Quantum Link (or Q-Link) was a U.S.online service for Commodore 64 and 128 personal computers that operated from November 5, 1985 to November 1, 1994. It was operated by Quantum Computer Services of Vienna, Virginia, which in October 1991 changed its name to America Online, and continues to operate its AOL service for the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh today. Q-Link was a modified version of the PlayNET system, which Control Video Corporation (CVC, later renamed Quantum Computer Services) licensed.
Just as later services would, Q-Link featured electronic mail, online chat (in its People Connection department), public domain file sharing libraries, online news, and instant messaging (using On Line Messages, or OLMs). Other noteworthy features included online multiplayer games like checkers, chess, backgammon, and hangman; casino games such as bingo, slot machines, and poker in RabbitJack's Casino; and an interactive graphical resort island called Habitat while in beta-testing and later renamed to Club Caribe.
Club Caribe was developed with Lucasfilm Games and was designed using software that would later form the basis of Lucasfilm's Maniac Mansion SCUMM story system. Users controlled on-screen avatars that could chat with other users, carry and use objects and money (called tokens), and travel around the island one screenful at a time. It was a predecessor to today's MMOGs.
More on [ Quantum Link ]

JohnD39's QLink Page - Pictures of Q-Link alumni and an internet contact list.
Quantum Link Members Guide - Includes a command reference chart and function key overlays for the 64 and 128.
Quantum Link Reloaded - Project to resurrect Quantum Link. There's a forum and instructions for connecting with a C64/128 or VICE emulator.
Remember Q-Link! - Memories and screenshots of Quantum Link, the popular Commodore 64/128 ancestor of America Online.
Meta Description: [ Here's a memorial to two much-missed pieces of computing history: Q-Link and the Commodore 64 personal computer. Includes personal screen shots and other photos, plus links to other Commodore 64/Q-Link pages. Newly expanded with many more pictures than before. ]
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