did was make a null modem cable and migrate stuff
from the TS to the Amiga, mostly text files.
--- In [email], Adam Trionfo <ballyalley@...> wrote:
>
>
> rockbobster2mars wrote:
> >>
> One BBS I would call had an internet gateway so I was able to send
> email and navigate gophers on the internet from the TS2068.
> >>
>
> The Gopher protocol is from about 1990 (or so). Were you still
using the 2068 as your main computer that late? Later, if you logged
in through the a terminal, you could have used Lynx to surf the web.
Did you ever do that?
>
> I used my Atari 800XL in about 1995 to surf the net in 80
column-mode (via a software program called FlickerTerm) and logging
into my ISP as a terminal (thus I was on a UNIX system). This wasn't
my main computer at the time though (I did it more just to try it
out). I'd find it very interesting to know how late you used your
computer to "surf" the Internet via the BBS.
>
> Adam
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Send e-mail faster without improving your typing skills.
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