cc.rob@ut-ngp.UUCP (Xavier Jones) (04/28/87)
That's right, it's me again!! I7m sorry, but I never seem to get all my questions into one posting. Anyway, I would like some feedback about Q-link (good, bad, and indifferent). The info I have looks good, but to tell you the truth, I have yet to hear from anyone who has kept their subsription. I would like to hear more opinions so that I can better decide whether to join up or not. Thanks again. Xavier -- PHYSICS LIMITED AND CUTETH WATCHERS ANONYMOUS Xavier Jones fungi@sleepy.cc.utexas.edu cc.rob@ut-ngp.UUCP
kinne@oswego.UUCP (05/01/87)
In article <5091@ut-ngp.UUCP> cc.rob@ut-ngp.UUCP (Xavier Jones) writes: >Anyway, I would like some feedback about Q-link (good, bad, and >indifferent). The info I have looks good, but to tell you the >truth, I have yet to hear from anyone who has kept their >subsription. I would like to hear more opinions so that I can >better decide whether to join up or not. > Since you are interested in Q-link I must assume you have a Commodore. Q-link is only for Commodore Computers (so far). (Is this old news to everyone?? Even to Xavier?). I've been on Q-link for about two months and have found it very easy to use and convienient (sp?). I had a form for an account for about 5 months before using it but now that I'm on I have no regrets. I also have an account on CIS and I am finding I am using the Q-link account more. I find it is MUCH easier to find what I want on Q-link and MUCH easier to download it (no fuss about which protocol to use and .img files, etc. Granted this might not be any trouble to a seasoned user...). Basically (sp again!) I am on the National Services for the programs I can download/upload; my finances won't allow much else. With that in mind I've found two reasons where it would be an advantage to join Q-link. If you like SID music files there are whole sections devoted to it (I assume that CBMART on CIS also has them, but I haven't looked that hard yet, I guess). The other reason (which is the one I used to justify my joining) is GEOS! Berkly softworks maintains a database of GEOS programs and utilities. If you are interested in GEOS then you should at least consider joining Q-link. If you are interesting in PROGRAMMING under GEOS at this stage then there is NO question - you MUST have a Q-link account! I too have known several people who gained an account on the system and then let it go. As a rule, these people were the early ones to join the system when it was small and its owners were inexperienced. People who I've talk to who have joined it recently have been quite pleased. I can name at least three people off the top of my head who have every intention of keeping their accounts. If you got your account when you got your 64 or modem then by all means give Q-link a try! I think the service has grown up a lot since the "early days". --- UUCP: seismo!rochester!rocksvax!oswego!kinne Doc Kinne CIS: 72457,2450 Instructional Computing Center Q-Link: Doc Kinne SUNY College at Oswego BBS: Gary's BBS:(315)598-8106 "The Doctor" Oswego NY 13126 (315)341-3055 "300,000 kilometers per second. Not just a good idea, its the LAW!" -Seen on a T-shirt on campus... DISCLAIMER: You WANT these opinions?????
