Making a Personal Dial-Up Server

edited April 2017 in Hardware
I am soon going to get a xircom 56k and ethernet pcmcia card, with drivers that go back to 3.1 all the way to XP.

I do want to try dial-up but my ISP doesn't offer dial-up even as a backup.

I am going to have to create my own server.

All the guides I have seen online have been how to create a remote access server to dial into computers, but I want to dial-up to the internet.

I will use a Win 98 SE machine with a p3 processor as my server.

Does anyone have any server software to recommend?

Can I just hook both computers up directly through a phone line, considering it's going to be a private connection?

Comments

  • This actually is a somewhat interesting project, despite the uselessness of it. It would be an interesting service for a vintage computing site like WinWorld to offer (Not necessarily suggesting we do, besides requiring the resources and time to devout to such a project, there may be regulatory concerns that would have to be dealt with).

    As far as software goes, not sure what there is for Windows 98, but essentially you need something that can handle routing / DHCP and listen on a modem interface. I'm fairly sure the RRAS service on Windows Server can handle this. I'm not sure if something like ISA server runs on Windows 98 or if it requires a Windows Server OS, but I think it can do the job as well.

    The other issue you'd have to deal with is connecting the modems. You would likely need to set up a PBX system. You could probably find some analog PBX systems for cheap on eBay. But I don't think it will work just connecting them to the same phone line. I don't know a whole lot about dial up networking from a service side perspective, but it probably needs the ringer signal to initiate the handshake.
  • wow, AOL Canada still offers dial-up, plus there is an access number in a city only about half an hour from me.
  • Look into DreamPi - they have it running on Pi hardware.
  • ampharos wrote:
    Look into DreamPi - they have it running on Pi hardware.

    ok, that's kind of neat. I don't have a Pi, but I would almost consider getting one just to do this. Plus I have some other ideas for phone stuff that I could possibly use this as a base for.
  • I just want to experience using dial-up, as I am only 22 and never remember having used it.

    Guess it'll make more sens to just use AOL canada's 45 day free trail, and yes, they still offer dial-up, and have an access number close to me.
  • I just want to experience using dial-up, as I am only 22 and never remember having used it.
    22 and never used dial-up? Man, I'm younger than you and remember dial-up very well (almost fondly). It was MSN, had it until the late 2000s. Here's how I remember it: you make sure nobody else is on the phone and start the dial-in program. Validate credentials and listen to your modem have a seizure as it tries to get to the internet. Connection may fail, try again in a few minutes if so. When the connection is finally made, most pages of text and a few small images take about 5-7 minutes to load. Need to check your e-mail or do some boring-ass research for school? Works okay. Hi-res images and streaming video? LOL, forget it! It was very sluggish then, it's abysmally slow now. Honestly, because of the limited options where I live, I would subscribe to dial-up again if I still had a landline. Anyway, that's how it was. The best advice I can think of is to forget your plans for the day, grab a Snickers bar, kick back and get comfortable. You'll have plenty of waiting to do.
  • BigCJ wrote:
    I just want to experience using dial-up, as I am only 22 and never remember having used it.
    22 and never used dial-up? Man, I'm younger than you and remember dial-up very well (almost fondly). It was MSN, had it until the late 2000s. Here's how I remember it: you make sure nobody else is on the phone and start the dial-in program. Validate credentials and listen to your modem have a seizure as it tries to get to the internet. Connection may fail, try again in a few minutes if so. When the connection is finally made, most pages of text and a few small images take about 5-7 minutes to load. Need to check your e-mail or do some boring-ass research for school? Works okay. Hi-res images and streaming video? LOL, forget it! It was very sluggish then, it's abysmally slow now. Honestly, because of the limited options where I live, I would subscribe to dial-up again if I still had a landline. Anyway, that's how it was. The best advice I can think of is to forget your plans for the day, grab a Snickers bar, kick back and get comfortable. You'll have plenty of waiting to do.

    Wow, man, My Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 has both an ethernet and a RJ11 port, it's from 2000, when people were starting to jump ship to broadband.

    How in the hell did you still have dial-up in the late 2000's? My dad doesn't buy our family new computers often, but when he does he goes for the best he can get within reason, so I think the same applies to service methods, which is why I only ever remember broadband Ethernet, even on the machine that we once had running Windows 98. We did live in a mid size toronto sub-urb at the time though, so maybe we had ethernet before people in rural areas did, for the most part. I don't know.
  • @popeyewinter
    It was our first computer: a Sony Vaio with Windows XP, late 2002. We were poor (still are, honestly) and live in the middle of scenic Nowhere, NC. At first, dial-up was all that was available. Later, it was the best we could afford and it was alright.
  • BigCJ wrote:
    @popeyewinter
    It was our first computer: a Sony Vaio with Windows XP, late 2002. We were poor (still are, honestly) and live in the middle of scenic Nowhere, NC. At first, dial-up was all that was available. Later, it was the best we could afford and it was alright.

    Ah, I see, location.
  • We had dialup until around 2006. Finally made the switch to DSL when they had a special discount for the school year.

    I used to have a proxy server on the family computer so we could share the dialup connection. Dialup is practically unusable for one person, but for two? Holy fuck, it's amazing we ever got anything done. Honestly, it worked for IRC and forums and that was about it.

