Vintage Hive By @FoxCouncil

This project tries to help alter the modern internet to work on really old computers and systems, with a focus on cleaning the rough edges and bringing in multiple sources of archival internet data. Browse the web like you are back in 1999, or have access to modern encrypted websites from Windows 95 (just don't login to your bank with this!)

Table Of Contents

• Installation
• Usage
• Roadmap
• Help
• Data Sources
• Docker

Installation

Windows

1. Download the latest VintageHive-v*-win-x64.zip from the Releases page
2. Right-click the ZIP file and select "Extract All..."
3. Choose a destination folder (e.g., C:\VintageHive)
4. Open the extracted folder
5. Run VintageHive.exe
6. When prompted by Windows Defender Firewall, click "Allow Access"
7. The server will start and be accessible at:
   • HTTP Proxy: http://127.0.0.1:1990
   • Admin Interface: http://admin.hive.com:1990

Linux

1. Download the latest VintageHive-v*-linux-x64.tar.gz from the Releases page
2. Open a terminal and navigate to your download directory
3. Extract the archive:

   tar xzf VintageHive-v*-linux-x64.tar.gz
   cd VintageHive-v*-linux-x64

4. Make the binary executable:

   chmod +x VintageHive

5. Run VintageHive:

   ./VintageHive

6. The server will start and be accessible at:
   • HTTP Proxy: http://127.0.0.1:1990
   • Admin Interface: http://admin.hive.com:1990

Note: On Linux, you might need to run with sudo if you want to use privileged ports (< 1024)

macOS

1. Download the latest VintageHive-v*-osx-x64.tar.gz from the Releases page
2. Open Terminal and navigate to your download directory
3. Extract the archive:

   tar xzf VintageHive-v*-osx-x64.tar.gz
   cd VintageHive-v*-osx-x64

4. Make the binary executable:

   chmod +x VintageHive

5. The first time you run VintageHive, macOS may block it. To allow it:
   • Try to run ./VintageHive
   • When blocked, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy
   • Click "Allow Anyway" for VintageHive
   • Run ./VintageHive again and click "Open" when prompted
6. The server will start and be accessible at:
   • HTTP Proxy: http://127.0.0.1:1990
   • Admin Interface: http://admin.hive.com:1990

First Run

On first run, VintageHive will:

1. Create necessary directories for data storage
2. Generate SSL certificates for HTTPS proxy
3. Initialize the local database
4. Start all enabled services

Visit http://admin.hive.com:1990 to:

• Monitor proxy activity
• Configure services
• Manage certificates
• View system status

Usage

Defaults

Service	Port	Documentation
HTTP	1990	Docs
HTTPS	9999	Docs
FTP	1971	Docs
TELNET	1969	Docs

Intranet & Settings

• Main Url: http://hive.com
• 🧪 Shoutcast: http://radio.hive.com/

HTTP

When using this proxy, it will parse any http request through several processors, in decending order

• HelperProcessor.ProcessHttpRequest
• LocalServerProcessor.ProcessHttpRequest
• ProtoWebProcessor.ProcessHttpRequest
• InternetArchiveProcessor.ProcessHttpRequest
• 404

HTTPS

When using this proxy, it will parse any https request, create a certificate authority and generate certificates for processing through several processors, in decending order

• LocalServerProcessor.ProcessHttpsRequest
• DialNineProcessor.ProcessHttpsRequest
• 404

FTP

When using this proxy, it will parse any ftp request through several processors, in decending order

• ProtoWebProcessor.ProcessFtpRequest
• LocalServerProcessor.ProcessFtpRequest
• Exception

TELNET

This is a pure C# implementation of a Telnet server intended to allow really old machines like 386's and 80's Macs to access the same data they could using the HTTP proxy and Lynx (text only browser) or something similar. For cases where this is not possible this Telnet server seeks to provide an alternative way to view modern data through old software since Telnet clients were very popular and avaliable on every platform. Once connected type help to get a list of commands.

