The old internet

sheesh · 08-04-2019 9:20pm

Ush1 wrote: »

I'll see your Geocities and raise you a Xoom.

I see your Geocities and your Xoom and give you angelfire and Tripod!

and getting guitar tabs nevada.edu using ftp!

angel eyes 2012 · 08-04-2019 9:36pm

Pinch Flat wrote: »

Hey, I need to use the phone, get off the internet

For some reason, if someone was on the internet in our house we were able to hear the neighbours on their landline through our tv, usually when the Simpsons was on.

It was definitely cheaper after 6.00 and at the weekends. I remember using yahoo chatrooms sign up was easy and you could have multiple accounts if you forgot your login details as no email addresses were required. Google wasn't in existence. I recall using Lycos and altavista for search engines.

_ptashek_ · 08-04-2019 9:44pm

Some fond memories...

Chatting on IRC on a 80x25, monochrome green terminal.

Web search before Altavista was a thing, and Yahoo's static index of web pages was all the rage. Early 1995ish I guess.

Downloading all kinds of crap off of BBSes.

Setting up my first 14.4k dial-up modem on Debian 0.9, with nothing but man pages and own brain cells to help.

The "joys" of Trumpet WinSock on Windows 3.11 and the beauty of graphical web pages under the very first public version of Netscape Navigator, and a bit earlier on Mosaic.

Massive phone bills

Fun times!

Grandeeod · 08-04-2019 10:06pm

We have reached Dick Swinging territory now.:D And I salute all of you! I was a virgin in '99 compared to a few years earlier.

ozmo · 09-04-2019 10:58am

xieann wrote: »

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

Oh - I remember that - we had a page you could go to where it showed how much you used the internet and if you went over 150Mb a month or something you got a nasty letter and could get cut off.

Cee-Jay-Cee · 09-04-2019 11:36am

I remember logging into MSN chatrooms and heading straight to the Religious groups and telling them that God didn't exist and then waiting for the onslaught or visiting the diet rooms and calling them all fat fcukers with no self control. Hours of unlimited fun with idiot strangers on the internet that always took the bait.

givyjoe · 09-04-2019 11:40am

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

I remember logging into MSN chatrooms and heading straight to the Religious groups and telling them that God didn't exist and then waiting for the onslaught or visiting the diet rooms and calling them all fat fcukers with no self control. Hours of unlimited fun with idiot strangers on the internet that always took the bait.

You haven't changed!

E mac · 09-04-2019 1:03pm

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

I remember logging into MSN chatrooms and heading straight to the Religious groups and telling them that God didn't exist and then waiting for the onslaught or visiting the diet rooms and calling them all fat fcukers with no self control. Hours of unlimited fun with idiot strangers on the internet that always took the bait.

The Belfast 'room' on yahoo chat was a horrible place full of vitriol

branie2 · 09-04-2019 1:09pm

I used to frequent the films chatroom on Yahoo chat.

Ush1 · 09-04-2019 1:28pm

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Collegechat.com

I remember collegehumor.com

Boom_Bap · 09-04-2019 1:34pm

I remember collegechat well, walking around the computer labs to try get a sneaky look at the girls usernames

Grayson · 09-04-2019 1:34pm

sheesh wrote: »

I see your Geocities and your Xoom and give you angelfire and Tripod!

and getting guitar tabs nevada.edu using ftp!

I'll see your angelfire and raise you playing a MUD over telnet.

Jesus I'm old.

jester77 · 09-04-2019 1:38pm

Ah the good ol days when you would wait for a gif to download pixel by pixel, only for your mum to let a roar to get off the PC so she could phone the neighbour, right before the first nipple had appeared.

Fionn · 10-04-2019 1:23am

Grayson wrote: »

I'll see your angelfire and raise you playing a MUD over telnet.

ah telnet! oh my....

Fionn · 10-04-2019 1:29am

not to be too pedantic!
ha ha
but the world wide web was where it all changed sort of!

I had a Gateway PC back in 19 or something and Gateway support allowed a bulletin board that users could actually chat with each other regarding problems that they had with Gateway Computers etc. (anyone remember them?) and some guy hooked up the Irish board with their US board and that was how I got into the Internet mostly a text based system that was really fast too, until TBL made the GUI...
Oh well :-)

kowloon · 10-04-2019 1:40am

Played Quake online with the people who started Boards. Remember the Low Ping Bastards having the advantage while the rest of us suffered the lag supreme.

jimbobaloobob · 10-04-2019 1:41am

I remember gateway computers. The box looked like a freak an cow. It holds our Christmas decorations now and he computer is in the house covered in a. If plastic sheet like a crime scene preserve.

babi-hrse · 10-04-2019 1:44am

Writing down the webpages with the full path extension because it was several less steps on a 50kpbs dial up connection of pages you wouldn't have to load up otherwise.
Waiting on raster by raster line of an image loading from top to bottom and being convinced it'd load quicker if you scroll off image.

