what was it like using the internet on Amiga in the early-mid 90s?

[Mad-Matt]

I started out on an A1200/030 with 56k modem and Miami DX. Voyager was the preferred browser with IBrowse as backup. Later IBrowse 2 when Voyager development stopped. ISP was IC24 which had free connection at weekends and evenings after 6pm. The only drawback was it would disconnect every hour so a download manager was a good idea.

Yam, Amirc, Amiftp, ICQ, jabberwocky were other daily run apps. MiamiDX was also handy for routing to a null modem connected pc as well as Shapeshifter via vlink. Lots of amiga activity at the time so plenty of Amga news to browse as well as aminet , games and ppc software. Plenty of rom sites for emus as well. I have a vague memory of a Lazarus collection for Amiga adfs.

[PeterK]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

They were amazing times. I started off with a 14k4 modem that I borrowed from a friend and joined the BBS scene. That must have been around mid ...

... or after the beginning of the 90 'th.

For getting some free downloads from the BBS sites you had to upload some other stuff that was not available there yet. And, of course, email transfers were possible through these BBS sites, too. My favourite program for BBS access and compressed downloads was TERM by Olsen at those days.

But with that 14k modem I could also get access to the German BTX system to do Online Banking with OS 1.3 at that time. The German BTX used only 4096 colors like the Amiga OS with the OCS Chipset.

That was the only time when I really used my A2000 for something that I needed for my life. All what I did later until the A2000 died, and with WinUAE too, was just to kill time. My Mini-PC is doing everything nowadays under Windows.

[Thorham]

I'm both sad and glad at the same time that I missed all that (late to the party).

[Hedeon]

FTP, NNTP (UseNet) and IRC were the bomb in 1993.

[mr.spiv]

Early -90s I just did BBSes with lovely HSTs. In -91 got into Internet but from Amiga that was mainly remote to Unix shell and emails & news groups.
Got IBrowse immediately when it came around (also pruchased AWeb later on). YAM must be the best feeling email program I have ever used. All Vaporware stuff was also great At some point switched from a modem to ADSL + X-Surf Z2.. and used those with a3K 040/40 + CV64 till 2001 or so.. In -90s using Amiga for web stuff (my needs) was just fine. Bloody Javascript popularity made browsing not worth it with Amigas..

[damiraga]

This thread definitely brings up so many memories. Going online was almost planned activity. My routine was check emails, newsgroups and engage in discussions, check Amiga sites - anybody remember Amiga Web Directory? Great resource. Was really sad when they decided to close.

[koobo]

I connected my A1200 using a 2400 bps modem, then later a supra 14.4k (it kind of broke during one thunder storm, afterwards it didn't always work properly).

My challenge was how to get a free internet. I was able to secure a unix shell behind a dial up. I used a few different ones, moving on to a next one when the previous access disappeared. Usually I had to queue and dial constantly for minutes on end. I had configured TERM to launch HippoPlayer to blast music when connection was established so I could hear it and run to the computer.

I used MultiLink, which required a unix side app to be started, then also on amiga side, for network access. Because the dubious shell accesses I had, I had to configure MultiLink to only send 7-bit chars over the wire to avoid sending some control chars that might have interrupted the link. This dropped the bandwidth somewhat (at least to 7/8th of the max speed).

I used Grapevine for IRC, Thor for email and usenet, AmFTP, TERM for BBS and terminal stuff, also NapsaTerm. AWeb for some very basic web browsing, but only a little bit.

I think mom used the Amiga to connect to some bank services which worked via terminal.

[lionagony]

Originally Posted by damiraga

This thread definitely brings up so many memories. Going online was almost planned activity. My routine was check emails, newsgroups and engage in discussions, check Amiga sites - anybody remember Amiga Web Directory? Great resource. Was really sad when they decided to close.

Yeah, Amiga Web Directory was great. Just read that it closed Jan 1, 2000, I remember being very sad went it went away. My everyday routine was checking Amiga Web Directory, AmigaFlame, comp.sys.amiga, comp.sys.amiga.games and rec.music.hip-hop.

