Netstalgia Online
An online service, the way you remember signing on. One program with a big toolbar across the top, a Welcome page waiting after sign-on, and everything else a click away. It runs on Windows 98, Me and XP, and it brings its own web browser, so you don't need anything else.
Signing on
Start the program and the Sign On window is the first thing you see. Pick your screen name, type your password, and choose your Location: dial up through a Netstalgia box, or sign on over your PC's ordinary network connection. Then click Sign On.
With a box, you hear the whole call: the modem dials, the globe connects and the key checks your password. Once the call connects, the program gives the box up to a minute to open the line, and the window says Waiting for the Netstalgia box to open the line... meanwhile. Then the Welcome page opens and a friendly voice says hello.
No screen name yet? Get one here, or make one from the Sign On window itself.
No ports to open
Signing on, the live web and the radio use plain port 80, the same door your web browser uses, each through its own netstalgia.online address. There is nothing to open or forward on your router, through the box or through any other connection, on Windows 98, Me and XP alike. FTP, mail and IRC use their own usual ports, going out from your PC like any other program.
What's inside
| Feature | What you get |
|---|---|
| Welcome page | Your town's weather, the day's news with pictures, the markets, a Cool Site of the Day and a Poll of the Day, waiting each time you sign on. |
| Your own screen-name address, with a Mailbox, a Write window, an Address Book, folders and attachments. | |
| Your everyday mailbox | Add your own POP3 or IMAP account and read it in the same Mailbox, and send through your provider's SMTP server. |
| Instant messages and Pals | Your Pals List shows who is signed on. Send a pal an instant message, with a sound when one arrives. |
| Chat rooms | Rooms by topic, a member list, and the slow pleasure of typing to strangers about old games. |
| Channels and the Web Directory | Hand-picked sites by topic, a Directory of the old web, a search box and Keywords: type a word and go straight there. |
| Radio | Internet radio while you chat, picked from a directory by genre. Save your favourites in My Stations. |
| FTP | A two-pane FTP window: your PC on one side, the site on the other. Download, upload, rename and make folders. |
| Software Library | Old shareware and freeware from the restored archive sites of the time, with a Top 10 Downloads. Each entry opens in the FTP window. |
| Download Manager | Downloads with progress, speed and time left, at modem speed. |
| Web browser | A built-in browser with tabs and an address bar, for the Netstalgia pages, the old web and today's web. |
| Sounds | A voice that welcomes you, tells you about new mail and says goodbye, and sounds when a pal signs on or off and when an instant message arrives. |
Mail, both kinds
Every member gets a mailbox at their screen name, for mail between members. You can also add your own mailbox from your everyday provider, POP3 or IMAP, and read it right next to your Netstalgia mail. Reply, forward, save attachments, file messages in folders.
Today's mail providers insist on encryption that Windows 98 can't do. When you dial in with a Netstalgia box, the box adds it on the way, so your old PC can still read your mail. See the box page.
The old web and today's web
Old browsers choke on today's sites. With a box in Archive mode, the web and FTP come from Protoweb's restored copies of the old sites, at the addresses people typed back then, so the Web Directory and the Software Library work as they did. Everything else stays live: IRC, your mail and Netstalgia Online's own services. No box? Signed on over a LAN or T1 connection, the program's own browser does the same by itself: its web pages come from Protoweb, and Netstalgia Online's own pages, your home network and the live web stay as they are. Rather have today's web for every page? Choose it in Preferences. When you need today's web, Netstalgia Online opens it in its own browser through the Netstalgia relay, which also fetches secure https files for the Download Manager, for computers too old to do it themselves.
What you need
| What | You need |
|---|---|
| Windows | Windows 98, 98 Second Edition, Me or XP |
| Disk | About 40 MB free |
| Screen | 640 x 480 or more, 256 colours or more |
| Connection | A Netstalgia box on a USB or serial port, or a network connection |
One Setup program installs the service, its web browser and its sounds. Upgrading keeps your screen names and settings. Get it from Downloads.