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1981 Internet story
This is pretty cool. TV news about the future of the Internet ....
from 1981 http://www.wimp.com/theinternet/ |
1981 Internet story
On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 12:46:36 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote: This is pretty cool. TV news about the future of the Internet .... from 1981 http://www.wimp.com/theinternet/ === That is cool, brings back fond, and not so fond, memories of 300 baud acoustic modems, Compuserve, TelNet (sp?), etc. It all seemed pretty miraculous at the time but the equipment and service was slow and cranky. You really didn't need a home computer for most of that. A lot of work got done with teletype-like time sharing terminals or so called glass teletypes. Some of the Compuserve bulletin boards were first rate with actual factory reps participating. It's hard to believe that all of that was over 30 years ago. |
1981 Internet story
On Monday, July 29, 2013 12:32:04 PM UTC-5, Wayne. B wrote:
On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 12:46:36 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote: This is pretty cool. TV news about the future of the Internet .... from 1981 http://www.wimp.com/theinternet/ === That is cool, brings back fond, and not so fond, memories of 300 baud acoustic modems, Compuserve, TelNet (sp?), etc. It all seemed pretty miraculous at the time but the equipment and service was slow and cranky. So THAT'S what my problem is! |
1981 Internet story
In article ,
says... On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 13:32:04 -0400, Wayne.B wrote: On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 12:46:36 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote: This is pretty cool. TV news about the future of the Internet .... from 1981 http://www.wimp.com/theinternet/ === That is cool, brings back fond, and not so fond, memories of 300 baud acoustic modems, Compuserve, TelNet (sp?), etc. It all seemed pretty miraculous at the time but the equipment and service was slow and cranky. You really didn't need a home computer for most of that. A lot of work got done with teletype-like time sharing terminals or so called glass teletypes. Some of the Compuserve bulletin boards were first rate with actual factory reps participating. It's hard to believe that all of that was over 30 years ago. I knew some hams that transitioned to teletype in the late 70s but the computer deal really did not get going until the Hayes modem kicked amateur users up to a blazing 1200 BPS. I was on Prodigy shortly after the 1984 rollout. It was free for IBM guys for a long time. I had a "first day" ship PC1 but I got it used from an IBM guy when he upgraded to an AT. Ah, yes, Prodigy on an 8088!!! My color monitor was the bomb! |
1981 Internet story
On 7/30/13 7:48 AM, iBoaterer wrote:
In article , says... On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 13:32:04 -0400, Wayne.B wrote: On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 12:46:36 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote: This is pretty cool. TV news about the future of the Internet .... from 1981 http://www.wimp.com/theinternet/ === That is cool, brings back fond, and not so fond, memories of 300 baud acoustic modems, Compuserve, TelNet (sp?), etc. It all seemed pretty miraculous at the time but the equipment and service was slow and cranky. You really didn't need a home computer for most of that. A lot of work got done with teletype-like time sharing terminals or so called glass teletypes. Some of the Compuserve bulletin boards were first rate with actual factory reps participating. It's hard to believe that all of that was over 30 years ago. I knew some hams that transitioned to teletype in the late 70s but the computer deal really did not get going until the Hayes modem kicked amateur users up to a blazing 1200 BPS. I was on Prodigy shortly after the 1984 rollout. It was free for IBM guys for a long time. I had a "first day" ship PC1 but I got it used from an IBM guy when he upgraded to an AT. Ah, yes, Prodigy on an 8088!!! My color monitor was the bomb! I was on CIS and for a while on another similar provider, the name of which I don't recall...wait a minute, was it The Source? I am proud that I never tried AOL. :) |
1981 Internet story
On 7/30/13 8:44 AM, Gogarty wrote:
