Yes, in the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio
Yes, in the 1980s we downloaded games from the radio
So there I was, minding my own business, doom-scrolling my way through Facebook posts when I happened upon one that hit me straight in the nostalgia. A photo of a 1980s home computer, a cassette player and some tapes. The text underneath proclaimed "In the 1980s, people could download video
I mean technically speaking if you're connected on wifi you still are....
Came to say exactly this. 🤦🏼♂️ Kids these days.
Except for the non-broadcast transmission, storage methods, modulation, data rates, error correction, frequencies used, protocols, antennas, infrastructure, etc.....
Like it's not the same except for being "over the air".
Boomers these days 🤦🏻♀️
- Gen Z
Edit: Looks like he didn't like the taste of his own ageism.
And Programs/Games came on Casettes :)
You had cassettes? We had to manually transcribe machine code from printed listings.
Just in case, no it's not a joke.
Examle: Book - 101 BASIC games: https://archive.org/details/101basiccomputer0000davi
I never had this option. Typing in the whole thing manually from 4 pages of tiny print in BYTE magazine was my go to. Always had to be quick to save progress on cassette whenever mom came near with the vacuum cleaner
and its predecessor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Computer_Network_System
We do now too… it’s called WiFi 😅
WiFi being in the microwave range of the spectrum, surely it packs information much more densely and efficiently than lower wavelength frequencies like radio ever can.
But then WiFi can't turn a goddamned corner and into another room ten yards away.Yeah I'm really confused why people keep saying it's the same thing. It's not, aside from being over-the-air at some point in the transmission.
Didn’t some magazines ship software with plastic records that could be played on a conventional record player?
Yes, they are called flexi discs.
for a while they sent websites over the tv signal. i forgot how it was called tho. you needed a tv tuner card to receive it on your pc
Are you referring to Teletext, or something else?
It was Intercast
That reminds me. They did used to broadcast software over teletext over TV https://teletext.mb21.co.uk/gallery/ceefax/telesoftware/
So cool, thanks for sharing.
I didn't know about these radio broadcasts, but I did use to buy (pirated) games on cassette tape to load on my (unlicensed) ZX spectrum clone using my mini-boombox. Good times. :)
I only used cassette tape drives a couple times in 3rd grade before we upgraded to Apple IIs, but even then I knew to try putting a music tape in it.
It didn’t work.
TIL!
Yes, I'm in this picture, although it makes perfect sense in hindsight. It's what I would have done if I wanted to get computing going in the 20th century.
It never really worked for me. I don’t recall ever being able to successfully use a cassette tape as a software storage medium.