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A quick history of digital communication before the internet (2017)

38 points by headalgorithm 5y ago

aborsy 5y ago
This seems heavily Anglophone centric. A notable omission is reference to French inventor Claude Chappe, who in 1792 demonstrated a free space optical communication system. It was the first practical telecommunications system of the industrial age, that eventually spanned all of France, until replaced with electric telegraph in 1850s.
- agumonkey 5y ago
  System which was a very early communication hack target https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piratage_du_t%C3%A9l%C3%A9graphe_Chappe https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piratage_du_t%C3%A9l%C3%A9gr... Sorry for the lack of English wiki article, basically two brothers bribed an operator to embed financial information as typos in telecommunications so they could be ahead of other investors
taubek 5y ago
I did not know that digital goes so many years back.i would have never used this term for something that predates early electronic computers.
- ghaff 5y ago
  I would have called some of that stuff electronic, not digital. (Like the telegraph.) TIL why the Pony Express lasted for such a short time. I always thought that something so baked in Americana lasting barely a year was sort of funny.
  - stonogo 5y ago
    It cut transcontinental mail and news delivery from months to days. Regardless of its longevity it revolutionized American communications the the point that investing in the telegraph became a no-brainer. A business startup changing the paradigm despite not being a long-term viable operation is a long tradition.
anonymousiam 5y ago
Nice summation of a much deeper subject than can be properly documented in such a short article. I noticed right away that the J.H. Bunnell & Co. image of "THE MORSE TELEGRAPH ALPHABET" is markedly different from standard Morse code. The article does not mention anything about the evolution of Morse code itself.
- Johnythree 5y ago
  Yes, that's the difference between American morse vs International morse. see http://www.jhbunnell.com/morsecode.shtml http://www.jhbunnell.com/morsecode.shtml

38 points by headalgorithm 5y ago

This seems heavily Anglophone centric. A notable omission is reference to French inventor Claude Chappe, who in 1792 demonstrated a free space optical communication system. It was the first practical telecommunications system of the industrial age, that eventually spanned all of France, until replaced with electric telegraph in 1850s.

agumonkey 5y ago
System which was a very early communication hack target https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piratage_du_t%C3%A9l%C3%A9graphe_Chappe https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piratage_du_t%C3%A9l%C3%A9gr... Sorry for the lack of English wiki article, basically two brothers bribed an operator to embed financial information as typos in telecommunications so they could be ahead of other investors

taubek 5y ago

I did not know that digital goes so many years back.i would have never used this term for something that predates early electronic computers.

ghaff 5y ago
I would have called some of that stuff electronic, not digital. (Like the telegraph.) TIL why the Pony Express lasted for such a short time. I always thought that something so baked in Americana lasting barely a year was sort of funny.
- stonogo 5y ago
  It cut transcontinental mail and news delivery from months to days. Regardless of its longevity it revolutionized American communications the the point that investing in the telegraph became a no-brainer. A business startup changing the paradigm despite not being a long-term viable operation is a long tradition.

anonymousiam 5y ago

Nice summation of a much deeper subject than can be properly documented in such a short article. I noticed right away that the J.H. Bunnell & Co. image of "THE MORSE TELEGRAPH ALPHABET" is markedly different from standard Morse code. The article does not mention anything about the evolution of Morse code itself.

Johnythree 5y ago
Yes, that's the difference between American morse vs International morse. see http://www.jhbunnell.com/morsecode.shtml http://www.jhbunnell.com/morsecode.shtml