History...

[kengr]

While reading someone else's LJ, a comment of theirs got me to thinking.

I've been on the Internet for around 20 years. And, if I recall correctly, it was in March of 1981 that I got my first modem. (I still have one of the same model, simply for the sake of boggling newbies).

So I've been online for 24 years.

I want you to try to picture this. My system had cost $1000 *before* adding things like extra RAM, a serial port and a modem (and a serial port wasn't standard then!).

It was a TRS-80 Model III. Z-80 CPU at 2(?) MHz. 16k of RAM (which I expanded to the max of 48k as soon as I could). Yes *k*, not meg.

Storage was cassette tapes at 1500 baud. The display was monochrome with 16 lines of 64 characters. Graphics resolution was 128x48.

When I went online, there were two BBS systems in Portland. I got their numbers from Byte magazine. The *national* BBS list took up only one page. And the print wasn't super small.

The modem was 300 baud. I had to dial the phone, and when I heard the modem on the other end answer, flip the toggle switch on the modem from Off to Originate.

I want you youngsters to try to imagine when that was state of the art in home computers...

I got onto CompuServe a bit later and stayed on it until 1994 or so.

I got onto the Internet sometime around 1985.

I have to wonder what it'll be like in another 20 years?

Comments

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

My first computer was a trash 80 micro 10 basic...hooked up to the tv and I couldn't even afford the magnetic tape recorder to store programs, I had to fat finger 'em in every time. We got our first modem much later, a blazing fast 300 baud model you plugged your phone into, second hand, of course. Remember what the world was like before the world wide web? Playing Zort on a BBS. And the sound the phone made hooking up to the internet...the geek love call! Yeah, I think we are living in some very interesting times, technologically speaking. Ain't it great?

[kengr]

Ah yes, the MC-10. I have several of those, including at least one with ther 16K expansion. Have you ever seen the memory map for that thing? it's *insane*.

I went from the "manual" 300 baud to one with autodial and auto answer (before the Hayes command set became standard). Then it was a 1200, then a 2400. Then a big jump to a Telebit T2500. 9600 bps with most modems, 18k with another Telebit. Now, of course, I've got v.92 modems, and a 4meg down 384k up cable connection. :-)