The old internet

Capt'n Midnight · 07-04-2019 9:49pm

branie2 wrote: »

Were there virus threats back then?

Bulgarian viruses.

Nasty ones.

Back in the days before multisynch monitors they could over drive your monitor. POP ! :eek:

Or tell the stepper motor that moves the head to keep stepping, right off the edge of the drive :eek:

Well that's what the story was. Viruses that killed hardware.

And hardware wasn't cheap back then.

Capt'n Midnight · 07-04-2019 9:53pm

Grandeeod wrote: »

The days when you had to be computer literate to access the internet, were great days indeed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

Usenet was largely restricted to colleges, universities, and other research institutions. Every September, a large number of incoming freshmen would acquire access to Usenet for the first time, taking time to become accustomed to Usenet's standards of conduct and "netiquette". After a month or so, these new users would either learn to comply with the networks' social norms or tire of using the service

And then in 1993 AOL let just anyone on Usenet.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo · 07-04-2019 10:21pm

Infini wrote: »

Internet was fine, great craic and all..... then cancer media came along and turned a ton of people into idiots and braindead fools!

Thanks Facebook and Twitter you failed us yet again!

To be fair, it's much more the fact idiots and brain dead fools were given easy access to the internet. It was fine when there was a barrier to entry, it filtered out a lot of sh1te. Facebook and Twitter has allowed anyone to easily talk nonsense, when really the internet should be about learning and understanding.

the_syco · 07-04-2019 10:50pm

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

fatknacker · 07-04-2019 11:24pm

Smartphones have now given us access to the insufferable opinions of the entire planet's great unwashed.

It was easier up to 10 years ago when you just had boards.ie for that.

the_syco · 07-04-2019 11:36pm

fatknacker wrote: »

Smartphones have now given us access to the insufferable opinions of the entire planet's great unwashed.

Remember trying to browse the clusterfcuk that was WAP?

sligojoek · 08-04-2019 12:40am

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

sligozone :eek:

E mac wrote: »

Had completely forgotten about that....what was she ? A parody?

She was something else. I think Podge and Rodge had her on the show once.

Edit: She's still there.

Not really suitable for work

jimbobaloobob · 08-04-2019 12:47am

Was she known as an influencer?:D

refusetolose · 08-04-2019 1:39am

supersaint3 wrote: »

ICQ anyone??!

twas years before i realised it was "I seek you"

[Deleted User] · 08-04-2019 4:51am

Remember Computer Science diploma year students in 1996 waiting 15 minutes uploading to see a few seconds worth of professional US basketball using Flash browser plugin in Netscape Navigator only.

OU812 · 08-04-2019 3:02pm

I recall there being a classical or jazz station (interestingly I can’t recall the genre of music) based somewhere in Eastern Europe which was spectacularly popular because they broadcast their presenters live on the webcam and they were all stunning looking.

Electric Sheep · 08-04-2019 3:17pm

Deleted User wrote: »

You forgot Usenet. Alt.barney.die.die.die and alt.tasteless!

Actually a really good trip down memory lane of how the internet used to be is a book by JC Herz. A woman who used to write for playboy if I recall correctly.

The book I think is just called Surfing the Internet. But I think when I read it it had a different name and was just changed in later publications. I am sure when I read it it had "information superhighway" in the title.

Anyway it is about her internet addiction which she eventually overcame. Back in the days of early IRC - usenet - and even bulletin boards.

Anyone who wants to know what the net was really like in the early days - I think that's the book to get.

Ah, Usenet. Some of it was totally out there, but in general I loved it. Rec.food.cooking, alt.true-crime, rec.arts.books.

The quality of posting was far above today, very few people had internet access in the early 90s. Those who did have access tended to be intelligent and
educated, unlike now where every eejit is online.

Sleepy · 08-04-2019 3:24pm

It used to feel like an adventure when you logged on in the early days. I can remember the first batch script I ever wrote being connect and disconnect commands to ensure my overnight Kazaa/Limewire queues didn't continue past 8am and outside of the IOL "No Limits" off-peak window. I think it may have been getting kicked off that plan for breach of "the spirit of the arrangement" that first brought me to boards.ie in fact...

[Deleted User] · 08-04-2019 4:00pm

Sleepy wrote: »

the IOL "No Limits" off-peak window. I think it may have been getting kicked off that plan for breach of "the spirit of the arrangement" that first brought me to boards.ie in fact...

