the make path
unix-ish · gcc or clang# clone, compile, run. $ git clone https://github.com/amnuts/Amnuts.git $ cd Amnuts $ make install
Read docs/compiling if anything refuses to cooperate.
anniversary
since 1996
Thirty years of amnuts.
A multi-user talker server, written in C and connected to by telnet. Some old skool cool in the modern media world!
/01
what is this, exactly
A talker is a text-based chat system. No jpegs, no videos – we're talking OG emojis here! :-) But it allows anyone to log into an area where they can chat (well, type) in real-time with anyone else from around the world who happens to be logged on at the same time.
Amnuts is one of them. It began in 1996 as a fork of Neil Robertson's NUTS 3.3.3 codebase and acquired enough of its own commands and personality (and an additional 40,000 or so lines of code) to become a de facto code base for new talkers.
The time of talkers has long passed. However, Amnuts is still around and getting the occasional update, just waiting for people to remember a simpler time when everything was text-based, give it some retro love, and spin up their own talker.
/02
get the source
two paths, same destinationthe docker path
anywhere docker runs# no gcc required. $ git clone https://github.com/amnuts/Amnuts.git $ cd Amnuts && ./docker-setup.sh $ docker-compose run --rm amnuts make install $ docker-compose up -d amnuts
See docs/docker for the rest. amd64 and arm64v8 both supported.
/03
history.log
- 1995The Beginnings. Andy's talker, Way Out West is created based on Neil Robertson's NUTS 3.3.3 sources.
- 1996Fork. People ask enough times for the WoW updates that Andy creates a brand-new fork. Andy's modified NUTS is born.
- 1998A site is born. The first proper website goes live, back in the day when we really supported Netscape 6!
- 2003v2.3.0 The last main version to be released to the public during the height of talkers.
- 2011Onto GitHub. Source migrates. Tarballs quietly retire to a drawer.
- 2024v2.4.0. A quiet release. Yes, it's been a long time, but we're still here.
- 2026The Happy 30th! Finally, some proper telnet handling, paging reacts to terminal height, new
terminalcommand, crash fixes, Clang, GNU C23, and this here website.
/04
around the repo
Thanks to everyone who ever ran a talker, sent a patch, filed a bug, opened an issue, or just dropped by to see if the lights were still on.
The lights are still on.
— Andy, May 2026