The World Wide Web was officially introduced to the world on August 6, 1991
- Thread starter rack'm
- Start date
Yet 5 years later, I was still dragging around a laptop to show people what I was talking about regarding the internet and the concept of an online community. 
itsbob
I bowl overhand
93 (?) I joined my first community.. Webchat Broadcasting System.. WBS.. they sold out to Disney who in turn killed it, not wanting the competition for their chat communities.vraiblonde said:Yet 5 years later, I was still dragging around a laptop to show people what I was talking about regarding the internet and the concept of an online community.
It started out as text only and we used the typed emoticons to ;}
--,-'--@ (rose) no pictures.. then we got to use pictures you could find on the internet.. or you downloaded to your own server after having scanned them in. no digital photo's yet.. In the end it was a scrolling real time chat.. If you weren't on at 9AM you didn't see what was said at 9AM.. More like a real community..
It was probably '94 or '95 when I first got online. I dialed up and sat there....now what? I called my buddy at EagleNet and he said I need a web browser.itsbob said:
A...what?
So he came over and installed Mosaic and (I can't remember the name of the email client). So there I was, with a web browser and no sites to visit. With an email program and nobody to email.
I signed up for Apple's online portal (similar to AOL) because the software came with my Mac, but chatrooms were THE single most boring thing I'd ever encountered. Playing games was about all there was to do online.
Remember "gopher"?
It was funny though.
itsbob
I bowl overhand
vraiblonde said:It was probably '94 or '95 when I first got online. I dialed up and sat there....now what? I called my buddy at EagleNet and he said I need a web browser.
A...what?
So he came over and installed Mosaic and (I can't remember the name of the email client). So there I was, with a web browser and no sites to visit. With an email program and nobody to email.
I signed up for Apple's online portal (similar to AOL) because the software came with my Mac, but chatrooms were THE single most boring thing I'd ever encountered. Playing games was about all there was to do online.
Remember "gopher"?
When I first came online with my 2400 (?) baud modem there was NOTHING.. you could sign onto a BBS to share software, and basically e-mail or leave messages for others on the BBS.. but there was NO chat.. You would find a program you wanted that was less then a meg in size, set it up to download before you went to bed, and MAYBE it would be done by the time you got up in the morning.
I remember Gopher,, but there were a few more names that I can't remember..
hvp05
Methodically disorganized
Pete said:I went online in 1995. AOL, no local dial in number for my 14.4 modem, $200 phone bill.
Me too!My first connection was in college - '94/'95 - and everyone connected by modem, if I remember correctly. My first browser was Lynx... all text. But, of course, at the time the Web was all text. If you should happen upon a graphic, the browser displayed "[graphic]" or something and one would need to use their imagination.
By Summer '95 I got AOL and graphics came into play. I remember how cool that was. Funny thing is, I can also remember writing paper letters to my friends discussing this cool new Internet.
Fall '95, back at school, we all had direct T1 connections. And we would network our computers and "share" programs. Best memory: cranking speakers and deathmatching in DOOM. That is when we knew this would be big!
willie
Well-Known Member
R
residentofcre
Guest
Southern Bell was leasing computer use time back when I was in the computer club in the early 60's. They had a corner on the local mainframe time for sale. Punch cards were the main craze and a disk drive took two people to lug it from the case to the reader. Printers were huge.... and it was a big deal [literally] to get a Merry Xmas banner.It's been a long time.... I remember the first time I looked something up on the world wide web.... bookmarks were a real trial.... and your questions had to be very specific....
Seems like only yesterday.... I love my laptop....
itsbob said:93 (?) I joined my first community.. Webchat Broadcasting System.. WBS.. they sold out to Disney who in turn killed it, not wanting the competition for their chat communities.
It started out as text only and we used the typed emoticons to ;}
--,-'--@ (rose) no pictures.. then we got to use pictures you could find on the internet.. or you downloaded to your own server after having scanned them in. no digital photo's yet.. In the end it was a scrolling real time chat.. If you weren't on at 9AM you didn't see what was said at 9AM.. More like a real community..
Bustem' Down
Give Peas a Chance
I didn't get my first e-mail account (Yahoo!) until '99. I was 23 years old. I guess a little behind the whole tech craze.
hvp05 said:My first connection was in college - '94/'95 - and everyone connected by modem, if I remember correctly. My first browser was Lynx... all text. But, of course, at the time the Web was all text. If you should happen upon a graphic, the browser displayed "[graphic]" or something and one would need to use their imagination.
By Summer '95 I got AOL and graphics came into play. I remember how cool that was. Funny thing is, I can also remember writing paper letters to my friends discussing this cool new Internet.
That's pretty close to my first experience. I had used some dial-up connections for my job before '94 to download things, but didn't really get into it until starting back to college in '94. Connecting to the main campus at 2400 to get assignments and upload my papers. Crude bulletin boards to get class information. Getting my first computer for $3k - fully loaded with a 386/25mHz processor and an 80 meg hard drive, which I promptly upgraded with a 420 meg second hard drive.
Ah, the good old days.
hvp05 said:for a week after I opened it.
Dur me. I graduated in '94 so the time frame was earlier than I said above.
Mine was a Zeos, which later on became Micron. I felt superior to others in my office who only got IBM 286/20mHz machines through the government buying program.
I had an HP LQ510 dot-matrix printer attached. I remember printing out tax forms for HOURS listening to the zzzzzzzzzz-zzzzzzzzzzzz of the carriage going back and forth. 
