5 ms·

Log on Like It’s 1985: A Fragment of Minitel Returns

51 points by wallflower 8y ago

amiga-workbench 8y ago
Very cool, as a side project I've started programming an esp8266 to plug into the back of a Minitel and act as a telnet client, and consume the reddit & 4chan API's. The documentation is a bit difficult, I'm having quite a bit of trouble with the block drawing mode. All the literature is in French and reading it is slow going.
pkaye 8y ago
Anyone remembers those information terminals that we at BART stations in the bay area back then?
ftio 8y ago
One of my favorite episodes of my favorite podcast (Reply All by Gimlet) is about Minitel: https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/french-connection https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/french-connection Well worth a listen.
camtarn 8y ago
The Wikipedia page for Minitel is fascinating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel It also answers the question of why '3615 SM' - 3615 was the code to dial to access Minitel, and Minitel services were often advertised as '3615 [service name]'.
- wazoox 8y ago
  In the 80s and 90s, walls everywhere in France were covered with posters advertising for minitel services (mostly sex/porn related, so called "minitel rose"). It was a really big industry... 3611 was the yellow pages, free for the first few minutes. the numbers 3614, 3615 (up to 3619 IIRC) were actually defining the price. All 3615 servers cost the same; 3614 was cheaper, and 3616 more expensive. Some services were accessible through several prices, for instance 3614 AIRFRANCE and 3615 AIRFRANCE: you dialed the 3614 first, and if there was no line available, tried the more expensive (but otherwise identical) 3615...
  - agumonkey 8y ago
    another common one was 3617.. can't recall if it was business only or tariffed anything though. ps: I'd love to try a slow / low res internet with cute devices like a minitel. Maybe with slightly increased specs and slightly better interfaces (functionally, not ~aesthetically). Remember when things used to take time ?
    - wazoox 8y ago
      Yup, 3617 was common for more expensive services. I don't remember the exact price but it was really high. Usually professional stuff, like "3617 INFOGREFFE" (to get legal information about registered companies), etc.
gaius 8y ago
I have very fond memories of the UK equivalent of this, Prestel, which I accessed on a 1200/75 modem from a BBC Micro. In terms of simplicity and reliability in many ways the modern web is s step backwards from those old systems.
eesmith 8y ago
SM chat server available from http://sm.3615.live http://sm.3615.live .

51 points by wallflower 8y ago

Very cool, as a side project I've started programming an esp8266 to plug into the back of a Minitel and act as a telnet client, and consume the reddit & 4chan API's. The documentation is a bit difficult, I'm having quite a bit of trouble with the block drawing mode. All the literature is in French and reading it is slow going.

pkaye 8y ago

Anyone remembers those information terminals that we at BART stations in the bay area back then?

ftio 8y ago

One of my favorite episodes of my favorite podcast (Reply All by Gimlet) is about Minitel: https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/french-connection https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/french-connection Well worth a listen.

camtarn 8y ago

The Wikipedia page for Minitel is fascinating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel It also answers the question of why '3615 SM' - 3615 was the code to dial to access Minitel, and Minitel services were often advertised as '3615 [service name]'.

wazoox 8y ago
In the 80s and 90s, walls everywhere in France were covered with posters advertising for minitel services (mostly sex/porn related, so called "minitel rose"). It was a really big industry... 3611 was the yellow pages, free for the first few minutes. the numbers 3614, 3615 (up to 3619 IIRC) were actually defining the price. All 3615 servers cost the same; 3614 was cheaper, and 3616 more expensive. Some services were accessible through several prices, for instance 3614 AIRFRANCE and 3615 AIRFRANCE: you dialed the 3614 first, and if there was no line available, tried the more expensive (but otherwise identical) 3615...
- agumonkey 8y ago
  another common one was 3617.. can't recall if it was business only or tariffed anything though. ps: I'd love to try a slow / low res internet with cute devices like a minitel. Maybe with slightly increased specs and slightly better interfaces (functionally, not ~aesthetically). Remember when things used to take time ?
  - wazoox 8y ago
    Yup, 3617 was common for more expensive services. I don't remember the exact price but it was really high. Usually professional stuff, like "3617 INFOGREFFE" (to get legal information about registered companies), etc.

gaius 8y ago

I have very fond memories of the UK equivalent of this, Prestel, which I accessed on a 1200/75 modem from a BBC Micro. In terms of simplicity and reliability in many ways the modern web is s step backwards from those old systems.

eesmith 8y ago

SM chat server available from http://sm.3615.live http://sm.3615.live .