I remember mine and my dad's first confusions at using the Internet. How could you do multiple things at the same time? Obviously, we were used to how BBSes worked and had no idea of TCP/IP at the time.. :-)
Thanks for Trumpet Winsock
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Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock
#92Oh 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…
And let's not forget the great times that could be had by joining any large channel on IRC and sending a single command: /CTCP #channel PING +++ATH0 Interestingly enough, I tried it again a few months ago and was shocked to discover that it apparently still works.
For those like me who didn't know what the above IRC line meant, http://everything2.com/user/xmatt/writeups/%252B%252B%252BAT... is a nice writeup.
Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 loc…
They provided subscription free access to a local rate number
And most [Well at that time really just BT or Cable/Wireless] telcos gave you free local calls. You just had to make sure you wasn't connected for more than an hour. I remember a program would disconnect and connect your modem every X minutes.
I remember back then [and to this day] my mind being blown that I was chatting to someone and there is a physical connection between us - there was a signal I was sending that had to use a physical wire connection all the way to their computer, so we could discuss topics we had only just discovered. Yes we felt special.
For me the 'magic' of the internet is now lost on people. It may not be a bad thing; I don't know, but it's accepted now we are always connected.
Back then, when you connected to the real internet [not AOL etc] it was like walking into the biggest library you had ever known and if you chose to be alone to take in that knowledge - you could. If you also wanted to engage with other people in the library - you would be polite and there was a mutual respect for you and your opinions. You could then leave the library and return when/if you wanted.
Rose tinted glasses maybe - but it's a very different Internet now.
Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock
#94My startup [0] conducted the first, secure commercial transaction on the web in 1994. I have strong memories of taking people on the phone through the many steps of downloading Trumpet Winsock via ftp from Australia so that they could then install the NCSA Mosaic web browser. Thanks, Peter, for your essential work.
Here's a short video [1] Shopify released last month about the transaction, where I reference how hard it was at the time to get online.
[0] http://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/12/business/attention-shopper... [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGyhA-DIYvg
Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock
#95Oh 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).
Curiously the key fits with the track I was listening to at the time: Dusky's Stick By This. Kind of interesting listening to them together.
Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock
#96Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock
#97I really loved the Trumpet Winsock debug mode which clearly showed packet types, syns, acks and other details. Since that I've been familiar with IP networking.
Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock
#98As a mac user I mostly remember ButtTrumpet and giggling.
Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock
#99Similarly, thanks KA9Q & WATTCP. Oh, and Kermit too.
Re: Thanks for Trumpet Winsock
#100And also thanks to Russell Nelson, who maintained the best collection of ethernet card packet drivers for many years -- if you wanted to connect a DOS machine to an IP ethernet network, that was your best option. Probably still is.
Looks like he still has that up at http://www.crynwr.com/drivers/