News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Why isn't the internet more fun and weird?. Parent comment

Re:Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? by Baeocystin on Thursday January 31, 2019 @01:06AM (#19042760)
Modems have been around for a very long time. By the time the mid-80's rolled around, a 300-baud cuff modem was well within the range of a young kid who had some paper-route money, because that's what I did. And my family was not wealthy at all.

[edit]- I found an article from 1987 talking about how amazingly fast (and cheap) the new 2400 baud modems were. I had to chuckle, as I still remember going from 300 (slow enough that your reading speed was baud-limited) to 1200 (wow! I can barely keep up!) 2400 and above was a speed that seemed almost decadent.

http://www.technofileonline.com/texts/2400modem88.html

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? by DanBC on Thursday January 31, 2019 @02:15PM (#19047778)
The US had a mix of BBSs and online services. In the US local calls were sometimes free, which meant the BBS community was vibrant.

But the online services were really freaking pricey.

Here's a price list of online services from the 80s.

Compuserve was $11 an hour.

https://imgur.com/a/zdoZj

http://i53.tinypic.com/2janfrd.jpg

http://www.wholeearth.com/issue-electronic-edition.php?iss=1...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? by Baeocystin on Thursday January 31, 2019 @03:00PM (#19048203)
Oh, yeah, if local calls weren't free, BBS's would have never taken off the way they did. It was a thrill being part of a network where each BBS would make a nightly call to the furthest still-local BBS, which would then repeat the process... You could reach all the way across the country and back in a few days, for free! It felt like you were getting away with something. Exciting times.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? by DanBC on Thursday January 31, 2019 @03:52PM (#19048723)
Yes! Using things like Bluewave offline email reader was amazing.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? by bewo001 on Thursday January 31, 2019 @10:45AM (#19045534)
Not all parents were OK with blocking the phone line with a modem when they have just watched a movie were a curious teenager almost started WW III by accidentally hacking into the Pentagon (speaking from experience).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? by Baeocystin on Thursday January 31, 2019 @03:07PM (#19048270)
I thought it was so cool to have an acoustic-coupler modem like Broderick's character in War Games. Never did find the number to connect to the WOPR, though.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? by cfmcdonald on Thursday January 31, 2019 @02:08PM (#19047706)
In the mid-80s, only maybe 10% of U.S. households had a computer, much less a modem. You also paid by-the-minute long-distance charges for calling anyone (or any computer) outside your town.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why isn't the internet more fun and weird? by Baeocystin on Thursday January 31, 2019 @03:08PM (#19048288)
That's why local BBSes that were part of a relay network were so popular. Communicating with folks far outside one's home range 'for free' was exciting!
[ Parent | on HN ]