How long have you been on the internet?

[Guest Snowtrail]

k.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000524.html)

I realized that there are people out there who remember the old BBS days.

 

I remember making up a reference in the bibliography to credit my info that I got online from Electronic Britannica in 1986.

 

I was on a Commodore 64/128 on a BBS called The Wizard, a local BBS. I was excited when the chat connected to 15 cities once a week so I could chat with others across the world. That was in 1990.

 

Is anybody else as "old" as I am on the internet?

 

And do you think your experience on the computer 'way back when' has given you the addiction to gadgets like a GPS??

 

[This message has been edited by Snowtrail (edited 17 July 2001).]

[Guest arffer]

Been on the 'Net since probably Jan 1995. Was one of execpc's original Internet beta testers with a shell account. Still have and activly use that shell account.

 

Been in the PC world since 1975 starting with the Altair and Imsai (8080 8 bit processors). First system I built was a SWTPC 6800 8 bit processor.

[Guest Robereno]

OK, I started with the Radioshack TRS-80 back in 1981. It had a tape drive that worked maybe a 3rd of the time. Programs were so scarce that I had to learn basic just to make the darn thing work.. Got started on the internet back when Netscape was called, I think, Mosaic. Never looked back.

 

And before all of this, I got my start at being a nerd back in the 60?s when I had aquariums.

 

[This message has been edited by Robereno (edited 17 July 2001).]

[Guest Robereno]

OK, I started with the Radioshack TRS-80 back in 1981. It had a tape drive that worked maybe a 3rd of the time. Programs were so scarce that I had to learn basic just to make the darn thing work.. Got started on the internet back when Netscape was called, I think, Mosaic. Never looked back.

 

And before all of this, I got my start at being a nerd back in the 60?s when I had aquariums.

 

[This message has been edited by Robereno (edited 17 July 2001).]

[Guest xanthari]

I started before the internet was public. I too built an Altair, it was my new hobby "hey I built a computer!" hehehe.... I started with the BBS bit (well actually I still do, there are a few that have survived in telnet mode) in '78...and had a Western Union account (anyone remember that?) before CompuServe existed... I still have my first modem...a speedy 150 baud!!! I kinda miss the old BBS days when you had local boards we would have huge weekly get-togethers and you could see all these people you had been talking to in teleconference and email (thats how I met my wife!) but then again you never really had contact with anyone outside of your general area either.

 

Ahhh the good old days. No color. No OS. No memory. No processor power. No ability to share software with anyone (for that matter no software).

 

Now if I can just get rid of all these 1200 baud modems I have laying around.

[Guest jeremy]

I had first access in college in 1991. At that time I became involved in the DikuMUD, which was one of the precursors to Everquest. Even hosted my own MUD later on as a Star Wars themed game.

 

For more info on MUDs, go to http://www.mudconnector.com

 

Don't play them! They're highly addictive (like Evercrack)

 

Jeremy

Jeremy

[Guest PneumaticDeath]

I started fooling around on the internet (then called the ARPAnet), in 1986, when I was a freshman in college, but the 'net goes a lot further back than that. I think the first packets on the 'net were in 1972.

 

I started using computers in 1977 (Commodore PET), but never really got deeply into the BBS scene (parents thought a modem was unnecessary, and likely to get me into trouble, which was probably true.)

 

So, all in all, I think I have the right to call myself an old-timer.

 

-- Mitch

[Guest PneumaticDeath]

I started fooling around on the internet (then called the ARPAnet), in 1986, when I was a freshman in college, but the 'net goes a lot further back than that. I think the first packets on the 'net were in 1972.

 

I started using computers in 1977 (Commodore PET), but never really got deeply into the BBS scene (parents thought a modem was unnecessary, and likely to get me into trouble, which was probably true.)

 

So, all in all, I think I have the right to call myself an old-timer.

 

-- Mitch

[Guest db8tr]

I first was exposed to the internet back when the big deal was Mosaic and the fact that you could actually put _images_ on a web page. Web page is probably the wrong vernacular though, since the www wasn't widely used and many of my favorite sites didn't have a domain name, just an IP address. I then had a compuserv account when compuserv was dominate. Ahh the days of starting to download a 1.2 mB program and going to eat dinner since it would take more than an hour to complete. As far as early computer activity correlating with my enjoyment of geocaching and the inevitable gagetry that comes from this wonderful sport... I would have to say an emphatic yes. Just being exposed to technology on the bleeding edge I think helps to prepare a person to explore and play around with news things. I know that it only took me a week with my new Garmin III+ before I was playing with the startup options and accessing factory menus. I think computer and the internet, for me anyway, have caused an increase in my level of curiousity about new things. Geocaching included.

[Guest Peter Scholtz]

Wrote my first line of code when I was 13 (1982) in PL/1 on a punch card for a Sperry Univac "mainframe".

 

Got hooked on BBS's in December 1988. Ran ASM BBS in Cape Town for a couple of years.

