HECnet

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7 participants
15595 discussions

by Paul Koning

> On Mar 20, 2026, at 2:13 PM, Paul Koning via groups.io <paulkoning=comcast.net(a)groups.io> wrote: > > > >> On Mar 20, 2026, at 2:00 PM, John H. Reinhardt <johnhreinhardt(a)thereinhardts.org> wrote: >> >> I'm guessing this perhaps was one of the sources. >> >> https://mud.fandom.com/wiki/MUD1 >> >>> MUD1 (referred to as MUD1, to distinguish from its successor, MUD2) is the oldest virtual world in existence. It was created in 1978 by Roy Trubshaw at Essex University on a DEC PDP-10 in the UK, using the MACRO-10 assembly language. He named the game Multi-User Dungeon, in tribute to the Dungeon variant of Zork, which Trubshaw had greatly enjoyed playing.[1][2] Zork in turn was inspired by an older text-adventure game known as Colossal Cave Adventure or ADVENT.[3] >> >> John H. Reinhardt > > That source is certainly very wrong about history. > > paul I can't help them with their errors, but it's amusing to notice that, while PLATO is not listed as an article, several other articles mention it, including the one on Dnd -- https://mud.fandom.com/wiki/Dnd -- which credits authors Whisenhunt and Wood. A lot more PLATO history can be found in The Friendly Orange Glow by Brian Dear. paul

6 days, 5 hours

MUDs TOPS again

by Jon Morgan

(Apologies for the cross-posting.) I very good friend of mine has been doing some digital archaeology. https://infosec.exchange/@lorry/116257448642523972 I think a lot of folks here would like what he’s done. -jon. -- Jon Morgan "Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon."

1 week, 2 days

Bugfix for PyDECnet

by Paul Koning

If you want to communicate from PyDECnet to a Phase III node, a new bugfix release V1.1.1 (on akdesign.dyndns.org:8080 <http://akdesign.dyndns.org:8080/>) may be helpful. It fixes an NSP bug that was setting a Phase IV only flag, and some Phase III nodes (DECnet/RT for example) then toss the offending message. paul

1 week, 3 days

DDCMP Connection issues via PyDECnet

by John H. Reinhardt

Greetings! Mentioning pyDECnet might be a red herring, but that's what I'm using to connect to HECnet so I'm mentioning it. I'm trying to connect to Mark Matlock's RSX11M.COM (Static IP:216.177.191.101) and we are getting some weird errors. My pyDECnet circuit line looks like this - modeled after Supratim's circuit config that he sent me last year.: circuit DDCMP-30-1 DDCMP tcp:60001:rsx11m.com:7728 --t3=15 --cost=9 On Mark's side he has an RSX11M host as the area router and the connection for me is set up thusly: MNC SET CIR IP-0-5 MODE DDCMP MNC SET CIR IP-0-5 TCP HOST 0.0.0.0:0 PORT 7728 NCP SET CIR IP-0-5 STA ON The connection isn't working. Mark is seeing errors like this: 02:53:40 MLTNET - IP-0-5 Incoming packet size error (1541) from 76.213.76.105:51354. Abort. 02:53:42 MLTNET - IP-0-5 Incoming packet size error (1541) from 76.213.76.105:34404. Abort. 02:53:44 MLTNET - IP-0-5 Incoming packet size error (1541) from 76.213.76.105:34412. Abort. The A17RTR node has what look to be the normal settings. the Segment buffer size is normal for DDCMP. NCP>tell a17rtr show exe char Node Volatile Characteristics as of 2-MAR-2026 09:35:20 Executor node = 17.1023 (A17RTR) Identification = THEMIS2 - A17RTR - DECnet/Python Area-17 Router at Saginaw, TX (DFW) Management version = V4.0.0 Software identification = DECnet/Python V1.1.0 Incoming timer = 30 Outgoing timer = 30 NSP version = V4.0.0 Maximum links = 4095 Delay factor = 32 Delay weight = 3 Inactivity timer = 300 Retransmit factor = 5 Routing version = V2.0.0 Type = area Maximum area = 63 Area maximum cost = 128 Area maximum hops = 16 Segment buffer size = 576 Does anyone know what causes the packet size to be bigger than normal? The ethernet interface on the pyDECnet host is set to 1500MTU as is my firewall/router. Where else can I look? I don't see anything in the pyDECnet documentation that talks about DDCMP packet size. Where else can I look? Regards, John H. Reinhardt

