Author Topic: Suntan Special 0.69  (Read 825 times)

Neil Waldhauer

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Suntan Special 0.69
« on: August 13, 2025, 04:17:23 am »
Suntan Special 0.69 has been released

The newest release of Suntan Special, version 0.69, is available. Suntan Special is a system configuration tool that installs and maintains a collection of useful fixes, applications and development tools to ArcaOS, OS/2 or eComStation systems.

http://www.blondeguy.com/suntan6.html

Current Suntan Special users are entitled to upgrade to 0.69. The upgrade may be downloaded using the application refresh feature of Suntan Special.

Suntan Special may be downloaded at no charge. The price for a Suntan Special CD or DVD is $24.95 including shipping to USA and $39.95 for shipping outside USA.

The first release of Suntan Special since 2019. This release fixes a few bugs, and adds support for HobbesArchive and its mirrors. Version 0.69 adds better support for installations under VirtualBox. A new feature, MasterSequence, detects the operating system creates and executes a sequence designed to install all available fixes and applications. Thanks to current users whose suggestions have been incorporated in the new version of Suntan Special.

Support is also restored for OS/2 Warp 4 and for OS/2 Warp 4 Convenience Pack. These concentrate on support inside a VirtualBox session. If you got OS/2 running, and wonder what it is good for, Suntan Special will install a suite of software that will answer that question.
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aziz

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Re: Suntan Special 0.69
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2025, 01:50:14 am »
I gave this a short run. The software installs fine. However it attempts to connect to ftp.blondeguy.com on the first run. It never succeeds. Also attempts to manually reach that ftp site, using firefox for example, do not succeed.

Neil Waldhauer

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Re: Suntan Special 0.69
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2025, 03:34:18 pm »
Thanks for the report. I'll have to think about why you can't access FTP. I can reach it from here.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2025, 04:14:31 pm by Neil Waldhauer »
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P.R.

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Re: Suntan Special 0.69
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2025, 09:23:23 pm »
I gave this a short run. The software installs fine. However it attempts to connect to ftp.blondeguy.com on the first run. It never succeeds. Also attempts to manually reach that ftp site, using firefox for example, do not succeed.
I also briefly tested the new version. The installation ran smoothly - apart from a small error message in the log (see screenshot).

Yes, the hostname can be resolved, but I can't establish a connection either. Entering the update.zip address in Firefox also results in a timeout. There seems to be a problem with the FTP server.

I've attached a screenshot of my log.

Dave Yeo

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Re: Suntan Special 0.69
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2025, 12:39:09 am »
It connects here from western Canada, wants authentication though.
What is the result of,
Code: [Select]
tracerte ftp.blondeguy.com
Should end with,
Code: [Select]
19  blondeguy.com             (63.249.102.192)  50 ms  50 ms  50 ms
or similar.
BTW, from Firefox, ftp://ftp.blondeguy.com

Dan Eicher

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Re: Suntan Special 0.69
« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2025, 11:49:58 am »
I had the same result as Dave.

Neil Waldhauer

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Re: Suntan Special 0.69
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2025, 03:22:25 pm »
Perhaps something is blocking FTP?

Code: [Select]
traceroute to blondeguy.com (63.249.102.192), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
 1  www.routerlogin.com       (192.168.46.1)  0 ms  0 ms  0 ms
 2  96.120.89.121             (96.120.89.121)  10 ms  10 ms  10 ms
 3  po-303-1215-rur101.scotts.ca.sfba.comcast.net  (96.110.102.193)  10 ms  10 m
s  10 ms
 4  po-100-xar01.scotts.ca.sfba.comcast.net  (69.139.199.205)  10 ms  10 ms  10
ms
 5  ae-249-rar01.santaclara.ca.sfba.comcast.net  (96.108.99.153)  10 ms  20 ms
20 ms
 6  be-299-ar01.santaclara.ca.sfba.comcast.net  (68.86.143.93)  20 ms  10 ms  10
 ms
 7  * * *
 8  * * *
 9  RCN-CORPORA.ear3.SanJose1.Level3.net  (4.7.16.194)  20 ms  10 ms  10 ms
10  l3cruzio.layer42.cruzio.com  (69.36.229.82)  20 ms  10 ms  20 ms
11  877cruzio.10g.cruzio.com  (63.249.65.17)  10 ms  20 ms  10 ms
12  blondeguy.com             (63.249.102.192)  20 ms  20 ms  10 ms

