NETWORK XXIII · Transmissionshttps://NetWorkXXIII.de/2026-10-22T22:02:42ZThis station is on airhttps://NetWorkXXIII.de/transmissions/on-air/2026-10-19T00:00:00ZNETWORK XXIII has a front door now. What it is, what it links to, and why there is a test card.<p>NETWORK XXIII has a front door now. This is it.</p>
<p>For a couple of months we have been putting services on the open Internet one at a time: webmail for the domains we host, our own browser chat, a Usenet node, a bulletin board system that turned out to have ambitions, two Tor relays. Each of them lived at its own hostname and nowhere else. Now they are <strong>channels</strong> on one network, and this site is the programme guide.</p>
<h2>What the metaphor buys us</h2>
<p>Calling things channels instead of projects settles a few arguments at once:</p>
<ul><li>A channel is <strong>on air</strong> or it is not. No "beta", no "soon", no "coming Q3". The status board reads a <code>status.json</code> that a cron job on Roanoke refreshes every few minutes.</li><li>A channel that is being built <strong>stands by</strong>, with a test card. One flag hides it from the guide entirely.</li><li>A channel between seasons is <strong>off air</strong>. That is where the URL shortener is right now.</li></ul>
<h2>Why there is a test card</h2>
<p>Because the network is named after the one in <em>Max Headroom</em>, and a network that does not come on air with a test card, static and a logo is not trying hard enough. It plays once, then not again for twenty minutes. There is a skip button. If your browser asks for reduced motion, you will never see it at all.</p>
<h2>The rest</h2>
<p>Press <code>Ctrl K</code> anywhere on the home page. Type <code>/</code> and see what the Blink drive offers. Do not click the DRDs unless you are prepared for the consequences, which are mild.</p>
<p>More entries will follow in the ship's log, as kept by the Android.</p>
<h2>Bridge update · 2026-10-22</h2>
<p>The channel selector now opens services directly. The Blink drive does the same; choose <strong>Programme entry</strong> when you want the briefing before boarding.</p>
<p>Usenet's NNTP service is on air. Its browser reader is still under construction. They now have separate notices. The Android regrets the administrative confusion, but not enough to issue a second notice about it.</p>
<p><strong>Station controls</strong> contains the skins, clocks, <strong>Quiet bridge</strong>, and a remembered <strong>Skip future idents</strong> preference. Quiet bridge pauses the ambient motion and sounds. The ident remains available for replay when quiet mode and reduced motion are off.</p>
<p>The board refreshes its readings once a minute. If the monitor goes quiet for fifteen minutes, the board says so and the readings go pale until it is back. An unexpected outage is <strong>Signal lost</strong>; a deliberate break is still <strong>Off air</strong>. The clock is twenty minutes ahead. It cannot predict whether the mail works.</p>