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For a while in the 80s the BBC Ceefax service offered the ability to download software [1]. You needed special hardware to decode the broadcast signal, and soft

For a while in the 80s the BBC Ceefax service offered the ability to download software [1]. You needed special hardware to decode the broadcast signal, and software to convert from text-encoded binary. It seemed pretty amazing at the time. At about the same time, the BBC also broadcast audio-encoded software on its Radio 4 station after normal programming had finished for the night. I remember staying up late to record it onto C60 cassette tapes to load into a BBC Micro at school (and possibly my own Vic 20, my memories are a little hazy). And now radio is broadcast on the internet. [1] http://teletext.mb21.co.uk/gallery/ceefax/telesoftware/ http://teletext.mb21.co.uk/gallery/ceefax/telesoftware/

twic 8y ago
> the BBC also broadcast audio-encoded software on its Radio 4 station The genius of modems is that they turned the mass of existing infrastructure for voice into infrastructure for data. We're familiar with the assimilation of phone lines and cassette tapes, and whilst this instance is less familiar, it's just more of the same.
jgrahamc 8y ago
Also there was'4 Computer Buffs' where code was transmitted by a flashing square on screen during a program: https://www.tvcream.co.uk/?p=2347 https://www.tvcream.co.uk/?p=2347 Here's a video of how you had to make the 'receiver' for this: https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=89458723914479030 https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=89458723914479030 and here's an interview where there's the software being transmitted at the same time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULGDTtGZcN0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULGDTtGZcN0