Net use sreevay!

Stolen from several.people.

1. When did you first connect ("go online"), and how?

March 1981. That's when I got a serial port installed on my TRS-80 Model III and bought a modem (300 baud, and yes, I really do mean *baud*). The modem had *one* three-position switch. Answer- OFF- Originate.

At the time there were two BBS systems here in Portland. And the *world* BBS list fit comfortably on a single page in Byte magazine.

2. What was your first communications program?

My first terminal program was typed in from the BASIC manual for the Model III. If the manual wasn't buried, I'd type it in. It wasn't more than 10-20 lines of BASIC.

3. When did you first chat over the Internet, and how?

Over the Internet? About a year back. ICQ due to Griffen telling me to use it. :-)

But I first engaged in online chat on a multi-user BBS in the summer of 1981. (the BBS was a program being allowed to run on a minicomputer at the county which was going to be decommissioned in the fall).

And I used the CB Simulator on CompuServe in the late 80s. Mostly for conferences in the Human Sexuality Forum.

4. What chat type program(s) do you use now?

Trillian. Dunno what I'll use on the OS/2, DOS and Mac boxes when I get them working with the Internet.

5. Who was your first service provider?

CompuServe. Except back then it was still Microline.

I got my first Internet access (email and news) through a local system called Percival that ran on a TRS-80 Model 16 computer running Xenix. Later I got access there the Bit Bucket BBS (a weird homebrew system) and agora (a PC running Xenix, now a small local ISP)

This was back before domains. My email address back then was ...!reed!percival!something (replace something with whatever username I had, I don't recall what it was).

6. Did you ever use AOL?

Nope.

7. Do you admit using AOL in public?

See above.

8. Who is your current ISP?

Several. I have an account at rain.com (the domain krypton.rain.com is mine) as well as an account with Infinity Internet (formerly Pacifier). I have that for dialup connectivity, and reliable newsgroups. I have an account with Comcast (formerly AT&T Broadband) as that's the only way to get high speed internet with without paying an arm and a leg. And I have a domain with PMA Consulting. That's where my web pages will be when I get around to completing them, and it's where the pictures in this LJ are hosted.

9. What was the first computer that you used to access the 'net?

My TRS-80 Model III. Then a TRS-80 Modfel 100, then a PC clone.

10. What computer do you use to access the 'net today?

Mostly a couple of Win 98SE desktop systems (AMD K6-2/500 and AMD K6-300). But I also use an old laptop running Win98SE (P-133) and a Philips Velo I running WinCE 2.1. And the email for the krypton.rain.com domain goes thru a 486DX-66 system using uucp via a modem. and gets processed on my OS/2 Warp 4 box (another K6-2/500)

11. What was your first 'net handle?

Not sure. But I've used Shadow for a *long* time. Check the archives here Backwater Archives to see one of the places I was active "in the old days".

12. Did you use any other handles for any length of time? If so, what were they?

I *still use several. Mostly to help sort email by topic.

13. What 'net handle do you normally use now?

I don't use handles a lot. But I've got a couple of email addresses as shadow@, a couple as kengr@, and one as brooke@ and another as erik@. And a couple more, not counting the spamxxx@ addresses I supply when websites demand an email address (one of the advantages of owning a domain to the extent of doing your own mail handling)

Shadow is pretty general. kengr is used for some kink related lists and newsgroups. Erik is used for Society for Creative Anachronism stuff. And brooke is used for TV/TG/TS stuff and for replies to my LJ entries.

14. Are you active on any websites other than LJ? If you're willing to say, what ones?

A bunch of mailing lists. And several newsgroups.