The Montreal Greek Times Unicorn

This page documents the Montreal Greek Times Unicorn (MGT Unicorn), a non-mainstream, parallel infrastructure operated by THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES.

MGT Unicorn delivers our journalism and radio programming through alternative network protocols including Web 1.0 HTML, Gopher, Gemini, Telnet BBS, Finger, NNTP/Usenet, WAIS, RealAudio, and Tor (Onion). These channels operate independently of mainstream web platforms and modern app ecosystems.

This is not our primary publishing platform. Our modern website, mobile applications, connected TV apps, and contemporary streaming services remain the recommended access points for the general public.

Montreal Greek Radio has been broadcasting online since 1994, at the dawn of the public web. As the first Greek webcaster anywhere, our digital presence began when internet streaming itself was new. MGT Unicorn exists because of that history and continues to operate as a live, multi-protocol distribution environment.

MGT Unicorn is intended for technically proficient users, computer historians, retro-computing enthusiasts, privacy-conscious readers, members of the independent small-internet community, and readers who prefer access paths outside mainstream platforms. It is also of interest to professional and specialized users such as librarians, researchers, historians, and digital archivists who study the evolution of networked media, early internet technologies, and historical digital publishing environments. These services provide access to working examples of legacy protocols, historically authentic distribution systems, and archival material such as the electronic replica edition of the print newspaper in PDF format. In addition, readers located in regions where internet access may be restricted, filtered, or censored can reach our journalism through the Tor onion service, which provides an alternative path to the same news content outside conventional network infrastructure. Users are expected to configure and operate legacy or specialized client software independently. Technical support is not provided.

For standard access to our journalism and broadcasting services, please use our modern platforms.

What MGT Unicorn is

A coherent multi-protocol ecosystem that mirrors current content using historically significant and alternative network technologies.

  • A Web 1.0 HTML mirror
  • An Internet Explorer 4-era Active Channel endpoint
  • A Gopher server
  • A Gemini capsule
  • A Telnet BBS
  • A Finger news and weather service
  • An NNTP/Usenet news server
  • A WAIS search server
  • A Tor v3 onion service
  • A live RealAudio 3.0 stream over the original PNA protocol

MGT Unicorn enables access to content produced by THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES from legacy and retro computing environments, modern minimalist clients, professional research contexts, and privacy-focused networks. Readers can browse current Greek community news from Montreal on a 486-class system running BeOS, access headlines from an early IBM PC via Finger under UNIX or DOS, retrieve articles in a traditional newsreader through Usenet, search the live article corpus through WAIS as early internet users once did, view the print replica edition in PDF on a Windows 95 or OS/2 workstation, study the mechanics of early online publishing and streaming as a living historical environment, or reach current journalism through Tor using an onion address.

The name “Unicorn” reflects the rarity of the overall environment. Today it is unusual to find any one of these services maintained in active operation. A Web 1.0 mirror, Gopher, Gemini, Finger utilities, a Telnet BBS, an NNTP/Usenet server, a WAIS search service, a Tor onion service, and a live RealAudio stream using the original PNA protocol, all running together as a coherent, public-facing distribution layer, is almost unheard of. MGT Unicorn preserves this near-extinct ecosystem as a functioning system, not an exhibit behind glass.

What you will find on MGT Unicorn

MGT Unicorn is not only a collection of legacy protocols. It is a set of practical, working access paths to current Montreal Greek Times journalism and Montreal Greek Radio, presented through historically authentic and alternative interfaces. Depending on the service you use, you can read current headlines, open full articles, retrieve text bulletins, browse archives, access a classic BBS news feed, subscribe through a traditional newsreader, search the article corpus, and listen to live radio.

  • Read current news: Headlines and full articles from the Greek community in Montreal across multiple protocols.
  • Browse archives: Structured navigation for past items in menu-driven environments.
  • Search the article corpus: Use WAIS to perform ranked full-text searches across indexed content through one of the oldest networked information retrieval systems on the Internet.
  • Get command-line bulletins: News and Montreal weather via Finger, optimized for terminals and low-bandwidth access.
  • Use a traditional newsreader: Read current articles and weather briefings through our NNTP/Usenet service using standards-based desktop or terminal newsreader software.
  • Privacy-preserving access: A Tor onion endpoint for readers who prefer minimal tracking exposure, network resilience, and access in environments where the open web may be restricted.
  • Listen live: Montreal Greek Radio via RealAudio using the original PNA protocol.
  • Hidden print replica access: The print replica edition of THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES is available in PDF through Gopher and the BBS file areas.