cc.rob@ut-ngp.UUCP (Xavier Jones) (05/02/87)
In article <373@oswego.UUCP>, kinne@oswego.UUCP (Doc Kinne) writes: > > > Since you are interested in Q-link I must assume you have a Commodore. > Q-link is only for Commodore Computers (so far). (Is this old news to > everyone?? Even to Xavier?). Boy aren't we smart. I have yet to see someone with an apple get a Q-link disk and post a question on the commodore newsgroup about whether or not Q-link is worth it. Yes I have a commodore and yes it is "old news to Xavier" that Q-link is only for Commodore Computers. Actually I've known about it since it started. So don't insult my intelligence. Besides, I have had several responses about Q-link. Yours is the only favorable response to date. Xavier Jones -- PHYSICS LIMITED AND CUTETH WATCHERS ANONYMOUS Xavier Jones fungi@sleepy.cc.utexas.edu cc.rob@ut-ngp.UUCP
elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) (05/03/87)
in article <5091@ut-ngp.UUCP>, cc.rob@ut-ngp.UUCP (Xavier Jones) says: > Anyway, I would like some feedback about Q-link (good, bad, and > indifferent). Indifferent. I still have my Q-LINK subscription (under the name "Bayou Rat"). But there isn't much programming discussion on the sub-boards. There ARE some decent downloads (whenever a new version of Arc or Lynx or whatever comes out, it gets uploaded to QL pretty quickly). Which is about the only reason I still pay the $9.95/month (actually, end up spending about $30/month on it, from participating in the BBS sysops sub-board and downloading pretty much stuff). Two things you really want to download: The Punter Protocol source & its associated documentation, and append2.pal and its associated documentation (this is a very well designed Xmodem protocol module, that I've been using quite awhile with no glitches). arc230, also (does crunching & such, just like "real" Arc on real computers does, and has an option to allow one-pass compression if you just want quick-and-dirty archiving). To be fair, you can probably find these things on a BBS somewhere, if you look hard enough. But it's so hard to find a BBS with downloads that has more than games on it.... -- Eric Green elg%usl.CSNET CS student, University of SW Louisiana {cbosgd,ihnp4}!killer!elg Apprentice Haquer, Bayou Telecommunications Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191 BBS phone #: 318-984-3854 300/1200 baud Lafayette, LA 70509 I disclaim my existence, and yours, too.
bakkac@vuecon.UUCP (09/10/87)
Hello, Can anybody help me with the following question : Is it possible to access Quantumlink in Holland or is this only possible in the USA ? (What is the telephone-number from Q-link ??) Any help would be appreciated !!! Dick Groenhof The Netherlands ---------------
siphon@EE.ECN.PURDUE.EDU (Cyrus P Dadgar) (12/20/88)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted for a friend: RE: Frank Prindle's Q-Link Problems Sorry to hear that it isn't working out for you. I have been a Q-Link member for about two years and I have about a 95% success rating getting logged in. In all that time, I have had two spurious disconnects, BOTH within an hour of each other. FYI, my modem runs 300 baud and is one of the $19.95 specials that came with the Q-Link package (or is it the other way around :-) ). It says "taihaho" on it, but even as cheap as it is it is very reliable. Reading your article 2238 leads me to believe that you have either a phone problem or a local connect problem. Locally we have had two different access numbers; if one isn't functioning we just call the other one. Once connection is established, *Q-Link* has been quite reliable. I don't know who you got as a service rep. for Q-Link: nor do I know how relatively qualified they are to discuss HARDWARE problems. I DO know that the one occasion where I had problems, not only were they helpful but polite. Being involved as a Computer Technician for Purdue's Engineering Computer Network and formerly at the Purdue University Computing Center (disclaimer: this DOES NOT in any way indicate any University involvement in this discussion) I have had certain experiences with the interaction of software and hardware. One of these interactions is that sometimes certain revisions of software DON'T WORK with certain revisions of hardware. If you have the experience with the C64/C128 that I think you do, you should know that this is just as true with a Commodore XYZ as it is with an IBM PC, a VAX, a Gould NP series or even something like a CDC Cyber 205 or CRAY mega-super-duper computer! There are several game and entertainment programs available forthe C64 that do, in fact, REQUIRE the removal of the printer from the computer and they TELL you this right in the instuctions! OK, Q-Link is NOT one of them. I routinely run Q-Link with EVERYTHING connected. If you were told to do this, it was probably because Q-Link's