In article , says... (Snip) I was on CIS and for a while on another similar provider, the name of which I don't recall...wait a minute, was it The Source? I am proud that I never tried AOL. :) It was The Source. Thanks for jolting my memory. Never did AOL or Compuserve. My equipment was all Radio Shack -- TRS80 and TRS100 laptop. That was a really usefful machine. Ran on AA batteries, used acoustic cups with modem. We were early computerized travellers. Really started witha huge IBM word processor in 1970. Ahh, the Trash80. Lots of my friends had that one. They all called it their Trash80. My first "computer" was an IBM MT/ST. It wasn't mine, actually, but when I worked at the teachers union, my secretary was the "operator." It was a large, clunky memory typewriter that used selectric like type balls. I had to run it on occasion on weekends to produce crap for board meetings. It was just awful. I learned Basic programming with my first PC, an IBM PC. Very frustrating at first because just about everything I input came back with "syntax error" errors. Cursed a lot...as a guy with two degrees in English, I did not make "syntax errors," but of course these were syntax errors of a completely different variety. :) I had a freebie account at The Source because a friend had the company as an advertising and PR account and he had "freebie" accounts to give out. |
1981 Internet story
In article ,
says... On 7/30/13 8:44 AM, Gogarty wrote: In article , says... (Snip) I was on CIS and for a while on another similar provider, the name of which I don't recall...wait a minute, was it The Source? I am proud that I never tried AOL. :) It was The Source. Thanks for jolting my memory. Never did AOL or Compuserve. My equipment was all Radio Shack -- TRS80 and TRS100 laptop. That was a really usefful machine. Ran on AA batteries, used acoustic cups with modem. We were early computerized travellers. Really started witha huge IBM word processor in 1970. Ahh, the Trash80. Lots of my friends had that one. They all called it their Trash80. My first "computer" was an IBM MT/ST. It wasn't mine, actually, but when I worked at the teachers union, my secretary was the "operator." It was a large, clunky memory typewriter that used selectric like type balls. I had to run it on occasion on weekends to produce crap for board meetings. It was just awful. I learned Basic programming with my first PC, an IBM PC. Very frustrating at first because just about everything I input came back with "syntax error" errors. Cursed a lot...as a guy with two degrees in English, I did not make "syntax errors," but of course these were syntax errors of a completely different variety. :) I had a freebie account at The Source because a friend had the company as an advertising and PR account and he had "freebie" accounts to give out. My first computer was a Sinclair that you hooked to the TV. Learned DOS on it, then on to TRS-80 which wasn't an "IBM word processor" by the way, it was a Radio Shack. |
1981 Internet story
iBoaterer wrote:
In article , says... On 7/30/13 8:44 AM, Gogarty wrote: In article , says... (Snip) I was on CIS and for a while on another similar provider, the name of which I don't recall...wait a minute, was it The Source? I am proud that I never tried AOL. :) It was The Source. Thanks for jolting my memory. Never did AOL or Compuserve. My equipment was all Radio Shack -- TRS80 and TRS100 laptop. That was a really usefful machine. Ran on AA batteries, used acoustic cups with modem. We were early computerized travellers. Really started witha huge IBM word processor in 1970. Ahh, the Trash80. Lots of my friends had that one. They all called it their Trash80. My first "computer" was an IBM MT/ST. It wasn't mine, actually, but when I worked at the teachers union, my secretary was the "operator." It was a large, clunky memory typewriter that used selectric like type balls. I had to run it on occasion on weekends to produce crap for board meetings. It was just awful. I learned Basic programming with my first PC, an IBM PC. Very frustrating at first because just about everything I input came back with "syntax error" errors. Cursed a lot...as a guy with two degrees in English, I did not make "syntax errors," but of course these were syntax errors of a completely different variety. :) I had a freebie account at The Source because a friend had the company as an advertising and PR account and he had "freebie" accounts to give out. My first computer was a Sinclair that you hooked to the TV. Learned DOS on it, then on to TRS-80 which wasn't an "IBM word processor" by the way, it was a Radio Shack. My first computer was an NCR 315. Filled a room. 10k decimal memory. Tape drives, and mag card ( CRAM ) for storage. 1964. First times on the net was ARPAnet with KSR33 and VT52 terminals on DEC systems. First PC was about $10,000 total. Bought for company and had disk drive and 8" floppy. Still have a recipe for spicy peanut noodles I printed out on a dot matrix printer from the Bay Area forum in about 1982. As to VisiCalc, we had DEC corp equipment at Visicorp I designed to run Edison drives. System Industries was the employer then. |
