Curt Vendel Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 I used to have a program called the Wargames Dialer. It was essentially a phreaking autodialer for the Atari 800/XL/XE computers. It was a gray background/white text program and could be set-up to autodial numbers, then you could program pauses and then transmit numbers, wait for a connect to a BBS. This was used back in the day when you used Sprint and MCI long distance dialing codes to make long distance calls for reduced costs vs. paying super high cost AT&T long distance calls. So you'd use the Wargames dialer, dial into the Sprint or MCI long distance connection 800#, then enter a sequentially generated Spring/MCI long distance code, then dial the telco# of a BBS number - if the number was busy it would hang up and try again, if the code was invalid it would generate a new LD dialing code and try again, if successful, it would be printed out onto your printer. You'd run this all through the night and the next morning you'd have 3-5 brand spanking new long distance codes... For you newbies, weenied on the internet, or using long ISP dial-ups... well back during the BBS days (you know what a BBS is, right?) were local in each state, so to call them you had to incur HUGE long distance charges, so getting long distance dialing codes was like getting someone's VISA/MC #... they were worth their weight in gold, you could use them to dial to out of state BBS' but you could also use them as trading fodder to get secret access on BBS' to their secret pirated software directories. Now in this day in age, the program is useless, but it was a very big part of my early days of modem'ing and BBS'ing and I'd like to find a copy of it. Curt 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirage Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 For you newbies, weenied on the internet, :lolblue: Classic. I remember several programs like this (and many more) for the C64. A few years back when I was looking for stuff like this again, I definitely ran into more of it for the C64 than for the A8. I hope you find it, good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Jefferson Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 (edited) Sorry, I don't think I have that program either. I just took a look and it looks like I have: Tuff Hacker, Lightning Hacker, Omnihack, and Wizseeker. Up in Canada, we didn't have that long distance service (as far as I know we didn't). What we did have was "Calling Cards", which were sort of like CC cards for long distance calling (I know these were in the US as well.) Using local ones here was not advisable, so we traded them with US phreakers for AT&T calling cards, which could be used with less risk, although you would typically only use them for a weekend and then dump them (usually to the second tier phreakers/hackers who would then "obfuscate" your early activity.) We also had some "dial out" systems that were used to make calls to long distance BBSes. I remember calling the Metal Shop II several times... The phone system where I grew up was very advanced compared to what it seemed other phreakers were using. It was all ESS, and you couldn't blow 2600Hz down the line and not expect to get caught (from what I was told by other more experienced phreakers who were mentors of a sort); I never tried it. We didn't have loopback numbers, for instance, and there was quite a campaign to try to find them-there never was one found. Having all computers in the world connected to the same network really spoils the kids today! Edited December 5, 2009 by Shawn Jefferson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 I laugh when people complain about timeouts to reach a website - trying redialing a single line BBS for an hour straight on a slim line phone that didn't have redial because that feature was on luxury phones at the time until the Bell breakout and other companies could finally sell phones to use --- it used to be illegal to use a non-AT&T telephone on your home phone line, it was a violation of your usage agreement --- gosh the good old draconian AT&T days - when they even had their own police "the phone police" --- no joke... Curt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteD Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 I used to go to a friends place on Saturdays (C64 "warez" guy from Talent/Ikari) where he'd dial a US BBS from the UK using someone's "borrowed" AT&T card number Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bf2k+ Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 I had one for a8 called "Long Distance Bandit" (black type on orangish bg or something like that). I think I lost it in the 'Great Floppy Crash' of 1987. