The following article has been published in the 31st edition of Vandalism News, which was released back in February 2000 by Onslaught. Please refer to the ‘8 Bits’ section of this web site if you’re unfamiliar with some of the vocabulary in this post.
The concept was to maintain a periodical on the Internet activities of Commodore 64 ‘sceners’, and encourage more people to use this medium in order to raise the productivity level of the ‘scene’. Careful readers will note Windows 95 and Netscape Communicator getting mentioned, which should remind them as to the time-context of the contents.
This iteration of the Browser (the name of the column in the magazine) reflects on the increasing usage of instant messaging and its effects on the scene. There are also snippets of news from around scattered sources of Commodore 64 related web pages and their respective authors.
Note: Typos and other inconsistencies have been left untouched in an effort to preserve the authenticity of the article.
BROWSER – THE SCENE ON THE INTERNET
Browser is your sophisticated internet panorama, covering the better of Commodore 64 related topics. Unlike the previous edition, which was meant to be an introduction, we have a good amount of quality reading in store for you this time.
Apart from our feature of the month, Browser gives you the latest highlights from the scene on the internet. And with every issue of Vandalism News, you will find a web site to bookmark.
Before we take a look at the contents, Vandalism News would like to thank each and everyone who contributed to Browser in anyway.
You can contact Browser by email at:
digahole@hotmail.com
LATEST HIGHLITES FROM THE INTERNET
Cupid, Scare and Jazzcat’s Domination Online:
The homepage of globally acclaimed disk magazine, DOMINATION, has been moved to an entirely new server which can be accessed thru:
http://domination .rules.org
The new layout looks quite magnificent with high quality graphics and fine page design, thanks to CUPID.
DJB (Morbid) finds the internet:
Soon arriving is a new homepage from the musician which will also contain links to his C64 and PC tunes.
Padua welcomes COCOS:
As RORSCHACH left SMASH to join the forces of PADUA, he also took his web based magazine, ANISTON PARK, with him. Following this, they have decided to operate a separate links page, altogether from the main site. Were they successful? We very much believe so!
A huge list of C64 homepages and ftp sites can be discovered through COCOS, the ideal central point to begin exploring the C64 scene on the internet.
http://www.aniston-park.de/cocos/
Make sure to also check the same url for Anisto Park and Newspress magazines online.
Comeback64 v0.98 Released!
Johan Fitie’s Commodore 64 emulator software for PC, COMEBACK64, proves to be in advance with a new version almost every month. The latest version up to date is 0.98, which is still a freeware DOS application.
Good news is that the Windows 95 /98 version is under development and we should soon be able to download a preview. You can get COMEBACK64 0.98 for free at:
http://www.classicgaming.com/cb64
(also check out the funky Comeback64 screen saver for your PC, worth the download!)
FEATURE OF THE MONTH – MIRABILIS ICQ REVEALED
The aim of this article is NOT to tell you what ICQ is, or can do. What have in mind is to discuss how ICQ can effect our scene life and what sceners think about it.
For the pure dummies who happen to live on a desolate island together with cannibals, and don’t know what the hell has been going on around the world for the last few centuries, here’s a brief explaination of ICQ:
The name comes from “I Seek You.” The software comes from ISRAEL. The growth of ICQ users is tremendous with thousands of new registrants everyday. And it’s FREE!!!
This small piece of application provides instant access to people on the internet whether they are surfing the web pages, downloading from FTP sites, or chatting on IRC. Having an ICQ client installed is all it takes.
An ICQ client simply lets you exchange data with people on your contact list. This means chatting, file transfer, sending URL’s, paging, and many other things.
Why Do People Prefer ICQ?
We truly do not know whether MIRABILIS was the first software company to have created a pager, but they are NOT the only ones going after the same rabbit. Many well known names have given it a try to attract the ever growing horde of instant messaging maniacs. These include NETSCAPE and YAHOO.
NETSCAPE ships with AOL’s INSTANT MESSENGER with all versions of COMMUNICATOR after 4.02. This makes AIM a very strong competitor, but it still has no chance against ICQ, because it takes 10 times more effort to get yourself an account at AOL.
Registering a new ICQ user takes around 2 minutes if you are not a total loser. And there is no limitation to nicknames such as AIM. You can even have 1000 UIN’s with the same nick, which sometimes makes finding people a little more difficult, though.
Other things that attract internet users about this tool could be the way it lets you customize almost everything so easily, and gives you more control over your privacy such as being invisible to people you choose, or ignoring them.
