Freelancin' Roundtable Emulator
8/19/2024 - Time continues to tick and we're still here, keeping the memory and spirit of Freelancin' Roundtable alive. Though we had to retire the RT2 Emulator last year (due to operating system library incompatibilities), we continue to hear from distant past friends. We would love to hear from you - email us at rt2(at)citx.com
4/25/2021 - Happy Birthday Miroc! This update brings news of a third migration of RT2 to another provider in the cloud. Who would have expected that RT2, firstly, would have been around long enough for all these migrations. Secondly, who would have expected the application would have been portable enough to go from RedHat -> CentOS -> Ubunbtu LTS?
The emulator remains available via telnet at rt2.us:9000
1/11/2020 - Happy New Year 2020! Ten years since the last update and RT2 is still online. Ken Blair graciously provided the website source for the revitalization project (Thanks Ken!). The RT2 Emulator continues to run in a data center at a secret location deep below the earth's surface.
12/21/2010 - After Wikipedia killed the Freelancin' Roundtable page, I put up this page that mirrors the basic information. I won't be sending Mr. Wales any money to sustain his good will project, that's for sure. He should sell some banner ads.
11/3/2010 - Well, the former users continue to really pour in! I think we've seen at *least* 3 or 4 in the past 2 years. I don't know how the server is able to keep up! It might be time to add that extra 128GB of RAM and maybe upgrade to a 10Gb Ethernet interface.
8/16/2010 - The RT2.com web server cratered over the weekend taking my email and other websites along with it, not that anyone noticed. Luckily it looks like it was a fluke and it has been running well now for 2 days. In other news, I got email from a user asking for a passwrod reset. So someone knows we're still here. Maybe I should try to dig up my own password too.
1/14/2010 - We're still here, barely. Thanks to Miroc for pointing out that the site was down. Luckily it was my fault and failure to maintain a proper host record in DNS.
11/12/2008 - A new old RT user showed up today and a new account is being issued! I have updated the description on one of the party photos. Hope to see you online!
I added some scrools I had saved from late 2007.
8/4/2008 - Since I have been dragging my feet on the rt2.us DNS settings, Miroc set up rt2.citx.com:9000 as the new official front-end address for RT2.
Is it too early to long for the good old days of RT2? :)
7/14/2008 We are still here!
11/29/2007 - Yes, the updates are sparce. Miroc has announced that RT2 is 'end of life' meaning no new updates will be made to the software. It will continue to remain online. The traffic has been slow on the emulator (not because it's full, but because no one is there), but I did get a nice email from Flea, who many of you may remember. I must also plug the RT2 scrools again because I think they're neat. These scrools aren't just random chat, but were captured because they discuss RT history or contain humor (as determined by me).
9/22/2007 - We've been here one year! Amazing! It's been a fast year. Over the years I have always remembered RT and the former users and wondered where they are now. Often I had considered putting together an RT website in attempt to bring the former users together, but the fear was that once they were gathered, there would be a gigantic 'what now?' from everyone.
The RT2 emulator, the Wikipedia.org page, and this site have been great mechanisms to attract the former users and let them again chat. What we have learned is that there is a great deal of interest in remembering the past, but there's not always a lot to talk about othwerise. RT2 Users have come and gone, risen and fallen, sometimes in the window of several days. On RT people shared the common bond of the technology itself. As Flea stated, "It really was a time like no other, with some of the most interesting, smartest, and funniest people around." Today electronic chat is a commodity.
I believe that former users will continue to drift in on occasion and take a look around, but it will never be the same as it was from 1984 to 1987. The technology we have here today is a great monument to what Jim Penny created then.
7/29/2007 - Added photos of the original RT hardware. We also want to welcome Cosmos to RT2. Thanks for finding us! New scrools have been added.
7/8/2007 - 8 chatters at once! We haven't seen this many chatters since 1/14/2007. The scrool of this is here.
6/29/2007 - New feature! RT2 scrools!
6/27/2007 - 7 chatters tonight! Not a record, but a good crowd. A fun time was enjoyed by all.
4/11/2007 - The chat server relocation project was completed. We hope to chat with you soon!
3/29/2007 - The RT2 chat server will be moving to a new physical location! The outage will start March 30th and continue until April 3rd. The server should be back online April 3rd. Note that this website will be online and you can check back here for updates and news.
2/3/2007, 9:32 PM - The maintenance was completed successfully.
2/3/2007 - The RT2 chat server will be down today for network maintenance. The downtime is scheduled to start around 9:30am and should run about 6 hours.
1/27/2007 - An influential and entertaining blast from the past has recently requested an RT2 password. We're hoping to see this person online soon!
1/26/2007 - Planning for an RT2 Christening Party is in the works. You heard it here first! Remember that www.rt2.us is always your first source for RT2 news!
1/25/2007 - Merlin was kind enough to provide 8 new photos from an RT party from the 80's. Neva also kicked an additional shot as well. You can see them all at the bottom of the photo page.
1/14/2007 - Tonight we achieved 3 new RT2 records! Sometime around 5:30, 6 users were chatting concurrently. Then at 5:45 7 users were connected. Then at 5:57, 8 people were in attendence! Thanks to everyone who participated.
1/13/2007 - Welcome to 2007! Tonight we had 5 chatters at once, which was not a new record but was a great end to the dry spell that we've had lately. Thanks to two new users Liz and Random, it was a great evening and some of the scrool was really worth saving. A great time was had by all.
12/22/2006 - Merry (early) Christmas!
11/6/2006 - Snail mail and email letters to Dwight Silverman at the Houston Chonicle have not received any responses. Mr. Silverman has been computing in Houston since the days of RT, and I contacted him about possibly doing a story or blog post about RT2 in hopes of reaching more former RT users and other people who might want to check us out.
In other news, your fellow webmaster is again employed. Thanks for everyone's help in seeking out a new job.
10/19/2006 - Your humble webmaster is seeking new employment in the Houston, Texas area. I have 10 years of experience in IT including networking, Exchange, Windows server systems, and much more. Email: info -at- lurker.rt2.us if you can provide any assistance. Thanks.
10/7/2006 - Updated photos on RT2 team page. In other news, new users continue to trickle in. Welcome!
9/30/2006 - Yesterday's outage was caused by a cut cable, but really good quality duct tape was used to repair the damage.
9/29/2007 - 9:39 - RT2 is reachable again.
7:35 PM - The Internet connection to the server is still down.
2:44 PM - The Internet connection to the server is down. There is no ETA for a fix at this time.
12:40 PM - RT2 is temporarily unreachable at this time and has been unreachable for about 2 hours. We are aware of the situation and are working a fix. We apoligize for the problem!
9/28/2007 - I found this archive of an intersting post by a former Rountable user. At the bottom of the thread, a user mentioned Zachery Net BBS which is one of the first boards I remember using.
Added new contact email address on contact page.
Sorted the former RT user list by alpha.
9/27/2006 - Added additional photos to the History -> Photos section.
Greatly expanded the login page to include help for non-technical users.
Created RT Team page and populated with some content.
9/26/2006 - Another new first! The first new user account was issued to a former RT user who wasn't involved with the emulator's original development team. Welcome!
An additional stash of old photos has been located and will be put online soon in the History section.
Expanded History section and added all available images/scans. Greatly expanded the About section.
A new first was reached! The emulator had 5 real people logged on and chatting at once.
9/25/2006 - Added URL of telnet://rt2.us:9000 to the login page (thanks Miroc)
9/24/2006 - RT2 telnet address and port publically unveiled. First real version of the website completed.
9/22/2006 - rt2.us domain name purchased. One-page website put online.