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Watch War Games and that'll give you a general overview of how you'd access a system back in the 80s. They were still networked and accessible remotely, just no
by CountDrewku 5y ago
Watch War Games and that'll give you a general overview of how you'd access a system back in the 80s. They were still networked and accessible remotely, just not the way they are today.
- ASalazarMX 5y agoIt's unfair to expect someone to watch a movie instead of explaining that computers connected through telephone lines using modems to code bits as sound. You called a phone number (your modem could do this for you), the target modem answered the call, and they negotiated the maximum (but still ridiculously low) speed. If the target computer needed concurrent connections, you added more phone lines with modems. But watch the movie anyway, it's a cult classic.
- CountDrewku 5y agoUnfair? I think someone can deduce what's going on while he's calling in to the computers. It's not genius level stuff. From there they can research more if they're interested instead of asking random people on hackernews what's going on. >You called a phone number (your modem could do this for you), the target modem answered the call, and they negotiated the maximum (but still ridiculously low) speed. Yes exactly what it shows in the movie... and I think he even explains some of that.
- ASalazarMX 5y agoYou're assuming too much, there's people who have never used a landline, and would not know what an acoustic coupler, like the one in the movie, is used for. Even more confusing because the WOPR uses text-to-speech and natural language processing, which seem anachronistic for the 80s. Answering a simple question with "see X movie" is the same as answering with "read Y book", and borderline like "do some research" or "google it".