29 Jun
2007
29 Jun
'07
7:02 a.m.
I started out with an Acoustic coupler (Atari 830) modem when I first
started calling CIS and BBS' If someone knocked on my door I'd get
this instant long string of garbage and if I was really lucky and the
knock wasn't too long or too loud I might stay connected, what a pain in
the rear!!! Yeah I remember those first painful CIS bills, nothing
like $10.95 off-peak and $15.95 peak connection charges!!! ;-)
Ethan Dicks wrote:
On 6/28/07, Jason T <silent700 at gmail.com>
wrote:
On 6/28/07, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at
gmail.com> wrote:
Oh, yeah. I'm not sure how I survived that summer.
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...
The second big mistake my parents made was signing up for CompuServe
with the offer found in the VicModem box. Ohh the credit card bills
that followed! I don't know why I was ever allowed near a computer
again. (OK, there were those RLE weather maps on CIS.
At 300bps, even!)
Hmm... I know that RLE pictures existed (before GIF), and were
monochrome, not color, but I don't recall experiencing them in 1982.
I'm positive that my BASIC terminal program knew nothing about them.
Perhaps the VidTex client I tested knew what to do with them, but I
don't remember ever viewing any on a C-64.
Does anyone have any RLE files or know more about when and in what
context they appeared (besides, obviously, just "on CIS").
-ethan