WARNING: answering will reveal to the world that you're at, near or past the half-century mark in age.
76275,332. And what was YOUR CompuServe ID?
- Thread starter joeekaitis
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Oh No...lol
My very first computer had CompuServe loaded in it. Honestly, it didnt work worth crap with dial up so I switched to AOL. I am embarrased to say, I still use AOL. Its free and always works fine for me. I do have DSL thru the phone company and thankfully, not dial up anymore.
My very first computer had CompuServe loaded in it. Honestly, it didnt work worth crap with dial up so I switched to AOL. I am embarrased to say, I still use AOL. Its free and always works fine for me. I do have DSL thru the phone company and thankfully, not dial up anymore.
The Electronic Mall
I remember that electronic mall quite well. I too was using Compuserve in the mid 80's up til I changed to ATT Worldnet and then Ultranet/RCN (all of those were dial-up) and finally ATTBI (now comcast) which is cable service. I've only been on the Cable services since 2003.
I used the compuserve electronic mall to order from JCP (we didn't have a store in my area, used the catalog and would order through the mall). I also ordered from drugstore.com, electronics companies ... It was great. In fact I could have used one of those serial port credit card readers.
I remember that electronic mall quite well. I too was using Compuserve in the mid 80's up til I changed to ATT Worldnet and then Ultranet/RCN (all of those were dial-up) and finally ATTBI (now comcast) which is cable service. I've only been on the Cable services since 2003.
I used the compuserve electronic mall to order from JCP (we didn't have a store in my area, used the catalog and would order through the mall). I also ordered from drugstore.com, electronics companies ... It was great. In fact I could have used one of those serial port credit card readers.
whirlcool
Well-known member
In the early 80's I used something called "The Source". I think it was run by Readers Digest Corp or something like that.Ran into a few friends from college on it. I kept it a year or two and then got involved in the local BBS scene.
The Source, that sounds really familiar!
Back in '86 I got a used Hayes Micromodem II for $150.. It could do a whopping 110/300 Baud and was the first modem to connect me to the online world.
I frequented a lot of Calgary-Area Fidonet and independently operated BBS's for a very long time. 1990 was when I got my very first PC, with a crazy fast 2400 BPS modem, (Compared to 300 Baud, anything is crazy fast) it was like heaven in comparison.
I got my first true internet connection back in 1992, just as the web was being invented. I also got my "First" high speed modem, a cheap used USR Courier 9600. I was absolutely ELATED that I could download 10 Megabytes in 18 minutes instead of an hour!
I got a job with my ISP back in 1997 and was one of the very first people to get a high speed ADSL connection into my apartment. 8 Mb/s down, 1 Mb/s up. I recall having to fork over $1400 up front to get the account set up for a year, plus paying for service for one year. It was worth every penny.
I do recall having a "Trial" CompuServe account back in 1990, but I forgot the ID and I seem to recall it really sucked in comparison to using local PC-Based Fidonet BBS's. (At least from a user interface perspective, again this is IMHO!)
Back in '86 I got a used Hayes Micromodem II for $150.. It could do a whopping 110/300 Baud and was the first modem to connect me to the online world.
I frequented a lot of Calgary-Area Fidonet and independently operated BBS's for a very long time. 1990 was when I got my very first PC, with a crazy fast 2400 BPS modem, (Compared to 300 Baud, anything is crazy fast) it was like heaven in comparison.
I got my first true internet connection back in 1992, just as the web was being invented. I also got my "First" high speed modem, a cheap used USR Courier 9600. I was absolutely ELATED that I could download 10 Megabytes in 18 minutes instead of an hour!
I got a job with my ISP back in 1997 and was one of the very first people to get a high speed ADSL connection into my apartment. 8 Mb/s down, 1 Mb/s up. I recall having to fork over $1400 up front to get the account set up for a year, plus paying for service for one year. It was worth every penny.
I do recall having a "Trial" CompuServe account back in 1990, but I forgot the ID and I seem to recall it really sucked in comparison to using local PC-Based Fidonet BBS's. (At least from a user interface perspective, again this is IMHO!)
I tried CompuServe when we got our first computer. It was difficult to use, and expensive. Still have AOL after about 20 years.
whirlcool
Well-known member
US Sprint back in 1986 or so offered a long distance data only phone service for $1 per hour anywhere in the continental U.S. So I would have BBS accounts all over the place. I thought it was great being able to talk with people who share the same interests all over the country. Some BBS's were RBBS, Fidonet, and even a custom written one by a BBS owner called "Infoquick" which ran on a Commodore 64.
