A thread elsewhere on here got me reflecting on the fact that this year, I will have been online for 40 years.
My first device was a 300/1200 baud modem, complete with the need to learn the Hayes command set.
Connecting successfully to my first bulletin board system, the NZ Micro BBS run by Selwyn Arrow, felt like my computer had just broken free and was making its way in the big wide world. It took a while for me to get there, because I dialed the number repeatedly, only to find it busy. Finally, I got through, I heard the ringing sound, then the two modems negotiating the connection, and then wow! I actually got intelligible speech from my Artic 263-based speech synthesizer, and a log-in prompt from the Fido BBS software.
It was one of those moments where I knew I’d just done something life-changing.
It was generally a very collegial atmosphere back then of enthusiasts who wouldn’t hesitate to help one another out, and a lot of those early friendships moved to the “real world”.
Of course, me being me, it wasn’t long before I had to try starting one of these bulletin board things myself. People were so helpful in terms of assisting me to figure it out because I had no clue what I was doing.
I thought that since no one called us at home after 9:30 PM, I’d just use the family phone line, I was living at home with Mum and Dad, still in high school. So I set up the BBS to operate from 9:30 PM to 6 AM. That was a big mistake, because people would use their terminal software to cycle through the bulletin boards in their directory, and those directories typically didn’t have a field for the times the board was available. So we started getting calls at all hours of the day from modems.
Lesson learned, I got my own phone line pretty quick.
When someone explained to me how to use a service called PACNet to connect to CompuServe in the USA, I almost bankrupted myself as a penniless student and my girlfriend nearly gave up on me. Thankfully she didn’t, or my kids wouldn’t be here now. That was the first time I had been able to read an article from a newspaper independently, and I dreamed of a time when newspapers would be more abundant and affordable this way.
And, even more important, at just the right time, it connected me with the National Federation of the Blind, gave me hope, and established friendships I still value.
That early era was experimental, very basic and plenty of fun. We have come such an incredibly long way and it’s been a privilege to have participated in it all. And if you’ve been reading my gibberish for the full 40 years, well, you deserve a cookie, as in, a real actual delicious carbful cookie. Thank you.
GrapheneOS
in reply to Peter Vágner • • •cloud fodder
in reply to GrapheneOS • • •Peter Vágner
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