A work colleague with the same "no limits" plan was also kicked off. I used Tinet at the time, I mean my dad .

smilerf · 08-04-2019 4:12pm

Faceparty chatrooms

Hotblack Desiato · 08-04-2019 4:45pm

Deleted User wrote: »

You forgot Usenet. Alt.barney.die.die.die and alt.tasteless!

alt.tasteless was brilliant. It's where the word "fap" comes from (and it popularised "choad", too.)

Undividual · 08-04-2019 5:08pm

Mena Mitty wrote: »

A/s/l

Wow, ok.... That's like uh, problematic?

Undividual · 08-04-2019 5:12pm

Playing Age of Empires 2/Ultima online on a dial up... Also chatting with what I assume were dirty old men pretending to be women on Yahoo and definitely not interfering with myself.

Surely the pinnacle of human civilization?... We dreamed the wrong dreams.

Lorelli! · 08-04-2019 5:23pm

I don't remember much of the 'old internet.' I only really started using it for college in the mid 00s.

When we were in first year around 1996/7, our English teacher was chatting to us and she said 'soon enough everyone's gonna have the internet in their home' and the whole class laughed at her

branie2 · 08-04-2019 5:30pm

Star Trek vs Star Wars
Kirk vs Picard

Grayson · 08-04-2019 7:30pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Bulgarian viruses.

Nasty ones.

Back in the days before multisynch monitors they could over drive your monitor. POP ! :eek:

Or tell the stepper motor that moves the head to keep stepping, right off the edge of the drive :eek:

Well that's what the story was. Viruses that killed hardware.

And hardware wasn't cheap back then.

There were some amazing viruses. And they had great names. The chernobyl virus could overwrite your bios chip. The christmas violator gave you a message on xmas day telling you all your data was disappearing. It was a lie. And how can anyone forget cascade?

Grayson · 08-04-2019 7:31pm

refusetolose wrote: »

twas years before i realised it was "I seek you"

I just learned something.

maccored · 08-04-2019 7:39pm

i remember trying to upload documents to a BBS when a 9.6 kbit/s modem was the bees knees

limnam · 08-04-2019 7:48pm

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

She managed to ger her doctor to repeat the prescription and send it to the chemist in 1984.

I can't get mine to do it over email in 2019 :pac:

chavezychavez · 08-04-2019 8:08pm

"Modern" websites in the late 90s, early 00s with Macromedia flash front pages.
Waiting forever for the page to load only to get a crappy animation or sound on a black screen. 2 months later the site won't work with the new version of Netscape.

Also remember a nightly late night radio program on 2fm if I'm not mistaken that was based on playing early internet memes and calling out requests from people.....get this...not in Ireland. Shocking stuff at the time.

[Deleted User] · 08-04-2019 8:09pm

Having access to fast internet for the first time in 2006/2007 was a head-spinning experience for me. It felt like the lights had been turned on - you could suddenly look up *anything*. I used to have over 10 tabs open at a time, wikipedia pages and youtube videos loaded up, unable to decide what to read/watch first. For somebody like me who has an obsessive need to know and understand things it was utterly addictive. Ever since then I have always viewed people younger than me with great envy for having access to this resource from a younger age than I did.

Smartphones becoming ubiquitous between 2011 and 2013 though had some very bad effects on peoples behavior and the culture in general, and social media becoming popular since 2006 is something I wish never came into existence too.

Igotadose · 08-04-2019 8:13pm

Adventure, over 300baud dialup. Internet via Mozilla and 1200 baud!
Star Trek (c scan! c lrscan!)
Early multiplayer games like Empire
Rogue

Compu$erve logins and funky addresses (123.4567@compuserve.com)

When the dog barked, the 300 baud acoustic coupler cut out. even if she was outside, but under the window. Had the perfect bark for it. Learned to feed her a big dinner in the early evening so she'd be lethargic and not too noisy.

safetyboy · 08-04-2019 8:21pm

Goatse

IamtheWalrus · 08-04-2019 9:09pm

Collegechat.com

IamtheWalrus · 08-04-2019 9:12pm

I remember in first year of college a colleague was explaing email to me. We both had uni accounts and he said he’d said me an email, which he did, and that for me to receive it *all* I had to do was restart my computer. We did and he was right. I was very impressed that’s all it took.

The old internet

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