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S1500 Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 LOL, I was HUGE into wardialing back in the day. I'm surprsied my phone line didn't get disconncted + fraud charges with all the dang wardialing I did. I started with a Tandy 1000HX(a PCjr clone, essentially) and a program called "ToneLoc". I knew that program VERY well, and kept real good notes on which to call out where. I once even video recorded the sessions for 6 hours at a time, just so I could hear what picks up on the other end if there's anything juicy. I found many many fun systems to explore back in the day, sometimes with almost no security. Heck, I even had it run a script upon connection & had it type in root<cr> root<cr>, and once it actually logged in. Shiva LANRovers were worth their weight in gold since you could outdial from them. The furthest distance I called a BBS was Croatia. Hell, change the escape code to THEIR modems, and could theoretically run ToneLoc from their outdial numbers. Another system was to administer a voice mail box group. So I made my own account, and you were able to search for it by name via the IVRs. Ah those were the days. I realized as of 2009, I have been "online" 20 freakin' years, starting out on a TI-99/4A calling BBSes. Oh have times changed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 Occassionally the line would get interrupted and you'd hear someone from Sprint or MCI saying "hello???" and I'd do a Matthew Broderick, grab the phone, unplug it and hold it in my lap wondering if that was going to be the night that the police were going to come and ring the doorbell and I'd be sooooooo busted. Curt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Amiga500 Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 I remember when you couldn't even unplug phones. Jacks didn't exist. Phones were just wired into the wall. That's why you needed the phone coupler. I feel like an old man talking about radio before television existed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Haha, great stories! I was always a "goody two shoes" and refused to do any wardialing. Some friends of mine did it all the time, I was the "fence" and would get all their warez/gamez on 5.25" and copy and distribute amongst the group. I remember when Apogee had first set up their BBS and there were huge loopholes in their system. They ended up getting just about all the full versions of their "shareware" software at the time, which was really cool -- Monster Bash, Commander Keen, etc... The only BBS I actually used on my own was a 'teen chat group' local to the area. Mostly it was used to talk about who would supply the booze, whose parents would be out of town for the weekend for free house, etc. Good times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Sounds like we have the 'Gary McKinnon' Appreciation society....what next, hacking into the pentagon system to find out why the US invaded iraq Those were the days though, unfortunately the likes of AT&T and BT are still with us, so not much has changed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 AT&T isn't even a shadow of what it was in the 1980's from the breakup into the baby-bells, from opening 3rd party product usage and now with VoIP, the entire model of what was the phone system is pretty much gone-- the days of the copper pair dedicated telco lines are coming to an end, along with paper news... Curt Sounds like we have the 'Gary McKinnon' Appreciation society....what next, hacking into the pentagon system to find out why the US invaded iraq Those were the days though, unfortunately the likes of AT&T and BT are still with us, so not much has changed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ransom Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 (edited) AT&T isn't even a shadow of what it was in the 1980's from the breakup into the baby-bells, from opening 3rd party product usage and now with VoIP, the entire model of what was the phone system is pretty much gone-- the days of the copper pair dedicated telco lines are coming to an end, along with paper news... Earth-shattering stuff for us old farts, in a way. But I find I don't even much care. I remember being the local WWIVNet guy, having my BBS call Texas every night (from CA before I moved, then from IL) to download all the messages that the local WWIV BBSes subscribed to. I remember how happy I was when Sprint started pricing at 10 cents a minute. I was all over that! Now, I can "call" the other side of the world for virtually nothing. But I don't have to, because everyone's connected to the same network, instead of the tons of networks competing back when (WWIVNet, CompuServe, GEnie, Delphi, etc.). Amazing. Edited December 6, 2009 by Ransom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edward1469 Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 i remember using a TI Silent type 700 to BBS no screen a printer LOL an acoustic coupler that my square phone didn't fit so i had to put a pillow over it ROFL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Hahaha! Earmuffs throughout the house! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warriorisabouttodie Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 (edited) I remember calling the guy who first figured out how to program the 835/1030 modem from basic, he was the same person who wrote the AMIS bbs program and he was from Michigan, but I cant rem his name. He was pretty annoyed a 10 year old kid was bugging him, but there was something I couldn't figure out from his bbs listing and I needed his help. I also remember calling the Analog offices to figure out how to get a pure 2600hrz tone from the Atari 8bit, but what I didn't know is that trick was outdated even in the early 80's. I wrote a couple different war dialers for the 1030 modem (the 835 was not capable of tone dialing!). I even remember writing a rudimentary brute force hacking program that would continually log onto Compuserve and try to hack out passwords. Later I turned my hand relatively legal modem fun with bbs programs and especially loved the Modrona Marsh bbs which even stored it's most used files in the extra memory above basic or whatever it was as a mini ram disk and had self deleting code in basic which I thought was awesome