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Retro Computing Internet Resources

This is a list of projects which let vintage computers connect to the internet!

If you have a project you would like added to the list please say so on the Discussion Page or submit a PR!

Supplimentary information is available on the WIKI.

Links

Project Screenshots

TheOldNet.com

Additional Services:

Starting in 2019 I had the idea of being able to browse the 1990's web on a handful of of my 1990's computers. To my surprise the existing archives online were not compatible with vintage browsers even though the content was from that era. One weekend I wrote a proxy and everthing else grew from there. Two years later I've provided nearly a dozen free services to vintage computer enthusiasts around the world!

Protoweb

This is an HTTP proxy that has its aim on high quality completeness of websites. The protoweb team scrapes the Internet Archive and other resources and reassembles the websites by hand as thoroughly as possible. You will not find every website on Protoweb, but the ones that you do find will be of the best version out there.

Retrocampus BBS

This BBS has it all, games, chat, modern information from current web sites. Best of all it has compatibility for over a dozen systems!

68k.news

This is a proxy to google news which returns text and images but none of the incompatible stuff that old browsers wouldn't like.

Frog Find

Frog Find is a great service which acts as a proxy to Duck Duck Go. It returns text parsed out of webpages to ensure compatibility on even the most limited of browsers.

Wiby

Wiby is a search engine with the stated goal of "building a web of pages as it was in the earlier days of the internet". It has a large index of lightweight contributed pages, a random "surprise me..." feature, and an HTTP-only filter. It's also hosted on a fleet of Optiplexes, and home to a no-script chatroom.

WRP (Web Rendering Proxy)

This is a very clever and cool service. It lets you browse the modern internet on vintage computers. This is generally impossible because most websites are partially/fully rendered using client side javascript. Old browsers cannot handle this. WRP pre-renders the webpages in a headless chrome instance and then returns a screenshot of the webpage as an image map to the vintage computer. Very neat way of working through the problem.

Browservice

This is pre-rendered proxy similar to WRP. It provides a smoother experience at the expense of compatibility as it requires a minimum javascript version to work.

Retro-Proxy

A self-hosted HTTP proxy that removes ssl and javascript.

Netscape Proxy

This is pre-rendered proxy similar to Browservice. It was created by The Eric Experiment to address a lack of Netscape support by Browservice. This proxy is not as mature as Browservice or Web Renderer Proxy as it is relatively new.

WebOne

Timeprox

A Node.js HTTP proxy to the Wayback Machine for retro browsers.

JWZ's http10proxy

It turns out the programmer for the original Netscape browser, Jamie Zawinski, also likes vintage computers. He wrote a proxy many years ago in PERL!

DreamPi

If you have a SEGA Dreamcast and wish to play Phantasy Star Online again you can with this project! It turns a raspberry pi into a dial-up networking ISP. It lets you connect to other players over the internet through custom hosted game servers!

Kali

Kali was a program used back in the windows 95 era to do local/IPX gaming over the internet. It's a game lobby client/server and a proxy. It's quite impressive and it's still in operation today! This service was important as games transitioned from local/dialup multiplayer to TCP/IP internet multiplayer. Many popular games at the time could not play head to head directly over the internet. This proxy allowed these games to connect over the internet, which was quite amazing.

Brow.sh

This is the most impressive service I've seen. A fluid, full graphics browser over SSH! You can even watch youtube videos in real time, in a pixelated fasion. Very neat.

CyberTown Revival

In the beloved hay day of VRML cybertown was an absolute wonder. It was an online community where you lived, socialized, worked, decorated your house, threw parties, went to the theatre! All in glorious 3D in your browser. There were different neighbourhoods based on different interests. It kind of felt a little like Geocities in that regard. This project is an attempt to rebuild Cybertown using archived resources found scoured across the internet.

Telnet BBS Guide

If you've got a wifi modem or simply a telnet client, this is the go-to directory for all BBS's currently in operation.

Doge Microsystems DIY Dialup Server

Make your own telephone network and ISP at home! I run this myself and I think it's the coolest project. It scales up pretty cheaply which means all of your vintage computers can have their own phone line.

Cameron's World

"A love letter to the Internet of old". One of my favorite sites, I'm particularly impressed with the level of detail put into this project by carefully curating and placing gifs!

Cameron's World will not work on vintage computers so it shouldn't be on this list. I just think it's so cool I want everyone to know about it!

MicroWeb

This is a CGA, EGA, VGA and Hercules based DOS web browser which is currently in development, it's pretty cool!

Crypto Ancienne

A TLS library for old C compilers.

OldWeb Today

Launch old web browsers, from modern browsers, in a VM, using this free service!

LoBand.org

Old'a Vista

Vista Serv

This is an awesome webpage hosting service that is true to the 90's!

ucanet

ucanet is a Retro DNS server/domain name registrar with a completely blank set of registered domains. That means you are able to register any domain name (hello.com, cereal.com, test.gov) whether it exists or not, all for free! The goal of ucanet is to provide an isolated ecosystem for Retro computers to access the internet. Websites/services are encouraged to be made with retro computers in mind! We need more websites on ucanet to create a more immersive retro internet experience. If that sounds like something you're interested in, please check us out, and perhaps upload your own website (we support Neocities sites!)

This list is maintained by Richard Bettridge