CompuServe Classic Finally Put To Rest

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: AOL CDs? I can remember needing a single floppy, and those AOL floppies were everywhere back in the day. I just ran down the street to the market and grabbed a free AOL floppy off the counter for whatever.

zenneth

I'm gonna start an ANSI BBS just to celebrate this; now where did I put my 2600 bps ISA modem card..

crsh1976

@dallasmay2: Bah, that's why you downloaded it from news groups and parsed the separate downloads together!

noone1569

$6/hour back in 1985, at 300 baud on an Atari 800XL. Oy. The parents weren't too thrilled when they got that first bill, especially due to the lengthy MegaWars sessions :D

@gavscott: I can't remember my CompuServe number, but kudos to you for still having it :)

I started using Compuserve when it was MicroNet. The per minute charges were brutal. My bill was easily $200/month.

tompanderson

@TerryinSt.Paul: you have embiggened the quality of the comment section, sir.

costanza007

@samuelk:
Is THAT who that is? I thought he was familiar. He looks like Steve Carell's younger brother.

Dacker

@TerryinSt.Paul: They were trying to embiggen themselves.

MauriceCallidice

I used Compuserve with Golden Compass under OS/2. Some Procomm. That was a lifetime ago. USR HST modems. Our local 'computer club' would meet and swap/copy floppies of others files cuz of the expense.

*sigh*

Thanks. I feel really old now.

The-Management

I wonder if Harry Shearer mentions this commercial on his demo reel.

75616,570. And I spent most of my time on CB band A, thank you. I feel old.

gavscott

@dallasmay2:
From Wikipedia:
"On November 6, 2001, SBC purchased 100% interest in Prodigy and brought it private. On November 14, 2001, SBC and Yahoo! announced the strategic alliance to create the co-branded SBC Yahoo!. Sometime thereafter, SBC ceased offering new Prodigy accounts, and customers were encouraged to migrate to the SBC Yahoo! product line to the sbc.yahoo.com internet portal, while being able to keep their {username}@Prodigy.net email addresses."

Okay. SBC bought Prodigy, SBC partnered with Yahoo, and bought ATT. SBC changed name to ATT. So, prodigy is run by the empire just like everything else. Good deal.

dallasmay2

Acoustic couplers! I once got questioned by a cop in an airport - what are you doing? - pointing to my couplers and an RS Model 100, standing at a bank of payphones. And there's an anachronism - banks of payphones.

2mix

@dallasmay2:
But then again, it was the service was a State Education Agency funded, teachers only program that only cost my family $5/year. So that part I miss.

dallasmay2

My first internet was a "Lynx" based text only internet. It would take 15 min to download a photo. An hour or more to download a 2 min video. Ah, those were the days -THEY SUCKED!!!

dallasmay2

@RW-1: How about dialing up the mainframe using a 'public' X.25 access point, 1200 baud on a good day.

ursa

@WMyers:

I have a friend that really does still use his old prodigy.net e-mail address. It still works. The servers are still on baby!

dallasmay2

I remember dialing into a BBS that I thought was a 1800 number but it turned out to be some California area code that started with 8. I ran up close to a 1000$ telebill with that . .blamed it on the neighbors, something must have gotten hacked ;)

noone1569

@eXo: I started out on a 2400 baud. Where the hell did that term go? My family's progression was 2400 baud to 14,000 to the blazingly fast and incredibly sexy 56k!

@pastrychef: Damn. Now I'm trying to remember whether the modem that plugged into the cartridge port on my C64 was 300 baud or 1200 baud.

My friend Trevor had an acoustic-coupler modem. But then he couldn't hang out with me because my parents got divorced and his folks thought that I would be a bad influence.

@pastrychef: For my 12th birthday I asked for a 2400 baud modem.... In my mind it would be so much better then that 1200 I currently had....

Thinking back, I should have just gotten roller skates or something, lol.

eXo

I first used Compuserve in the early 80s when it was strictly text-only. I accessed it on a Kaypro II! It's the first place I encountered the magical world of text adventures.

Looking back on it, OMG it sucked. But still...

