Eudora? Archie? Push the cobwebs away...
- Thread starter wsuffa
- Start date
DaleB
Final Approach
In 1995 my Internet connection was a frame relay fractional T1 -- we started out with 128K and had to upgrade fairly quickly to 256K, then to 768K. We switched to a full T1 later on when our upstream provider went TU one day -- unannounced. MCI had cut them off for non-payment.
Modems were a stack of USR Sportsters, which proved to be so unreliable and so incompatible even with other identical Sportsters that we swapped them out for Boca modems after a few weeks. Then it was rack mounted modems, and finally Ascend Max digital 56Ks a couple of years later. Along the way we added more frame relay and ISDN.
We started out with two servers running BSDI UNIX. One was the news server -- it had an incredible 8GB SCSI drive, and a 1GB on a separate controller just for the news index. The other machine handled email, web and Radius authentication. Linux was around, with a pre-Version 1 kernel, but wasn't really stable enough for production. We eventually added half a dozen Linux machines for various things, like splitting out the web server from everything else.
We were selling dialup service, all you can eat for $19.95 a month, a little higher for ISDN. We sold frame relay to business customers, along with company-wide email and web sites (which we didn't develop -- we referred them to people for that).
Yeah, in 1995 I ran an ISP. But, I'm feeling much better now.
Oh, yeah -- I had Compuserve addresses going back as far as '85 or '86, but I don't remember any of them, nor do i recall my BBS' Fidonet number.
Modems were a stack of USR Sportsters, which proved to be so unreliable and so incompatible even with other identical Sportsters that we swapped them out for Boca modems after a few weeks. Then it was rack mounted modems, and finally Ascend Max digital 56Ks a couple of years later. Along the way we added more frame relay and ISDN.
We started out with two servers running BSDI UNIX. One was the news server -- it had an incredible 8GB SCSI drive, and a 1GB on a separate controller just for the news index. The other machine handled email, web and Radius authentication. Linux was around, with a pre-Version 1 kernel, but wasn't really stable enough for production. We eventually added half a dozen Linux machines for various things, like splitting out the web server from everything else.
We were selling dialup service, all you can eat for $19.95 a month, a little higher for ISDN. We sold frame relay to business customers, along with company-wide email and web sites (which we didn't develop -- we referred them to people for that).
Yeah, in 1995 I ran an ISP. But, I'm feeling much better now.
Oh, yeah -- I had Compuserve addresses going back as far as '85 or '86, but I don't remember any of them, nor do i recall my BBS' Fidonet number.
OkieFlyer
En-Route
My first computer. Compaq.
gkainz
Final Approach
My first computer. Compaq.
Ugh! I lugged one of those thru a lot of airports ... Compact Compaq maybe, but not light!
wsuffa
Touchdown! Greaser!
Ted
The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2007
- Messages
- 30,006
- Display Name
Display name:
iFlyNothing
Back 20 years ago almost we got our first computer, a Mac LCII. 80 MB HD and 4 MB RAM. The first modem, a 2400 baud, connected us to AOL. My mom was still using dial-up AOL until about 3 months ago - she finally got some form of high-speed. She was still using paid AOL, though, so I finally got her switched over to free since everyone knows that eMail address of hers.
I think mom wins the award for most persistent use of outdated technology.
I think mom wins the award for most persistent use of outdated technology.
JeffDG
Touchdown! Greaser!
My first computer. Compaq.
One of those was the source for one of my absolute favourite network failure.
Guy had one of those luggables. He unplugged his Ethernet cable (10-Base2 thin coax) and let go of it. It dropped behind his desk and shorted across the prongs of a plug that was pulled partway out of its plug behind his desk. Sent 110v AC through the whole network and killed every single device connected.