PDF compatibility note: The MGT Unicorn print replica PDFs are produced as PDF 1.3 and are compatible with Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 on Windows 95 or higher, as well as many legacy PDF viewers on classic operating systems.

Web 1.0 mirror

A lightweight, text-first web environment designed for early browsers and low-resource systems.

What you will find:
Current Montreal Greek Times headlines and full articles presented in a classic Web 1.0 layout compatible with early graphical browsers.

How to access:
Designed for early web browsers including NCSA Mosaic and Netscape Navigator. Modern browsers can also access it normally.

URL:

http://retro.greektimes.ca


Subscribe to Active Channel

An optional Active Channel subscription is available for Internet Explorer 4.0, preserving the push-style content model of the late 1990s, widely associated with Windows 98 Active Desktop environments. It represents an early precursor to modern RSS syndication. To our knowledge, it is the only Internet Explorer Active Channel presently maintained by a print newspaper operation anywhere in the world.

Gopher

Gopher is a small, quiet corner of the Internet and a predecessor of the World Wide Web. It provides structured, menu-driven navigation without scripts, advertising, or client-side complexity. Today, roughly 200 or so Gopher servers are believed to remain active worldwide, and THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES operates one of them.

What you will find:
A fast, hierarchical directory of current headlines, full articles, archives, and access to the print replica edition of THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES in PDF.

How to access:
On retro systems (Windows 3.x and Windows 9x), Netscape Navigator 3.0 Gold provides native Gopher support.

On modern systems, a dedicated client is recommended. Lagrange is available for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS and Android, and supports both Gopher and Gemini.

URL:

gopher://gopher.greektimes.ca

Gemini

Gemini is a modern, minimalist protocol introduced in 2019 within the small internet movement. Although recent in age, it is intentionally modeled on early internet philosophies, prioritizing simplicity, text-first content, and the absence of advertising and scripting. Inspired by Gopher-era design, Gemini continues the architectural lineage that MGT Unicorn preserves.

What you will find:
A clean, low-overhead capsule featuring current Montreal Greek Times headlines and article access in a reading-focused format.

How to access:
Gemini requires a dedicated client. Lagrange is available for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

URL:

gemini://gemini.greektimes.ca

Telnet BBS

A classic bulletin board system environment operating over Telnet, reflecting the pre-web era of community-driven digital communication.

What you will find:
A terminal-based news interface featuring Greek community headlines and full articles, a file section containing the print replica editions of THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES in PDF, and message areas connected to FidoNet (node 1:229/134), the world’s oldest continuously operating global BBS message network, founded in 1984. Long before modern social media platforms, FidoNet linked communities through structured message forums and direct person-to-person correspondence. Still active worldwide today, it represents a cleaner, distraction-free form of online dialogue rooted in continuity, accountability and substance.

How to access:
On retro systems, use Telix, Procomm Plus, Qmodem or similar Telnet software, often paired with a retro RS232 WiFi modem.

On modern systems, clients such as NetRunner and SyncTerm are recommended.

URL:

telnet bbs.greektimes.ca

Finger services

Finger is one of the earliest Internet protocols, originally developed in the late 1970s to retrieve user information from remote systems. Today, publicly accessible Finger servers are extremely rare, likely numbering in the low tens worldwide. THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES operates one of these publicly reachable Finger services, adapting this minimalist, low-overhead protocol into a live news and weather bulletin system while preserving its original simplicity and design philosophy.

What you will find:
Text-based access to current Greek community headlines, full articles retrievable by ID, and a custom-generated Montreal weather briefing. Rather than mirroring a website, the forecast is built from raw ECCC data and interpreted into a clean, terminal-ready bulletin by THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES. Optimized for command-line systems, low bandwidth and clarity.

How to access:
Finger can be accessed from most UNIX-like systems and from Windows NT-based systems, including Windows 2000, XP, 7, 10 and 11, which include the built-in finger command. Simply open a terminal or Command Prompt and enter:

For news:

finger news@finger.greektimes.ca

For weather:

finger weather@finger.greektimes.ca

Finger services can also be accessed through the Lagrange small-web browser. To access our Finger services via Lagrange, enter the following URLs:

Weather:

finger://finger.greektimes.ca/weather

News:

finger://finger.greektimes.ca/news

NNTP / Usenet

NNTP, the Network News Transfer Protocol, was one of the defining technologies of online news distribution before the modern web. For years, Usenet and traditional newsreader software formed a primary way that users read, followed and archived network-published information. As part of MGT Unicorn, THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES operates its own NNTP/Usenet access point, extending current journalism into another historically significant protocol environment.

