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The sound of dial-up explained: https://oona.windytan.com/posters/dialup-final.png https://oona.windytan.com/posters/dialup-final.png from https://www.windyta

The sound of dial-up explained: https://oona.windytan.com/posters/dialup-final.png https://oona.windytan.com/posters/dialup-final.png from https://www.windytan.com/2012/11/the-sound-of-dialup-pictured.html https://www.windytan.com/2012/11/the-sound-of-dialup-picture...

niceworkbuddy 4y ago
Never forget :')
- m4jor 4y ago
  Eternal September
Dalewyn 4y ago
I pity the youngsters who will never be able to mentally playback the dialup sound.
- matematico 4y ago
  Same here! I played it in my mind while looking at the picture. Wow, we're so old school!
- atoav 4y ago
  I grew up after that sound, but I can mentally play back a dialup sound purely because it is used in every second show, podcast, documentary on computers.
- piyush_soni 4y ago
  I still remember the small adrenaline rush we had as soon as we would detect the tone for a successful connection.
  - lapama 4y ago
    That instant was unique for human-tech interaction. Perhaps comparable with becoming positively viral, but at small scale.
  - noisy_boy 4y ago
    I remember installing Mandrake Linux on my PC (via CD ordered online as magazines still hadn't started to include the CDs). I had the dial-up line and the modem but didn't know how to set it up as I was new to both Linux and dial-up. So I used to print the steps from websites/mail groups at office to try them at home. Initially I couldn't make it work and had no choice but to wait to get to office the next day to start again. Finally I read a bunch of docs about how to talk to the modem and eventually I managed to do the correct steps and the modem produced its sweet handshake tone and the indicator lights started to blink - it was such a pure joy to finally be online from Linux!
- rjh29 4y ago
  I wonder what the equivalent sound is now?
  - capableweb 4y ago
    The opposite, connections that drop or slow down, the sound of music that is buffering or got automatically downgraded to the worst available quality.
  - bargle0 4y ago
    Not sound, but visual: The moment the video stream goes from blurry to crisp.
    - rjh29 4y ago
      "This was back when chatbots weren't actually intelligent and used to spout out random nonsense"
  - luxcem 4y ago
    There is still a lot of emblematic sounds, the skype calling sound, netflix loud bang bang, the iMessage or messenger notification pop sound, etc. But there are all from company sound design and the same experience as the dial up sound.
- mertysn 4y ago
  reminds me of two 17-year-olds attempt at using a rotary phone (2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OADXNGnJok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OADXNGnJok
ramblerman 4y ago
On that topic. I never understood why the initiation needed to be audible, but afterwards the connection was silent.
- Lammy 4y ago
  You can hear all the post-handshake data sounds by adding &M2 to your modem script, or &M0 to mute the handshake too.
- tlb 4y ago
  It kept the speaker on at first so you could hear if a human answered the phone, or got some network message like "all circuits are busy". It muted once it had a confirmed modem on the other end.
- keithnz 4y ago
  it doesn't have to be, ATM you could turn it off, or ATL you could control how loud it was
- gsich 4y ago
  There is no need. Speakers could be disabled.
- einr 4y ago
  It used to be useful to me back when my ISP had 28800 bps and 33600 bps capable modems in their pool, and I had a 33600 -- I learned to hear from the handshake when I hit one of the slower modems and would then immediately hang up and try again until I got one of the fast ones ;)
- dahart 4y ago
  It was pretty useful in my experience because sometimes the line you called was busy, sometimes a human answered instead of a computer, and sometimes a computer modem just didn’t pick up for whatever reason. Hearing the dial & handshake was a way to know what exactly went wrong when you weren’t able to connect. BBSs didn’t have this problem so much, but it happened often enough when modeming with friends or with small businesses that didn’t have a large modem bank and a lot of lines. Typing the wrong number was common. I also remember experimenting with robo-dialing with my childhood friends, calling through a list of numbers, like in War Games, looking for unknown computers to connect to.
bobsmooth 4y ago
That would make a good poster.
- naavis 4y ago
  It was actually distributed as a poster along with the 2014.2 issue of the Finnish computer culture magazine Skrolli.
- weswilson 4y ago
  The author does sell it as a poster here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/windytan/works/31262230-the-sound-of-the-dialup-explained?p=poster&finish=semi_gloss&size=large https://www.redbubble.com/people/windytan/works/31262230-the... I'm actually surprised the link, company, and poster are all still valid/working 10 years later.
KaiserPro 4y ago
The animated video that explains this is also great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgqEIp2YmtE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgqEIp2YmtE
andrewgleave 4y ago
Bret Victor's interactive version of this in Dynamicland: https://twitter.com/worrydream/status/977058412990152704 https://twitter.com/worrydream/status/977058412990152704
FearNotDaniel 4y ago
Is it just me or... does the modem audibly say "Hi" when the connection is successful? Probably just me projecting from my imagination, but listen to the part after the handshaking and before the white-noise dataflow. There's a very clear 'boing-boing' sound and then a bunch of static that sort-of sounds like someone whispering the word "Hi". It's not just on the linked recording above, I remember being conscious of this back in the day when dial-up was "normal". Just curious to know if anyone else encountered this trick of perception... Anyway, hearing those tones again did bring back all the feels, the joy of hearing that "boing-boing-Hi" greeting as I stepped once again onto the "Information Superhighway".

