PCjr FTP server

[Brutman]

Slightly off topic..

I'm testing a PCjr FTP server. You can get to it by connecting to --.--.---.-- on port ----.

For browsers the url looks like: ftp://--.--.---.--:----/ . That will let you browse using anonymous FTP from Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.

For the windows XP FTP client just start ftp without the IP address, and when you get an ftp prompt use "open --.--.---.-- ----" as the first command. For better FTP clients, you can specify the port on the command line.

There is a PCjr specific directory underneath 'SOFTWARE' . If you are inclined you can use anonymous FTP to upload to the 'incoming' directory too. I'll be adding more over the next day or two.

This is a limited time offer - I don't want to leave the Jr on for too many days.


Mike

[MattCarp]

I connected successfully from OSX Safari!

[Brutman]

Whew .. thought you guys were sleeping!

Current stats from the server:

Response: 211-Stats: Sessions: 310 Active: 3 TcpS used: 4 free: 13
Response: Tcp: Sent 20596 Rcvd 16070 Retrans 81 Seq/Ack errs 61 Dropped 0
Response: Packets: Sent: 20823 Rcvd: 16898 Dropped: 0 LowFreeBufCount: 28
Response: 211 OK

Not terribly busy over this 24 hour period, but still 20000+ packets sent and 16000+ packets received across a wide variety of clients. And it's stable ..

And yes, the file called PCJR_ETH.JPG is the actual machine serving ...


Mike

[southernbob]

Very good job, Mike. I was able to download several files to my system and everything worked great and was fast.
Keep up the good work when you have time. Maybe it will get people going again to work on the JR.
Bob

[Brutman]

Thanks ..

It's still going - 2.5 days later. I think I've proven my point and I'll give the old beast a break later this evening.

At the moment it has sent 52000+ and received 36000+ TCP/IP packets. The retransmit rate for TCP/IP packets is around 0.36% which is tolerable for a slow machine and code that has pretty minimal flow control.

In retrospect the Jr is a terrible server machine. It runs fine, but the lack of a real hard drive on it really hurts the throughput. I'm sure a lot of those retransmitted packets are due to DOS 5.0 disappearing for a few seconds while it tries to figure out how much free space is left on the drive. (It does this a lot when reading directories or opening new files.) But, it's still running 2.5 days later so at least the hardware was well built. Show me a C64 that you can leave on for days at a time ...


Mike

[Vorticon]

I ran a TI 99/4A for 36 days straight calculating Lyapunov space SInce a C64 does not have any moving parts (like the TI), why would it be a problem running it for days on end?

[Brutman]

C64 build quality was legendary, for all of the wrong reasons. ;-0 I'd be concerned about the house catching fire.

[Brutman]

The PCjr FTP server is running again if you want to give it a visit.

The current machine is a 1983 PCjr running DOS 3.3 with a SCSI Zip 100 drive. (The Zip is connected via a parallel port-to-SCSI adapter.) The Western Digital Ethernet card is still connected. This is about as trashy a setup as you can get without running from floppy drives.

For web users, use this url ftp://96.42.228.74:2021/ and then click around into the different subdirectories. Each time you click your web browser is opening a "passive mode" FTP connection to the PCjr and getting a directory list. Most of the files are older text files and pictures of classic machines; I will be adding more PC related software over the next day or two. It's not a major archive; I'm just hoping to generate a little interest for a few minutes.

For command line users the address is 96.42.228.74, port 2021. It's a non-standard port for FTP to get around my ISP's restrictions on running services. You will need an FTP client that can do "passive mode" if you are behind a firewall. The Windows XP client will not work! (But any Linux FTP client will be just fine.) FileZilla and other 3rd party FTP clients should be fine too.

If you are adventurous you can CD into the 'incoming' directory and leave a file. The "SITE WHO" command will show you the active connections, and the "SITE STATS" command will spit out some usage statistics.

The machine is doing some logging for diagnostic/debug purposes, but that shouldn't slow it down too badly. Multiple users signed on browsing directories is not a big deal either. Multiple users doing file transfers might not be so fun. ;-0


Thanks!
Mike

[southernbob]

For a good laugh, look at the text file on mouse balls @txtfiles/fun. I remember reading this when it was
passed around internally at IBM. Funny then, funny now.
Bob

[Brutman]

I had to shut it down early - somebody found a pretty good bug. If anybody needs the 'mouse balls' file that Bob is referring to or anything else let me know. It'll be back in the next few days.


Mike