The Nerd Pride Thread....

[K'Tesh]

"And you couldn't even use the phone at the same time" resulted in audible gasps.

 

[NTP2]

View attachment 614498

"And you couldn't even use the phone at the same time" resulted in audible gasps.

What how did it scream???

 

[Antares JS]

What how did it scream???

Crazy phone line noises.

 

[NTP2]

Crazy phone line noises.

Ok I see I know about using the phone lines but no idea it was that annoying.

 

[boatgeek]

Ok I see I know about using the phone lines but no idea it was that annoying.

To be fair, the annoying noises did stop after the modem made the connection.

 

[K'Tesh]

To be fair, the annoying noises did stop after the modem made the connection.

True, but how many times did someone try to use the phone while you were trying to download that one important file?

 

[tsmith1315]

True, but how many times did someone try to use the phone while you were trying to download that one important file?

And those who weren’t there need to know how long it would take to download that important file.

Programs often took a couple hours for me to download. Many were just too big to even try.

 

[NTP2]

And those who weren’t there need to know how long it would take to download that important file.

Programs often took a couple hours for me to download. Many were just too big to even try.

You are making me happy that I was not around to experience the 90s.

 

[NTP2]

We had Oregon Trail II by the time I was playing, but the school still had some old computers with 5-1/4 inch floppy drives that I played (and beat!) the original on.

I played the original on a website I found and it was HARD I beat it but not without scars…

 

[boatgeek]

True, but how many times did someone try to use the phone while you were trying to download that one important file?

I didn't really run into that, but mainly because when I was using dialup I either lived in a dorm room with one phone base or an apartment with one phone base. Both were relatively near the computer, so you could tell when someone was on the computer when you might pick up the phone.

 

[bjphoenix]

Ok I see I know about using the phone lines but no idea it was that annoying.

There was the normal human evolution of technology where modems started at low speeds and evolved to high speeds. I don't remember the numbers exactly but I think I started at 1200baud or 2400baud and worked through 9600baud and 14400baud. Each new speed came with its own added sequence of tones added to the end of the handshake sequence when you would dial in.

 

[John Kemker]

There was the normal human evolution of technology where modems started at low speeds and evolved to high speeds. I don't remember the numbers exactly but I think I started at 1200baud or 2400baud and worked through 9600baud and 14400baud. Each new speed came with its own added sequence of tones added to the end of the handshake sequence when you would dial in.

First modem I used was 110 baud acoustic on a Terminet printing terminal or a Hazeltine CRT to connect to various machines available to us from high school, back in the late 70s, early 80s. They didn't "scream," they whistled. Screaming modems didn't start until the 2400 baud models I used in the mid 80s.

 

[bjphoenix]

First modem I used was 110 baud acoustic on a Terminet printing terminal or a Hazeltine CRT to connect to various machines available to us from high school, back in the late 70s, early 80s. They didn't "scream," they whistled. Screaming modems didn't start until the 2400 baud models I used in the mid 80s.

We had one of those at the remote research lab probably around 1975. I didn't have any reason to use the terminal but I did watch someone playing Star Trek on it. I have a pdf scan of the Fortran source code for that program.

 

[John Kemker]

We had one of those at the remote research lab probably around 1975. I didn't have any reason to use the terminal but I did watch someone playing Star Trek on it. I have a pdf scan of the Fortran source code for that program.

I have the source code running on an emulated PDP11 running RSX11M+. I've also got the Lunar Lander code on the same instance.

 

[anbhtblr]

STOP - you're making me feel a lot older than I want!!! I try to forget about 300 baud modems!

 

[Alan15578]

First, the problem was how to transmit digital data over lines designed for for analog voice communication. Later, the problem was how to transmit voice over lines designed for digital communications.

 

[goose_in_co]

Trivia: that first High Pitch squeal that you hear is a tone that turns off the echo cancellers on the phone line.
The next randomish tones are the two modems negotiating what Baud rate to use.
The last static sound is actually the data being transferred.

The first Modems that I used ran at 156 Baud, then we got the 300 baud modems that was better, then the 1200 baud modems were "fast".

I also had a Professor in Grad school that claimed that phone calls could never be carried over the internet.

 

[K'Tesh]

 

[NTP2]

I also had a Professor in Grad school that claimed that phone calls could never be carried over the internet.

Why? Do you remember the reason?

 

[Antares JS]

You are making me happy that I was not around to experience the 90s.

Don't judge the 90's based on its internet, judge them by their pre-9/11 optimism and excellent TV. Unless you lived in former Yugoslavia, the 90's were great.

 

[NTP2]

Don't judge the 90's based on its internet, judge them by their pre-9/11 optimism and excellent TV. Unless you lived in former Yugoslavia, the 90's were great.

But the internet is the only thing my generation cares about!!

 

[Antares JS]

But the internet is the only thing my generation cares about!!

My lawn.
Get off it.

 

[techrat]

But the internet is the only thing my generation cares about!!

And yet your generation probably knows nothing about usenet, gopher, archie, or that it was previously known as arpa-net. Now I feel old.

 

[NTP2]

And yet your generation probably knows nothing about usenet, gopher, archie, or that it was previously known as arpa-net. Now I feel old.

I do but I am about as far from a representative sample as possible.

 

[tsmith1315]

And yet your generation probably knows nothing about usenet, gopher, archie, or that it was previously known as arpa-net. Now I feel old.

I had to show my grandchildren how to use a mouse.

 

[NTP2]

I had to show my grandchildren how to use a mouse.

Your grandchildren don’t know what they are missing helping the elderly with computers is fun (sarcasm is also fun )

 

[lawn dart]

Ha! You young whippersnappers and your fancy dial-ups! We used to lie awake at night dreaming of a 110 baud modem.


When I was young.....

....We had to walk 10 miles uphill, in the snow, both ways, just to drop off a deck of these babies, ... and we loved it!

Then we had to do it all over again the next day to pick up the printout.

 

[4regt4]

When I got out of college, I had a big stack of punch cards. I used them for years as scratch paper. Although the ones that had most of the card punched were kind of worthless for that purpose...

Hans.

 

[anbhtblr]

Ha! You young whippersnappers and your fancy dial-ups! We used to lie awake at night dreaming of a 110 baud modem.


When I was young.....

....We had to walk 10 miles uphill, in the snow, both ways, just to drop off a deck of these babies, ... and we loved it!

Then we had to do it all over again the next day to pick up the printout.

Ah the memories; dropping the deck, batch jobs, hours of waiting, cursing the error missed in deskchecking...

 

[smstachwick]

View attachment 608100