Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

thanksfortrumpetwinsock.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 123 posts

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#61

Post by husted »

samstave wrote: post #8
jeff_marshall wrote: post #4

I have fond memories of the transition from local BBSes (my parents were annoyed enough by my constant phoning of the local BBS to download commander keen and the like), to IP connectivity via Trumpet. The reach of the internet (esp IRC!) was mind-blowing for someone living in a relatively isolated community in Alaska at the time. I feel like I don't fully appreciate the gradual transition from dial-up and Trumpet to…

Heh. "local" -- ~1988 I was calling into BBSs in San Jose from Tahoe... the phone bill got to $926! I was grounded for a month. We wanted to play trade wars and the pit. Super fun. I also used to call up 411 (information, where you would call 411 and say "do you have a number for John Smith in lake tahoe ca?") -- and I would chat up the 411 operators for as long as possible - the contest being to see how long we coul…

Where I live (lived) there's no such thing as free local calls. Whenever you dialed anything the meter started counting. I became very good at mentally preparing what I wanted to download before dialing :-)

That was pre-internet, at least where I lived, and we all used Fidonet[1]. Cant recall my node, it's been too long.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#62

Post by whoopdedo »

jlgaddis wrote: post #41
peckrob wrote: post #3

Oh man, the memories. For people who have grown up in a hyper-connected always-online world, it's hard to explain the pure joy of hearing the sound of your computer picking up the phone and sending those tones [0]. Because it meant going from isolated, disconnected and unitary to being part of a wider world. Suddenly, everything was at your fingertips and it was intoxicating to me as a teenager. Fire up Trumpet Winso…

> those tones http://evilrouters.net/56k.mp3 (MP3) It's my ring tone. I love the weird looks on people's faces when I'm in a meeting and my phone rings -- especially the "older" crowd (some of the "youngsters" don't recognize the sound).

Did you know each manufacturer had a unique sound for their v90 handshake? This one sounds like a Lucent WinModem. (Based on listening to the sounds here[1]. Yay for RealAudio!) The USR/3Com modems were two "bongs" (four if the higher speed failed). But I was always fond of the Rockwell sweep[2].

Of course, required reading is HN favorite Oona Räisänen's excellent analysis of a modem handshake.

[1] http://modemsite.com/56k/trouble3.asp

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvr9AMWEU-c

[3] http://www.windytan.com/2012/11/the-sound-of-dialup-pictured...

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#65

Post by whoopdedo »

samstave wrote: post #8
jeff_marshall wrote: post #4

I have fond memories of the transition from local BBSes (my parents were annoyed enough by my constant phoning of the local BBS to download commander keen and the like), to IP connectivity via Trumpet. The reach of the internet (esp IRC!) was mind-blowing for someone living in a relatively isolated community in Alaska at the time. I feel like I don't fully appreciate the gradual transition from dial-up and Trumpet to…

Heh. "local" -- ~1988 I was calling into BBSs in San Jose from Tahoe... the phone bill got to $926! I was grounded for a month. We wanted to play trade wars and the pit. Super fun. I also used to call up 411 (information, where you would call 411 and say "do you have a number for John Smith in lake tahoe ca?") -- and I would chat up the 411 operators for as long as possible - the contest being to see how long we coul…

I was curious about the state of POTS today and it's pretty much the same as it was twenty years ago. Separate local and long-distance plans. Night & weekend rates. Metered calls are all around $0.10/min. Even that abhorrent "local extended" tier that was the source of countless unexpectedly high bills.

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#67

Post by vidarh »

matthucke wrote: post #37

In 1995 I was an expert in setting up Trumpet Winsock, paid to consult on its installation and configuration - even though I had never once installed it myself. That is to say, I was a tech support lackey, answering the phones and talking to dozens of dialup ISP users daily. It was a small company, and of the three techs there, none of us were Windows users - two Linux, one Mac. Someone had helpfully printed screensh…

I co-founded a small ISP, and had the same experience - I used AmigaOS and Linux, and had only ever seen screenshots of Trumpet Winsock but knew the confguration far better than I'd like...

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#68

Post by ignoramous »

peckrob wrote: post #3

Oh man, the memories. For people who have grown up in a hyper-connected always-online world, it's hard to explain the pure joy of hearing the sound of your computer picking up the phone and sending those tones [0]. Because it meant going from isolated, disconnected and unitary to being part of a wider world. Suddenly, everything was at your fingertips and it was intoxicating to me as a teenager. Fire up Trumpet Winso…

Wow. Reminiscent of my experiences with the Internet back in the day. I wonder, how many of us might have had the exact same beginings?

Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock

#69

Post by lucaspiller »

husted wrote: post #61
samstave wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh. "local" -- ~1988 I was calling into BBSs in San Jose from Tahoe... the phone bill got to $926! I was grounded for a month. We wanted to play trade wars and the pit. Super fun. I also used to call up 411 (information, where you would call 411 and say "do you have a number for John Smith in lake tahoe ca?") -- and I would chat up the 411 operators for as long as possible - the contest being to see how long we coul…

Where I live (lived) there's no such thing as free local calls. Whenever you dialed anything the meter started counting. I became very good at mentally preparing what I wanted to download before dialing :-) That was pre-internet, at least where I lived, and we all used Fidonet[1]. Cant recall my node, it's been too long. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet

I was a bit late to the internet game (I think ~1997), but this was the same in the UK too. Most ISPs had expensive subscriptions which gave you access to a freephone number. In 1998, AOL was £16.95 a month [0].

I can't remember who I started out with, but I switched to FreeServe after they launched. They provided subscription free access to a local rate number (which confusingly doesn't have to be geographically local), and made money by getting a cut of the call rates. I don't think they were the first to do this, but they had a partnership with one of the main computer retailers. They were so successful an investigation was launched by the regulator [1].

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/19980111054950/http://www.aol.co...

[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/255200.stm

Post reply on HN