back then because everything would run on a 130xe with ramdisk and you could use all other storage for "warez." The sysop of Modrona Marsh BBS in Torrence,CA wrote a great tutorial on programing the 1030 modem's T: handler for Antic magazine if you care to look it up. Anyway, we used to call all over the country without a care and trade passwords, codez, and even make conference calls to trade info without a thought for the poor saps who would later get the bill. I can only imagine where all that would get us nowadays (probably a jail sentence!!), but those were innocent times. How else could we destroy the Atari 8bits market in the US if we didnt call around to download the latest games and later many games that never saw the light of day in the US anyway. Those were different times. Phreaking kind of died out in the later part of the 16 bit age. By then bbs's even pirate ones were prevalent everywhere and many of the pirate groups of today started during the Amiga/ST era so things were organized and got around. The rise of Usenet and the internet in general in the early 90's started working against bbs's too. Edited December 6, 2009 by Warriorisabouttodie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 How about a nice game of chess?.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathtrappomegranate Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Memories... I started out in computing using a VDU and an Anderson-Jacobson ADC-212 modem (similar to a Bell 101) to connect with a remote mainframe. 110/300 baud, no graphics, CTRL-G sound. Happy days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accousticguitar Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 How about a nice game of chess?.......... Let's play global thermonuclear war. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 How about a nice game of chess?.......... Let's play global thermonuclear war. tic-tac-toe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accousticguitar Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 How about a nice game of chess?.......... Let's play global thermonuclear war. tic-tac-toe? It's not on the list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 Someplace I have a copy of Modem Combat for the 800, I need to dig it up... Rumor has it, someone within Atari wrote a demo of a 2 player version of Star Raiders that worked over modem's, I am scouring the mainframe archives trying to find it. Curt How about a nice game of chess?.......... Let's play global thermonuclear war. tic-tac-toe? It's not on the list! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 modem star raiders would definitely be really awesome! Hope you find it Curt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmel_andrews Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Someplace I have a copy of Modem Combat for the 800, I need to dig it up... Rumor has it, someone within Atari wrote a demo of a 2 player version of Star Raiders that worked over modem's, I am scouring the mainframe archives trying to find it. Curt How about a nice game of chess?.......... Let's play global thermonuclear war. tic-tac-toe? It's not on the list! I read in the VG book 'Phoenix' that coleco (i think) had a hacked version of star raiders, with a 2 player option Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 (edited) Occassionally the line would get interrupted and you'd hear someone from Sprint or MCI saying "hello???" and I'd do a Matthew Broderick, grab the phone, unplug it and hold it in my lap wondering if that was going to be the night that the police were going to come and ring the doorbell and I'd be sooooooo busted. Ha! I remember making the same move! I lived in Anchorage, Alaska in the 80's (and beyond) and you want to talk about some damn expensive phone calls. There was long distance, then there was long distance TO/FROM ALASKA. There was only one LD carrier - ALASCOM - which was owned by RCA at the time. Their monopoly made the phone calls as expensive as calling a foreign country. A company called "GCI" started up LD service with the 1-800 number and the digit-codes like you're talking about. The Apple II guys (weren't many Atari guys in high school) had the Novation Applecat 212 modem that had a (I think) ST sound chip in it and they were all into the "phreaking" scene. I wasn't aware that there was even a single wardialer for the 8-bit Atari. I did spend a lot of time (smiling) with "Mikeydialer" on the ST back in those days. I eventually got "busted" through a RAT. They had no proof. I was 15 anyway, so I couldn't have been prosecuted. The bastard Apple user "friend" who turned me onto it got busted (he was 15 as well) and told the GCI folks that I was the ringleader who turned him onto it. I had to go down to the offices (with my parents, of course) and was told to cease and desist, and threatened - in a nice way - with prosecution. They handed me a thick tractor-feed printout of "illegal" calls and asked me to circle any that I had made. I recognized many big-time pirate Atari BBS numbers that I had been using. I did circle a couple numbers (wondered why later) but did not admit to the pages of all-night calls I'd made. Now GCI is pretty much the monopoly, esp since they bought the cable company years ago. Never got prosecuted. Sometimes get those same feelings again when bittorrent is running, though... Edited December 9, 2009 by wood_jl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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