[Jope]

Offline readers were quite the thing during those dialup days. Pull down all your mails + usenet messages, then go offline, read a lot and craft your replies, later go back online and batch send them all.. :-)

[desiv]

While I did use the internet (sort of) on my Amiga, most of my online activity was BBSing, Compuserve, etc.
The internet activity I had was thru my university.
I dialed into the system there and initially just used the shell.
That system (Unix based) was internet connected.
I eventually did do some type of SLIRP type of thing (memory is pretty rusty) to my Amiga that I seem to remember I used for FTP???

But I never used a browser on my Amiga back then. (That I can remember)

[Paul_s]

Originally Posted by CCCP alert

Noticed iBrowse was released mid 1996. I didn't get the internet until late 1998 so Amiga was really a memory to the mass population by then but I did use it with 486 PCs and Unix workstations in 93/94 at Uni. Both HTTP snd J.A.NET.

Did anybody use their A1200 or 4000 on the internet and/or with a web browser at this time and what was it like? easy to set up, how was iBrowse and other apps for email or J.A.NET/newsgroups/FTP

I used my 1200 (stock other than 28.8Kbps modem 4MB Fast, 1GB HDD) with IBrowse back in the day, it was OK (remember using CompuServe) although I preferred my later Win 98SE box in 1999 for that (cheaper than upgrading the 1200).

Preferred (still do!) dialling up to private BBS systems tbh (1994, internet I tinkered with around 1997/98).

[CCCP alert]

Again, thank you to all who posted their experiences.

[Cobe]

In the late 90s I had a great time. I had b1230 and external elsa28.800 while the pc norm here at the time was usr19.600. Evrrything just flew.

[amifan]

I kind of miss those days, it was very exciting to browse the web on the Amiga in the 90s, things still felt on par with the PC/Mac, especially if you had a graphics card, I guess because everything was still simple HTML at that time. I upgraded my A1200 in `97 to PPC accelerator and BVision (if my memory serves me correct), and it was a great experience. It makes me glad to know that I experienced the beginnings on the internet via my Amiga

[Cobe]

Originally Posted by amifan

It makes me glad to know that I experienced the beginnings on the internet via my Amiga

+1
And it also makes me glad that around the same time I experienced the end of BBSs
I had c64 before that and no modem of course.

[alexh]

The death of using my Amiga for internet was definitely 1998(ish) when in the UK freephone ISPs came out (these were ISPs that had 0800 numbers to dial up so the call was free) e.g. Red Hot Ant, Big Blue Sky, XStream, Freeserve etc. but you needed their app (Windows only) to authenticate.

At first I would dial in with my PC and then share the connection over Ethernet with my Amiga. But connection sharing to the Amiga while online was a big risk as you had to disable some Windows security that AmigaOS didn't support. Eventually my PC got remotely hacked and that was it for going online with the Amiga.

About a year or so later (2000?) ADSL modems with integrated routers became the norm and you didn't have to connection share (just plug the Amiga ethernet into the router) and I was back online.

[CCCP alert]

Only ever had AOL 56k dial up before generic broadband (512k first then 1mb later lol)

Remember getting some A1200 compatible PCMCIA network cards in 2003/2004 but never tried them as I never upgraded my 1200

[amiman99]

Yes I did use my A1200 to go on internet back in 1996 using 28.8k MODEM. I got myself a dialup account from local ISP for $20 a month.
At first I couldn't get the dialup working, it will dial, then try to connect and fail. Called customer service and we could not get it working.
Somehow I arranged in-person visit so we can get it working, if not then I will cancel the plan. So, I took my A1200 with my modem and took a bus to downtown to see if we can get it working.
As it turns out I should have added a capital "P" in front of my username for PPP connections, nobody told me that!
After that it was working, I remember downloading from Aminet FTP a lot.

Good times!

[xc8]

> I started off with a 14k4 modem

ooh that was advanced...lol
my 1st modem was a 300 bps one with _manual_ mode selection for originate/answer!

[Nobby_UK]

Did not get 'on-line' until 'Freeserve' appeared circa 1998
and then only for 1 hour per day.