🔌Today I created a virtual web-based null modem so now you can finally play Quake 1 (from 1996) in multiplayer in the browser with other people online!

This week I was able to create a virtual printer that listens on the COM2 port to make a web-based printer work in Windows 3.11, like on you can actually print to, it was one of my ideas when I started http://pieter.com but it was always too difficult to make, I had no idea where to start, but this week AI was able to do it!

Today I woke up and thought "if we can listen to COM2 via JS, how about listen to COM1 from Quake 1?" then we could forward the COM1 data via Websockets and to another user to create a virtual null modem

(A null modem was a cable you'd use to connect two computers to each other directly in the 90s, if you couldn't afford buying a network card you'd use this to network, but you could only play with one other computer not multiple)

So I built it, it took about an hour and works! I wanted to get Quake 1 in DOS to work with multiplayer for 2 years but I could never get it to work, but now it did it

This project is a good benchmark of how capable AI is becoming, figuring stuff out that humans would take months within an hour

You can try it here, I don't know how it will match lots of people but let's see, you have to exit to DOS first (ALT-F4 or FN-Option-F4 on Mac), then type CD games, then CD quake, then quake, then ESC, then Multiplayer, then either Create New Game or Join Game, and use Direct Connect, keep settings same and you're in!

https://pieter.com/assets/dosbox/nullmodem-test/index.html

Okay I spun it off as a Quake 1 web-based multiplayer game + server you can play now at:

👉 http://q1.pieter.com 👈

It still works via null modem and you get instantly paired to another player (if there is somebody) and it's just a 16mb download of Quake 1 demo instead of the whole 400mb pieter .com drive

If you open the URL both in the same time you probably get paired together and can death match!

There is quite some latency because every package goes through my server and Quake 1 did not have client-side prediction yet (which is what Quake World added later), I'l try get QW running to see if it improves it a bit

Group multiplayer can come but for that I need to see if I can get actual COM1 modem connection working not just a null modem!

Here I'm playing a local LAN death match with @javilopen on a game from 1996 in a web browser via a COM1 serial port tunneled via Websockets over the internet! 🤓

🔌Today I created a virtual web-based null modem so now you can finally play Quake 1 (from 1996) in multiplayer in the browser with other people online!

This week I was able to create a virtual printer that listens on the COM2 port to make a web-based printer work in Windows 3.11, like on you can actually print to, it was one of my ideas when I started http://pieter.com but it was always too difficult to make, I had no idea where to start, but this week AI was able to do it!

Today I woke up and thought "if we can listen to COM2 via JS, how about listen to COM1 from Quake 1?" then we could forward the COM1 data via Websockets and to another user to create a virtual null modem

(A null modem was a cable you'd use to connect two computers to each other directly in the 90s, if you couldn't afford buying a network card you'd use this to network, but you could only play with one other computer not multiple)

So I built it, it took about an hour and works! I wanted to get Quake 1 in DOS to work with multiplayer for 2 years but I could never get it to work, but now it did it

This project is a good benchmark of how capable AI is becoming, figuring stuff out that humans would take months within an hour

You can try it here, I don't know how it will match lots of people but let's see, you have to exit to DOS first (ALT-F4 or FN-Option-F4 on Mac), then type CD games, then CD quake, then quake, then ESC, then Multiplayer, then either Create New Game or Join Game, and use Direct Connect, keep settings same and you're in!

https://pieter.com/assets/dosbox/nullmodem-test/index.html

🔌Today I created a virtual web-based null modem so now you can finally play Quake 1 (from 1996) in multiplayer in the browser with other people online!

This week I was able to create a virtual printer that listens on the COM2 port to make a web-based printer work in Windows 3.11, like on you can actually print to, it was one of my ideas when I started http://pieter.com but it was always too difficult to make, I had no idea where to start, but this week AI was able to do it!

Today I woke up and thought "if we can listen to COM2 via JS, how about listen to COM1 from Quake 1?" then we could forward the COM1 data via Websockets and to another user to create a virtual null modem

(A null modem was a cable you'd use to connect two computers to each other directly in the 90s, if you couldn't afford buying a network card you'd use this to network, but you could only play with one other computer not multiple)

So I built it, it took about an hour and works! I wanted to get Quake 1 in DOS to work with multiplayer for 2 years but I could never get it to work, but now it did it

This project is a good benchmark of how capable AI is becoming, figuring stuff out that humans would take months within an hour

You can try it here, I don't know how it will match lots of people but let's see, you have to exit to DOS first (ALT-F4 or FN-Option-F4 on Mac), then type CD games, then CD quake, then quake, then ESC, then Multiplayer, then either Create New Game or Join Game, and use Direct Connect, keep settings same and you're in!

https://pieter.com/assets/dosbox/nullmodem-test/index.html

Okay I spun it off as a Quake 1 web-based multiplayer game + server you can play now at:

👉 http://q1.pieter.com 👈

It still works via null modem and you get instantly paired to another player (if there is somebody) and it's just a 16mb download of Quake 1 demo instead of the whole 400mb pieter .com drive

If you open the URL both in the same time you probably get paired together and can death match!

There is quite some latency because every package goes through my server and Quake 1 did not have client-side prediction yet (which is what Quake World added later), I'l try get QW running to see if it improves it a bit

Group multiplayer can come but for that I need to see if I can get actual COM1 modem connection working not just a null modem!

Here I'm playing a local LAN death match with @javilopen on a game from 1996 in a web browser via a COM1 serial port tunneled via Websockets over the internet! 🤓

Okay I spun it off as a Quake 1 web-based multiplayer game + server you can play now at:

👉 http://q1.pieter.com 👈

It still works via null modem and you get instantly paired to another player (if there is somebody) and it's just a 16mb download of Quake 1 demo instead of the whole 400mb pieter .com drive

If you open the URL both in the same time you probably get paired together and can death match!

There is quite some latency because every package goes through my server and Quake 1 did not have client-side prediction yet (which is what Quake World added later), I'l try get QW running to see if it improves it a bit

Group multiplayer can come but for that I need to see if I can get actual COM1 modem connection working not just a null modem!

Here I'm playing a local LAN death match with @javilopen on a game from 1996 in a web browser via a COM1 serial port tunneled via Websockets over the internet! 🤓