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Table of Contents
Steptail Wayback Proxy Server
The Steptail Wayback Proxy Server serves older (circa 90's) web browsers with pages from the era. It is the easiest way to browse the Internet as it was in 1996 through 1998.
Connecting through a virtual modem is supported. You may use the following guide to set up a virtual modem: Raspberry Pi Virtual Modem.
The server address at this moment is wayback.steptail.com and runs on port ???? for both FTP and HTTP Proxy. This is a closed beta at this time, and will not accept connections from unknown hosts.
We are in the process of archiving popular websites with an emphasis in having a complete experience with working website features. This means that the data downloaded may not be 100% exactly original, as I work to fix broken links and dynamic features such as web search. Some websites have been manually and painstakingly restored to their original state from various sources (including archive.org), while some sites do not exist on the proxy server at this time. If you have ideas culturally significant websites, I take suggestions!
Proxy server is currently in closed BETA ! If you would like to join testing, please contact.
Setup Instructions for Browsers
To begin, you will need to connect your vintage machine to the Internet. Then open the web browser. You will need to tell your web browser to use the ALTERNET proxy. We currently have the following web browser instructions covered:
- Internet Explorer 3.0
- Netscape Navigator 4.0
- Netscape Navigator 4.5
Once the proxy settings are added, you can start browsing! The ALTERNET proxy will serve pages from an archive to your machine, and the user experience will stay true to the experience of the 90's. You will only need to type in an archived web address you would like to visit.
We recommend starting by going to the welcome page at http://swp.inode.com
We will be continuously testing various other web browsers, so you'll know to expect that they work.
Netscape Navigator 3.0
- Go to Options ⇒ Network Preferences
- Open the tab Proxies
- Under FTP Proxy, Gopher Proxy and HTTP Proxy type in the address
wayback.steptail.com - Under Port type in the port number of your chosen server. Consult the server list for the correct port number.
- Hit OK, then OK again to close out of the Network Preferences window.
Netscape Navigator 4.0
- Go to Edit ⇒ Preferences
- Under Advanced, open Proxies
- Select Manual proxy configuration and click on View.
- Under FTP Proxy, Gopher Proxy and HTTP Proxy type in the address
wayback.steptail.com - Under Port type in the port number of your chosen server. Consult the server list for the correct port number.
- Hit OK, then OK again to close out of the Preferences window.
Netscape Communicator 4.5
- Go to Edit ⇒ Preferences
- Under Advanced, open Proxies
- Select Manual proxy configuration and click on View.
- Under FTP Proxy, Gopher Proxy and HTTP Proxy type in the address
wayback.steptail.com - Under Port type in the port number of your chosen server. Consult the server list for the correct port number.
- Hit OK, then OK again to close out of the Preferences window.
Internet Explorer 3.0
- Go to View ⇒ Options
- Click on the Connection tab
- Tick the checkbox Connect through a proxy server
- Click on Settings…
- Under HTTP: type in the following address:
wayback.steptail.com - Under Port type in the port number of your chosen server. Consult the server list for the correct port number.
- Tick the checkbox Use the same proxy server for all protocols
- Click OK, then OK to exit network settings.
Internet Explorer 6.0
- Is tested and supported. Instructions will follow.
Other Web Browsers
One of the early goals of the project is to test and verify that the web will be accessible with at least the following web browsers:
Internet Explorer
- Internet Explorer 1.0 - 6.0
Netscape Series
- Netscape Navigator 1.0 - 3.0
- Netscape Navigator Standalone 4.0 - 4.08
- Netscape Communicator 4.0 - 4.8
Mosaic
