For those that can (or want to) remember

[Andec]

Did anyone ever play on the old x.25 networks?

July 2008 and they are still alive and kicking (at least Austpac is until the end of this month when it is getting turned off).

This is a screen shot (from Winue) of me connecting to Austpac this morning through with a modem.

[CongealedWallrs]

Jings! I thought I knew a bit about computers and a little about old machines but I don't even know what that is!

Is that an ancient version of t'internet?

[OddbOd]

The non-technical answer is yes, X.25 is a protocol for packet-based data exchange the same way that TCP/IP is for what we today call the Internet, the major difference is that X.25 employs connection based routing (aka Virtual Circuits) so packets always travel through the same series of switches as long as the connection is up.

Andec, greetings from DNIC 05301 I haven't lived in NZ for a few years but I believe PACNET is still in use as part of the radio pager network and possibly by the Tax Dept. The first real hacking I ever attempted was on PACNET, scanning for outdials and remote PADs, but unfortunately with very limited success as we had very little information to work with in NZ apart from old copies of Phrack, 2600, LOD/H TJ etc.

Hmmm that's strange, Telstra's website says AUSTPAC was shut down at the end of June, perhaps they have a reason for leaving the dialups in place.

[Andec]

@OddbOd:

Yes, it is strange the diaup is still working. I believe that there are still a lot of X.25 networks around the world.

I never used X.25 back in the day. And I only found the AUSTPAC number by accident while researching for a game (based on X.25 networks) that I am writing. All of the NUA's I tried (from old copies of Phrack etc.) seem to be dead as well although I only tried NUA's in Australia.

@CongealedWallrs:
AUSTPAC and other X.25 based networks have been around for a very long time. I believe AUSTPAC was in service from the early 1980's (Wikipedia say's 1982). If you are interested, I have a ton of info on how they work etc. Just let me know.

[Jope]

I first read about those on an old Finnish book about hacking/cracking systems, but never got to play around in them myself.. Once I got a modem, BBSes were more interesting.

Cool stuff nevertheless.

On an unrelated note, I remember messing around with videotex when I found an abandoned videotex terminal.. Think of a terminal with a built in modem that dials up to a remote system and displays teletext pages over the phone line. :-D http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotex

[Andec]

@jope:

Now that's cool. I remember reading about Videotex somewhere. Or maybe a similar system that mentions it. I forget.

It's a shame that these old network technologies will soon be a thing of the past.

[jabsy]

Originally Posted by Andec

@jope:

Now that's cool. I remember reading about Videotex somewhere. Or maybe a similar system that mentions it. I forget.

Remember Viatel?? And Microtex 666???? I lived in rural SA and rocked up big bills on mum and dads phone line with the C64...

I looked after a system for a bookmaker that connected to Auspac daily, we replaced that system early last year(?) as it was shutting down.

[gklinger]

Here in Canada we had an x.25 called Datapac and I spent a disconcerting amount of my youth connected to that network usually with purloined NUI (Network User IDs). What was great was that there were bridges to Tymnet and other networks and you could hop around the globe looking for interesting computers to play with. Ah, the good old days.

[OddbOd]

Geek Trivia: The founder of Telenet, the original X.25 network, was none other than Larry Roberts one of the four fathers of ARPANET.

[DrBong]

Originally Posted by jabsy

Remember Viatel?? And Microtex 666???? I lived in rural SA and rocked up big bills on mum and dads phone line with the C64...

I certainly do. IIRC the Viatel Video Adapter I used on the C64 cost something silly like $399 or $499 and it was a Telecom 1200/75 baud modem rebadged. What was even more staggering was that the phone bills quickly outstripped the price of the modem in just a few months of use by ringing up Viatel, Microtex 666 etc. The ultimate in staggering, though, is that I came across the old Viatel modem when I moved house last, plugged it into a C64, and managed to ring a local C64 BBS here! They really made stuff to last back in the 80s!!

[Andec]

@jabsy:

I had never heard of those before. Will have to do some investigating. Am I right in thinking that Viatel was the Australian Prestel system?

@gklinger:
A lot research material I found for my game came from Hack Canada. The website has a rather large amount of info on Datapac, AGNPAC etc. There are even some text files from an Australian hacker whose handle was The Force (The Globetrotter e-zine circa 1988)

@oddB0d:
Very interesting link. I saw an interview with Vinton G. Cerf not long ago. Sadly not talking about TCP/IP but about BBS systems (which was still cool).

@DrBong:
Amazing story. How long ago did you connect to the C64 BBS?
I still have a 2400 modem that works as well that I was given by the biomedical team (ie. my father) of a hospital. Up until last year, that particular hospital used a C64 as part of the heart monitoring system. I asked him why they still used it and he said that the C64 "just ran, and ran, and ran".

@all:
Thanks to all for the posts. I was a bit unsure about posting originally, but figured in the end that someone would get a kick out of the screen shot.

[_ThEcRoW]

Whoa!, sweet memories comes into my mind...
Here in Spain, x25 traffic was held by Iberpac, and the calls were made through a special number whose cost was huge!!!.

[DrBong]

Originally Posted by Andec

@DrBong:
Amazing story. How long ago did you connect to the C64 BBS?

For over an hour.....it allowed me to have a good look at what files they had online. I didn't bother to d/l anything, though, as it would've taken forever d/l at that speed and to floppy disk!

I still have a 2400 modem that works as well that I was given by the biomedical team (ie. my father) of a hospital. Up until last year, that particular hospital used a C64 as part of the heart monitoring system. I asked him why they still used it and he said that the C64 "just ran, and ran, and ran".

Quite amazing, but not totally nuts if you really think about it I guess. There are still plenty of underpowered machines (not usually C64s though!) out there running important tasks coded in languages like COBOL, and have been doing so for years without any downtime. Of course, when something does break then they don't usually have anyone who knows about the hardware/software to fix it quickly and upgrading often is the easiest solution.

@all:
Thanks to all for the posts. I was a bit unsure about posting originally, but figured in the end that someone would get a kick out of the screen shot.

Thought that Austpac had been closed down already too, so I'm glad that you posted the screenshot. Brought back some fond memories!

[Andec]

@_ThECrOw:
IBERPAC (Dnic 2145) was apparently still operational as of 2006 but I don't know if it still is. I don't know about TIDA (Dnic 2141). I guess IBERPAC was the main network.

@DrBong:
COBOL. Now there's a blast from the past. It was the first programming language I (officially anyway - 1995) learnt. Was on a VAX/VMS system. I can remember not checking some file writing boundries in one of my programs and filling up my disk quota. All this while everyone else in the class was trying to write the same program. No-one was able to do any work until my program finally crashed. IIRC, I managed to do it again a few weeks later. Boy was I popular.

That VAX/VMS (I can't remember the model) system ended up being a rather expensive door stopper.