Howdy fellow Commodore Users!

When I was on the national service provider GEnie, I managed to make friends with some of the people that I met in the chat forums. Later I became a

channel operator, and it turned out that I would be the last remaining active channel host in the Commodore 64/128 forum of GEnie. The mighty Commodore 64 had it's own online service called Quantum Link, which later grew on to become the now famous America On Line. Compuserve and Delphi still maintain a spot on their respective service that Commodore enthusiasts can gather and exchange ideas and have general fun.

Even now when computers are screaming along the information super highway at break neck speeds, our Commodores can still meet other computer users, as well as other Commodore users, online. What do you need to get online?

First of all, your computer needs a modem. A modem connects to the computer, and uses the telephone line to dial out to other computers. The other end may be a friend's computer, a local bulletin board set up by another enthusiast, or to a network of modems connected to an online service provider.

To reach out to people across the world, you will need a second item, an Internet Service Provider. These can be local companies or national companies. For local access, I have been recommending a local company called One Net. They can provide services based on your need and computer type. For most Commodore 64 and 128 users, you should ask for a shell account, which gives us a command line interface to a wealth of information on the internet to explore. If you have an Amiga, or Wheels operating system for your C64 or C128, you can go for the service that most ISP's now offer for graphics based systems, sometimes called TCP/IP or PPP. Another good service provider, which does have a local dial up is IGLOU out of Louisville KY.

Third, you will need a software package that can access your system with your ISP's system. For C64 users, I recommend Novaterm, and for C128 users, I recommend Desterm. Both of these programs have numerous users that access the internet. If you have a high-tech C64 or C128, you might want to check out Maurice Randall's Wave program, which is still under development, but usable for most areas on the web. For the Amiga users, there are several packages that can communicate on the internet.

Fourth, now that you're connected, how do you find people? Internet Relay Chat is probably the most fun I've had over the many years. Just get a listing of channels on the server you are on, if you see a channel name that sounds interesting like C64, that might be a good one to join to talk about issues of Commodore. Some fellow ex-members of the GEnie service started their own channel on irc.stealth.net called #dan-mike. I pop in there whenever I get a chance on Sunday nights from 10pm EST until I get tired chatting. That's not the only place I chat, though. It all depends on your interests and what you like to talk about. I consider myself friends with a lot of my online acquaintances, even though I haven't met them face to face. Some live in the same state, others may live across the other side of the country or even the other side of the globe.

Your Commodore can still spark excitement, with a little bit of help of some friends on the World Wide Web.