STARCHILD (Danko / Censor Design) expressed his honest feelings about this situation:
“I dislike ICQ when I have to become invisible because five chicks that have screwed ar online at the same time. Kinda tells me I’ve been online way too much when almost every chick I’ve boned has an ICQ number 
”
How Can ICQ Effect Your Scene Life?
Instant Communication has certainly added to internet users’ life, but what use does it have for the scene?
“For me it has meant only good –I’m able to catch people quicker than email since nobody checks their emails several times a day, and the ICQ gives you the possibility of paging people, so they receive your message here and now –instead lf then and too late.. I can only endorce this product (god, I’m starting to sound like a commercial here..!)”
CROSSFIRE / FAIRLIGHT
No doubt many sceners who can access the internet pray to MIRABILIS for building the ICQ network. Especially active sceners such as Anonym and Jazzcat, who have to organize many things at the same time, seem to enjoy ICQ.
“ICQ is a superb medium of communication. I have only been using it for several months and it is just great for the organizing of projects and just to stay that little bit more in contact with people you allow on your ICQ contact list.
“For those organizing quite a few things, such as a group, magazine, etc. it is highly recommended. In general I recommend it to tall C64 sceners, as it is yet another way to give our scene community more communication and activity. Thumbs up from me!”
JAZZCAT / ONSLAUGHT
Yet, there is still a few die hard IRC addicts who refuse to accept the ease and usefulness of ICQ. These people believe IRC should be enough for live communication, and that ICQ is a luxury, somehow. You can’t blame them, as IRC offers DCC options for file transfer and chatting directly between two users, but ICQ simply beats IRC.
“I never thought that it could become so important. As I told you, when I’m on internet, I’m also on IRC. So why do I need ICQ? I really don’t care if someone has got ICQ or not. If someone would like to know something from me, then he should come to IRC or leave me email.”
ACIDCHILD / TRIAD
How Safe Is It?
There are dozens of ICQ versions for different platforms, but we are talking about the Windows 95 / 98 version. So, this makes it more clear, as even Marsians know Windows 95 is not the safest operating system on earth
ICQ uses ports 1027, 1028, 1029, 1032, and 1050, and this makes your operating system even more valnurable than ever. But in what way exactly? Most of our readers must have had an ICQ hacking experience in some way.
Known attacks against ICQ is message bombing, chat bombing, killing, crashing, and password thievery.
There are two ways of message bombing: Directly thru the victim’s IP and port, or thru MIRABILIS’ ICQ pager which enables non-ICQ-users’ to send ICQ users a message thru a CGI script they can acces via web. When someone manages to bomb your ICQ, you get hundreds of new messages from random UINs. That is quite annoying, but it is not a huge problem as there are aid kits which let you erase all the unread messages.
Killing and crashing an ICQ simply closes someone’s ICQ forcing them to re-open their application. This is again established by using the victim’s IP number, and ICQ is a good way to get someone’s IP, even if they hide it.
Well, the worst thing could be that your IP number can be seen by everyone while using ICQ, and that means even if they can’t harm you thru ICQ, they can scan your ports to find a more suitable port where these hackers can attack your system. But that can be avoided. All you need is a firewall.
Browser editors strongly advice Windows 95 / 98 users to install NUKE NABBER on their system. This tool listens almost ll known ports of the windows sockets and lets you know when there is an attack, traces the abuser, and closes that port temporarily. You can grab the latest version from:
http://www.dynamsol.com/puppet
When you install NUKE NABBER, it would take a REALLY good hacker to harm your system, and someone with such skill probably wouldn’t bother with your lousy PC And you can also get the nickname of the attacker if he’s on the IRC, because NN has DDE connection with most IRC clients.
BOOKMARKED AT VANDALISM
Well it wasn’t hard to find a suitable site for the premier of BAV, Bookmarked at Vandalism. The first trophy goes to DOMINATION ONLINE.
http://domination.rules.org
Congratulations to both CUPID and JAZZCAT for the tremandeous amount of work put into this brilliant, well designed, state-of-the-art site.
Everything looks perfectly smooth, and interactive. All the logos, pictures, SIDs, photos, and everything has been so gracefully used to fit into a project. And its good to see they got themselves a neat domain, too.
Browser will soon release its official BAV trophy in GIF format to be used on the mentioned sites.
THE END
Well, it appears to be the dead end. There could possibly be some mistakes within the chapter. If you happen to come across one and feel offenced, you may explain the matter and help us correct our selves by sending an email to:
digahole@hotmail.com
We hope to bring you more with every new edition. So do expect some hot stuff on the third part of Browser, the sophisticated internet panorama for Commodore 64 sceners.
Mert ‘DiGaHoLe’ Hekimci
