How Long Have You Been Using The Internet?

I had a girlfriend that worked for a company that was owned by Compuserve in around 1988. She told me that they just got an inter-company email system. She explained that she was able to send a messae to a co-work via her computer. I thought she was crazy, that will never catch on. Just use the phone if you need to take to someone. Oh well....

 

In 1989 I expanded the internet in San Jose, CA....
where it all started.

Or, wait.


was it Al Gore?
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

When I first started on the internet, probably 25 years ago or more, my first connection was a 300 baud ascustic modem - we would place the phone hand piece on the modem. Incredible slow but a sign of things to come. My first several computers were HealthKits that had to be built almost from scratch (had to make the wiring harnesses, ground the picture tube, etc). If my memory serves me correctly (this was a long time ago), my first ISP was Compuserve. Each generation of computers was easier to build. The first one took two weeks of labor. The last one took about 90 minutes.

 

Got into BBSing back in 91/92... Back then it was a bunch of pimply faced junior high schoolers talking smack and starting crap online. Fast forward 17 years and now I'm on message boards with old rich guys who talk smack and start crap online. Hm

-R

 

I was first on the actual internet in 1990. The "information service" you guys are talking about was called Gopher. Usenet (which is still around, mostly by way of Google Groups) was big, and I was big on the car newsgroups back in those days. I remember when the WWW was all text based and was not much different from Gopher, until they added support for images. Back in the day the browser was from CERN and was text only. Not until around 1993 was there images.

The other networks were AOL, CompuServe, Prodidy and a few "rings" of BBS's. I was doing the BBS thing back when you generally used an acoustic coupler and an old style telephone handset that you plugged into the rubber cups LOL!

I was also big on FidoNET which, amazingly is still around!

I remember when 1200 baud modems were smokin! Then 2400 (wow!) then 9600bps and I even spend close to $1k on one of those Hayes modems with the silver case that had error correction. Then there were the 14.4k 'faxmodems', then the superfast 28.8k (of which I have a few still in my home in a box somewhere) then the 56kbps models and it sort of died from then on.

I also remember my first IBM XT computer (8088) running DOS 2.1 I think it was. I remember having the cool amber monitor as opposed to the green one everyone else had. I remember hitting "/" to bring up the menu in Lotus 1-2-3

My first computer was a ZX-81, one of the first home computers. That was around 1982 or so and it was the bomb! I remember trying to load games using the tape player and listening for the screeching, then rewinding a bit, and plugging into the computer and playing and watching the "loading...." sit forever on the screen. And I remember subscribing to "Input" magazine and entering in the programs that they gave you in the back of it (games and such).

Memories!

 

My first internet access came when I was a freshman in college (fall of 1991). Used it mostly for email between friends on campus and at other schools. I started playing a Multi User Dungeon game (text based) about that same time so I suppose that that was my first time playing games online.

 

Any one remember the Vic 20?

I had one...tape drive, .... old school.

Mike in Kuwait

 

It was slow---It used to take like 6 minutes to load one picture of a naked woman back then...

 

BS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

and this ---


,.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

"back in the day" I never used any of those BBS services, so I missed out on the Prodigy/Compuserve era. Around the time Netscape came about(early 90's) is when I jumped on the internet as we know it today. What a time though, a time before the government took note of it and had it's ever reaching hand on everyone's MAC address and data packets.

 

Early '90's for me.

 

then you must remember Xview ...... I learnt a lot about the vi editor when downloading the multiple files which needed clipping and appending to view in Xviewer

 

10 years.

Started when I was 4. I used to look on ebay at cars and click on every single one and look at the pictures... It was great

 

I think having IT mandatory in schools in the US would leave too many kids "left behind", which would be against the law. Heheh. I'm just kidding guys, I am ignorant of your school systems, I just went in for a cheap pun. No harm intended.
We first started using the internet in 1994, using a 14.4 kbs modem. in 1995, I watched my first movie trailer online. Mortal Kombat! It took all night to download the 10 megabyte file, but what a novelty! The ability to watch video from the internet! I continue this practice to this day, I check www.comingsoon.net everyday for the new trailers for movies coming out.
This internet is such a marvelous thing.

 

Lamour, do you still "steal" your neighbors internet? Cheap Bastid!

 

I need to subscribe so I can start the most important poll:

How long have you been using the Internet to download p0rn?

Anyone remember the ASCII printouts that formed a picture if viewed from a distance?

 

my first online porn experience involved punch cards

 

what, give up something free ??

 

About half my life!

Weird to think about.

 

I was on bbs' long long long ago, but Prodigy and GEnie as well as a similar system we had at school in the mid-late 80's. Heck, I remember when Prodigy had "Carousel" only on IBM XT computers. It was the first time you got live notification of emails. Back then, you had to log off and back on to get new emails. 2400baud was fast then!

In 94 I was on the VineOnline, a Hollywood-only sysem like AOL at the same time I started coding for a fledgling ISP in LA. ISDN b-channels were hot, and when DSL came out I could not help but laugh at the acronym.

My favorite game of the Prodigy time was 688 Attack Sub. You'd hit "F10" aka the "boss key" that had a blinking command prompt, it was awesome!