 

Used the internet the first time in 1993 to check usenet and send email.

 

Around 1995/6 I rejected the internet for being to dadgum slow and boring and stated I'll be back in a few years ... (This is after I wrote my own web cam software).

 

Been using it actively since 1998. And it's still slow and somewhat boring.

 

Found Geocaching December 2000.

 

------------------

Peter Scholtz

www.biometrics.co.za

[Guest ALacy]

I had access to college computers in 1972, had my own computer in 1976 (Apple II serial number 1082) had access to internet in 1990. Currently have DSL access at home.

[Guest Hard Slate]

ne since before aol was unltd usage.

2.0 I think was the versian. '94-'95?I can't remember for sure.

[Guest rusty]

First computer was a Commodore VIC20 my first "PC" was the IBM PCjr. I remember rigging an external full-height 8meg HD I had salvaged from a phone system onto my PCjr and thinking that was the ultimate setup

 

I was into bulletin boards for several years before I ever accessed the internet and at that time it was text only and I never thought it would amount to much...dddooohhh

My first modem was 300 baud. Born on 300 raised on 2400 living on T1.

 

Rusty...

[Guest rusty]

First computer was a Commodore VIC20 my first "PC" was the IBM PCjr. I remember rigging an external full-height 8meg HD I had salvaged from a phone system onto my PCjr and thinking that was the ultimate setup

 

I was into bulletin boards for several years before I ever accessed the internet and at that time it was text only and I never thought it would amount to much...dddooohhh

My first modem was 300 baud. Born on 300 raised on 2400 living on T1.

 

Rusty...

[Guest Khao Mun Gai]

Geeks are we.

[Guest WaylandersMA]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Khao Mun Gai:

Geeks are we.

---

 

No kidding.

Played a lot of "Adventure" on a teletype terminal in 1979. Got my first email address in 1980.(That email address is sill forwarded to me). Not too many people to email though. Got yelled at by NIH when I used the "internet" (wasn't really what we have now) to email some colleagues to fax a letter to a congressman. Public use as well as lobbying congress was verboten until later.

150 baud modem with a condom to fit on the phone. Came in faster then you could read it! Why would you want any faster? Payed $1500.00 for a 64K upgrade on an Apple II. (Back when 1500 was a lot of money). Another nameless one had floppies the size of LP's. An LP is a CD the size of a large dinner plate. A big step up from using the cassette tape to load a program. Learned to hate the IBM Diablo printer with those font balls. Founding member of the Boston Computer Society. Since they went belly up BI (before internet) you have no way of checking.

So I guess finding my way to the Swiss Cheese room in 1979 was where my link to geocaching started. XYZZY. Poof! A small bird is flying around and a cage is lying open at your feet. Small openings head West and South.

 

Paul

[Guest WaylandersMA]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Khao Mun Gai:

Geeks are we.

---

 

No kidding.

Played a lot of "Adventure" on a teletype terminal in 1979. Got my first email address in 1980.(That email address is sill forwarded to me). Not too many people to email though. Got yelled at by NIH when I used the "internet" (wasn't really what we have now) to email some colleagues to fax a letter to a congressman. Public use as well as lobbying congress was verboten until later.

150 baud modem with a condom to fit on the phone. Came in faster then you could read it! Why would you want any faster? Payed $1500.00 for a 64K upgrade on an Apple II. (Back when 1500 was a lot of money). Another nameless one had floppies the size of LP's. An LP is a CD the size of a large dinner plate. A big step up from using the cassette tape to load a program. Learned to hate the IBM Diablo printer with those font balls. Founding member of the Boston Computer Society. Since they went belly up BI (before internet) you have no way of checking.

So I guess finding my way to the Swiss Cheese room in 1979 was where my link to geocaching started. XYZZY. Poof! A small bird is flying around and a cage is lying open at your feet. Small openings head West and South.

 

Paul

[Guest mfratto]

I think Mike has been on longer than me, I have vague memories of talking on local boards, on some old computer which I don't know what it was, and Mike was probably on earlier than that on something he wired up himself, but I'll speak for both of us, and say we have been internetters for about 10-12 years now -- he probably goes closer to 12, I am closer to 10. In fact, we met on LambdaMOO, 8 years ago. Believe it or not.

 

Mauri, of Mauri and Mike

[Guest mfratto]

I think Mike has been on longer than me, I have vague memories of talking on local boards, on some old computer which I don't know what it was, and Mike was probably on earlier than that on something he wired up himself, but I'll speak for both of us, and say we have been internetters for about 10-12 years now -- he probably goes closer to 12, I am closer to 10. In fact, we met on LambdaMOO, 8 years ago. Believe it or not.

 

Mauri, of Mauri and Mike

[Guest T-storm]

I think the media on which I had these bits of data must have deteriorated sitting around the old storage vault...