I used a program called ProComm + to access all of these.
Not too long after we were able to do our line bidding via modem rather than on paper submissions. Now THAT was greeat!
I do remember that the USR 9600 modem was not compatible with all BBS software. It would work for some, but not for others. But USR had the first 9600 modem out there.
I used a program called ProComm + to access all of these.
Not too long after we were able to do our line bidding via modem rather than on paper submissions. Now THAT was greeat!
I do remember that the USR 9600 modem was not compatible with all BBS software. It would work for some, but not for others. But USR had the first 9600 modem out there.
I used Compuserv and AOL back in the dark ages of dialup. I do not remember the ID's I used then. I do remember that everyone got all excited when 54.4 modems came out ... they were SO fast. Also, working in IT, the dream was to get a T1 line but they were extremely expensive. And then there was the problem of the dialup provider not having enough modems for peak periods and getting 'busy' signals. I recall at a bank I worked for that the modems to communicate to a location less than a block away were about the size of a microwave oven.
Heh.. I was a big fan of using "Telix". I still own a copy of it. In the Linux world, they copied it, it's called "Minicom" and works almost identically, except instead of using ALT-x commands, it's CTRL-A CTRL-x commands.
The reason for USR 9600 BPS modems not working with all systems is that Hayes and USR were in a "Protocol" war for 9600 BPS. The Hayes standard eventually was adopted while the USR standard fell by the wayside.
So, it was nice to be able to connect to a BBS which used USR modems which could still use this protocol. My old Courier was too old to do a software update on. :/
I don't know anyone who uses AOL these days, unless they live in a rural area.
To Kimbal, 56k modems were a massive hack. Realistically, due to limitations of the phone system, you could only get 52k and that was only under ideal conditions. Realistically, most customers I saw connected somewhere between 42k to 46k and that was only download speed, always 33.6k up.
To Hunter, you are right.. The Source became the Prodigy. I still have a disc floating around somewhere...
There were a couple of BBS's around here which were complete oddballs. One BBS actually ran on a homebrew network of Apple //+ machines. Another BBS had a few 286 machines all networked via ArcNET in an old mainframe cabinet. Others had Commodore 64's.. There was even one BBS here which had 8 lines coming in, it's main feature was it's chatlines.
I recall having to use "Bluewave" to read and respond to mail and posts. It was basically an offline mail reader. My favorite BBS only gave me 60 minutes a day to connect to, it would take 30 minutes to download my mail and another 20 to upload it. It would take nearly 10 minutes for the BBS to compress the "packet" so I could start downloading it.
Again, I'm off topic now...
The reason for USR 9600 BPS modems not working with all systems is that Hayes and USR were in a "Protocol" war for 9600 BPS. The Hayes standard eventually was adopted while the USR standard fell by the wayside.
So, it was nice to be able to connect to a BBS which used USR modems which could still use this protocol. My old Courier was too old to do a software update on. :/
I don't know anyone who uses AOL these days, unless they live in a rural area.
To Kimbal, 56k modems were a massive hack. Realistically, due to limitations of the phone system, you could only get 52k and that was only under ideal conditions. Realistically, most customers I saw connected somewhere between 42k to 46k and that was only download speed, always 33.6k up.
To Hunter, you are right.. The Source became the Prodigy. I still have a disc floating around somewhere...
There were a couple of BBS's around here which were complete oddballs. One BBS actually ran on a homebrew network of Apple //+ machines. Another BBS had a few 286 machines all networked via ArcNET in an old mainframe cabinet. Others had Commodore 64's.. There was even one BBS here which had 8 lines coming in, it's main feature was it's chatlines.
I recall having to use "Bluewave" to read and respond to mail and posts. It was basically an offline mail reader. My favorite BBS only gave me 60 minutes a day to connect to, it would take 30 minutes to download my mail and another 20 to upload it. It would take nearly 10 minutes for the BBS to compress the "packet" so I could start downloading it.
Again, I'm off topic now...
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whirlcool
Well-known member
Are there still any BBS around? I think the Internet pretty much killed them off.
I look at AOL as training wheels for people first getting involved with the Internet. Usually after a year or so people move on to IE, Firefox, etc. But I also know a few people who hang onto AOL and won't let go. In these cases they just don't want to spend the time to learn something new..
I look at AOL as training wheels for people first getting involved with the Internet. Usually after a year or so people move on to IE, Firefox, etc. But I also know a few people who hang onto AOL and won't let go. In these cases they just don't want to spend the time to learn something new..
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