    These days, I really couldn't imagine using dialup. Hell, at this point, anything below 30 Mbps is intolerable and now, I get cranky if my connection dips below 200 Mbps.
  • we live in the country now, and we currently have 5mbps.

    Haven't noticed a difference really, except for when downloading large files. I am typing this message watching a youtube video and I also have facebook open in another tab, not having any issues.
  • BlueSun wrote:
    These days, I really couldn't imagine using dialup.
    I know what you mean about hating how slow dial-up is, but it's still a legitimate option. I don't have home internet service, my forum presence and all my other net related doings are from a cheap TracFone. If I had a landline, I'd be seriously looking into NetZero or MSN (If they even offer that anymore) because using mobile data all the time doesn't get very far. With as many faults as it had, like an incoming call knocking you offline, I have fond memories of dial-up since it was how I got my start with internet.

    EDIT: MSN is still active, but I didn't bother to look for local access numbers. Surprising, isn't it?
  • I would argue that it's not really a legitimate option these days. I mean, honestly, it was so unbearably slow 12 years ago, I can't imagine how much worse it is now.

    Actually, I don't have to imagine... Chrome's developer tools has a throttle option, so I can experience the shear pain of dialup again... Funny enough, it doesn't seem to have dialup as a prebuilt option.... I had to add it in. As I type this, I am still waiting for Google to load... it's been two minutes so far and all I've got is a search box and some buttons... the logo is still downloading.

    N99aIee.png

    What's your bandwidth with TracFone?

    EDIT: Whoops, wrong unit... I was thinking KBps, not Kbps... Still unbearably slow.
  • @BlueSun
    My phone does 4G LTE for the first 5GB. Afterwards, it's supposed to be 2G. I can trick it into working in 3G. Sometimes the lower speed data reminds me of dial-up, the way images load and how Google loads the search bar first like you said.

    If you're looking for mbps/kbps, I have no clue.

    Anyway, aside from YouTube, I don't use many resource-intensive sites, so dial-up wouldn't be so terrible for me.
  • BigCJ wrote:
    @BlueSun
    My phone does 4G LTE for the first 5GB. Afterwards, it's supposed to be 2G. I can trick it into working in 3G. Sometimes the lower speed data reminds me of dial-up, the way images load and how Google loads the search bar first like you said.

    If you're looking for mbps/kbps, I have no clue.

    Anyway, aside from YouTube, I don't use many resource-intensive sites, so dial-up wouldn't be so terrible for me.

    You could run a speedtest and find out.

    But basically even bad 2G is significantly faster than dialup...
  • I just said it reminded me of dial-up, not that it was actually as slow. I'll get around to doing a speed test.
  • I do want to try dial-up but my ISP doesn't offer dial-up even as a backup.

    I am going to have to create my own server.

    Free* dial up numbers exist around the internet, I can PM you the one I use most often if you'd like.

    The only server software I know of is HFS - HTTP File System. Although I do own two Dell PowerEdge servers, I don't know what the software they ran in their heyday was called, but I know for a fact it requires Windows 2000, which you're better off using anyways since it's both here on WinWorld and dedicated to the server purpose.

    They're a Dell PowerEdge 1600SC and 2600 - I believe they're running Windows as shipped, but I can't tell. I'll find out what they're running for you, if you'd like.

    These servers are using the early 2000s Xeon processors and one has 1GB of RAM. The software doesn't run particularly well on these machines as-is, so you might either have to find a newer machine, or use different software.

    Hope this helped a bit.

    * - Excluding cost of dialing the number, of course.

    EDIT: I'm seeing everybody else in the thread talking about their experiences with dial-up connections, and I still have a 1200 baud modem operating right next to me as I type. It's not a primary connection to the internet, but more of a toy to goof off with every once in a while now. I especially like how when the other modem picks up and starts singing it's song, this modem will simply screech at it over the line until they both shut up before continuing the handshake! I don't know exactly why I find this funny, but I do. Anyone remember CompuServ?
  • PCAT wrote:

    EDIT: I'm seeing everybody else in the thread talking about their experiences with dial-up connections, and I still have a 1200 baud modem operating right next to me as I type. It's not a primary connection to the internet, but more of a toy to goof off with every once in a while now. I especially like how when the other modem picks up and starts singing it's song, this modem will simply screech at it over the line until they both shut up before continuing the handshake! I don't know exactly why I find this funny, but I do. Anyone remember CompuServ?

    Yes, remember. First modem - 300 baud. Then 1200 baud. used Delphi far more that Compuserve/CIM, because at the time I was into the Tandy/CoCo machinesand that service is where the Tandy/CoCo/OS9 groups lived. Finally, Ameritech (later it was folded back into AT&T) offered 56K AND USENET GROUPS, and the rest was as they say - history.

    Once I found Usenet, nothing else came close.

    One of the services used to play that handshaking sound in their ads - AOL? It got old fast.

    First 1200 baud I had was a surplused ARC-RACAL-VADIC, full duplex had to be modded . Big as an 8088 desktop.

    https://www.freesound.org/people/Jlew/sounds/16475/
  • Windows has the RAS server since NT/WFW 3.x. It's probably how most organizations set up dialup networks at the time.
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