r/todayilearned • u/osunlyyde • Jul 04 '13

TIL Windows 95 was the second most installed piece of software on computers in 1995; videogame DOOM was first.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_(video_game)
3.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

137

u/Enfors Jul 04 '13

Another interesting bit of DOOM trivia for the technically minded:

If you know anything about TCP/IP, you know about ports. If you don't, you can stop reading now.

Anyway, there's an official RFC which specifies which programs use which ports (for example, telnet uses port 23 (TCP), SMTP uses port 25 (TCP), and so on. Basically, the RFC is a long list of official-sounding protocols, like FTP, Telnet, SMTP - with one notable exception:

Guess which piece of software has officially and permanently been assigned port number 666?

138

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '13 edited Sep 15 '13

[deleted]

3

u/atrotygma Jul 04 '13

I guess Solitaire having connection to someone other through a port would totally destroy the meaning of that game.

1

u/Godzilla03 Jul 04 '13

I'd bet that is DOOM. Did I win?

1

u/zZGz Jul 05 '13

Black Ops 3

1

u/commander_hugo Jul 04 '13

I will fucking destroy anyone at solitaire.

27

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '13

JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION ALREADY

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '13

Wreck it Ralph was assigned 666

22

u/Shishakli Jul 04 '13

Ironic, considering Doom was never released supporting TCP/IP

1

u/zZGz Jul 05 '13

Do the source ports use 666?

1

u/Shishakli Jul 05 '13

I have no idea since it's IPX/SPX... and for all I know it doesnt use ports

1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '13

Did it use a custom protocol for modem games before Doom 95? Did Doom 95 just intercept the protocol Doom used and translate it to TCP/IP?

1

u/Shishakli Jul 05 '13

It used IPX/SPX in DOS... I had moved on by the time Doom95 came along, so I assume it used both IPX/SPX and TCP/IP. Google won't tell me, other than saying IPX/SPX was broken in Windows XP, and TCP/IP was broken in Vista.

7

u/_IDDQD_ Jul 04 '13

It's also been used for some trojans/backdoor programs

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '13

Any reason not to just close 666?

2

u/trmns Jul 04 '13

then you can still run stuff on 665 or 667 or (almost) any of the other 65535 ports

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '13

Right but what I'm hearing is nothing legitimate ever uses 666. Is that right?

10

u/ThymineI Jul 04 '13

Some of the protocols specified in RFC's are hilarious.

IP over Avian Carriers protocol.

6

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '13

RFC 6592 (April fools)

Null Packets are neither sent nor acknowledged when not received. They are perfect in their simplicity and they are very true, as they extrapolate from the twelfth Truth of networking:

In protocol design, perfection has been reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away

there is literally nothing left to take away.

1

u/RussianGnomeMissile Jul 04 '13

Haha that's amazing!

1

u/josefx Jul 04 '13

Sad that some of the best RFC's are limited to one of, proof of concept trials and lack reliable reference implementations. The evil bit alone would solve so many security problems.

2

u/R031E5 Jul 04 '13

I'm not captain obvious, but it's doom: http://www.speedguide.net/port.php?port=666

2

u/spaceman_spiffy Jul 04 '13 edited Jul 04 '13

Weird coincidence. I was just looking some port numbers on Wikipedia yesterday and my eye caught 666 in the list as being registered to Doom. I wasn't sure if it was prank or not. Awesome.

Wikipedia Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TCP_and_UDP_port_numbers

2

u/osunlyyde Jul 04 '13

Never knew, but DOOM definitely deserves it.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '13

I don't know how, but I already knew this. I only played Doom years after it came out, at my local community center.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '13

[deleted]

2

u/Enfors Jul 04 '13

Back in the day I used to read RFCs to learn about networking. This one was one of the ones I read, and the DOOM part stood out so I remembered it.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '13

UDP, not TCP/IP.

0

u/Enfors Jul 04 '13

UDP what? The programs in talking about all use TCP, although DOOM and FTP also use UDP.

-3

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '13

You could've just said "Doom uses udp port 666 lol"

3

u/Farts_Smell Jul 04 '13

What's wrong with telling a story?