If some people are able to access and some not, is it likely to be a server problem?
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Dave Yeo

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Re: Suntan Special 0.69
« Reply #7 on: August 19, 2025, 06:28:49 pm »
Some open access points such as my library block FTP, doubt that home setups do the same. As for your server, unless it goes down at the wrong time, it shouldn't be a problem.

Neil Waldhauer

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Re: Suntan Special 0.69
« Reply #8 on: August 19, 2025, 08:03:15 pm »
The error 4 mentioned in the log is the return code from wget. Error 4 is simply Network Failure.

The FTP server is one provided by my ISP, so it's not likely to be down for very long. If FTP connections work, but not to my server, then one solution would be for me to change the program to use HTTPS for my server. I'll consider that.
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Dan Eicher

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Re: Suntan Special 0.69
« Reply #9 on: August 19, 2025, 08:28:56 pm »
Maybe something changed in the toolchain (client/server/middleman)  from active to passive ftp or vice versa?

P.R.

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Re: Suntan Special 0.69
« Reply #10 on: August 19, 2025, 10:07:14 pm »
It connects here from western Canada, wants authentication though.
What is the result of,
Code: [Select]
tracerte ftp.blondeguy.com
Should end with,
Code: [Select]
19  blondeguy.com             (63.249.102.192)  50 ms  50 ms  50 ms
or similar.
BTW, from Firefox, ftp://ftp.blondeguy.com
The server is reachable, but a connection cannot be established. I tried using a VPN as a test, but there was no change.

I tried connecting using FileZilla on Windows. FileZilla displays a dialog for a TLS certificate. After accepting the certificate, an encrypted connection is initiated and a password request appears. Anonymous connection doesn't work. I double-checked with Palemoon on Windows: A dialog appears asking for the user and password.

I conclude that you can connect if the user and password are entered correctly. However, only with TLS.

This explains to me why the native FTP client can't establish a connection and also why a timeout occurs in Firefox.

But wget should be able to handle TLS? Perhaps adjusting the parameters would suffice? I tried some options on the command line, but I only get a timeout.

Dave Yeo

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Re: Suntan Special 0.69
« Reply #11 on: August 19, 2025, 10:51:20 pm »
Firefox 45.9 connects fine here, but I don't have the credentials. Shouldn't need a certificate and TLS for a regular FTP connection but I guess it could be setup in such a way.
Our wget is compiled with TLS support but looking at the help, it is only for HTTPS. Testing here, I get,
Code: [Select]
H:\>wget ftp://ftp.blondeguy.com/pub
--2025-08-19 13:45:00--  ftp://ftp.blondeguy.com/pub
           => 'pub'
Resolving ftp.blondeguy.com (ftp.blondeguy.com)... 63.249.102.192
Connecting to ftp.blondeguy.com (ftp.blondeguy.com)|63.249.102.192|:21... connected.
Logging in as anonymous ...
Login incorrect.
I guessed at pub.
Wonder if it is an issue with needing a passive connection, though Firefox seems to work here. Try installing ncftp as it works well with passive connections and can handle all types of FTP protocols.
Code: [Select]
H:\>ncftp ftp.blondeguy.com
NcFTP 3.2.6 (Dec 04, 2016) by Mike Gleason (http://www.NcFTP.com/contact/).
Resolving ftp.blondeguy.com...
Connecting to 63.249.102.192...

ProFTPD Server (ProFTPD) [63.249.102.192]
Logging in...
Login incorrect.
Sleeping 19 seconds...

Start ncftp with no parameters and enter help for how to pass user and password.
Edit: ncftp is available as an RPM, yum install ncftp
« Last Edit: August 19, 2025, 10:53:47 pm by Dave Yeo »