Good websites to browse on A500 / AWeb?

[Starglider 2]

Hi gang, so recently I persuaded the webmaster of https://asciipr0n.com/ to make an unencrypted version that would work on the A500 and AWeb. It's now at: http://cleartext.asciipr0n.com/

Another fun one that loads quickly on A500 is: http://textfiles.com

Do you have any other virtually image-free or text-based websites that give a cool, retro, almost BBS feel, when browsing from a real A500?

[emufan]

some ancient websites that still exists listed by gizmodo.

#1) 404pagefound.com has links to old websites 1993+
#2) asciiarena was nice, but was taken down in 2015
#3) artpacks.org - hold old ANSI/ASCII art packages/files.

[Starglider 2]

Originally Posted by emufan

some ancient websites that still exists listed by gizmodo.

#1) 404pagefound.com has links to old websites 1993+
#2) asciiarena was nice, but was taken down in 2015
#3) artpacks.org - hold old ANSI/ASCII art packages/files.

Nice finds. Playing with them now.

Tip: For archive.org sites if you append id_ after the date text it removes the Wayback Machine header, speeding up loading on older machines. E.g.
http://web.archive.org/web/201502042...sciiarena.com/
-vs-
http://web.archive.org/web/201502042...sciiarena.com/

[Predseda]

aminet, fortunatelly!

[DrBong]

Yep, Aminet is the obvious one. A lot of the old Geocities websites created in the early days of the internet will probably work on old Ami browsers like AWeb and Voyager. You can find the ones that have been preserved at the Internet Archive, Reocities etc. Check out the Wiki Geocities entry for a complete set of preservation sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_...ties_Web_sites (standard "desktop" Wiki entry)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_GeoCities (mobile Wiki entry, scroll down to "Archiving GeoCities Web sites" section)

BTW I'd be interested to know if Wikipedia (mobile) works with AWeb at all.......

[Starglider 2]

Originally Posted by DrBong

...BTW I'd be interested to know if Wikipedia (mobile) works with AWeb at all.......

Testing now. I'll get back to you in 3 hours after it has loaded...

[DrBong]

@Starglider 2
I hope sparks don't come flying out of your A500!

Edit: BTW the ASCII pRon sites were a great blast from the past! I was heavily into BBS's on both the C64 and Amiga in the 1980s/90s and always had great admiration for talented ASCII artists. I was quite chuffed when an ASCII artist I barely knew did my nick as a pressie for helping out his sister on IRC back in the 90s. I still use it to this day in .nfo and ReadMe files!

Anyway, with the advent of the internet there are no shortage of websites now that will crank out some stylish ASCII art. Who knows, they may even work on AWeb!

http://patorjk.com/software/taag/ (text to ASCII generator)

http://www.network-science.de/ascii/ (text to ASCII generator)

http://www.kammerl.de/ascii/AsciiSignature.php (text to ASCII generator)

https://picascii.com/ (picture to ASCII converter)

http://www.glassgiant.com/ascii/ (picture to ASCII converter)

http://aminet.net/search?query=ascii+convert+iff (IFF picture to ASCII converters on Amiga)

[emufan]

Originally Posted by Starglider 2

Nice finds. Playing with them now.

Tip: For archive.org sites if you append id_ after the date text it removes the Wayback Machine header, speeding up loading on older machines. E.g.
http://web.archive.org/web/201502042...sciiarena.com/
-vs-
http://web.archive.org/web/201502042...sciiarena.com/

thnx, cool feature. using the website since years, but never heard about that before

[Starglider 2]

One fire extinguisher later... The problem with Wikipedia is that it is https. This is either unusably slow (hours) or impossible on AWeb, even with some of the https workarounds out there. The workaround I have used on other sites is to use a proxy that delivers the https via the proxy's http page, e.g. http://free-proxyserver.com with these options:



However this isn't working as for some reason the Proxy says hotlinking isn't allowed or it takes me to an unidentified page. I've tried several other proxies but no luck yet. Let me know if you find one that will load. I'll keep trying! (Told you it would be 3 hours)

Edit: I'll look at your other sites soon!

[DrBong]

@Starglider 2
Wot a bummer! I'll investigate and see if I can help find a workaround, but knowing how protective Wiki can be most of the time.....I don't have high hopes.

