Delivery System

The Delivery System, as it was called by Prodigy, initially consisted of:

• The Dialup Access Concentrators and Regional Object Caches, operating initially on IBM Series/1 Minicomputers.
• The Central switch, operating on an IBM Mainframe running TPF (routing functions and fast transactions)
• The High Function Host, another IBM Mainframe running CICS (more complex transactions)

The Prodigy Reloaded Delivery System combines the function of these components into a single application (found in apps/server) and utilizes the Postgres database (supported by an associated component found in apps/core).

Utilities to manipulate databse objects (podbutil, the Prodigy Object Database Utility, found in apps/podbutil) and household / user accounts (pomsutil, the Prodigy Operational Management System Utility, found in apps/pomsutil) are provided.

An additional portal application that will furnish a web-based interface to acquire an account and to otherwise perform the functions provided in podbutil and pomsutil will be forthcoming (to be placed in apps/portal).

The Reception System was the client of the services provided by the Delivery System, and the content that comprised the service was created by the Producer System.

Start the service

docker compose up
docker compose run server /prod/rel/server/bin/server eval "Prodigy.Core.Release.migrate()"

Install the objects

git clone git@github.com:ProdigyReloaded/objects.git /tmp/objects
docker compose run -v /tmp/objects:/objects:ro server podbutil import "/objects/*"
- Imported 498 objects

Create an account

docker compose run server pomsutil create
- Created Household XLNV42
- Created User XLNV42A with password WVYLC6

Download dosbox-staging

Get the latest release for your operating system here

Download the client

As of this writing, the client version software that shipped with the IBM PS/1 (RS 6.03.17)

The software is archived here and the disk image is here.

Prepare the client

Instructions below are prototypical for Linux, but may vary for your preferred operating system.

% mount /path/to/client.img /mnt/floppy
% mkdir -p /tmp/prodigy/C/PRODIGY
% cp /mnt/floppy /tmp/prodigy/C/PRODIGY
% umount /mnt/floppy
% cat << EOF > /tmp/prodigy/dosbox.conf
 !!! config here - see below
EOF
% cat << EOF > /tmp/prodigy/phones.conf
5551212 localhost:25234
EOF
%

Dosbox Configuration

Dosbox configuration is beyond the scope of this document, but the default should work with a few tweaks:

[serial]
serial1       = modem baudrate:2400
phonebookfile = phones.txt

[autoexec]
mount C: /tmp/prodigy/C
C:
cd PRODIGY
PRODIGY.BAT

Run dosbox and connect

% dosbox -conf /tmp/prodigy/dosbox.conf

If prompted for a phone number, use the same as created in the preparation step above (5551212). Once prompted for a username and password, use the one returned by pomsutil above.

Caveats

Neither DIA nor TCS protocols as implemented by the Reception System version targeted here provide a keepalive mechanism. If the server is run behind anything with aggressive TCP timeouts, such as a load balancer or NAT device, one may experience CM 4 errors in the Reception System.