in the 80s the only spam you could get came in a can
What was life like for you before the Internet?
- Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
- Start date
My mailbox was full of something called junk mail, it still is but to a lesser extent now that I get emails, two or three from the same company on the same day.
A lot more faxes though (at least in work) and some telex, but not as many of those.
I was going to Middle School. I remember when Dad kept saying he was going to get AOL for his old Tandy and I was so excited. One Day Dad said, "a gnome installed my Modem". I remember the old connection sounds. Errrrrgrhrhghg errrrr arrererearerghgggh. It was so fascinating to me to get on the internet back then. Still is.
Well, this involves quite a flashback for me, since I was 14 when I started using the Internet. Back then, dial-up was king, so doing anything took an eternity. My mother would often take me to small library near our home, that had its own computer area...and I'd sign into Yahoo! Chat for hours on end, just talking with random people and trying to have friendly conversations. Most of them went okay, too - this was before porn bots and corporate advertisers ruined that experience.
Before that, I was a complete introvert as a kid, absorbed in whatever book, TV show, movie, or video game interested me at the moment. I read things like The Three Investigators by Robert Arthur Jr., The Ghost Squad by E.W. Hildick, and even tried some early '90s fare by Mary Higgins Clark, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King. Unlike the more youthful stuff though, I could never finish the more "grown up" books, possibly due to the darker tone (I was very susceptible to such things at that age). My main gaming habits revolved around the NES and Super NES, so I was playing all the greats from that era, and the same was true for movies and music too. Listing everything would take too long, but I will say that for the most part, I tended to prefer safer territory. I didn't usually seek out things that had a lot of language, blood, or blatant sex in it, but I wasn't any kind of super-repressed prude either.
Before that, I was a complete introvert as a kid, absorbed in whatever book, TV show, movie, or video game interested me at the moment. I read things like The Three Investigators by Robert Arthur Jr., The Ghost Squad by E.W. Hildick, and even tried some early '90s fare by Mary Higgins Clark, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King. Unlike the more youthful stuff though, I could never finish the more "grown up" books, possibly due to the darker tone (I was very susceptible to such things at that age). My main gaming habits revolved around the NES and Super NES, so I was playing all the greats from that era, and the same was true for movies and music too. Listing everything would take too long, but I will say that for the most part, I tended to prefer safer territory. I didn't usually seek out things that had a lot of language, blood, or blatant sex in it, but I wasn't any kind of super-repressed prude either.
Hmm...
Working at the mall wasn't as fun as being a normal customer there... really wanted to work at Barnes and Noble, but it wasn't as cool as it seemed. Even flipping burgers had more social value
...
Loved movies in the theater. Went with friends often enough. Still saw Star Trek 6 thrice on my own, though.
Electronic Boutique and CompUSA were staples for computer software and hardware, of course. So many computer brands, so many video game brands... all different and each requiring different code, then optimized for the hardware. Languages like C became a blessing soon enough as (most of) the code could be recompiled on other systems into machine language and few understandably wanted to learn raw assembly language... the downer is, the higher-level languages are comparatively restrictive in order to compile to low-level machine languages. Depends on your need, of course...
VHS collecting and trading was a big thing as most channels didn't show anything really cool. And nope, we didn't do Beta... well, apart from one chap who wasn't me but he wasn't necessarily wrong... then again:
The fun is around 9:02, and now, watch part one:
Yup, like computer systems, home video devices could be quite different. And poorly built; when the one that relatives bought outlived the three I'd bought six years, nine years, twelve years after they got theirs and they wanted me to get my own because I kept using theirs and it's not like they used it all that often (they did...) and theirs was just a store brand, not any typical electronics brand name, so it cost less...!
Seeing deals in catalogues as well, like the upgrade offer from Atari where you send in you 600XL and $20 and get an 800XL in return.
Plus computer user groups where you'd drive to a location once every month or so. Amazingly, one is still operational - but in organizing those, I'd do in-person gatherings twice per year instead of twelve times. Spring and autumn, doing streams for those who can't attend in person of course...
Photography clubs, parrot keeping clubs...
And sci-fi conventions, what a shock that was to read wasn't it?
Granted, most of these are more fun if you're a certain subcommunity like geeky nerddom or nerdy geekdom, of course...
Lastly, I will go back in time and tell myself to preface this with "Dear diary,"...
Working at the mall wasn't as fun as being a normal customer there... really wanted to work at Barnes and Noble, but it wasn't as cool as it seemed. Even flipping burgers had more social value
...Loved movies in the theater. Went with friends often enough. Still saw Star Trek 6 thrice on my own, though.