3 weeks, 4 days

Re: DDCMP Connection issues via PyDECnet

by Johnny Billquist

On 2026-03-02 18:42, John H. Reinhardt wrote: > On 3/2/2026 10:44 AM, Johnny Billquist wrote: >> Hm. The command "MNC SET CIR IP-0-5 MODE DDCMP" should have given a >> warning that this has been deprecated. In essence, it does nothing. >> >> All links are just multinet links, which is DDCMP, with a small header >> to just get whole packets when using TCP. >> >> Johnny >> > > That explains the "MLTNET" in Marks error log. So, if I set up the > phDECnet circuit as a Multinet one is should work? Sortof yes, but no. The errors are because RSX is receiving packets without that multinet header. What I meant with the above was this: .mnc set cir ip-0-3 mode ddcmp MODE have been deprecated. Please update any configuration scripts. . You should have gotten those errors in RSX when doing the command. But yes, also, the fact that you set your PyDECnet side to talk DDCMP caused the errors when receiving packets. >> On 02/03/2026 17.38, Johnny Billquist wrote: >>> I don't think I've ever tried that DDCMP mode. I don't even remember >>> what it does... >>> >>> Why are you wanting to use it? >>> >>> Johnny >>> > > Because that's what I was told needed to be done to connect to other > HECnet nodes? Mark has several set up that way and so does Supratim. Whoever said that is confused and wrong. Sorry. You need to set up Multinet links. Johnny -- Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus || on a psychedelic trip email: bqt(a)softjar.se || Reading murder books pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

3 weeks, 5 days

Is there a copy of VMSfreeware on HECnet?

by Jacob Ritorto

Hi, Just needing to install stuff to a freshly installed VAXstation that’s on HECnet and don’t have many other options for file transfer at the moment.. Is there a VMS Freeware CD shared anywhere? thx jake

1 month

DECnet Finger Specification (Possible re-post) and Tops-20 Finger Setup Documentation (New)

by Thomas DeBellis

Some time ago in 2024, while I was writing the Tops-20 Finger Server, Johnny and I collaborated on a finger specification for Finger over DECnet. By 'collaborate', I mean I tried putting something together and Johnny pointed out the mistakes and things iterated from there. It is hopefully better than an RFC. The major difference from the Internet specification is that the protocol more closely aligns with a record orientated paradigm which is more appropriate for DECnet applications. It can be told to do otherwise and stream large buffers, but the default is for the application to limit messages to line at time of no more than about 100 characters. I don't remember if I ever publicly announced availability, but it can be found on VENTI2::DECNET-FINGER-SPECIFICATION.TXT for anonymous NFT. The Tops-20 Finger server itself was effectively complete enough last year that I felt it appropriate to write a setup guide. It can be read as a companion piece to the DECnet specification for more background information on how to implement the protocol. Further, and perhaps of more interest, it shows how to set up a network service on Tops-20 without Operator capability, which makes the server safer to run. Think of not using Administrator (on Windows), root (on Ultrix), or SYS:, JACCT or [1,2] (on Tops-10) if you know what those are. I don't know what the equivalent is on other DEC operating systems. It can also be found on VENTI2::FNGSRV-SETUP.TXT.TXT for anonymous NFT. If there are other DECnet finger clients on HECnet than Johnny's or mine, I would be delighted to hear about it. It's pretty trivial; you open a connection to a remote host on object 117 (decimal) and send either a carriage return, a line feed (which gets you the default full system listing) or a user name followed by one of those two characters. You then read responses and print them until the connection closes. That's it. That's all. Maybe a one or two line Python program? I could probably still do a trivial BLISS Common client, but I don't recall having learned the DECnet API for VMS. At Marlboro, the little Bliss work that I did was for Tops-20 and Tops-10 and didn't do DECnet. Supposedly, it would have been easy enough to run on VMS, but I never had the opportunity. The only DECnet finger servers that are in full time production that I am aware of are running on MIM:: and VENTI2::. TOMMYT:: runs it on an experimental basis, but requires a monitor upgrade and reconfiguration to do a full installation in order to go into production. I'll do that later this year, I hope.

