The result is this Tcl/Expect script (listed below).  First, you will need to make certain you have these dependent packages installed:

yum install expect fluid-soundfont-lite-patches timidity++

Next, you will need to fetch the multimedia files into your home directory:

svn co https://robert.hurst-ri.us/svn/rpgd/trunk/snd Music/hack

Then, setup your telnet session attributes in .telnetrc to automatically load when you connect:

robert.hurst-ri.us
    mode character
    set crlf off
    unset escape

And last, simply copy/paste the script below into an executable text file of your choice and run it.

#!/usr/bin/expect -f

# play a MIDI file
proc midi s {
  set mid [string range $s 3 end-3]
  set bool [string range $s end-1 end-1]
  set cmd "killall playmus 2> /dev/null; playmus -v 25 Music/hack/$mid.mid &> /dev/null &"
  system $cmd
}

# play a WAVE file
proc wave s {
  set wav [string range $s 3 end-3]
  set bool [string range $s end-1 end-1]
  set cmd "play Music/hack/$wav.wav &> /dev/null"
  if {$bool == 0} { set cmd "$cmd &" }
  system $cmd
}

# connect to the game server ...
log_user 0
spawn telnet robert.hurst-ri.us 7000
wave "...dungeon;0."

expect_background {
  -re "\033\\\[\\\{.*\\\}" { midi $expect_out(0,string); return }
  -re "\033\\\[\\\[.*\\\]" { wave $expect_out(0,string); return }
  -re "(.*)" { send_user -- $expect_out(0,string); }
}

interact

$ vi /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-13.repo

[fedora13]
name=Fedora 13 – $basearch
failovermethod=priority
baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/13/Everything/$basearch/os/
enabled=1
metadata_expire=7d
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora-$basearch

$ yum –nogpgcheck –noplugins –disablerepo=* –enablerepo=fedora13 downgrade cairo cairomm cairo-devel cairomm-devel

Essentially, you are going from cairo-1.10 back to cairo-1.8. Re-start Firefox and voila, no more annoying GIF issues!

This demo is fascinating to watch a C64 using their online software library in action:

C64 on Internet using the Comet64 Modem

I also purchased one of these 1541 Ultimate 2 drives, although I might not even see it this calendar year as these units are severely back-ordered:

The 1541 Ultimate 2 cartridge for the Commodore 64

I consider myself fairly web-savvy and have done countless, secure, safe transactions on the Internet for the past 15-years.  But this event totally disregarded my choice to decline their purported service — clicking “No thanks” resulted in a monthly recurring charge from my credit card.  And I can only blame myself for not catching it earlier, but this wreaks of a criminal act.

Well, calling their customer service was no treat either, when you are greeted by “Enter the credit card number that is being billed”.  Yeah, right, like I want to disclose that information to you, when you ripped it off dove-tailing another separate online service to begin with.  I purportedly received a claim number and the last charge will get reversed within the next two business days.  Stay tuned, I have this suspicious feeling this episode ain’t quite over.  Let’s hope my intuition on this matter is wrong.

I started by testing the router’s capabilities by procuring a free host on one of DynDNS’s 88 domains: hurst.homelinux.net. And, it’s always nice to have an extra hostname, for separation of virtual services from each other, such as email and web addresses. That worked out very quickly and easily.

Next, I tested remote access to services I wanted to provide: email, ftp, ssh, imaps, web, and webdav.  I created a new virtual guest running Fedora 12 on my workstation and rewrote the iptable rules to forward the DMZ ports to it.  Again, no issues, because there is no  ISP port-blocking enforced.  Sending outbound mail had gotten a little tricky, because a lot of competing ISPs will block email from residential email servers — even if they have legitimate domains like myself — because it is sent unauthenticated (and probably unsolicited) by Verizon’s network and not their servers.

I discovered I can easily remedy that situation with one-line added in sendmail’s access file:

AuthInfo:outgoing.verizon.net "U:myaccount" "I:myaccount" "P:mypassword" "M:LOGIN PLAIN"

After some testing, this solution turned out to be very painless to implement.

The DNS transfer is very slow, but that is a result of registrar compliance.  It generally takes 5-7 days, with my experience with that being no different.  During the transition, I ran my own Internet DNS service for both of our domains, so I had to keep mine active until it switched over to DynDNS servers.  Once it did, I could safely remove my DNS service from answering queries to hurst-ri.us.  The only restriction imposed by this process is that I cannot do another domain transfer for another 60-days, which should not present any problem for my vanity use of it.

The switchover of our analog phone line to digital was totally seamless, including testing our home alarm system.  The only thing missing was the static on the phones.

Having download speeds of up to 25 Mbps and uploads of up to 15 Mbps — yes, it is true, it is fast.  It’s not about a single download, it’s the fact that I can download a large file and still have a few more usable Internet sessions working without incurring noticeable latencies.  Executing one of those Internet speed tests gauged my connection at nearly 29mbs download / 21mbs upload with only 16ms ping over a 50 mile distance to a Boston-based server.  And I was also downloading a 157mb file at the same time.  Impressive.

The included wireless router is first class.  3 WAN ports: coax and ethernet, 6 LAN ports: ethernet, coax, and USB, and wireless.  Excellent signal strength, I can roam anywhere inside and outside of my property.  Up the street and into a neighbor’s garage — 4 bars of signal strength and the mbs dropped from 56 to 11.

I have one HDTV along with three standard definition TVs, and all are now hooked up with set top boxes.  The picture quality is what you expect, except I have not experience any picture jitters yet.  What improved most noticeably was the numerous functions, responsiveness, and overall friendliness.  Each set top box provides their Guide and Internet Widgets (Facebook, Traffic, Weather, etc.)  Using the DVR remotely from my Blackberry or from any web browser is pretty cool too.  The number of channels in our package (no premium) is impressive, too, although I really don’t want to disclose to my father that I have the Horse Racing channel — he may never leave.

This experience reminds me of how it felt when I got my first cable modem.  And when our local cable company repeatedly promised a next generation of improved technologies and friendliness was coming (this campaign started over 5-years ago), all I got was a small incremental boost in speed — after I paid to upgrade my modem — and shuffling AND reduction of usable cable channels.  Well, cable truly dominated homes these past 25+ years with the last 12+ years including Internet.

I wonder where those carriers and services will be in the next 5 years?

I found the photos and stories there to be quite interesting, but his wife Michelle puts it another way: “I hope this cures your insomnia.”  While I love modesty, it was her opening statement that made me laugh loudly to set the proper mood:

I once mentioned to Fred that I thought it would be fun to take a cruise.  Fred took this to mean “let’s buy a boat and go cruising”.  So, lesson learned. I must be VERY specific when discussing vacation plans with Fred.

Heh, now I know why Fred was so loved.