Ooh, Australia, I have a question. Was PalTalk a big thing over there? Obviously way after what you described. I remember my father having an old classmate over from Australia and he introduced us to “The Internet”, and how instant messaging was possible a cross borders through PalTalk. Even though I never heard anyone using it in Europe, even years past that encounter.
No, not that I know of. We use to have local / oz only IRC channels, because overseas calls were expensive. So, you would dial into your ISP and then have access to city/state wide IRCs like AusNet. Later that became national. That was circa 94-99.
It was BBS before that.
I remember buying a small black and white TV from a second hand store to watch the 2000 Olympics and chatting to people over mIRC simultaneously.
The TV was sitting right next to a Apple Newton in the store. When I went back to get it, it had already been sold. Ended up buying a palm pilot 1000 instead.
ICQ? Listen here, young man.
I grew up in outback Australia, in the before times. My first time online was a 1200-baud modem on a BBC Electron.
We did school over HF radio with School of the Air, had no phone lines, and barely reliable electricity.
Do not speak to me of the deep magics. I was there when they were written.
double biceps flex
farts
breaks a hip
I had to telnet into chat rooms. We had no browsers. I was old before you were born.
Telnet. An elegant tool for a more civilized time.
I see you, graybeard. And I pay respect.
Doesn’t telnet have in-band signaling? I would hardly call that elegant.
Ooh, Australia, I have a question. Was PalTalk a big thing over there? Obviously way after what you described. I remember my father having an old classmate over from Australia and he introduced us to “The Internet”, and how instant messaging was possible a cross borders through PalTalk. Even though I never heard anyone using it in Europe, even years past that encounter.
No, not that I know of. We use to have local / oz only IRC channels, because overseas calls were expensive. So, you would dial into your ISP and then have access to city/state wide IRCs like AusNet. Later that became national. That was circa 94-99.
It was BBS before that.
I remember buying a small black and white TV from a second hand store to watch the 2000 Olympics and chatting to people over mIRC simultaneously.
The TV was sitting right next to a Apple Newton in the store. When I went back to get it, it had already been sold. Ended up buying a palm pilot 1000 instead.
Damn, I’ve been lied to 27 years ago! Thanks for sharing your experiences