what is was like getting online in the 80's!

[+x=usr(1536)]

4 hours ago, sideburn said:

I’m using a MagicJack (voIP). You can dial into 2600 Network and it’ll route you to tons of BBS’s 

If you really want to have some fun, check out Project MF.  It's essentially a blue-boxable telephony playground, though I'm not aware of any modems being reachable once you're on it.  Works great over VoIP using a tone dialler app that supports MF.

[sideburn]

2 hours ago, Zeptari said:

Slow, expensive and exciting. 

 That pretty much sums it up! 🤣

[sideburn]

1 hour ago, x=usr(1536) said:

If you really want to have some fun, check out Project MF.  It's essentially a blue-boxable telephony playground, though I'm not aware of any modems being reachable once you're on it.  Works great over VoIP using a tone dialler app that supports MF.

Nice! I will check it out...

[Zonie]

On 8/26/2023 at 3:43 PM, sideburn said:

I’m using a MagicJack (voIP). You can dial into 2600 Network and it’ll route you to tons of BBS’s 

LOL, I had an OOMA for like 15 years. We rarely used it and when we moved, never plugged it back in and let the number go.

[sideburn]

MagicJack is a few bucks a year I use it as my Spam # when I fill out forms and stuff and then keep the ringer turned off.

[CommodoreDecker]

I remember the XM301.  Hadn't known that Atari had a branded modem capable of a lightning-fast 1200baud that was A8 compatible, or else I'd have gone for it for my 800XL at the time. (my next modem would be a Supra 2400 mode, wheeeeeee!)

 

There was a magazine article telling of how some XM301 units had a bare wire exposed that could short out the entire thing and possibly take the computer with it. It was fun opening mine up and seeing a thin bare wire, which I clipped off carefully.

 

The line noise was fun. Waiting forever while downloading was not, especially if someone else had to get on the phone like how you had to get to the loo while someone else was using it. Unlike having to wait for the loo, the anticipation of the file download to complete was actually and genuinely exciting. 

 

The BBS board rooms were great. The "trolls" were called "ruggies" back then.

 

There'd be local meet-ups as well.

 

The internet is just a variation of the same theme; only faster. Definitely less local in feel. Maybe less organic as well, and definitely no text-based adventure or other interactive games. I miss text that looks like computer text and limited graphics. That probably saves on bandwidth as well, but with everything now at speeds deemed impossible 40 years ago, nobody needs to care about optimizing jpgs anymore. Amazed people don't use uncompressed bitmaps...

 

AT commands were fun. Anyone could use them.  

[sideburn]

Haha yeah, someone picking up the phone would instantly kill your 2 hour long 64K download. 

I used the AT commands in my BASIC war dialing program that I used to hack out calling card numbers.

I just salvaged a bunch of my programs off an old 5 1/4" floppy. Those floppy disk cleaners do work!

 

[scrummy]

It must have been around 1980 or so, I remember my father's friend from work bringing over an assortment of computer equipment and setting it up on our kitchen table. We acoustically coupled the telephone handset to one of the devices and 

after dialing, logging in to Compuserve or perhaps Micronet, he entered a a few search words and moments later printed a picture of Snoopy Ascii art made up of X's.  It was just a big picture of Snoopy.  It was a first for me and very exciting.

A few years later we had Compuserve and not too much later, I discovered Go Atari! message boards.

Edited October 26, 2023 by scrummy

[sideburn]

2 minutes ago, scrummy said:

It must have been around 1980 or so, I remember my father's friend from work bringing over an assortment of computer equipment and setting it up on our kitchen table. We acoustically coupled the telephone handset to one of the devices and 

after dialing, logging in to Compuserve or perhaps Micronet, he entered a a few search words and moments later printed a picture of Snoopy Ascii art made up of X's.  It was just a big picture of Snoopy.  It was a first for me and very exciting.

A few years later we had Compuserve and not too much later, I discovered Go Atari! message boards.

Ha! Yep I remember something very similar. I think my dads friend had Prodigy and that was what I saw first and compuserve. I think I bypassed the acoustic couple modem tho. They were on the way out. Probably 1982 or so.