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Ceefax Simulator

nathanmediaservices.co.uk

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Re: Ceefax Simulator

#52

Post by thom »

arrowsmith wrote: post #5
jjbinx007 wrote: post #2

This is great. Teletext was a big deal in the UK, a lot of people used to book cheap holidays from deals they saw on it. It was where you could check the news, the weather and maybe play a multiple choice quiz or two. Happy memories.

Am I misremembering or could you play games on Teletext? I feel like I remember playing very primitive and janky videogames on the TV as a child in the 90s, but I might be making that up. My clearest memory of Teletext is how slooooow and unreliable it was to load anything. But I sat it out and waited. Compare that to now where if your website takes an extra second to load then you can lose like half your traffic. Ev…

There were occasionally multiple-choice adventures using the colour buttons. I must say as much as the slowness is annoying in hindsight, I still have memories of how exciting it was waiting for your team's football score to page back into view, and the thrill of seeing your team had scored.

Re: Ceefax Simulator

#53

Post by 082349872349872 »

kimi wrote: post #6

For full trip down nostalgia lane, here is a full BBS that runs on Minitel (that is the same display protocol as Ceefax but bidirectional). https://minitel.retrocampus.com/ It runs on physical Minitel terminals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aJAwi0FqDo

also https://xn--multipli-i1a.fr/en/5-21/objects/minimit (but with 3615 ELIZA in place of 3615 ULLA)

Re: Ceefax Simulator

#54

Post by mattlondon »

I feel like this sort of limited but quite highly functional information system is something that the Gemini protocol fans et al should consider.

I'm not talking about the tech, but the UI/interface with menus, sort-of-hyperlinks, basic graphics etc. For iot or embedded or extremely low bandwidth things this sort of UI feels highly appropriate

Re: Ceefax Simulator

#56

Post by dilawar »

jonplackett wrote: post #44

I have a 6yo daughter and it’s always funny trying to explain old technology to her. Yesterday I was trying to just explain TV shows starting at specific times the of the day and even that seemed insane to her. Equally having to go to a shop to get a song was mind blowing. I haven’t had to explain ceefax yet so this will help.

My coworker 4y old son have never seen money exchanged at shops since UPI has become so prevalent in India. He would just pick things at shop and walk. He didn't relate scanning QR codes with exchange.

I should ask my coworker if he tried explaining physical money to him and how he reacted to the idea.

Re: Ceefax Simulator

#58

Post by beerandt »

jonplackett wrote: post #44

I have a 6yo daughter and it’s always funny trying to explain old technology to her. Yesterday I was trying to just explain TV shows starting at specific times the of the day and even that seemed insane to her. Equally having to go to a shop to get a song was mind blowing. I haven’t had to explain ceefax yet so this will help.

7yod bought an underwater camera from a shop while at the beach. Basically a 35mm disposable inside a sealed clear case.

Told her it needed film to work which she accepted pretty easily (the store didn't have any).

A couple days later we find film, I load it.

She asks how to turn on the screen to take pics...

The idea of a view finder completely lost her.

Of course then I had to explain to her how something could even work without batteries, and my wife thought I was teasing.

She apparently has never bought/ used a camera without a flash. Thought even film needed a battery to work...

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