Kinda annoying that it plays the modem handshake sound while printing dots to the terminal. The handshake would only ever happen at the beginning of the call, before any actual data is received by the user. After the initial handshake the modem speaker would switch off, and the rest of the session would be silent.
I didn't feel great posting my objection, but really... one of the nicest things about the old terminal days was the silence. Just you and the terminal and some system far away.
Obligatory Google BBS reply: Now the whole script of how it would connect comes from a viral video by Squirrel-Monkey.com (see also the link at the page). "Google BBS" just put this into interactive reality. On the sound: This is not a technical feature of the modem, but you would have actually a modem-script to switch it to mute. (The usual configuration was: I want to here the handshake sequence, but as soon as the connection stands, mute. But this was actually scripted behavior. You could have it all mute or monitor sound all the time. There are two distinctive sounds and the second one – reconnecting & fetching more data – isn't a handshake sound.)
@sdfjkl - I found the joke on GOOGLE.COM and the typo actually funny in the original video and wouldn't have wanted to miss it in the application.
That, and a few other things. For example, you wouldn't launch an executable named GOOGLE.COM, you'd launch your terminal emulator[1] and then select the Google BBS from a phonebook (or enter the number manually, perhaps even with ATDT in front). Also, 8-bit ANSI art[2] was rapidly embraced by BBSes in those days (what you see is 7-bit with colors).
Oh, the fond memories of that satisfying modem handshake. Once alone, you are now connected to something bigger. New possibilities, new venues, stuff to explore.
In those days credit card checking was done offline using Luhn algorithms.
So you could download a program to generate numbers, and use made up data, to get free illegal access to Compuserve. Sometimes the accounts lasted a few months before being closed.
I pretty much owe my career in tech to those programs. We were too poor for internet, but dad had a work computer at home. Fake CCs kept me online and let me upload the HTML pages I'd made offline, and chat to people who taught me everything.
There was an algorithm in a certain "Hacker Journal" to generate said numbers. Combine that with some valid prefixes (the first 4 digits, which indicate the issuer) and you'd pass most tests at the time.
I had a similar experience (about half as much.) Then there was a few times I dialed long distance BBSs..
My parents were so cheap they refused to buy a second phone line for years. In retrospect they probably enjoyed not being called by their friends or telemarketers.
Notable quote, written over 20 years ago, from that image (about BIX, $9 per hour, which grew from a magazine.):
"This is the computer industry as it used to be: people sharing ideas and solutions without the greed and grit associated with today's corporate driven, litigation-laced, industry"
I realize I actually have a technical question about both this, and the "Mad Men" version that danso points[1] out...
How the heck do they do this when Google doesn't have an API, and will quickly rate-limit you for excessive volume of screen-scraping? How are they getting the google results to show in their own interfaces?
Ah, nice, and that URI (after first redirecting) suggests they are using the Web Search API that used to exist,and is still around but rate-limited:
> Note: The Google Web Search API has been officially deprecated as of November 1, 2010. It will continue to work as per our deprecation policy, but the number of requests you may make per day will be limited. Therefore, we encourage you to move to the new Custom Search API.
The Custom Search API is not free, and I think doesn't let you search all of Google either, but only 'custom search engines' set up with certain hosts.
All sorts of interesting things you could do with google if they gave you an api.
Both are actually using the old Google REST API that didn't have a such restricted free quota as the current custom search API. But the REST API has been marked as deprecated for three years now and might be subject to the next spring cleaning. (According to Google terms, it even might be shut down this month without further notice.)
Funny this came up today. Had a flashback moment with a colleague yesterday when he mentioned BASIC (Beginner All Purpose Symbolic Instructional Code?). My earliest memory of "programming" was copying cheat editors for Ultima and Wizardy from the magazine Nibble(?) for our Apple ][. I then progressed to operating a bbs running Forum-PC and learned Pascal by hacking the software. Good times!
My first experiences with the net was a local BBS in my city in 1997 when i was 14. They also had a vibrant message board and lots of files. A normal internet ISP was still too expensive for me as a teenager and my parents were not really allowing it, but today i am glad i could still experience BBSes.
Oh man!
There was a bug where you could deposit negative money in the bank and it would credit your account positively. Best weapon at the lowest level? Yes please. And fix the spelling of "wierd".