@OMG! Ponies!: Prodidgy does have the better games even if its Stocks app isn't as good as Compuserve.

WMyers

@OMG! Ponies!:

I think acoustic coupler modems only came in the 300 baud variety. As far as I know, 1200 baud and above were all "direct connect".

Good times!

pastrychef

Hellenic Polytheism? Elegiac? Did someone get a new "word of the day" calendar recently? How cromulent of you.

TerryinSt.Paul

@OMG! Ponies!: Shall we play a game?

How about just plain dial up into a work network and telnet clients?

I'm too old as well. CS was ok, never used the client, just for the connection.

RW-1

Ahhhh AOL CD's that came with the sunday papers week in week out. First 50 hours free, first 100 hours etc etc.

I remember my parents would be constantly paranoid about me running up a huge phone bill with it.

I also remember getting the dreamcast with dreamkey, plugging it in to the internet and playing loads of PSO, running up a huge phone bill! opps...

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: I think that, for old-times' sake, John should have posted this to a BBS using a Hayes 4800-baud acoustic coupler modem.

Yep, I feel like a dinossaur... because I do remember CompuServe, AOL CDs, and I still remember downloading MODs (Axel Foley) from local BBSs with my... can't remember exactly but I think was 5700bps US Robotics modem, which I switched to a Zoltrix 14400 later on.

Remember how awesome BananaCom was because it had COLORS, and it made using TELECONFERENCE oh so easier... :P

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

"stemmed at the source. CompuServe Classic is dead."

don't panic everyone, it's already been replaced by gmail, at least by forum spambot standards

Dammit! I guess I'm finally going to have to sign up for Prodigy.

this was the first service i ever had. damn expensive. $6.25/hour for 300 baud access. it was ,however, the first time i ordered something online (MET and Godiva), spoke in a chat room(BBS simulator) or played an rpg.

Remember Island of Kesmai...

Just did the math: in 1989, a large-capacity hard drive held 100MB (that's 0.1GB) and cost upwards of $1000. By that logic, a terrabyte would set you back a cool $10M. Sure makes modern SSDs look cheap, huh?

Of course, those 10,000 drives would also need 5,000 servers in which to sit and spin. Throw in a warehouse, a giant air conditioner, and a 5400RPM-capable electric meter and we're good to go.

70144,1072. Don't ask how I remember that.

My first month on the "internet" back in 1989 was via CompuServe at 2400 baud, setting me back a cool $300. I quickly figured out how to compose email offline (TAPCIS?). I think we were discussing the new "Star Trek TNG" TV series.

I few years later I was in Columbus and went to their HQ to visit with an employee friend that I'd met online. They were bringing in a group of new employees and let me tag along on the introductory tour. I remember being flabbergasted by the sheer volume of data being archived, but I'm sure my TiVoHD currently holds more.

I also remember seeing banks of refrigerator-sized UPSes, which would combine with the generators outside for months of service without grid power.

Pity their business model was based on locked-in users and recurring monthly fees. Once free content showed up, they needed to change or die. Seems they chose the latter. At least they never mail-bombed the Earth with ten solar masses worth of free "Sign Up Now!" disks.

@Cetrian: I have an emulated BBS running Legend of the Red Dragon that some of my friends and I log into and still play. One day I'll kill that bastard.

eXo

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi:
Oh man, my friends and I used to mess with the code in gorilla.bas over lunch hours at school... one time we made it so the sun was always angry (shocked?) and encased in a gorilla-colored block. If a banana hit it, it would kill the gorilla on whichever side it was hit on. :p

Nibbles was my favorite though... My introduction to programming was actually self-taught through the brilliant built-in help for QBasic, copying and tweaking the example code in it...