1981 Internet story
In article 1596790600396888137.859481bmckeenospam-
, says... iBoaterer wrote: In article , says... On 7/30/13 8:44 AM, Gogarty wrote: In article , says... (Snip) I was on CIS and for a while on another similar provider, the name of which I don't recall...wait a minute, was it The Source? I am proud that I never tried AOL. :) It was The Source. Thanks for jolting my memory. Never did AOL or Compuserve. My equipment was all Radio Shack -- TRS80 and TRS100 laptop. That was a really usefful machine. Ran on AA batteries, used acoustic cups with modem. We were early computerized travellers. Really started witha huge IBM word processor in 1970. Ahh, the Trash80. Lots of my friends had that one. They all called it their Trash80. My first "computer" was an IBM MT/ST. It wasn't mine, actually, but when I worked at the teachers union, my secretary was the "operator." It was a large, clunky memory typewriter that used selectric like type balls. I had to run it on occasion on weekends to produce crap for board meetings. It was just awful. I learned Basic programming with my first PC, an IBM PC. Very frustrating at first because just about everything I input came back with "syntax error" errors. Cursed a lot...as a guy with two degrees in English, I did not make "syntax errors," but of course these were syntax errors of a completely different variety. :) I had a freebie account at The Source because a friend had the company as an advertising and PR account and he had "freebie" accounts to give out. My first computer was a Sinclair that you hooked to the TV. Learned DOS on it, then on to TRS-80 which wasn't an "IBM word processor" by the way, it was a Radio Shack. My first computer was an NCR 315. Filled a room. 10k decimal memory. Tape drives, and mag card ( CRAM ) for storage. 1964. First times on the net was ARPAnet with KSR33 and VT52 terminals on DEC systems. First PC was about $10,000 total. Bought for company and had disk drive and 8" floppy. Still have a recipe for spicy peanut noodles I printed out on a dot matrix printer from the Bay Area forum in about 1982. As to VisiCalc, we had DEC corp equipment at Visicorp I designed to run Edison drives. System Industries was the employer then. I remember when my brother was in college, I went to see him and he took me to the electronics lab. We went to the computer which was in a large room and he explained to me how he was going to have that computer talk to another computer at another campus and have it print an answer back. I was just amazed when the other computer printed out an answer to a math problem for him! |
1981 Internet story
In article ,
says... On Tue, 30 Jul 2013 10:12:11 -0500, Califbill wrote: iBoaterer wrote: In article , says... On 7/30/13 8:44 AM, Gogarty wrote: In article , says... (Snip) I was on CIS and for a while on another similar provider, the name of which I don't recall...wait a minute, was it The Source? I am proud that I never tried AOL. :) It was The Source. Thanks for jolting my memory. Never did AOL or Compuserve. My equipment was all Radio Shack -- TRS80 and TRS100 laptop. That was a really usefful machine. Ran on AA batteries, used acoustic cups with modem. We were early computerized travellers. Really started witha huge IBM word processor in 1970. Ahh, the Trash80. Lots of my friends had that one. They all called it their Trash80. My first "computer" was an IBM MT/ST. It wasn't mine, actually, but when I worked at the teachers union, my secretary was the "operator." It was a large, clunky memory typewriter that used selectric like type balls. I had to run it on occasion on weekends to produce crap for board meetings. It was just awful. I learned Basic programming with my first PC, an IBM PC. Very frustrating at first because just about everything I input came back with "syntax error" errors. Cursed a lot...as a guy with two degrees in English, I did not make "syntax errors," but of course these were syntax errors of a completely different variety. :) I had a freebie account at The Source because a friend had the company as an advertising and PR account and he had "freebie" accounts to give out. My first computer was a Sinclair that you hooked to the TV. Learned DOS on it, then on to TRS-80 which wasn't an "IBM word processor" by the way, it was a Radio Shack. My first computer was an NCR 315. Filled a room. 10k decimal memory. Tape drives, and mag card ( CRAM ) for storage. 