Date : Sun, 18 Jan 2009 11:19:34 -0000
From : mu.list@... (Mark Usher)
Subject: Prestel
Surely Prestel wasn't in the average home that much, more banks and travel
agents - although it was on everyone's wish list!
What the majority did use back in the day for "email", were BBS systems and
that would be significantly easier to set up in the time frame. With a
simple modem and terminal software these were available for almost all home
computers of the era without the need of a Prestel adapter.
Just my 2penneth...
-Mark Usher
www.bbcdocs.com
-----Original Message-----
From: bbc-micro-bounces+mu.list=aon.at@...
[mailto:bbc-micro-bounces+mu.list=aon.at@...] On Behalf Of
gARetH baBB
Sent: 17 January 2009 12:28
To: bbc-micro@...
Subject: [BBC-Micro] Prestel
I'm pretty much now devoid of stuff to help him (apart from a few printed
bits and pieces), but I suspect one of you lot may be able to.
I think he's on a tight deadline - 1980 happens on February 6th. I've
suggested that using BBCs would be easier than real Tandata/Prestel
terminals, but they're doing a seperate BBC v Spectrum bit so something
which was around doing Prestel in 1980 is I think what he's really after.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
-Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:12:29 -0800
-To: Gareth Babb <z.facebook@...>
-Subject: Peter Sweasey sent you a message on Facebook...
Hello Mr Babb
You don't know me - but I'm wondering if you're the same Gareth Babb who was
a regular contributor to Acorn User?
I'm a director working on a new series for BBC Four, Electric Dreams, which
is a history of technology in the home from 1970 to the present.
We're stripping a real family's home of all their modern gadgets (with their
permission, of course) then making them live with equipment from different
years...
As well as giving modern teenagers early microcomputers (and standing well
back), we really want to include the story of Prestel, because it's so
clearly the forerunner of what we do online today... it's just the
technology (and pricing) weren't quite there yet. I desperately wanted it
as a young teenager, but my parents said it would be a waste of money.
They bought me a Spectrum instead.
What we're trying to do is at the very least source a couple of terminals we
could borrow (preferably one of the funky little ones that resembled the
Minitels our friends across the channel used). On top of that we'd like to
"emulate" the Prestel experience, ideally to the extent of our family being
able to interact enough to send a message (not that there'd be anywhere to
go). Emulating via a disguised modern machine would be one option - the
dream though would be to somehow use a Prestel terminal to receive video
signals and input on screen information (though we realise we couldn't then
send it anywhere.)
BT, shockingly, don't have any terminals anymore. The Science Museum has
one but won't lend it out. Do you, or do you know of anyone? Could you
suggest anything we could do to bring Prestel briefly and gloriously back to
life?
Any suggestions gratefully received,
All best wishes
Peter Sweasey
peter.sweasey@...
07808 864282
020 7241 9306
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