In the early 80s, I "telecommuted" with an accoustic coupler running at a blazing speed of 300 baud. Everything was character cell, no graphics, the modem ran at 30 characters a second. It took "days" to fill a screen.
Posted on 10/17/2014 5:03:18 PM PDT by sopwith
I was the first writer to cover the Web for a popular audience, and it did prove popular. I mean, it must have had hundreds of thousands of users in 1993! Today, Facebook alone has over a billion users. What's Hot on ZDNet
Apple releases OS X Yosemite for Mac for free; iWork updated iOS 8.1 available October 20 for iPhones, iPads Apple Pay ready for lift-off and Google 'trying to get it right' Microsoft to 'Connect' with developers at November event in New York
You see the problem was that it was really, really hard to use the Web in the early days. Unix was the only operating system with real Internet support. If you wanted to use Windows 3.1 to connect to the Web you needed to use a program called Trumpet Winsock. It was an incredible pain-in-the-rump to set up properly.
Just getting an Internet connection was a major headache. There were very few ISPs in the early 90s. And, even if you did have a connection, you would be lucky to have a "fast' V.32bis 28.8Kbps connection. And those early Web browsers, such as Lynx and WWW well not as much a pain in the rump to use as Winsock were anything but easy.
(Excerpt) Read more at zdnet.com ...
28.8 ? I started with much less , late 80’s pclink and compuserve and bbs, think the modem was 300 b.
Reading and posting this using lynx.
My first modem was an acoustical one that moved at a blistering 9600 baud.
knew the name but had to look it up.
installing now.
I remember running around with (I think) Netscape 1.2 on a disc in my pocket - it was the last version that could fit on a single disc - installing it on computers all over the building I was working in, because somehow my superiors had decided this was my job (actually I was supposed to delegate it to somebody more junior but after numerous efforts to explain what was needed, it was easier just to do it myself).
Then a week or so later having to write up a set of guidelines as to how to use this new world wide web - it should have, but honestly did not occur to me, that in a building full of sailors (most of who were still in their twenties) that thoughts would rapidly turn to “Hey, can I find porn with this?”. At that moment, I realised I’d become an old fart.
Ha. I used Netscape. SO cutting edge at the time.
I wonder if my CompuServe email is still active?
Don’t remember my password. :-(
It was probably phishing, anyway.
Blistering indeed. I remember 110bps. Watched my brother download the New Testament - took 9 hours.
As did I...my time flies.
In the early 80s, I "telecommuted" with an accoustic coupler running at a blazing speed of 300 baud. Everything was character cell, no graphics, the modem ran at 30 characters a second. It took "days" to fill a screen.
My original remote logons were in 1976 with a teletype at 110 baud from Tampa Florida to MDSI in Ann arbor Michigan.
You were charge for connection time and computer cpu usage. I used a language called Compact II to generate CNC milling programs. The teletype would then be used to punch out the output to paper tape for use in the Cincinati Milacron 3 axis mill. The owner of the company came to me one day with a 300.00 usage bill. ( I learned to check my looping counter code better before submitting my runs.) Not quite the web, but real world use.
My first modem back in 1984 was 1200 baud.
The library had Netscape so that’s what I used. I remember the stores trying to convince females to buy a computer so you could load your recipes onto them.
Awwwww, Netscrape...
Coulduh been a contender. ..
I loved Compuserve. Online discussions, hobbies etc, Access to different Databases like Lexis-Nexis, BBS, 300 baud modems. Those were the days
I remember showing my wife Compuserve on a 300 baud phone modem. I excitedly pointed out to her that Sears was offering products to sell. Her response was that no woman would ever want to buy from a list. She said they wanted to go to the store to see and touch before they bought anything. I’ve since been trying (unsuccessfully) to find a way to suggest she may have been somewhat less than correct.
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