Believe it or not, there was a time before the Internet… It was a time simply known as “online”, where systems weren’t as interconnected as they are today and tended to be purpose built for a specific function – like a Bulletin Board System, or BBS.
My very first online experience was in 1981. Under the supervision of my father so I didn’t break anything, I was allowed to use his TRS-80 Model 1 and the 300 baud “Direct Connect” modem he had on it to dial into a local TRS-80 BBS he frequented.
The Direct Connect was so named because you could connect it to an actual phone line – and because of this it went much faster… Prior to this my father had an acoustic modem, which had two foam cups on top of the box where you set the handset for the phone and had a switch for 75 baud or 110 baud.
I think it was this revolutionary aspect of the ‘direct connect’ that prompted my father into letting me use it. 🙂
Anyway, In 1981 I was 12, so while I found the mechanics of the exercise fascinating I didn’t have much interest in the actual content of the BBS… A few weeks later I got my first computer – a Sinclair ZX-81. It came in kit form and was $99, but for a 12 year old it was a good machine.
My next foray into the online world came a few years later, in 1985. I was using an Atari 800XL which had an XM301 modem.
My family had moved to Golden Colorado, mid-school year, so I didn’t know anyone and tended to spend all of my time either at the Colorado School of Mines library on a terminal, or at home dialing into CSNet / NSFNet via the School of Mines, a local call, to do research via USENET.
This was The Internet before The Internet… It’s an easy way for me to feel old when I can say I was on the Internet before it actually existed. I also did a little CompuServe in 1985 – 1986, but the per-minute charges for the service upset my parents so my use was pretty sporadic.
In 1986 I joined the Navy and this curtailed my online exposure for several years. I didn’t even have another computer until 1989, which is when I picked up an Amiga 500. So my next online adventures happened in 1991, and 1991 through 1993 were pretty casual as all I really did was dial around to various Denver area Amiga boards.
In 1993 I’d upgraded to a Hayes “Optima” 9600 baud modem on my Amiga 500 and on June 16th, 1993 I created an account on “Empire of the Dragon” (EOTD), a local chat / RP board run by some guy who went by “IceDragon”. That account still exists and IceDragon (now going by other names) and I still talk on occasion on Second Life, almost 30 years later…
And in September 1993 AOL released the unwashed masses onto USENET, creating the Eternal September. At this time I was running my own BBS and was using FidoNet for my ‘online’ needs, so while I’d heard about it, it didn’t really impact me.
In mid 1994 I set up an account with a denver area dial up ISP and in late 1994 set up an account on FurryMUCK… That account still exists, and I still pal around with Rris, one of the ‘wizards’ from the early 90’s, also in Second Life.
Ultimately, the 90’s are where things really took off for the online world.
Modem speeds in 1990 were 9600 baud, and by 1997 56,000 baud was a thing. But if you were a true computer nerd, you departed analog in the mid 90’s and went digital…
Which is what I did; in March of 1995 I had ISDN (128Kbit) service in my bedroom. I had also moved on from the BBS scene and had gotten into The Internet – such as it was. And, because of the frame relay service I had, I didn’t need to rely on things like CompuServe or AOL to do it.
NSFNet, which I’d used when it was still shiny and new in 1985 was decommissioned on April 30th, 1995, and with this the Internet became a commercial enterprise… And accordingly my first website went online in October of 1995, hosted at dimensional.com in Denver.
By 1998 I had a full T1 (1.54 Mbit) running into my bedroom, though the bedroom was now in Rhoadesville Virginia versus Aurora Colorado. This is when things like rihahn.com (this domain), zebradale.com, ddw.net, pfmtek.com, and other domains went online – all hosted from my house.
From here things have been pretty much the same for me as everyone else; selections of cable internet providers and, as of last year, gigabit fiber. I still have a lot of my old domains from 20+ years ago, still ‘roll my own’ servers, and occasionally sit back and smile at how cool it all was before it became so commonplace. 🙂
Listening to "Resist" by Rush