1964. First times on the net was ARPAnet with KSR33 and VT52 terminals on DEC systems. First PC was about $10,000 total. Bought for company and had disk drive and 8" floppy. Still have a recipe for spicy peanut noodles I printed out on a dot matrix printer from the Bay Area forum in about 1982. As to VisiCalc, we had DEC corp equipment at Visicorp I designed to run Edison drives. System Industries was the employer then. In the late 60s and early 70s I had just about all the mainframe time I wanted so I was writing 360 assembler in my spare time. It took a while before I figured out why I would want a computer at home. I was making purpose built machines with TTL and CMOS. I still like that idea more than using the ubiquitous PIC that everyone likes. Once we started using PCs at work, I wanted one at home. Parts were free. I just couldn't get cases. That is why most of my early machines were "woodies" My PS/2 mod 70 http://gfretwell.com/electrical/woody.jpg He said woody.... |
1981 Internet story
In article ,
says... In article , says... (Snip) My first computer was a Sinclair that you hooked to the TV. Learned DOS on it, then on to TRS-80 which wasn't an "IBM word processor" by the way, it was a Radio Shack. The Trash80 had a max of useable RAM of about 30K. To fit into that Radio Shack devised a superb word processing program the name of which now escapes me. I use the TRS WP as long as I had the TRS80, which, by the way, originally had no lower case. Eventually you could buy a chip and insert it to get lower case. My clients were not pleased to receive text in teletype form. So I would compose the text and hand it to my wife who then typed up a proper copy with upper and lower case. My printer in those days was an enormous Anderson-Jacobson terminal which had an IBM mechanism including the golf ball typehead. Scripsit!!! |
1981 Internet story
F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 7/30/13 8:44 AM, Gogarty wrote: In article , says... (Snip) I was on CIS and for a while on another similar provider, the name of which I don't recall...wait a minute, was it The Source? I am proud that I never tried AOL. :) It was The Source. Thanks for jolting my memory. Never did AOL or Compuserve. My equipment was all Radio Shack -- TRS80 and TRS100 laptop. That was a really usefful machine. Ran on AA batteries, used acoustic cups with modem. We were early computerized travellers. Really started witha huge IBM word processor in 1970. Ahh, the Trash80. Lots of my friends had that one. They all called it their Trash80. My first "computer" was an IBM MT/ST. It wasn't mine, actually, but when I worked at the teachers union, my secretary was the "operator." It was a large, clunky memory typewriter that used selectric like type balls. I had to run it on occasion on weekends to produce crap for board meetings. It was just awful. I learned Basic programming with my first PC, an IBM PC. Very frustrating at first because just about everything I input came back with "syntax error" errors. Cursed a lot...as a guy with two degrees in English, I did not make "syntax errors," but of course these were syntax errors of a completely different variety. :) I had a freebie account at The Source because a friend had the company as an advertising and PR account and he had "freebie" accounts to give out. Two degrees? The BS continues. |
1981 Internet story
wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jul 2013 13:40:19 -0400, Gogarty wrote: My printer in those days was an enormous Anderson-Jacobson terminal which had an IBM mechanism including the golf ball typehead. I can't begin to tell you how much we liked the dot matrix printer when it started replacing all of those Selectric based consoles. The selectric was an improvement over the NCR 315 console which was originally an IBM typewriter pre Selectric with solenoids to trip the hammer. Then we had on the later model a Teletype receive only terminal that was super light duty, that was designed to turn on only while a message was being received. We ran the shafts in oilite bushings 24/7. Cut grooves in the shaft. PIA to rebuild. |
1981 Internet story
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