Customer Reps. have to deal with all levels of Computer competance from Engineers and Software gurus all the way down to 16 year old kids who qualify as nighttime hackers AND they generally have no way of knowing this when you call (being in the service end of the computer business myself, I KNOW all too well what can happen when you mix a non-engineer, a broken computer/peripheral and a telephone call - you might as well take the name and address and GO, because trying to explain anything over the phone is a TRUE waste of time - yes, even how to findthe on/off switch). I would suggest that you try to evaluate the quality of your middleman, i.e., the phone lines and/or your local tymnet connection before you slam Q-Link. I digitally converse with an awful lot of satisfied Q-Linkers out there who don't seem to have the problems you are. By the way, RE your comments about the C64 and ports and kernal ROMs, etc. In this case you are probably right. And no, I don't think anybody at Q-Link believes that the C64/C128 is a "substandard" machine. That is a cheap shot - only the truly snotty techno-nerds who trade in the newest flavor of PC whenever another slightly faster one comes out would ever be guilty of such snobbery. Without the C64, Q-Link would belly up so fast it would make your head spin (or maybe just seek the /dev/null track :-) ). One of the people I work with who has an AT clone with several gee-whiz attachments is fond of calling my C64 the "life support system for a video game". Of course it really sticks in his craw that my C64 can run circles around his AT clone in the area of sound reproduction. He'd have to spend more for an add-in card to do this than I spent on my whole system! Summation: I think your Quantum-Slam is most likely VERY unwarranted. Check with other Commodore users in your area on Q-Link and see how they are doing. You didn't seem to mention doing this. It is possible you have a crappy disk. You didn't seem to mention that possibility either. Oh, by the way, for somebody who claims to have a lot of knowledge about such stuff, it seems ignorant to me that you are ignoring the concept of load averaging on shared systems. "...long idle delays occur (10-20 seconds typical) during reception...". Geez, what do you want? By the time that Q-Link has to interface with a phone line that interfaces to Tymnet/Telnet that interfaces to you locally through God only knows WHAT quality equipment in transit, it is totally unrealistic to NOT expect periodic pauses. In addition, when you have people from all over the country logging in, it is unrealistic to expect INSTANT response from ANY computer. Each user has to be responded to separately; even a CRAY supercomputer will slow down if it gets loaded enough. Be Real!!! Duane Mantick Computer Technician/Satisfied Q-Linker ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Since wanting to post this, I have noticed other letters on the subject. As you have now dropped your subscription to Q-Link it is a moot point - just wanted to get in my 10 cents worth anyway (inflation) :-) .
af513@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jim Visnicky) (05/27/91)
I'd like to start a list of people that read usenet that are on q-link. If you are on Q-Link, Please reply to this message, stating your username and where your calling from! Thanks alot! Jim Visnicky af513@cleveland.freenet.edu -- af513@po.cwru.edu Jim159,Sir Jim1,The Wicket -- On Q-Link -- *****This message was from Jim Visnicky (af513@cleveland.freenet.Edu)***** **********Also jvisnick@heartland.bradley.edu & ac907@yfn.ysu.edu********* ********************Bitnet:af513%cleveland.freenet.Edu@cunyvm************* **************************************************************************
desimone@cse.uta.edu (David DeSimone) (05/29/91)
In article <9105270050.AA13317@cwns1.INS.CWRU.Edu> af513@cleveland.Freenet.Edu writes: >If you are on Q-Link, Please reply to this message, stating your username >and where your calling from! The .sig says it all! Except that I am calling from Dallas, TX. Look for me in the Starving Artist's Cafe on Thursday nights. :) -- David DeSimone, aka "Fuzzy Fox" on some networks. /!/! INET: an207@cleveland.freenet.edu / .. Q-Link: Fuzzy Fox / --* Quote: "Foxes are people too! And vice versa." / ---
CTuna@cup.portal.com (Don S Gladden) (05/30/91)
Not on QLink any more, but used to be.. (I am on America Online now, a division of Quantum) CTuna and IMAGE Don was what I used on Q.. C T Tuna now on AOL. Don
D-L-K@cup.portal.com (Patrick Andreas Maher) (06/05/91)
What is this new service? Just wondering if you would put a little information about it. Thanks....
wb9omc@dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu (Duane P Mantick) (06/11/91)
Those few times when I am on qlink, it is wb9omc, just like here. Calling from West Lafayette, IN. Duane