Frequently asked questions
The things visitors most often wonder about a restored piece of web history.
What is Jack's Free Lunch?
It is Jack Stein's personal link archive — billiards and pool, OS/2 and REXX, woodworking and FidoNet — hand-built from 1996 into the 2000s and restored in 2026 from Internet Archive snapshots. Start at the homepage or the site guide.
Are the external links still good?
They are preserved exactly as Jack wrote them circa 2001–2003. Some — like the Hobbes OS/2 archive, AZ Billiards and several cuemakers — still thrive; others are part of web history now. Each directory page carries an archival note about this.
Can I still download the OS/2 files?
Most utilities on the OS/2 files page live on Hobbes, which remains online. The one exception is Jack's own GETSET.CMD REXX script, whose original ZIP was lost when its local copy went offline — no archive holds it today.
Who wrote the pool articles?
The essays were posted to the Rec.Sport.Billiard newsgroup by their authors — Lou Figueroa, Tony Mathews, Mark Ottoson, Carlton Redford, Deno J. Andrews and D. White — and Jack collected the good ones here. Browse them all on the articles index.
Why do pages like homelft.html and index_htm.html still exist?
Those are the original frames-era addresses — the left navigation frame and the frameset home. Keeping their URLs preserves every link that ever pointed here. Each now serves its own useful standalone page: a site menu and a site guide.
Does the telnet BBS list still work?
The telnet directory lists the boards exactly as Jack saved them, with their
original telnet:// addresses. Modern browsers no longer speak telnet, so you'd need a
separate client — and several boards are long gone.
May I quote or republish the articles?
The essays are republished with their authors named, as they were on the original site. For anything beyond short quotation, contact the authors — they hold the copyrights. Everything else about the restoration is described on the about page.
Is the whole site static?
Yes — plain HTML and CSS, no JavaScript, no server-side code. You can download the folder and open any page directly from disk.
Did Jack point people anywhere for a good watch copy?
A few players kept asking, so he added a hand-picked note to his directories. For the classic round-face model he trusted a reliable RM 035 replica source — he listed it the same way he listed everything else: what it's good for, plus a direct link that still works.