Anteayer · 10-04-2019 1:49am

RealAudio radio stations via a 56k modem ...

I can still vaguely remember having to write my own modem scripts:
ATDT021....

StupidLikeAFox · 10-04-2019 2:17am

_Brian wrote: »

I remember spending lots of time chatting in the “Virtual Irish Pub” when working nights mid 90’s

I remember, aged about 12, chatting away with some Canadian woman in the VIP with my parents standing by looking/contributing. they were fascinated and telling me things like "ask her what her name is", "ask her if she has a job". Was even a conversation starter for them both for a while "Did i tell ya STLF was talking to a Canadian on the internet last week....". All very innocent stuff.

joeguevara · 10-04-2019 3:14am

A/S/L ?

[Deleted User] · 10-04-2019 4:21am

jester77 wrote: »

Ah the good ol days when you would wait for a gif to download pixel by pixel, only for your mum to let a roar to get off the PC so she could phone the neighbour, right before the first nipple had appeared.

Or the troll images of a woman that loads until it gets good and stops, leaving you hanging.

Larbre34 · 10-04-2019 4:53am

I remember literally the first time I used the internet. A buddy of mine worked in DIT in Aungier Street as a network manager. I was writing a thesis around that time so I took a break from the library and went to meet him for lunch at the college. He brought me into their office beside all the servers and junk and they had two PCs linked up to a T1 lease-line. He gave me a crash course in how to use Netscape Navigator and pretty soon we were twiddling our thumbs while this thing downloaded a couple of tinny WAV files and a funny jpeg or two. It was late 1996....

Anteayer · 10-04-2019 9:58am

I remember my dad concluding that the internet would never take off and that it was “only for geeks, like HAM radio”.

DublinWriter · 10-04-2019 10:08am

First used it in 1989 when at TCD.

Mainly email and Usenet via the DEC VAX systems. Was pretty cool getting at email from someone @nasa.gov

I remember subscribing with one of the first Irish ISPs in 93. They only had a 64kbs (yes - k!!) line outward and got over-subscribed pretty quick and went bust. Wasn't IOL, can't remember the name.

Ger Roe · 10-04-2019 10:19am

Fionn wrote: »

not to be too pedantic!

I had a Gateway PC back in 19 or something and Gateway support allowed a bulletin board that users could actually chat with each other regarding problems that they had with Gateway Computers etc. (anyone remember them?) and some guy hooked up the Irish board with their US board and that was how I got into the Internet mostly a text based system that was really fast too, until TBL made the GUI...
Oh well :-)

I remember that... I worked for a telecomms company at the time and I installed a telephone conference system that allowed their telephone chat rooms to operate. They set up virtual 'rooms' for various broad classifications of faults (monitor, hard drive, cpu, etc) and there would be one Gateway monitor (operator) on each group. They would put you through to the 'room' that applied to your fault and you could have an actual group discussion with others that had the same, or similar issues. Gateway reckoned it sped up the fault resoultion process by having a number of people listening in or participating in the discussion and sharing their experiences.

That was in their factory in Clonshaugh .... long gone at this stage (closed in 2002)

ohnonotgmail · 10-04-2019 10:53am

Fionn wrote: »

not to be too pedantic!
ha ha
but the world wide web was where it all changed sort of!

I had a Gateway PC back in 19 or something and Gateway support allowed a bulletin board that users could actually chat with each other regarding problems that they had with Gateway Computers etc. (anyone remember them?) and some guy hooked up the Irish board with their US board and that was how I got into the Internet mostly a text based system that was really fast too, until TBL made the GUI...
Oh well :-)

The very first pc i bought was a gateway. cost me £3000.

is_that_so · 10-04-2019 10:55am

Your Face wrote: »

So what was it like?

Very very sloooooow! Lots of grey and no pictures.

[Deleted User] · 10-04-2019 1:44pm

Using the 'Narrow-Band' on an elf tornado 28.8 k modem

bonzodog2 · 10-04-2019 2:19pm

My first PC was a 486 with a 200MB disk in Win3.11 (1994). We got a upgrade to Win95 and a 500MB disk and a 14.4k modem. Due to our crappy phone line out in the sticks we could only get 2400bps :eek:

The old internet

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