NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Free UULINK Dial-Up Internet Software to Fight Internet Tyranny
Free UULINK Dial-Up Internet Software to Fight Internet Tyranny
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000808.html
Greetings ...
Executive Summary: In an effort to do what little I can to help fight
"Internet Tyranny" such as we've seen in Egypt, I am preparing to
release my dial-up Internet interfacing "UULINK" software package
for free noncommercial use.
Details: Frankly, I never imagined that turmoil in Egypt would lead to
people asking me about a software package that I first developed
during the 1980s. I developed UULINK to communicate between PCs and
UNIX UUCP systems, and between PCs running UULINK, during a period
when few individuals or firms had actual Internet "IP" connections.
UULINK was the first non-Bell Labs UUCP protocol implementation, and I
built in extensive flexibility for gatewaying of email between the
UUCP ("!") and Internet ("@") email networks, and to support a wide
array of dial-up modems.
During the 80s and well into the 90s, I sold UULINK widely as a
package oriented very much toward technically knowledgeable users -- a
necessity given the complex configuration environment. As true
Internet connectivity became widespread, demand for UULINK
understandably tapered off, and I did not expect to be dealing with
what seemed to be an obsolete package again in any significant ways.
However, events in Egypt and other concerns about centrally ordered
Internet shutdowns have rekindled interest in dial-up based networks
as a backup to conventional Internet infrastructures in time of crisis
or emergency, and like an distant echo from the forgotten past, UULINK
queries have begun again.
While I am unsure if UULINK can actually play a useful role after so
many years, it's at least worth a try. I am in the process of
preparing a clean distribution that can be freely copied for
noncommercial use (any former [or existing?!] UULINK users out there,
please do not distribute files or other materials from your copies).
There are several important issues to note:
UULINK is a DOS-based package, from the era of floppy disks (it was
originally distributed on 5-1/4 inch floppies). Early users were even
sent a "Cats that think use UULINK" button as shown below. A very
different time. (UULINK Button: http://bit.ly/hnCK7W )
As DOS phased out in favor of Windows, it became apparent that UULINK
could function in various modes in at least some Windows versions,
within the COMMAND.COM prompt context. However, this was very late in
the life of the product, and I did not attempt to track the various
hardware and software combinations and configurations that were useful
for this purpose.
Any and all use of this upcoming UULINK distribution is pretty much on
your own. I will attempt to help where I can, but I simply do not
have the time (nor operational environments) for comprehensive support
of this free distribution. I would of course appreciate hearing back
regarding what does and doesn't work in different situations, so that
I can pass that information along to other users. It may also be
interesting to experiment with running UULINK under the actively
developed DOSBox emulation environment. But I can offer no promises
regarding operations of UULINK or its ability to function at all with
any given hardware and/or software environment.
Sources are not available at this time, since I don't have access to
them myself currently. I no longer have the build environments to
compile new UULINK executables (I studiously avoided using Microsoft
compilers for the project, but this meant the development environment
was nonstandard, and in fact UULINK was written both in C and assembly
language). All of the associated build materials were taken offline
many, many years ago, and I simply never expected to need them again.
If I can locate the necessary offline files in readable shape, the
source availability situation can change.
Given the time constraints I mentioned earlier, I am not going to just
dump the distribution on a server willy-nilly. However, I invite
anyone who believes that they might have a serious noncommercial use
for UULINK, especially in terms of promoting Freedom of
Communications, to contact me and I will let you know as soon as the
free distribution is ready to go (this should be shortly, I've been
working for days to pull the various components together).
In the meantime, there are two items that you can inspect now.
First is the original UULINK technical specifications document
( http://bit.ly/hbzw0q ). I have also now released the quite long and
comparatively formidable "UULINK 1.4 Manual" (stored on Google Docs)
as a scanned PDF document -- which is the only form I can provide
currently ( http://bit.ly/ejrc6e ). The manual may be freely copied
for noncommercial use.
Both of these are original documents, which I have quickly patched to
update contact information and related data. Hopefully these docs
will be enough to help prospective users decide if they really want to
dive into this or not!
My special thanks to very early UULINK user (and old friend) Lou Katz,
who has been of great assistance in helping me with this archaeological
effort. He's proof that at least Katz that think really do use
UULINK!
Again, I don't know if UULINK at this stage of the game will truly be
of significant use to anyone. I do hope so.
Down with Internet Tyranny! Up with Internet Freedoms!
Take care, all.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz
Quora: http://www.quora.com/Lauren-Weinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com