Around ‘94 you could “download” games over satellite (BSkyB) links and play them. They were higher rez than this article has and far more dynamic. I got so good at the darts game.
This is a wonderful trip down memory lane <3
This is a wonderful trip down memory lane <3
I have vague memories of my dad managing to "hack" this system and get software for free as he worked out they used a simple XOR cipher on the BASIC source code sent over the air and most programs started with "10"!
- If you used Micronet (a part within the broader Prestel system) between midnight and 8am, you weren't charged for the phone call [I guess this was easy to implement because BT ran both Prestel/Micronet and the phone system)
- The phone number for 'The Gnome at Home' BBS was 888-8894
- A kind person I met on a BBS sent me a cassette in the mail that had software to upload data at 1200 baud (half duplex, as the modem couldn't do 1200/1200).
I did some Googling and it may not have been Prestel (which he did also use) but something called "Telesoftware" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telesoftware – which involved software being distributed over Ceefax.
I got addicted to that too, and Beehive Bedlam in 2001.
I love TV tech. The old Teletext / Ceefax product was pretty impressive for its time and some insane engineering. I spent a number of years writing software for the TV industry (both backend and STB software) as a result of playing about with this when I was younger.
Fun times.