Software I wrote · c. 1996

Interflex 1.5

A graphical client for requesting and reading material over UUCP.

Borland C, BGI graphics, Waffle UUCP · for EduNET

Under emulation: browse the index, queue three files and a Finger request, dial out, then read what came back

On the hardware, filmed off the screen

Author’s notes

Amir Husain · software I wrote

I wrote Interflex to request material while connected and read it after hanging up. The service I used in Pakistan relied on UUCP exchanges. The program provided an index, a download queue, and viewers for returned files. Finger, Whois, Archie, FTP, and web-page requests could be sent by email and collected on a later call.

Reading the demonstration

Browse the index, queue files and a Finger request, then start the exchange. Once it finishes, open the returned text and picture files.

About this recording and recovery

Waffle and the modem are gone, so the dial-out in this recording is a stand-in that plays the session Interflex expected and delivers the queued files from a folder standing in for EduNET. Everything else on screen is the 1996 program: the index, the queue, the Finger dialog, the Q editor it hands text to and the QPEG viewer it hands a JPEG to.

Archive record

Author: Amir Husain
Date: c. 1996
Environment: Borland C, BGI graphics, Waffle UUCP · for EduNET
Reference: ATX-SW-INTERFLEX

The software archive preserves dates, implementation notes, and surviving source material. Contact the museum to explore the program’s documentation.

A call to EduNET

Queue a request, run uucico, and watch the files arrive. Then read them with cat or open the picture in xv. The buttons enter the commands for you; the prompt also accepts typing.

xterm — amir@lahore

Interactive reconstruction of a UUCP exchange in a period Unix desktop. The recordings above preserve Interflex’s DOS interface and its Q editor and QPEG viewers.