> Now, I grew up in a rural area of the southern US, and I had never been out of the South, but on Undernet, I met people in other states, other countries, even other continents! I made friends all over the world and learned a great deal about other cultures and ideas.
This was one of the greatest things about early Internet.
You forgot to mention the hypnotizing video. You can get people to do anything for you after letting them watch it in repeat for more than half an hour.
You would need to have a reasonable amount of trust with the people you let control it, or you may have some... questionable designs mowed into your lawn haha
This went a slightly different direction from what I first assumed. For some reason I had hoped for an IRC server, connected to EFNet running on a robot lawn mower.
So how resistant could IRC be to chat control? Lets say we use SSL as well as authentication.
I assume they would come after whoever is managing the server as its not end to end encrypted?
If the server runs outside their jurisdiction (and not in a friendly one) then they would probably just block the dns / IPs like they do with video streaming?
most irc networks have many linked servers so that gives a range of operating ips. i think if even they blanket blocked, performming a netsplit on ops to takeover (if not chanserv etc) or disable channels is probably easier
Most modern electric mowers use ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers that could run a lightweight IRC client with minimal modifications to the firmware and a simple WiFi module addition.
I'm still connected to EFnet 24/7. mIRC still gets updates and is still running from the same old code base, so it's ridiculously lightweight by today's software standards. Wouldn't be surprised if the latest versions still run on Windows 95.
IRC = public stuff, tech stuff, hackers. Yes, /query exists but it was mainly used
to met skilled but unmet people together.
Jabber = IM, mostly private messaging with people you already knew. Groups where just built from people with close friendships, and, yes, often it would be made from IRC.
But, now, Slack and Discord try to do all (even a replacement from forums), and, worse, with propietary protocols and silos.
If Discord dies, say goodbye to your content. Forever.
This was one of the greatest things about early Internet.
14. An IRC-Enabled Lawn Mower (idlerpg.net)
15. OpenMower – An Open Source Lawn Mower (github.com/clemenselflein)
Still an enjoyable read and a fun project.
I assume they would come after whoever is managing the server as its not end to end encrypted?
If the server runs outside their jurisdiction (and not in a friendly one) then they would probably just block the dns / IPs like they do with video streaming?
The cheaper Chinese off-brands are probably pretty hackable.
I'm still connected to EFnet 24/7. mIRC still gets updates and is still running from the same old code base, so it's ridiculously lightweight by today's software standards. Wouldn't be surprised if the latest versions still run on Windows 95.
IRC = public stuff, tech stuff, hackers. Yes, /query exists but it was mainly used to met skilled but unmet people together.
Jabber = IM, mostly private messaging with people you already knew. Groups where just built from people with close friendships, and, yes, often it would be made from IRC.
But, now, Slack and Discord try to do all (even a replacement from forums), and, worse, with propietary protocols and silos. If Discord dies, say goodbye to your content. Forever.
Both of them really are just IRC for a modern audience.