niceworkbuddy 4y ago

Never forget :')

m4jor 4y ago
Eternal September

Dalewyn 4y ago

I pity the youngsters who will never be able to mentally playback the dialup sound.

matematico 4y ago
Same here! I played it in my mind while looking at the picture. Wow, we're so old school!
atoav 4y ago
I grew up after that sound, but I can mentally play back a dialup sound purely because it is used in every second show, podcast, documentary on computers.
piyush_soni 4y ago
I still remember the small adrenaline rush we had as soon as we would detect the tone for a successful connection.
- lapama 4y ago
  That instant was unique for human-tech interaction. Perhaps comparable with becoming positively viral, but at small scale.
- noisy_boy 4y ago
  I remember installing Mandrake Linux on my PC (via CD ordered online as magazines still hadn't started to include the CDs). I had the dial-up line and the modem but didn't know how to set it up as I was new to both Linux and dial-up. So I used to print the steps from websites/mail groups at office to try them at home. Initially I couldn't make it work and had no choice but to wait to get to office the next day to start again. Finally I read a bunch of docs about how to talk to the modem and eventually I managed to do the correct steps and the modem produced its sweet handshake tone and the indicator lights started to blink - it was such a pure joy to finally be online from Linux!
rjh29 4y ago
I wonder what the equivalent sound is now?
- capableweb 4y ago
  The opposite, connections that drop or slow down, the sound of music that is buffering or got automatically downgraded to the worst available quality.
- bargle0 4y ago
  Not sound, but visual: The moment the video stream goes from blurry to crisp.
  - rjh29 4y ago
    "This was back when chatbots weren't actually intelligent and used to spout out random nonsense"
- luxcem 4y ago
  There is still a lot of emblematic sounds, the skype calling sound, netflix loud bang bang, the iMessage or messenger notification pop sound, etc. But there are all from company sound design and the same experience as the dial up sound.
mertysn 4y ago
reminds me of two 17-year-olds attempt at using a rotary phone (2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OADXNGnJok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OADXNGnJok

ramblerman 4y ago

On that topic. I never understood why the initiation needed to be audible, but afterwards the connection was silent.

Lammy 4y ago
You can hear all the post-handshake data sounds by adding &M2 to your modem script, or &M0 to mute the handshake too.
tlb 4y ago
It kept the speaker on at first so you could hear if a human answered the phone, or got some network message like "all circuits are busy". It muted once it had a confirmed modem on the other end.
keithnz 4y ago
it doesn't have to be, ATM you could turn it off, or ATL you could control how loud it was
gsich 4y ago
There is no need. Speakers could be disabled.
einr 4y ago
It used to be useful to me back when my ISP had 28800 bps and 33600 bps capable modems in their pool, and I had a 33600 -- I learned to hear from the handshake when I hit one of the slower modems and would then immediately hang up and try again until I got one of the fast ones ;)
dahart 4y ago
It was pretty useful in my experience because sometimes the line you called was busy, sometimes a human answered instead of a computer, and sometimes a computer modem just didn’t pick up for whatever reason. Hearing the dial & handshake was a way to know what exactly went wrong when you weren’t able to connect. BBSs didn’t have this problem so much, but it happened often enough when modeming with friends or with small businesses that didn’t have a large modem bank and a lot of lines. Typing the wrong number was common. I also remember experimenting with robo-dialing with my childhood friends, calling through a list of numbers, like in War Games, looking for unknown computers to connect to.

bobsmooth 4y ago

That would make a good poster.

naavis 4y ago
It was actually distributed as a poster along with the 2014.2 issue of the Finnish computer culture magazine Skrolli.
weswilson 4y ago
The author does sell it as a poster here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/windytan/works/31262230-the-sound-of-the-dialup-explained?p=poster&finish=semi_gloss&size=large https://www.redbubble.com/people/windytan/works/31262230-the... I'm actually surprised the link, company, and poster are all still valid/working 10 years later.

KaiserPro 4y ago

The animated video that explains this is also great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgqEIp2YmtE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgqEIp2YmtE

andrewgleave 4y ago

Bret Victor's interactive version of this in Dynamicland: https://twitter.com/worrydream/status/977058412990152704 https://twitter.com/worrydream/status/977058412990152704

FearNotDaniel 4y ago

Is it just me or... does the modem audibly say "Hi" when the connection is successful? Probably just me projecting from my imagination, but listen to the part after the handshaking and before the white-noise dataflow. There's a very clear 'boing-boing' sound and then a bunch of static that sort-of sounds like someone whispering the word "Hi". It's not just on the linked recording above, I remember being conscious of this back in the day when dial-up was "normal". Just curious to know if anyone else encountered this trick of perception... Anyway, hearing those tones again did bring back all the feels, the joy of hearing that "boing-boing-Hi" greeting as I stepped once again onto the "Information Superhighway".