← Back to Notes

joshua stein via @jcs@jcs.org (Mastodon) - Feb 19 2024 13:47:18

Some weird scenario I think about from time to time:

You wake up in a remote cabin with access to a 1980s computer (pick your favorite) that has slow access to the modern internet through satellite with a working TCP/IP stack but no recursive DNS server configured and no utilities installed (ping, ftp, etc.). The computer is too slow to do SSH, TLS, etc. and you can't remember any logins or passwords to existing systems. It does have a BASIC interpreter, simple compiler (whichever language you want that was around in the 1980s), and assembler. There are no manuals or other documentation available on the computer or in the cabin, other than installed header files or whatever else is needed for the compiler to use the TCP/IP stack.

Can you use the computer and internet to communicate enough to get rescued? What steps would you take?