Usenet was established in the 1980's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet

I was on the internet in the late eighties and remember using Trumpet Winsock for my connection. Does anyone remember that and is it still available in a usable condition?

It's basically an implementation of Windows Sockets which is now built into Windows http://thanksfortrumpetwinsock.com/

Edited by deleted (Thu 28-Aug-14 21:34:43)

Just over 20 years for me too� Like B31 I started on CompuServe (although I "joined" via ZDNet).

And I can still remember my CompuServe login number

Unlike B31 I didn't have a 28.8 Kbps connection though- my first modem was 2400 baud, using a local call to Reading and then the GPO's packet-switched network (at extra cost) to CompuServe's London POP. I think it was like that for about a year before CiS installed 9,600 baud modems at Reading and I could dial direct instead of via the PSN (which saved about $4/hour iirc).

Edited by billford (Thu 28-Aug-14 21:58:34)

Didn't know it was built into windows. Getting online back then used a disjointed method which started off with Trumpet Winsock. Think I've got a copy somewhere among my floppy disk collection. Them were the days when you had to really work at setting up a computer and internet access and I'm still learning thanks to you guys here on TBB. Anyone remember trying load memory high so to keep enough conventional memory to run programmes etc ?

I think the Commodore 64 had a modem in the 80s but I never got round to trying or buying it.

I remember my dad being on micronet which would of been pre 1994 since we moved house then and it would of been about 1991 at earliest 1993 at latest.

I used to spend all my free time and even skip lectures at college to go on chatrooms in 1999.

I was online on Dreamcast in 2000 but it was next to useless for browsing but perfect for online gaming, funny how a 28.8k modem on European Dreamcasts could go online with 56K US users and have no lag yet I get more slowdown on games today with lag.

Edited by deleted (Fri 29-Aug-14 02:02:53)

Remember them well, along with Prestel and the acoustic modem.

Yes. nearly 20 years for me too. Started with Compuserve (gave AOL a miss) but had so many problems getting online that I ended up going with a UK based company in Shepton Mallet - UKonline. 14.4kb modem coupled with a 486 DX4 100 (just been launched) with a Diamond Stealth graphic card. I can remember the upgrade to 16mb of ram cost well over £100. Downloads were a nightmare sometimes with the download freezing with 1kb to go. But for all that, while we might have faster boxes etc, not much has really changed for me. Still stuck with a slow line of 1.47mb. Yes, the UK is in the dark when it comes to fast speed. Just take a trip out to South Korea to see what I mean. Even your 50mb/s is dead slow. We might have invented the WWW but we certainly haven't led since.

And I still remember the sound of the modem connecting ..... noises all the way. You could even tell if it had failed to connect! Yes, those were the days!

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

I thought Bill Gates invented the WWW in 1995? Before that, there was Gopher

In reference to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_%28protocol%29:

The original Gopher system was released in late spring of 1991 by Mark McCahill, Farhad Anklesaria, Paul Lindner, Daniel Torrey, and Bob Alberti of the University of Minnesota in America. Its central goals were, as stated in RFC 1436:

A file-like hierarchical arrangement that would be familiar to users.
A simple syntax.
A system that can be created quickly and inexpensively.
Extending the file system metaphor, such as searches.

No; the internet (The infrastructure part) has been around since the 1960s. The first successful packet switching network was ARPANET which came into existence in 1969 as a Military & Defence network in the US.

The World Wide Web which runs over the internet was invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 and demonstrated for the first time in 1990 if I recall correctly.