Retro Computers

The first connection to the internet that I ever had was through a 300 BPS modem that someone sold to me for a dollar at a flea market.

I didn't believe it would really work so I took the family computer and opened it up and slapped it in, ran a telephone line into it and then, not really knowing what the hell I was doing and not knowing any numbers to dial to connect, I searched through the white pages and stumbled upon a local BBS that was still in operation.

I dialed that bad boy up and it fucking connected and to this day I cannot sufficiently relate the aheer Joy of watching my dinky little home computer talk to another computer dozens of miles away.

Every single character that slowly appeared on the screen was another shot of dopamine to my fragile young psyche.

About a month later, I got my hands on a 14.4 kbps modem and the speed boost almost made me jizz in my pants.

Teenage me was in love and I have been in love ever since.

Can this really be from 1982, or was it a typo and you meant 1992?
If there were modem ads already in '82, that would blow my mind. But if it's 1992, the piece would manage to squeeze into my understanding of the internet's history.

opens mouth squelches into the void

Had one of these.

"Hello professor, do you want to play a game?"

I wonder how well these would work over today's VOIP lines. AT&T and my local phone company don't sell wired lines any more in my area. All I could get is a VOIP line.

now do a usr courier hst (my first big $ modem).

Look at Mr fancy pants over here with the 1200 baud modem!