Journalhttp://www.alanralph.co.uk/journal/en-GB2010-08-01T04:00:42ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.5 (http://www.squarespace.com/)The Compulink Information eXchangehttp://www.alanralph.co.uk/journal/2009/11/15/the-compulink-information-exchange.htmlAlan Ralph2009-11-15T22:25:00ZOne thing that I neglected to mention in my previous entry was the impetus behind my purchasing my first modem. Well, that impetus came in the form of an online service in the UK that started life as the Compulink Information eXchange, or Cix to its friends. More specifically, in the form of a section that appeared in the monthly UK computer magazine Computer Shopper containing printouts of conversation from the forum that the magazine ran on Cix. (To be even more specific, the forum was run by Huw Collingbourne - so really, it’s his fault originally that I ended up marauding the Internet!)

]]>Twenty Years Onlinehttp://www.alanralph.co.uk/journal/2009/11/10/twenty-years-online.htmlAlan Ralph2009-11-10T22:25:30ZOne of the reasons for starting this new blog was to celebrate an anniversary. It was 20 years ago, in 1989, that I got a dial-up modem connected up to a BBC Master 128 and persuaded my dad to wire up a phone line extension to my bedroom.

The online world that I entered back then was very different to the one we inhabit today. There was the Internet, but it was unknown to all but those in universities, research institutes, the military and a few large companies. There were online communities, but they were islands that could be reached only with payment and a direct computer-to-computer connection. E-mail existed, but was just starting to become usable between different online services. The World Wide Web was still an embryonic idea in the head of Tim Berners-Lee (not yet a Sir) at his desk at CERN. Those that could not or would not pay to join an online service could find a local bulletin board system (BBS), and possibly play some rudimentary (for the time) games, or even chat if there were other people online at the same time (and the BBS computer and/or phone lines could handle it).

Oh, and before I forget, there was the small matter of cost. In particular, the cost of all those long phone calls. *grimace* Suffice to say, I had to curb my enthusiasm a lot. Of course, sometimes my enthusiasm was involuntarily curbed due to the phone line being engaged, or the computer I was trying to connect to being down for maintenance. So I became adept at copying messages to a file on my computer, going through it after disconnecting, writing replies to another files, then uploading that the next time I connected. And I was on the look-out for a faster modem… my first downloaded at 1200bps (that’s bits per second) and uploaded at 75bps. And at that time, that was fast!

Something for my younger acquaintances to ponder, in between their tweets, Facebook updates and IMs… :)

]]>Yeah, I Still Suck At Updating...http://www.alanralph.co.uk/journal/2009/11/4/yeah-i-still-suck-at-updating.htmlAlan Ralph2009-11-04T00:04:26ZAnd my 14-day trial expires soon. :P

Done a little customisation under the hood - I’m going to use Disqus for comments on this site, as I don’t fancy having spammers around - I had a couple of bad experiences with my previous personal site.

]]>Introductory Blurb Bithttp://www.alanralph.co.uk/journal/2009/10/25/introductory-blurb-bit.htmlAlan Ralph2009-10-25T21:58:52ZWelcome to my blog. There are many others on the Internet, but this one is mine.

I have numerous presences all other the place, but this blog will hopefully be where I can gather together and expand on stuff that I come across via those channels.

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