Usage Guides

Internet Explorer 6

• Open the Tools menu, and then select Internet Options
• Click on the Connections tab
• Select LAN Settings
• In the Local Area Network Settings dialog box, select the Use a proxy server for your LAN settings check box
• Input your host IP address and the port 1990 in the HTTP proxy field

Netscape Navigator 3.x/4.x

1. Open Edit > Preferences
2. Navigate to Advanced > Proxies
3. Select Manual Proxy Configuration
4. Set:
   • HTTP Proxy: 127.0.0.1 Port: 1990
   • Security Proxy (SSL): 127.0.0.1 Port: 9999
   • FTP Proxy: 127.0.0.1 Port: 1971
5. Click OK

Internet Explorer 3.x/4.x/5.x

1. Open View > Options (or Tools > Internet Options in IE5)
2. Click Connection tab
3. Click Proxy Settings or LAN Settings
4. Check Use a proxy server
5. Click Advanced
6. Set:
   • HTTP: 127.0.0.1:1990
   • Secure (HTTPS): 127.0.0.1:9999
   • FTP: 127.0.0.1:1971
7. Click OK on all dialogs

NCSA Mosaic

1. Open Options > Network Preferences
2. Enable Use Proxy Server
3. Set:
   • HTTP Proxy: 127.0.0.1 Port: 1990
   • FTP Proxy: 127.0.0.1 Port: 1971
4. Click OK

Opera 3.x/4.x

1. Open File > Preferences
2. Click Network tab
3. Click Proxy Servers
4. Set:
   • HTTP: 127.0.0.1:1990
   • HTTPS: 127.0.0.1:9999
   • FTP: 127.0.0.1:1971
5. Click OK

AOL Browser

1. Open My AOL > Preferences
2. Click WWW icon
3. Select Connection tab
4. Click Setup
5. Enable Connect through proxy server
6. Set:
   • HTTP Proxy: 127.0.0.1 Port: 1990
7. Click OK

Compatibility Notes

• Windows 3.1/95 Users:

  • If you can't type the . in 127.0.0.1, use the numeric keypad
  • Some browsers may require localhost instead of 127.0.0.1

• SSL/HTTPS Support:

  • IE3: Limited HTTPS support, may need additional patches
  • Netscape 3+: Full SSL support with certificate import
  • Mosaic: No SSL support, will only work with HTTP
  • Opera 3+: SSL support varies by version

• Certificate Installation:

  1. Visit http://admin.hive.com:1990/ca.crt in your browser
  2. For Netscape: Select Accept this Certificate Authority for Certifying network sites
  3. For IE: Click Install Certificate and follow the wizard
  4. For Opera: Save the file and import via File > Preferences > Security > Certificates

• Known Issues:

  • Some browsers may show certificate warnings for HTTPS sites
  • FTP passive mode may not work in older browsers
  • JavaScript support varies significantly between browsers
  • Some browsers may require system proxy settings instead of browser settings

Docker

You can quickly run VintageHive using Docker:

docker run -d \
  --name vintagehive \
  -p 1990:1990 \
  -p 9999:9999 \
  -p 1971:1971 \
  -p 1969:1969 \
  -p 5190:5190 \
  -p 1900-1910:1900-1910 \
  -v vintagehive_data:/app/data \
  foxcouncil/vintagehive:latest

The container exposes the following ports:

• 1990: HTTP Proxy
• 9999: HTTPS Proxy
• 1971: FTP Server
• 1969: TELNET Server
• 5190: OSCAR (AIM/ICQ) Server
• 1900-1910: FTP Passive Mode Range

Data is persisted in the vintagehive_data volume.

Roadmap

• FTP Proxy Support
• HTTPS Proxy Support (with security downgrading SSL2)
• Custom Hosted Pages
• Download Center
• Emulated Services
  • ICQ - Coming Soon
  • AIM - Coming Soon
  • Yahoo! IM
  • MSN Messenger
  • POP3/SMTP
  • IRC
  • NetMeeting
  • etc
• Community Servers
• Gopher Support

Help

Q: I can't connect to VintageHive from my guest computer

A: Check your hosts firewall settings, make sure both the guest and host are on the same network and subnet

Sources

• Internet Archive
• ProtoWeb
• Geonames
• Open-Meteo
• DuckDuckGo
• GoogleNews
• GeoIPService