2 months

THEARK 2.299 and the hosts behind it are going dark for a few months

by Mike Kostersitz

As we are preparing our relocation to Oregon, I have shut down my home network almost completely taking down all my HECNET nodes. I expect them to be back online in May or June Mike

2 months, 1 week

Kermit-20 Version 5.3(297)-5 Announcement

by Thomas DeBellis

Version 5.3(297)-5 incorporates additional features, enhancements and fixes since the minor release of 5.3(277)-5 in 30-Aug-2024. These are as listed below and can be identified in the source code with the edit number as the prefix of a comment. As a courtesy, it is being made available early to users of the HECnet community prior to the tarball being posted on the Internet. It may be anonymously NFT'ed from VENTI2::TOMMYT:<OINKY.K20MIT> and related subdirectories. The changes are briefly summarized below and are further described in TOMMYT:<OINKY.K20MIT.DOCUMENTATION>KERMIT-20_V5_3_297-5-ANNOUNCEMENT.TXT. Rich text is also available in .PDF and Microsoft .DOCX format. Please email me any issues with FAL transfers off list and I will investigate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [278] Modify DEFINE/SAVE to allow another terminal we've assigned [279] If doing parity, show count of parity errors in STATUS if non-zero [280] Catch an edge case of a missed parity substitution for a single character [281] When logging, do not issue an error message if not local [282] Fix no blips when logging packets on a local terminal [283] Specifically identify and log a time out packet, if logging [284] PUSH [/CONTINUE /RECREATE /RESET (/KILL)] [285] Rework capabilities when PUSH'ing [286] Rework POP logic to handle the arcane case of being detached [287] /NO-MACROS switch to SHOW (ALL) command [288] Replace an unrolled LSH/IDPB loop with MOVSLJ. [289] Fix fast multi-generation delete for server [290] Move some more constants into CONST .PSECT [291] Properly handle 30 bit one word global pointer in string error processing [292] Fix fast multi-generational delete for all wildcards [293] Fix reporting for no Control-C capability [294] Do an SFPTR% on every PMAP% in mapi:. [295] Manage debugging of 36 bit transfers a little better [296] Fix directory header which I subtly broke with [193] [297] If no ^C, mention it on SHOW LINE Kermit-20-Testing-Battery-5.3(297)-5 Updates

2 months, 2 weeks

Re: LSSM VAX-11/780 success

by John H. Reinhardt

On 11/27/2025 3:45 AM, Terri Kennedy wrote: > Dave says this is the first time he has been in the same > room as a working 780. Yay! And a big shout out to all of > the volunteers who have been working to get this system run- > ning, with work starting all the way back in 2018! > Yay Dave! I have had the pleasure of knowing 3 different VAX-11/780 systems. The first was the one we got at Rose-Hulman over the summer of 1980 to supplement our PDP-11/70 and 11/45. I believe the 11/45 might have been traded in as part of the VAX purchase. Things are hazy. The other two were in 1983 when I went to work at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN, just up I-70 from Terre Haute and Rose. There were one each for the academic and administrative sides of the school. I was hired on the administrative side as one of the programmers to convert their BASIC PLUS 2 applications on their PDP-11/70 to VAX BASIC on the VAX-11. -- John H. Reinhardt

4 months

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