I first started playing around with TRaSh 80 systems in the very early 80s and used Apple II, II+, and IIe systems after that. Minor AppleSoft Basic programming, playing back tunes I coded through the tinny internal speaker, very basic editting/word processing, and playing the early Zork games. The IIe was the first machine I actually owned (family computer, though I used it most since I pushed to buy a home computer!). Worked as a computer operator in the world's most backwards DP shop for a couple of years. In 1986 we were still loading *ALL* of our programs from decks of punchcards!! ACK!!! What a pain to drop the deck and have to try to re-order them! (by the way, to whoever it was that mentioned punch cards before, when I was 11 or 12 I used to go to work with my dad and type up cards for a little program I had learned and run it for fun... it produced bio-rhythm charts on that wide greenbar paper) Finally went on to college, and after 1986 the next time I had a computer of my own was 1992, PC, and I had online access through services like Plodigy, GEnie, and one other that was short-lived (maybe Rainbow?) plus a number of bulletin boards, etc. Also went back to work in the data processing field that year. Drug hubby along for the ride and darned if he didn't leave me in his dust and develop a much more successful career of it! My first account beyond internet e-mail access didn't come around until 1994 or 1995 sometime.

 

But basically, yes, nerds we are!

[Guest brownbag]

Like some others, I started on the ARPANet. It was through the University in 1978. My first machine was an Ohio Scientific C48P in 1979. I was able to use a 110 Baud acoustic coupler to attach to the University and play Adventure too.

There was about 180 Usenet new groups in those days and domain naming didn't exist.

[Guest Cisupete]

I couldn't spell PC until March of this year, now I am hooked. Since Napster has been put to rest, I spend nearly all my online time browsing the GEO news.

[Guest hgmonaro]

late starter on the net... 1st contact in '96 whilst on secondment in England at the companies library computer. when I returned home I purposely didn't get home access cause I knew what a time waster it was going to be (this has been proven many times.. just ask my wife!).

 

1st computer contact, playing 'Clossal Cave' on hardcopy terminals contected to a HP3000. Not sure of the year but must have been mid '70's since it was before we got a TRS-80 Model 3! WOW! Cool colour scheme! black and silver... Our computer area had all the 'Big Five' game posters around.. remember them? Spent many hours reading out hexadecimal to Dad typing (not sure why he got to type!) from the magazines of the day then cross checking it when it didn't work!

 

Thank for progress!

[Guest kbraband]

I'm a charter member of AOL. Signed up for it in 1989 when it was purely a Macintosh service. (Still have it but hardly use it any more.) Before that I accessed many BBSs around the area.

[Guest Exocet]

I started BBS'n when I was about 11 or 12, which would be either 11 or 12 years ago.

 

I first made my way on to the internet in November of 1995 (if I recall correctly). In fact, I still have the first email I ever got.

 

My dad got my brother and I an Atari 520 ST (520k RAM, no HD and a floppy drive) to start out with. The next big computer was a Packard Bell with 8MB of RAM and a 420MB HD, back in ...christmas of '94 or '95. Since then I've had various computers (many times upgraded).

 

I currently have two Win2k P3/866 boxes with 1GB of RAM in between them, along with a linux-based P133 server.

[Guest Exocet]

I started BBS'n when I was about 11 or 12, which would be either 11 or 12 years ago.

 

I first made my way on to the internet in November of 1995 (if I recall correctly). In fact, I still have the first email I ever got.

 

My dad got my brother and I an Atari 520 ST (520k RAM, no HD and a floppy drive) to start out with. The next big computer was a Packard Bell with 8MB of RAM and a 420MB HD, back in ...christmas of '94 or '95. Since then I've had various computers (many times upgraded).

 

I currently have two Win2k P3/866 boxes with 1GB of RAM in between them, along with a linux-based P133 server.

[Guest Prime_Meridian]

I got my first e-mail account and used PICO and PICOPINE as the e-mail editing program; and I used a text based web browser (Lynx). This was back in late 1992-93 when colleges were starting to get people into the concept of looking things up on the net. The idea was so new, there wasn't a way to cite information gathered on the 'net for research papers. I had a fondness for fooling around on GOPHER, and I actually enjoyed playing chess on the Internet Relay Chess server... I made many great friends, none of which I still talk to...Oh well, C'est la vie...

[Guest wizmedic]

WOW.....I sure started a good string of messages when I said I had a BBS . I still have my old Atari 800 and the FoReM BBS program that I used at the time and the 20 meg hard drive that cost me $800. Ahhh, the good old days.......WizMedic

[Guest wizmedic]

WOW.....I sure started a good string of messages when I said I had a BBS . I still have my old Atari 800 and the FoReM BBS program that I used at the time and the 20 meg hard drive that cost me $800. Ahhh, the good old days.......WizMedic

[Guest tslack2000]

I was exposed to the BBS by my older brother who went by Virt. He and his friend (who went by Bigfoot) even started one of their own. I can't remember which one it was that I logged into a lot (it had something to do with a Lighthouse?) but I went by King Ty. (What a stupid handle!! I was only 12 or 13, give me a break.) It's not like tslack2000 is a great handle either.