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Author What generation? (Read 39378 times)
snes1423
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on: September 24, 2024, 22:50

what console generation best represents the old internet before Facebook and the rise of social media
lauland
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Reply #1 on: September 25, 2024, 02:58

That's an interesting question...consoles? 

If you're talking the first one that could surf decently, that'd be the Dreamcast.  I think there WERE modems for maybe the SNES and Genesis, but not real browsers.  The PS2, being of similar ilk to the Dreamcast could've done it, but I don't remember hearing of anyone surfing on them.

But otherwise, it's pretty subjective.  I'd look at the date Facebook actually came out and see which consoles were contemporary.

When you said "old internet" it brought back memories of how amazing AltaVista seemed...back when the word "google" just meant a 1 with 100 zeros after it...well, a "googol" it looks like.  Dang, I always thought they were spelled the same and that's what the company named itself after...
ShinobiKenobi
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Reply #2 on: November 28, 2024, 07:03

Maybe companies can't trademark or copyright numbers. At least, that's what I always thought and never cared enough to look it up... lol.

But anyway, the Nintendo 64 generation with the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn (and yes, the Atari Jaguar) immediately popped into my mind. That was back during the hey-day of Netscape, during one of the earliest browser wars in the mid-to-late '90s, between Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

I didn't have a general-purpose computer back then (the reason I specify "general-purpose", is because "technically" I had a computer, the VTech Pre-Computer 1000, but it didn't have any storage, and I didn't have any peripherals for it, and it was only a one-line LCD screen), so I always had to wait until I was at school, so I could get on one of the Macs in the study hall/library. I always spent every minute I could, "on-line" on the "information superhighway", looking up Nintendo 64 stuff, the X-Files,  and basically stuff the usual teenage male nerd or geek would look up then. I consider that to be the best era of the internet up to about the early 2000s, when most sites were just http.

[Posted from my Power Macintosh 7200/75 400MHzG3 Sonnet Crescendo/Sonnet Tempo Trio/72MB RAM/2MB video memory/6 and160GB ATA HDs]
Last Edit: November 28, 2024, 07:07 by ShinobiKenobi
lauland
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Reply #3 on: December 10, 2024, 21:03

If you're talking consoles and the internet, I think:

The Playstation 2 with its ethernet adapter, and, obviously, the Dreamcast which shipped with a modem and rudimentary browser.  Before those it was really hacky modems with software that didn't do much beyond email.

mac-cellar
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Reply #4 on: December 10, 2024, 23:32

I like the Nintendo GameCube though I don't think it had any connectivity.
snes1423
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Reply #5 on: December 11, 2024, 02:17

yes it did actually mostly in japan though from what i understand via a broadband adapter for instance back in 2005 if you wanted to hack a gamecube you needed a windows pc the broadband adapter phantasy star online  some burnable mini dvd's and a Ethernet cable somebody here has heard of the .GCM format?
Neal_SE30
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Reply #6 on: December 11, 2024, 19:57

I concur with the Nintendo cube. There were 2 adapters that fitted in a recess underneath. A network or modem versions were sold.

Only 8 games worked online,  7 of which were Japanese only. It was to do with Nintendo wanting to maintain quality so they weren’t pushing online.

GCM format is used for GameCube emulation or ROMs “GCM typically refers to GameCube Memory files used in emulators like Dolphin for Nintendo GameCube games. It contains a copy of a game disc in its original format”.
Last Edit: December 11, 2024, 20:05 by Neal_SE30
lauland
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Reply #7 on: December 11, 2024, 21:59

Heck, there were even (extremely limited) modem based solutions for the Atari 2600 (and that generation like the NES)...you can argue whether that fits the definition of "online" or not...but I guess definitely that is NOT the "internet", as it didn't exist back then!
ShinobiKenobi
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Reply #8 on: December 12, 2024, 09:20

Yeah, I watched a video on youtube a while back that told how you could get a modem for your NES so that you could gamble on-line. I think it worked with a credit card. I had no idea there was any network connectivity for the Atari 2600. I'll have to look into that.
lauland
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Reply #9 on: December 12, 2024, 16:38

The Atari 2600 thing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameLine

Interesting trivia in the article is that the company behind it, after giving up on the Atari game download thing mutated into and changed its name to Quantum Link, which was a very successful and quite sophisticated (for the time) online service for the Commodore line of computers.  This same company later, when the Commodore world started drying up, mutated and changed its name again to America Online!
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Reply #10 on: December 12, 2024, 17:04

I began my tech journey in the 1960s on a teletype terminal calling into a computer (Vax) at 48 baud with an acostical coupler. The arrival of the Commodore with a 300 baud modem and QuantumLink and its quasi GUI was a great leap forward. We talk of transfering 2GB files now, but I recall being very amazed to have the teletype spit our information as fast as I could read. :)

My first game was a moon lander game. It took all evening to land a ship on the moon. You typed in your command, sent it off, waited 10-15 minutes and the teletype spit out a new ASCII art picture of you ship approaching the surface along with the stats on how you were doing. And then you repeat and after a couple hours you generally crashed.

Of course on the plus side, you had lots of spare time to make out with the date you had taken to the "lab" which was the unspoken real reason for heading off to the computer lab. I generally crashed my ship and crashed and burned with my date as well :)
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