--- Bryan Pope <bpope_at_wordstock.com> wrote:
> And thusly Richard Erlacher spake:
> >
> > When Netscape was released, it required a third-party "WINSOCK" module
> > that one had to buy from someone, normally "Trumpet" and that P*SSED me
> > off, since I'd previously been able to work with a free version.
>
> Trumpet WinSock was needed with Windows 3.1 because it did not have a
> TCP/IP stack.
Exactly. MicroSloth didn't provide an IP stack for Winblows until
"Windows for Workgroups" and even then, it wasn't loaded automatically;
you had to go out and download it from MS seperately (but it was free,
providing you knew to go out and look for it).
You had to go out and get a Winsock no matter what browser or ftp or
telnet client you wanted to use. Either way, though, it was still
better than the options under DOS. It's why I always used something
else as a last hop to the outside.
I installed Trumpet on a number of Win3.1 machines at McMurdo Station
in 1995, back when Netscape still had a "Throbbing N". Before that,
we used Mosaic. Eventually, we went with WfW 3.11 and the MS TCP/32
"upgrade". It wasn't great, but it was free.
> I remember every ISP I used at that time provided a free copy of
> Trumpet WinSock.
I wasn't into Windows dial-up, so I never went that route. I don't
dispute that ISPs did that, but I never once used an ISP install
disk - I either plugged a VT100 directly into a modem and logged
into their terminal server, or I did the same with an Amiga, either
with the program "VT100" (original name, no?) or with UUCP (for mail
and netnews when I was "erd_at_kumiss.UUCP")
I managed to not have to set up a Windows dial-up until last year! Even
when I stopped using the Amiga as my primary point of contact with
the world, I didn't switch to a Windows box and a modem - there was always
some sort of dial-up router between Windows and the outside - either
my SPARCstation 1 running dp or a "WebRamp", dial-up router (which probably
cost me $2/day, given how much it cost and how long I used it)
> For a good *small* memory footprint browser now, try Opera.
My little brother loved Opera and used it exclusively a few years (4?)
ago. I seem to recall it didn't support tables or some other kinds
of semi-modern HTML. I never loaded it myself, but I did use it at
his house. Seemed OK, if it would render your pages at all.
-ethan
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Received on Sat Jan 26 2002 - 00:17:08 GMT