28 Jun
2007
28 Jun
'07
12:28 p.m.
Not my first modem (that would have been the Vicmodem on the CBM Vic
20,) but probably the oldest one I put to actual use was an
Andersen-Jacobson 300 baud model. It has disappeared into the maze of
junk in my basement so I don't have the full spec on it. But it was
direct connect, had heavy-duty toggles on the front and a classy
woodgrain veneer on the top and sides :)
Believe it or not I used it from about 1993-1995, in the leaner days
when a lot of my gear came from the dumpster at the local community
college.
28 Jun
28 Jun
12:47 p.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
6:09 p.m.
On 6/28/07, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
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
Yep, probably about the same time I got mine. I was about 9 years
old, and the Vicmodem was intended to be a Christmas gift. I knew
where my parents kept it, and I used to sneak it out of the box and
call....what? I don't remember if I had found a BBS list by then.
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.
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.
That's a good way to present it. I've tried explaining CIS per-hour
service to friends whose only contact with telecom tech has been a
cable modem, but they just can't grasp it. And then when you tell
them there were no pictures.....!
(OK, there were those RLE weather maps on CIS. At 300bps, even!)
7:11 p.m.
In article <51ea77730706281509x155a051er3b9e05cada4732f3 at mail.gmail.com>,
"Jason T" <silent700 at gmail.com> writes:
That's a good way to present it. I've tried
explaining CIS per-hour
service to friends whose only contact with telecom tech has been a
cable modem, but they just can't grasp it. And then when you tell
them there were no pictures.....!
(OK, there were those RLE weather maps on CIS. At 300bps, even!)
No pictures? Are you kidding? CIS invented GIF and before that there
was line printer art. SNOOPY.BAS
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>
10:16 p.m.
On 6/28/07, Richard <legalize at xmission.com> wrote:
No pictures? Are you kidding? CIS invented GIF and
before that there
was line printer art. SNOOPY.BAS
I don't think GIF files extend back to 1982, but I'm not sure about RLE files.
Line printer art is way cool (and much older ahn 1982), but doesn't
translate well to a 40x25 char screen - I tried with some of the games
in Dave Ahl's books, but some things don't translate well from 72 x N
TTY out to a 1982 home computer screen.
-ethan
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