@fullcircle:
@yelraf:
@fuchikoma:
Yeah! Now that I read your comments, I remember!
I also had went through all fax/modems... no external, if I'm not mistaken.
From 2400 up to 56k. I do remember my dad had an ancient external modem previous to the 2400 one, but I never really used it. It was the size of a standard desktop case, all metal, heavy as hell. xD
Still, not as badass as that analog acoustic coupler modem... :P
[xspblog.com]
Actually, now that I'm reading the post, it seems I always repeat the same story... guess I'm really getting old... :P
Earlier today I was writting a post about Gorilla.bas for the blog pool... :P

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

I still have a AOL for DOS 3.5 floppy in original wrapper out in my garage. I was a AOL "Guide" for a few years so my AOL was free LOL before that I remember $200+ phone bills every month.

FireZingr

Man,I actually worked for CompuServe in the mid 90's, fresh out of college working as a network engineer. Some good memories there but within a year of starting the rumors about being bought by AOL started coming on so I got the hell out. Since then, the building I worked at and the CompuServe global network changed hands too many times to count. I think it's now got a Verizon sign on it, for now. Good times, good times.

Was anybody else on WorldsAway on CS? Avatar-based community where you could use in-world gold to buy new heads and colors for clothes and random crap... man, I was addicted to that when I was like 13. I miss my George head and Acolyte Gold shirt.

nuclearlove

Garth Snyder, of South Florida, if you're out there is was great chatting with you back in the late 70's. I'll always cherish our online friendship.

kaylix

@fuchikoma: I never changed my password from the one issued with my CompuServe account. "dusty?frailty" I'll probably remember it all my life.

I was tangentially involved in the creation of CISComm, one of the best CompuServe forum readers for DOS; I wrote the text-mode windowing and mouse library it used. I honestly think it's only been in the last couple of years that Web-based social forums have gotten back up to the level of functionality we had on CompuServe almost 20 years ago.

CSX321

@crsh1976:
There are enthusiasts who still run BBSes on Telnet...
...I don't know the addresses of any, but I have come across directories of them before.

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi:
Nice... I used to use a cheap external 2400 baud modem to connect to local BBSes and get what I could find. Shareware games, mods, textfiles, and graphics demos.

It was so awesome when I found a MOD player that would play through a Disney Sound Source since my 286 only had an Adlib card internally (FM synth, no samples!)

Anyone remember Ripterm? It was a vector graphics terminal program - it made door games look... infinitely more impressive, even though it was only 16 colour or something.

I never really got into the modem race until Internet providers came to town - I had 14.4, 28.8, 33.6, 56k, all US Robotics Sportsters. :p

Le claim to fame: I worked at CompuServe for a few years, right at the end when they were bought by the dark side, err, AOL. Wrote the news section of V3 - if anyone remembers that. It was pay only and I doubt anyone ever used it at all. At least it was good resume fodder for me to exercise my NT and C++ programming skills.

aureolin

I met my husband when we were 14 years old on a 3-line local BBS. Real state of the art, being able to actually chat with 2 other people, instead of just posting on the boards, logging off, and waiting for people to reply. Looking back, I'm surprised my mom & dad didn't lock me in my room instead of letting me meet those "weird BBS people" in real life. (Really, they were all good kids just like me.)

selianth

@OMG! Ponies!: I was thinking about WOW! if it didn't die with CS. 'Cause c'mon. "WOW!"

Fractal the Meek

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: Oh man, hit me up! I'm at 71551,1552 ! I like door games on my BBS as well.

ZModem some of those "pirated" DOS games to me, man. Also, I'll need the latest DOS4GW so I don't run out of conventional memory while playing Zone 66!

Why is it that I can remember my Compuserve (well, my dad's) ID so easily?

Cetrian

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: Heh...I recall having to buy a new modem about every six months or so...14.4k? Gotta have that...what, now 19.6? Damn. 28.8? WTF...now that's FAST...can't wait for that 56k...that's gonna kick ASS!!!

@freezejeans:
I so miss my Atari 800XL and later Atari ST. That was my first PC to get online via Compuserve and later AOL. And though I have had dozens of PC's since, it was the best time I ever had on a computer.

That commercial was awesome. I'm gonna call the 800 number and sign up RIGHT NOW.

chefgon

@OMG! Ponies!: Hey I'm going to switch to Mindspring. I hear there connectivity is awesome. ;-)