Electronic Boutique and CompUSA were staples for computer software and hardware, of course. So many computer brands, so many video game brands... all different and each requiring different code, then optimized for the hardware. Languages like C became a blessing soon enough as (most of) the code could be recompiled on other systems into machine language and few understandably wanted to learn raw assembly language... the downer is, the higher-level languages are comparatively restrictive in order to compile to low-level machine languages. Depends on your need, of course...
VHS collecting and trading was a big thing as most channels didn't show anything really cool. And nope, we didn't do Beta... well, apart from one chap who wasn't me but he wasn't necessarily wrong... then again:
The fun is around 9:02, and now, watch part one:
Yup, like computer systems, home video devices could be quite different. And poorly built; when the one that relatives bought outlived the three I'd bought six years, nine years, twelve years after they got theirs and they wanted me to get my own because I kept using theirs and it's not like they used it all that often (they did...) and theirs was just a store brand, not any typical electronics brand name, so it cost less...!
Seeing deals in catalogues as well, like the upgrade offer from Atari where you send in you 600XL and $20 and get an 800XL in return.
Plus computer user groups where you'd drive to a location once every month or so. Amazingly, one is still operational - but in organizing those, I'd do in-person gatherings twice per year instead of twelve times. Spring and autumn, doing streams for those who can't attend in person of course...
Photography clubs, parrot keeping clubs...
And sci-fi conventions, what a shock that was to read wasn't it?
Granted, most of these are more fun if you're a certain subcommunity like geeky nerddom or nerdy geekdom, of course...
Lastly, I will go back in time and tell myself to preface this with "Dear diary,"...
It's funny Electronic Boutique has been around since forever. We have them here they used to use the old name a long time ago but now it's just EB games
If I had one regret of the past I would love to go back to 1983 and kick myself in the nuts for not noticing a certain girl. Learning years and years after the fact that she really liked me and I was totally oblivious to it. I'd go back to 1987 too where I met my almost fiance. Both times I totally missed and the 2nd time I caught the signals but screwed it all up with a stupid letter.
I only have two regrets that I can think of right now:
- I didn't get into baseball early enough in my life. I never got the chance to go to games at Comiskey Park (Chicago) or Tiger Stadium (Detroit), and I didn't have enough time to get attached to old ballparks like Shea Stadium or the original Yankee Stadium.
- I didn't have the balls to ask Randi to marry me when I had the chance. But hopefully soon I can rectify that error.
Oh, and @Qonundrum ... there's only one reason why VHS beat Beta: PORN.
Seriously. That's literally the only reason. Porn chose VHS, so VHS won. That's it, really.
Edit: Atari beats Intellivision's ass. Just gonna put that out there.
Also, anybody reading this who knows what the hell I was just talking about: Congratulations, YOU ARE OLD.
- I didn't get into baseball early enough in my life. I never got the chance to go to games at Comiskey Park (Chicago) or Tiger Stadium (Detroit), and I didn't have enough time to get attached to old ballparks like Shea Stadium or the original Yankee Stadium.
- I didn't have the balls to ask Randi to marry me when I had the chance. But hopefully soon I can rectify that error.
Oh, and @Qonundrum ... there's only one reason why VHS beat Beta: PORN.
Seriously. That's literally the only reason. Porn chose VHS, so VHS won. That's it, really.
Edit: Atari beats Intellivision's ass. Just gonna put that out there.
Also, anybody reading this who knows what the hell I was just talking about: Congratulations, YOU ARE OLD.
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I only have two regrets that I can think of right now:
- I didn't get into baseball early enough in my life. I never got the chance to go to games at Comiskey Park (Chicago) or Tiger Stadium (Detroit), and I didn't have enough time to get attached to old ballparks like Shea Stadium or the original Yankee Stadium.
- I didn't have the balls to ask Randi to marry me when I had the chance. But hopefully soon I can rectify that error.
Oh, and @Qonundrum ... there's only one reason why VHS beat Beta: PORN.
Seriously. That's literally the only reason. Porn chose VHS, so VHS won. That's it, really.
Edit: Atari beats Intellivision's ass. Just gonna put that out there.
Also, anybody reading this who knows what the hell I was just talking about: Congratulations, YOU ARE OLD.
Oh dear...... Raises creaky hand
Seriously. Intellivision may have had the better graphics, but the controls were a MAJOR pain in the ass. Atari was always just more fun!