What you will find:
A standards-based Usenet news server carrying current Montreal Greek Times articles and weather briefings through four dedicated newsgroups:

  • greektimes.news.english for English-language news articles
  • greektimes.news.greek for Greek-language news articles
  • greektimes.weather for Montreal weather briefings in English and Greek
  • greektimes.announce for system announcements and editorial notes

This service is designed for readers who prefer a traditional newsreader workflow, including structured article threading, offline reading, standards-based retrieval and long-established NNTP client software.

How to access:
Use any compatible newsreader. On retro and legacy Windows systems, clients such as Outlook Express or Forte Agent may be used where supported. On modern systems, users may connect with software such as Mozilla Thunderbird, tin, slrn or other NNTP-capable clients.

Anonymous users may read all greektimes.* groups without authentication. Secure access is available on both standard and TLS-wrapped ports.

Server:

news.greektimes.ca

Ports:

119  - NNTP with STARTTLS
563  - NNTPS (direct TLS)

WAIS

WAIS, or Wide Area Information Servers, was one of the earliest distributed search and information retrieval systems on the Internet, emphasizing query-based access to indexed document collections rather than menu browsing. As part of MGT Unicorn, THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES operates a live WAIS search server, extending current journalism into another historically significant protocol environment.

What you will find:
A searchable index of current Montreal Greek Times content, allowing readers to perform ranked full-text searches across indexed articles through a protocol originally associated with early Internet research and information discovery. Rather than navigating menus, users query the database directly and receive relevance-ranked results, followed by document retrieval.

Why it matters:
By exposing Port 210 to the public Internet, the Montreal Greek Times Unicorn server is not merely participating in a retro-computing trend. It is single-handedly altering the statistical census of the Internet.

How to access:
WAIS is intended for technically proficient users with compatible client software or command-line tools. It is best suited to users familiar with legacy network retrieval systems, terminal environments, and early Internet search workflows.

Server:

wais.greektimes.ca

Port:

210

Database:

greektimes

Example:

waissearch -h wais.greektimes.ca -p 210 -d greektimes -m 10 "Montreal"

To our knowledge, THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES maintains the only actively operating WAIS server using the original Z39.50-1988 protocol currently in public operation worldwide.

Tor Onion Service

The Montreal Greek Times operates a Tor v3 onion service as part of MGT Unicorn. This provides a privacy-preserving, censorship-resistant access point to our journalism using the Tor network. Unlike the retro protocols within MGT Unicorn, the onion service is modern infrastructure designed for anonymity, network resilience and access from environments where the open internet may be filtered or blocked.

What you will find:
A standards-compliant HTML edition of current Montreal Greek Times headlines and full articles, optimized for access within Tor Browser. The onion site mirrors current content while reducing reliance on mainstream network pathways.

How to access:
Install and launch the Tor Browser, then enter the following address in the browser’s address bar.

URL:

http://pdfjsjif5kr3ppaxzgukdtkqsfqvku3rzpumbyfa5oaw65iyuzhip3ad.onion

RealAudio live stream

A period-correct RealAudio 3.0 live stream delivered using the original PNA protocol, reflecting the architecture of mid-1990s internet radio. To our knowledge, THE MONTREAL GREEK TIMES maintains the only actively operating RealAudio live server using the original PNA protocol currently in public operation worldwide.

What you will find:
A live Montreal Greek Radio broadcast accessible through compatible RealPlayer software, preserved as a working example of early internet streaming technology.

How to access:
Install RealPlayer 3.0 or later, compatible with Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Windows NT, Windows x86/x64, BeOS, Linux, OS/2, and Windows 10/11.

On legacy browsers, clicking the play button on our retro website will automatically launch RealPlayer via the associated .ram metafile.

Modern systems no longer associate .ram files automatically. In such cases, open RealPlayer and select File > Open Location, then enter:

pnm://retro.greekradio.ca:7070/live.ra

This direct method works with both legacy and modern versions of RealPlayer.

Important context

The Montreal Greek Times Unicorn is a heritage initiative rooted in our 1994 online broadcasting origins. It exists because we were there when internet radio began.

For modern access to our journalism, radio and television services, please use our primary website and apps.

MGT Unicorn remains available for those who appreciate early internet architecture, protocol history, independent publishing infrastructure, standards-based access methods and the continued operation of working systems that most of the Internet has left behind.