6 ms·

As someone just getting access to the net in '94/'95 and also learning programming via Turbo Pascal around that time, ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi was a lot more importa

by zgluck 3y ago

As someone just getting access to the net in '94/'95 and also learning programming via Turbo Pascal around that time, ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi was a lot more important! Now sadly gone. (https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.msdos.programmer/c/Kcoc7aexmT8 https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.msdos.programmer/c/Kcoc7...)

bluedino 3y ago
Loved x2! Any particular reason there seemed like a bunch of ftp sites hosted in Finland?
- zgluck 3y ago
  I think... both for Finland and Sweden: We wanted to stand out internationally. And there were lots of clever people in the right places early on. And there was money to spend on that exciting new stuff, after the first few early press rounds. But since this on top of HN I hope someone who actually knows will show up soon. :)
- anttihaapala 3y ago
  I believe it might be just because it is really easy to incorporate an association in Finland and an association that is a non-profit organization founded for public benefit will be considered tax exempt by default. Many of these services have been run by the incorporated associations as opposed to just a loose group of individuals or a single person. The FUNET though is the Finnish university research network and thus I believe the Funet FTP server has always resided on a server funded by the government but still mostly maintained by volunteers.
petercooper 3y ago
One of my favorites as well! I had a poke around and it seems there's a downloadable archive of it, though at "only" 500MB I'm not sure how complete it is: https://archive.org/details/X2ftpArchive https://archive.org/details/X2ftpArchive
- zgluck 3y ago
  There's a mirror available at ftp://foto.lu.lv/pub/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming. Only via FTP, as far as I can tell. It works well with e.g. Filezilla. Log in as anonymous...
wormius 3y ago
OOOOOOOh I remember oulu.fi too now. Forgot that one! Great addition to the list.
jbverschoor 3y ago
Yeah, x2ftp.oulu.fi for me was one of the most important resources in the '90s
anttihaapala 3y ago
I lived in Oulu and would go to a local library to download game programming tutorials for Turbo Pascal from x2ftp, not quite realizing that the library was pretty much half-way on the direct line connecting my home and the location where the x2ftp server was located. The name, as I heard afterwards, came from it being hosted and managed by the association of Computer Science and Engineering students of the University of Oulu (https://otit.fi/en/kilta/ https://otit.fi/en/kilta/) in a bomb shelter under the main campus building, stairs down from the entrance designated as X2.

by zgluck 3y ago

bluedino 3y ago

Loved x2! Any particular reason there seemed like a bunch of ftp sites hosted in Finland?

zgluck 3y ago
I think... both for Finland and Sweden: We wanted to stand out internationally. And there were lots of clever people in the right places early on. And there was money to spend on that exciting new stuff, after the first few early press rounds. But since this on top of HN I hope someone who actually knows will show up soon. :)
anttihaapala 3y ago
I believe it might be just because it is really easy to incorporate an association in Finland and an association that is a non-profit organization founded for public benefit will be considered tax exempt by default. Many of these services have been run by the incorporated associations as opposed to just a loose group of individuals or a single person. The FUNET though is the Finnish university research network and thus I believe the Funet FTP server has always resided on a server funded by the government but still mostly maintained by volunteers.

petercooper 3y ago

One of my favorites as well! I had a poke around and it seems there's a downloadable archive of it, though at "only" 500MB I'm not sure how complete it is: https://archive.org/details/X2ftpArchive https://archive.org/details/X2ftpArchive

zgluck 3y ago
There's a mirror available at ftp://foto.lu.lv/pub/mirror/x2ftp/msdos/programming. Only via FTP, as far as I can tell. It works well with e.g. Filezilla. Log in as anonymous...

wormius 3y ago

OOOOOOOh I remember oulu.fi too now. Forgot that one! Great addition to the list.

jbverschoor 3y ago

Yeah, x2ftp.oulu.fi for me was one of the most important resources in the '90s

anttihaapala 3y ago

I lived in Oulu and would go to a local library to download game programming tutorials for Turbo Pascal from x2ftp, not quite realizing that the library was pretty much half-way on the direct line connecting my home and the location where the x2ftp server was located. The name, as I heard afterwards, came from it being hosted and managed by the association of Computer Science and Engineering students of the University of Oulu (https://otit.fi/en/kilta/ https://otit.fi/en/kilta/) in a bomb shelter under the main campus building, stairs down from the entrance designated as X2.