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Friday, February 4, 2022

Can A 1987 Amiga 500 Do Email Today? World First!


My email signature includes this line:
Sent from my Commodore-64 via a US Robotics 300 Baud Modem
It's not true, of course. I just added it in reaction to the emails I was getting that included a line about how it was sent from some stupid Apple product. 

I have an HP box with a 64 bit processor plugged into an ethernet line that connects to a router in the next room, that is connected to a twisted pair telephone line that runs across the basement and through the garage and connects to magic box hanging on the wall outside the garage that connects to a fiber optic line that snakes underground and comes out somewhere. Could be the dark side of the moon for all I know.

Anyway, I noticed that line and got to wondering if anybody is actually still using 30 year old computers and dial-up modems to send email, which led me to the above video. I only watched about the first third of it, it is extremely painful. Fun, I suppose, if you have curiosity and the drive, but I've spent too much time fighting old junk to enjoy spending any more time on it.

Evidently some people are still using dial-up modems, but it's only being done in places that had extensive pre-digital age telephone networks. Places that don't have that existing infrastructure, like Africa and southeast Asia have gone straight to cell phones and satellite links.


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