4 ms·
> Biggest hurdle was purchasing a PC. A PC was actually not necessary getting started. I wrote my first Web-site (called "homepage" in those days) in 1994 on m
by Archelaos 4y ago
> Biggest hurdle was purchasing a PC.
A PC was actually not necessary getting started. I wrote my first Web-site (called "homepage" in those days) in 1994 on my Atari ST I had purchased in 1989. I uploaded it via FTP to my university Web space and checked it via telnetting to the text-based browser Lynx[1] on the university's remote host. Later I used Lynx directly on my Atari ST. This was all done via a 1,200 baud modem.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(web_browser) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_(web_browser)
- capableweb 4y agoI don't think parent necessarily meant "PC" like that, but rather than you needed to buy a pricey device to get into the space. For example, the Atari ST launched at June 1985 for the price of $800. Adjusted to today's prices (via https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm), that would be ~$2200, which is a lot for most people. So I think the point still stands. The barrier to entry was acquiring the device in order to be able to do anything related to it.
- Archelaos 4y agoIn 1994 my Atari ST was already 5 years old. I don't know what such legacy used hardware cost in 1994, but I would guess at least half, if not a quarter, of the launch price in 1985. So in today's money betwen $550 and $1,100. Not little for a teenager or young adult, but not terribly expensive either. However, I would admit, that an Atari ST and a 1,200 baud modem was far from being an ideal setup for getting started with the Internet. I therefore went most of the time to the university's computer lab, where I had my first contact with Unix. But what should you do when the lab was closed ...