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In the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio

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Re: In the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio

#41

Post by saltysalt »

HNDen21 wrote: post #39
saltysalt wrote: post #23

I played games on a Commodore 64 from cassette tapes, in principal you could record games onto a blank cassette but it was very flaky. Good times though.

I did this all the time... even used a double cassette deck to make copies... azimuth was the problem if the heads were aligned different.. so you used a small screwdriver and the top of the cassette had a small opening, this is where you had to align the heads by listening till it didn't sound distorted.. fun times See also https://sqlservercode.blogspot.com/2016/11/what-was-first-co...

Oh nice, I never knew about that!

Re: In the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio

#42

Post by HarHarVeryFunny »

We also downloaded software from our TV's in the UK via the BBC micro's Prestel adaptor.

A much more mainstream way of sharing software was source code listings - typically BASIC - in magazines like Dr. Dobbs, that you would type in yourself.

I wonder how many of today's youth are also aware of the bulletin board systems (BBS) that existed pre-internet - standalone servers that you would connect to via modem to socialize and/or download files using protocols like Kermit, and X/Y/Zmodem.

Re: In the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio

#43

Post by dghughes »

This would have been amazing if I had known about it. I had an Atari 600XL about 1984 I never even heard of a Commodore 64 back then. We wouldn't have been able to afford it anyway. I'm still shocked that my parents even bought me the Atari.

I did eventually get a cassette storage device. I wonder would it have worked for Atari too?

Re: In the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio

#44

Post by pfoof »

caseyy wrote: post #18

I read this is how the CD Projekt Red founders smuggled Western games into the Iron Curtain states. I think it's an urban myth, but separately, the founders smuggled games into the USSR, and some games were smuggled through the radio then.

According to the story, he wrote a letter to some western guy and he sent him back a cassette with a game or two, and then the copying spree started.

Re: In the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio

#45

Post by section_me »

coreyh14444 wrote: post #11

I definitely had cassette based games on the TRS-80, but most of the "wireless" transmission in my youth was via BASIC printed in the back of computer magazines. You had to type in the entire app yourself. I did this for basically every app they listed. Sometimes it was like tax prep software, but I didn't care, even though I was like 9 at the time. Yes, it took a very long time. Yes, you could easily introduce typos…

The post man always bent our magazine and pushed it in the cat flap making the included disk useless (even though it was clearly marked "DO NOT BEND!"), so I remember having to type everything out and sometimes correct the typos introduced into the print version. Fun times.

Re: In the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio

#46

Post by giancarlostoro »

vatys wrote: post #21
giancarlostoro wrote: post #3

I remember here on HN reading about some vinyl which had either software or games on from the 80s but I dont recall the artist, so this doesnt sound too far from that for me.

Much later in the year 2000 there was the 8-Bit Construction Set record: http://www.beigerecords.com/products/beg-004.html It had Atari and Commodore music (as audio) as well as Atari and Commodore software (as data). Despite the claim on their old page to be the “first use of vinyl for software distribution” they did later acknowledge and reference some prior art in a Slashdot thread: https://slashdot.org/comments.p…

This might be it, but I'm not 100% sure, my memory is not what it used to be, there are also a few other good answers.

I wish HN would let you search upvoted comments and submissions, it would revolutionize my life since I can remember previous things I've upvoted, but have no easy way to find any of them. I might sit down one day, and manually export all my liked comments and subscriptions.

Re: In the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio

#47

Post by makeset »

HNDen21 wrote: post #39
saltysalt wrote: post #23

I played games on a Commodore 64 from cassette tapes, in principal you could record games onto a blank cassette but it was very flaky. Good times though.

I did this all the time... even used a double cassette deck to make copies... azimuth was the problem if the heads were aligned different.. so you used a small screwdriver and the top of the cassette had a small opening, this is where you had to align the heads by listening till it didn't sound distorted.. fun times See also https://sqlservercode.blogspot.com/2016/11/what-was-first-co...

Then came a nifty upgrade called "LED control" which installed a red LED next to that screw so all you had to do was turn until it was brightest, significantly reducing ?LOAD ERROR. Good times.

Re: In the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio

#48

Post by HNDen21 »

makeset wrote: post #47
HNDen21 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this all the time... even used a double cassette deck to make copies... azimuth was the problem if the heads were aligned different.. so you used a small screwdriver and the top of the cassette had a small opening, this is where you had to align the heads by listening till it didn't sound distorted.. fun times See also https://sqlservercode.blogspot.com/2016/11/what-was-first-co...

Then came a nifty upgrade called "LED control" which installed a red LED next to that screw so all you had to do was turn until it was brightest, significantly reducing ?LOAD ERROR. Good times.

Yep, there was also a program where a red line would be on your monitor and you had to turn the screw until the line was completely flat
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