Commander X16

Realistically an all-in-one service like the AOL of the 90s for the entire Commander X16 user base could be hosted from a Raspberry Pi. Loads of we Linux folks could slap that type service together with our eyes closed, especially if it's done with simple php and html pages. And, even if there were a million X16s on the system a day, even the worst virtual machine hosting service would be able to handle it, simply due to how small the data sizes would be for X16 content.

I'm no 8 Bit genius, but it seems to me that the VERA has the video capabilities to render reasonably sized images quickly and the 8MHz 65c02 can process text efficiently, so I imagine that a stock 512KB X16 could run an AOL-like "web browser" that combines...

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  Newspaper style layouts for user created blogs/sites
  


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  Instant messenger chat
  


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  Forum (perhaps a client for this forum's SQL database)
  


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  A client for this site's software hosting service
  


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  A blog topic directory with a search engine
  

Given the way of the real world, with web connected pocket computers in everyone's hands, something like this is completely unnecessary, but in that respect, so is the Commander X16 itself! The "why" really is, "because we can", especially given how few resources are required and how much expertise/software there is to benefit from.

Would it be worth making this for the 50 people who will own an X16? Probably not, but it would be neat.

Do it. . . 

This or similar idea poped up somewhere on this forum once or twice. Also there were BBS like and FIDO net like propositions for even more retro feel. I think it will happen eventually if the user base will be big enough.

Something like this, but over a simple TCP/IP packet instead of dialup?

This gets to why I want the ability to have at least a single channel SPI Mode0 port option available on the motherboard from the unused VIA#1 pins ... the same micro-controller solutions that offer UART to ISP bridges would work with substantially higher bandwidth using their SPI port capabilities. Typically it would be done with the same USART module that would otherwise be providing the TTL serial port.

On 10/17/2022 at 11:43 AM, codewar65 said:

Something like this, but over a simple TCP/IP packet instead of dialup?



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I believe this has already been done:

https://1200baud.wordpress.com/q-link-reloaded/

On 10/17/2022 at 5:11 PM, x16tial said:

I believe this has already been done:

https://1200baud.wordpress.com/q-link-reloaded/

I would be "unsurprised" if that was being indirectly referenced by the question.

how would this work? wouldn't you need a second computer?

or would it be able to connect using only an expansion card?

Here's a random thought, seeing as the SD card just uses SPI, why not make a device with an SD card interface and a WiFi connection, then you could read/write data to files that are really piped elsewhere. Similar to serial etc in Linux. 

It would be quirky, but you could create a basic system that sends data to and from the X16 via WiFi. 

Might give this a go one rainy day. 

That has indeed been previously discussed. Oh, hey, look! I figured out how to Outlook Express-ify the quote mechanism.

On 10/18/2022 at 1:57 PM, Tmp2k said:

Here's a random thought, seeing as the SD card just uses SPI, why not make a device with an SD card interface and a WiFi connection, then you could read/write data to files that are really piped elsewhere. Similar to serial etc in Linux. 



It would be quirky, but you could create a basic system that sends data to and from the X16 via WiFi. 



Might give this a go one rainy day.