6 ms·

what is this?

gruturo 6y ago
The Telix terminal interface. I spent so, so much time on it in the 80s, discovering BBSes, other people and later exploring the worldwide X25 network. Also, from the page's source code: // UUDDLRLRBA! var kkeys = [], konami = "38,38,40,40,37,39,37,39,66,65"; :)
- blauditore 6y ago
  I have a hard time finding information about Telix. How did this work, e.g. how would one "discover" other people?
  - ilaksh 6y ago
    I think Telix was just one popular modem program of many. Just Google for "BBS" i.e. bulletin board system. They worked over phone lines. Normally you would know about one BBS from a computer magazine and then that BBS would have a megalist of other ones on it.
  - Meic 6y ago
    Telix[0] was just a terminal emulator, to find dial up systems you generally got information offline, such as via magazines or friends, and then got to know other systems from there, or from lists like the FidoNet node list. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telix https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telix
  - fullstop 6y ago
    Usually you'd find one BBS through word of mouth, and that one would have listings of systems which were hopefully a local number. There usually had just the one line so users were limited to a certain number of minutes a day before they were no longer permitted to sign on. Sometimes a shareware game or new "Demo" would make to to a BBS and it might take you a week or two to download the entire thing because of time limits. Some systems gave you extra time if you uploaded new content to encourage sharing. It was kind of a neat system, and I miss how small it was.
  - raldi 6y ago
    You would come upon a ZIP file and alongside its primary payload there would be one or more ads for various BBSes. Sometimes the ads were the payload: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_art#Scene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_art#Scene
- EvanAnderson 6y ago
  I am immediately reminded of "0208057040540" and "26245400080177". Those were, indeed, the days.
  - icedchai 6y ago
    Oh, I remember QSD and Lutzifer! I was on there probably '90 to '91-ish?
    - EvanAnderson 6y ago
      Same time frame for me. I'd heard of the Internet (by way of "The Cuckoo's Egg" and coverage of the Morris worm) but being out in the boondocks with no college close by there wasn't any chance of getting Internet access at that time. The X.25 networks, and just the idea of always-on networked computers, were breathtaking to me.
      - icedchai 6y ago
        Oh, I loved that book! Maybe I'll re-read it... I found my way into some x.25-to-internet gateways in the early 90's. Most corporate networks were very insecure then. Some of those gateways had no authentication: you'd connect in over x25, then telnet out. The local colleges were also pretty bad.
  - gruturo 6y ago
    026245890040004 :-) Altger. Still remember it by heart. The brain is a strange machine. and I recognized QSD immediately when I saw it in your post.

what is this?

The Telix terminal interface. I spent so, so much time on it in the 80s, discovering BBSes, other people and later exploring the worldwide X25 network. Also, from the page's source code: // UUDDLRLRBA! var kkeys = [], konami = "38,38,40,40,37,39,37,39,66,65"; :)

blauditore 6y ago
I have a hard time finding information about Telix. How did this work, e.g. how would one "discover" other people?
- ilaksh 6y ago
  I think Telix was just one popular modem program of many. Just Google for "BBS" i.e. bulletin board system. They worked over phone lines. Normally you would know about one BBS from a computer magazine and then that BBS would have a megalist of other ones on it.
- Meic 6y ago
  Telix[0] was just a terminal emulator, to find dial up systems you generally got information offline, such as via magazines or friends, and then got to know other systems from there, or from lists like the FidoNet node list. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telix https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telix
- fullstop 6y ago
  Usually you'd find one BBS through word of mouth, and that one would have listings of systems which were hopefully a local number. There usually had just the one line so users were limited to a certain number of minutes a day before they were no longer permitted to sign on. Sometimes a shareware game or new "Demo" would make to to a BBS and it might take you a week or two to download the entire thing because of time limits. Some systems gave you extra time if you uploaded new content to encourage sharing. It was kind of a neat system, and I miss how small it was.
- raldi 6y ago
  You would come upon a ZIP file and alongside its primary payload there would be one or more ads for various BBSes. Sometimes the ads were the payload: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_art#Scene https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_art#Scene
EvanAnderson 6y ago
I am immediately reminded of "0208057040540" and "26245400080177". Those were, indeed, the days.
- icedchai 6y ago
  Oh, I remember QSD and Lutzifer! I was on there probably '90 to '91-ish?
  - EvanAnderson 6y ago
    Same time frame for me. I'd heard of the Internet (by way of "The Cuckoo's Egg" and coverage of the Morris worm) but being out in the boondocks with no college close by there wasn't any chance of getting Internet access at that time. The X.25 networks, and just the idea of always-on networked computers, were breathtaking to me.
    - icedchai 6y ago
      Oh, I loved that book! Maybe I'll re-read it... I found my way into some x.25-to-internet gateways in the early 90's. Most corporate networks were very insecure then. Some of those gateways had no authentication: you'd connect in over x25, then telnet out. The local colleges were also pretty bad.
- gruturo 6y ago
  026245890040004 :-) Altger. Still remember it by heart. The brain is a strange machine. and I recognized QSD immediately when I saw it in your post.