Oh, and if you remember the forever-in-development-hell COMPUTER add-on for the Intellivision, you are VERY old.
Oh, and if you remember the forever-in-development-hell COMPUTER add-on for the Intellivision, you are VERY old.
Seriously. Intellivision may have had the better graphics, but the controls were a MAJOR pain in the ass. Atari was always just more fun!
Oh, and if you remember the forever-in-development-hell COMPUTER add-on for the Intellivision, you are VERY old.
I remember it but we ended up with the colecovision which had very similar controllers to the intellivision. Our home computer at the time was am Amstrad cpc664 and a Coleco Adam which died in less than 12 months with smoke and sparks
The only thing I remember about ColecoVision was that it had a VERY accurate re-creation of Donkey Kong.
Oh, and how's this for me being old: I actually owned a Sega DreamCast. But only so I could play Gauntlet Legends.
Oh, and how's this for me being old: I actually owned a Sega DreamCast. But only so I could play Gauntlet Legends.
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Old? *creakcreakcreak* My parents had a PONG game when I was a kid!
Hey, kiddo, *I* had a Pong game when I was a kid.
Whippersnapper.
Oh, and I remember the arcade gane "Computer Space". Advantage mine!
They can be easy to miss. I'd go back to 1989, if not 1993, for what might have been mine.
So sorry!
Been there done that as well...
I only have two regrets that I can think of right now:
- I didn't get into baseball early enough in my life. I never got the chance to go to games at Comiskey Park (Chicago) or Tiger Stadium (Detroit), and I didn't have enough time to get attached to old ballparks like Shea Stadium or the original Yankee Stadium.
I did, but gave up soon enough. It was okay, but there's always NES baseball (because the original Atari 2600 one sucked... RealSports Baseball on the 2600 was a lot better. Then came RBI for the NES... )
Good luck if you do!- I didn't have the balls to ask Randi to marry me when I had the chance. But hopefully soon I can rectify that error.
Oh, and @Qonundrum ... there's only one reason why VHS beat Beta: PORN.
Seriously. That's literally the only reason. Porn chose VHS, so VHS won. That's it, really.
Probably true!
(Though 6-hour format was pretty good for the time, collecting all those shows for repeat watch... in glorious EP/SLP mode where there was so much fuzz that sometimes I watched with a gloves, scarf and goggles on.)Edit: Atari beats Intellivision's ass. Just gonna put that out there.
(that's the biggest reason for the reaction, not the preceding one - hehehehehehe!!)
Also, anybody reading this who knows what the hell I was just talking about: Congratulations, YOU ARE OLD.
What's wrong with a directional disc? I thoroughly enjoyed the controller, even over the Nintendo. Intellivision was a blast.
Seriously. Intellivision may have had the better graphics, but the controls were a MAJOR pain in the ass. Atari was always just more fun!
Oh, and if you remember the forever-in-development-hell COMPUTER add-on for the Intellivision, you are VERY old.
The Intellivision/ColecoVision/Atari5200 all had _____y controllers. Just for different reasons. Sadly, the 5200's was the most irritating despite being the most easily-avoided as tin was used for the contacts. Use gold and the oxidation wouldn't have rendered them useless. Even the 5200 trakball used gold contacts, noting that no 5200 joystick sold at the time used gold contacts. But lots of new spare controllers were available for purchase in their own cute little boxes. Even the lack of self-centering stick, which should have been sussed out in prototype testing if they played Donkey Kong or any game rather that required strong turns (0-to-1-to-0 via a button press and not variable resistor/potentiometer gracefully changing). There was a "Competition Pro" stick that took care of that, which had a Y-adapter so you could use the main stick for the start/pause buttons. But the not-centering controller still led to some problems... Wico made a cool joystick to replace it, but with such cheap-yet-custom potentiometers that could not be fixed or swapped. Teh far-rarer controller module allowed Wico's set to replace the native 5200 set completely. Problem is, that looked like a toddler's toy...
Nintendo nailed it with the joypad. Seemed odd at the time, but it is easier to control and easier on the hands. The "big three of eighty two" all had oversized controllers that made gameplay more aggravating than it was worth...
Here we go: (for entertainment purposes only and he has some high-rev pottymouth action going on, but he (unlike many) manages to carry it to intended effect, and - also - the angst against the 5200 is amusing but a little over the top... still hilarious, though but the 5200 did have viable workarounds, like not plugging it into the AC outlet until the last step. Still, I would have made the fuse box easily accessible...)
Unrelated super-dee-duper-fun bonus:
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