NeoBytes :) is an occasional feature that takes a step back from the big headlines, to take a look at what else is happening in the vast, scary expanse of the tech world - often with a cynical eye, always with a dose of humour.
There"s no question that if you"re a fan of technology, you most likely are also a fan of the original Star Wars trilogy. From USB thumb drives shaped as our favorite characters to the latest Angry Birds adaptation, people love the universe that George Lucas has created. Normally we sit around a TV to watch our favorite movies, and those who want extra resolution can even watch the Blu-Ray version for 1080 lines of detailed goodness. But what if all you have available is a dumb terminal but still want to watch one of the best movies of all time? You"re in luck!
The folks over at blinkenlights have setup a service on the telnet port that allows anyone to connect and watch the movie in all of its ASCII-art goodness. Simply use your favorite telnet client (we"re partial to puTTY on a Windows host, but prefer the tried and true telnet on a Linux machine), type in towel.blinkenlights.nl (make sure you"re connecting to port 23, the well defined port for the telnet protocol!), and watch the magic. If you"re on an IPv6 connection, you get an even better experience!
Of course if you want to live old school, but only like doing it with the comfort of your newfangled technology, then our friends at ASCIImation have you covered; they converted the entire movie into a video that"s playable in your browser.
We know this video has been around for awhile, but if you missed it, you"re in for a real treat.
Source: Blinkenlights