>--- Peter Turnbull <pete_at_dunnington.u-net.com> wrote:
>> On Nov 30, 17:57, Fred N. van Kempen wrote:
>> > > > I just wish the internet was around 10 years ago.
>> > >
>> > > Fortunately, it was.
>> > Well, yes, but not everywhere, and _certainly_ not for everyone.
>>
>> By the late '80's it covered most of Western Europe and the States
>> including non-academic sites. CIX (Compulink Information Exchange) was
>> founded in 1987, and Demon Internet in June 1992, both offering public
>> services in the UK. Demon charged UKP10/month for dialup access.
>
>10 years ago, I was doing Usenet and email through my Amiga (with two
>ST225s and a PC-XT disk controller!) with UUCP. I couldn't do ftp
>and telnet and cool stuff like that, but I could at least get a few
>newsgroups like comp.sources.amiga and rec.humor.funny delivered to my
>door.
>
>2400 bps, 20 MB news spool! Those were the days. Not.
10 Years ago, I was stationed in Washington DC, and using Holonet in
Berkley as my ISP (it was only a shell account). I accessed them via
either the Compuserve network (instead of logging into Compuserve, I was
able to log into them), or via dialup. Via Compuserve I was able to get
2400 bps, via dialup 9600bps (I had a 14.4k modem). I used 'elm' and 'tin'
(I still do), and could FTP files to my Holonet account, and then use
zmodem to transfer them to my 486/33 (running DOS, Windows, OS/2, and
Linux). The first SLS Linux distro would have come out roughly 10 years
ago. It cost me over $200 in access fees ($6 per hour for Holonet, plus
Compuserve charges) to download it. I'd download part of it each day, then
upload it to a couple of the DC BBS's. I did that for two different SLS
distro's. I'd initially bought OS/2 as commercial UNIX's cost $500+, then
a in Jan '92 I discovered Linux. I've got to admit it hurt a little when I
realized I'd have gotten off cheaper getting a commercial UNIX :^)
I kept with Holonet for until around '99, which was well after I'd gotten
on Netcom. I prefer DSL, and my current setup. The only things I depend
on others for are the physical connection to the Internet and DNS (and I
keep meaning to setup my own DNS server). Granted this email is coming
from my ISP, but that's because my real address isn't publically known :^)
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh_at_aracnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |
Received on Sat Nov 30 2002 - 15:48:01 GMT