[Locutus]

You can always build your own Wikipedia local copy >;-D

https://dumps.wikimedia.org/

I'm sure that with a bit of magic you can make this Amiga friendly.

[Starglider 2]

Originally Posted by Locutus

You can always build your own Wikipedia local copy >;-D

https://dumps.wikimedia.org/

I'm sure that with a bit of magic you can make this Amiga friendly.

Hmm, any idea if the dumps have to be https?

Thanks!!

[Locutus]

I dont understand how transport method matters there.

The dumps are just the SQL db's and some support material to build your own local Wikipedia copy, you can deliver it any way you want.

If you want to be a real ninja, you write some stuff to output AmigaGuide's from it :-D

[DrBong]

Originally Posted by Starglider 2

The problem with Wikipedia is that it is https. This is either unusably slow (hours) or impossible on AWeb, even with some of the https workarounds out there. The workaround I have used on other sites is to use a proxy that delivers the https via the proxy's http page, e.g. http://free-proxyserver.com

However this isn't working as for some reason the Proxy says hotlinking isn't allowed or it takes me to an unidentified page. I've tried several other proxies but no luck yet. Let me know if you find one that will load. I'll keep trying! (Told you it would be 3 hours)

This proxy server with simple layout seems to do the job here, so give it a whirl on AWeb. I pulled it off a handy website that has compiled a huge list of proxy servers (see HERE).

http://www.yxorproxy.com/

[Starglider 2]

Originally Posted by DrBong

This proxy server with simple layout seems to do the job here, so give it a whirl on AWeb. I pulled it off a handy website that has compiled a huge list of proxy servers (see HERE).

http://www.yxorproxy.com/

That one worked eventually! The proxy home page won't load on AWeb due to JavaScript so I had to get the full site's URL from my Mac then get a shortlink to enter on AWeb. In this case I used:
Full URL: http://www.yxorproxy.com/browse.php?...Main_Page&b=24
My Shortlink: https://goo.gl/uE0X5U (Example. Might cause a hotlinking error after a while but works if link is fresh.)


Meta

Once the Wikipedia homepage loads just add it to your Hotlist and it's ready to go.

I've got to say it's quite amazing that one of the first home computers from 30 years ago now has the wealth of the world's information on it and that I can look up anything about anything and get the result in under 3 minutes!

Well done us! I wonder if this is the first Amiga 500 running https Wikipedia...

[Locutus]

And all that without having needed a Vampire, utterly amazing >;-)

Best way to setup a server for such games?

[Predseda]

This could also work
http://www.computerpreservation.com/index.html

[DrBong]

Originally Posted by Starglider 2

That one worked eventually! The proxy home page won't load on AWeb due to JavaScript so I had to get the full site's URL from my Mac then get a shortlink to enter on AWeb.

Simply awesome! Luckily I was fiddling with proxies some months back and remembered that handy website which keeps a running list of proxies.

I've got to say it's quite amazing that one of the first home computers from 30 years ago now has the wealth of the world's information on it and that I can look up anything about anything and get the result in under 3 minutes!

Well done us! I wonder if this is the first Amiga 500 running Wikipedia...

Indeed, well done! I'm sure you could probably lay claim to that for post-HTTPS Wikipedia.

Funnily enough, your photos of AWeb displaying mobile Wikipedia are very reminiscent of how I remember regular Wikipedia looking on AWeb/IBrowse on my A500/030, back in the early 2000s when I was using 56K dial-up modem on it. Sadly, I've moved around a few times since then and my A500/030 set-up has been stuck in a foam packing box in the spare room of everywhere I've lived ever since!

[Pat the Cat]

Originally Posted by DrBong

BTW I'd be interested to know if Wikipedia (mobile) works with AWeb at all.......

Tricky, but I think I've got an idea on that that might work (on a trad Amiga, maybe).

It's a bit involved and untested so I'll just give it a go and see what happens over the next few weeks (need some hardware to do it with - older hardware, not that expensive but maybe).

EDIT:
I don't just mean accessing mobile.wiki via another computer, I mean doing it mobile with just an Amiga, at a farily good speed.

It's amazing what you can plug a SIM card into, these days.