28 Jun
2007
28 Jun
'07
9:47 a.m.
On 6/28/07, Jason T <silent700 at gmail.com> wrote:
Not my first modem (that would have been the Vicmodem
on the CBM Vic
20,)...
I still have my bought-new-in-1982 VIC modem that I used to use to get
on CompuServe when I was in High School. There weren't any decent
comms programs for the C-64 back then, so I started by rolling my own
in BASIC (complete with ASCII<->PETSCII translation), then went on to
beta-test VidTex for the C-64. 20 years later, I ended up working in
the same group at CompuServe as some of the guys that had previously
been building the VidTex-based content. I brought my xeroxed
preliminary manual in, and fired up the VidTex client for them under
VICE. They were impressed and amazed (stunned?) that someone had
preserved any of that.
$5.00 / hr at 300 baud (off-peak)... I *surely* don't think _those_
were "good old days".
It was fun, but expensive. An off-the-cuff estimate is that charges
for an hour then would equate in today's dollars to at least a month
of all-you-can-eat dial-up service now, or a substantial chunk of a
month's broadband service. One hour.
-ethan