The net.history meme......

[poltr1]

Brought to me by fellow net.fogies figmo and

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Brought to me by fellow net.fogies <user site="livejournal.com" user="figmo"> and <lj="filker0">.

<b>1. When did you first connect ("go online"), and how?</b>

Like Figmo, I'll break this answer down into three areas.
The first time I used a computer was in 1978. I used a DECwriter II (and an acoustic coupler) in my high school's guidance department. (Speed: 300 baud.)
The first time I used a timesharing system was in 1981. I used a Lear Siegler ADM-3A at SUNY/Buffalo to connect to our school's mainframe -- a CDC Cyber Dual 730. (Speed: 1200 baud.) (We called those terminals "pods" becuase they looked like they came from some cheezy sci-fi movie.)
The first time I got onto a computer network was in 1983. It was during a fraternity road trip to Penn State University. After the football game -- PSU beat Notre Dame that day -- I visited their computer center. That's where I first heard of Bitnet, Evans & Sutherland, and got a way cool Plot3D demo program.

<b>2. What was your first communications program?</b>

Cyber: CMSL Message, which was writtten in APL by a few students. (1983)
Unix: mail and news. (1984)
VAX/VMS: jNet (enabled Bitnet connectivity to VAXen). (1985)
PC: Procomm (1990).

<b>3. When did you first chat over the internet, and how?</b>

BITNET Relay, in/around 1985.

<b>4. What chat type program(s) do you use now?</b>

mIRC, but only sparingly.

<b>5. Who was your first service provider?</b>

Not counting my alma mater or any places of employment.....GEnie.

<b>6. Did you ever use AOL?</b>

For about a month in 1992. Their user interface at the time was based on PC-GEOS. It was clunky and I wondered what it was doing behind the scenes.

<b>7. Do you admit using AOL in public?</b>

No, not really.

<b>8. Who is your current ISP?</b>

<a href="http://www.siscom.net">Siscom</a>, which acquired my last ISP, the Dayton Network Access Company.

<b>9. What was the first computer that you used to access the 'net?</b>

Terminal: An Esprit Executive 10/100 (I think), or a DEC Rainbow 100. I connected to two VAX-11/780s -- one running VAX/VMS, the other running Berkeley Unix. Node names were "UBVMSA" and "sunybcs", respectively.
PC: "orac Mark I" -- 386SX-16 CPU, 4 Mb memory, 65 Mb hard drive, 2400 bps modem.

<b>10. What computer do you use to access the 'net today?</b>

PC: "orac Mark III" -- Athlon 600 CPU, 256 Mb memory, 10 Gb hard drive, 56 Kbps modem.
(For the curious... "Orac Mark II" was a 486-66 CPU, 64 Mb memory, 500 Mb hard drive, 14.4 Kbps modem. It was disassembled and the parts donated to <a href="http://www.otap.org/">OTAP</a>.)

<b>11. What was your first 'net handle?</b>

ugpoltr1 (the "ug" stood for "undergraduate"; "poltr1" spells out my last name in 6 characters or less -- I replaced the "one" with the numeral "1").

<b>12. Did you use any other handles for any length of time? If so, what were they?</b>

acsgjjp (my account name when I was a student consultant), Cerebus (after the comic book character Cerebus the Aardvark), Zaphod Beeblebrox, Jim.

<b>13. What 'net handle do you normally use now?</b>

poltr1.

<b>14. Are you active on any websites other than LJ? If you're willing to say, what ones? </b>

<user site="livejournal.com" user="ohi">'s Blatherchat, and the <a href="http://pub38.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=3243549463&cpv=1">Beachboard</a>.

Comments

[kyttn.livejournal.com]

*poke*. Baby pictures? pretty please? with sugar on top?