#pre-internet

There’s currently a trend of criticizing Gerald Gardner for making stuff up, such as the festivals etc. Gardner never claimed that the Wheel of the Year was ancient, and he did not label the festivals with Celtic names (that happened much later, after his death). Each of the festivals in the Wheel of the Year was celebrated somewhere in ancient times — they just weren’t all celebrated by the same…

Remember life before likes and endless scrolling? We're diving into the pre-internet nostalgia boom and why it might be the wake-up call we need. Read more on Fierce Millennial! #nostalgiaboom #digitaldetox #fiercemillenial

Do you remember life before the internet? Remember landlines and library cards? We’re diving into the not-so-distant past, and it’s got us thinking about the present. Okay, Millennials and Gen-Xers, gather around the digital campfire for a little reminiscing. Remember when the internet wasn’t the all-consuming vortex it is today? When “going viral” meant you caught a cold, and “trolling” was…

The Minitel was a Videotex online service accessible through telephone lines, and is considered one of the world's most successful pre-World Wide Web online services.

The service was rolled out experimentally in 1978 in Brittany and throughout France in 1982 by the PTT (Postes, Télégraphes et Téléphones; divided since 1991 between France Télécom and La Poste).[1] From its early days, users could make online purchases, make train reservations, check stock prices, search the telephone directory, have a mail box, and chat in a similar way to that now made possible by the Internet.

In February 2009, France Telecom indicated the Minitel network still had 10 million monthly connections. France Telecom retired the service on 30 June 2012.[1][2][3]

Millions of terminals were lent for free to telephone subscribers, resulting in a high penetration rate among businesses and the public. In exchange for the terminal, the possessors of Minitel would not be given free "white page" printed directories (alphabetical list of residents and firms), but only the yellow pages (classified commercial listings, with advertisements); the white pages were accessible for free on Minitel, and they could be searched by a reasonably intelligent search engine; much faster than flipping through a paper directory.[citation needed]

France Télécom estimates that almost 9 million terminals—including web-enabled personal computers (Windows, Mac OS, and Linux)—had access to the network at the end of 1999, and that it was used by 25 million people (of a total population of 60 million). Developed by 10,000 companies, in 1996, almost 26,000 different services were available.[4]

Minitel allowed access to various categories of services:

phone directory (free)

mail-order retail companies

airline or train ticket purchases

information services

databases

message boards

The development of Minitel spawned the creation of many start-up companies in a manner similar to the later dot-com bubble of Internet-related companies. Similarly, many of those small companies floundered because of an overcrowded market or bad business practices (lack of infrastructure for online retailers).

Minitel used terminals consisting of a text-based screen, keyboard and modem. Simple graphics could be displayed using a set of predefined graphical characters. Aftermarket printers were available.[9]

When connecting, the Minitel integrated modem generally dialed a special number connecting to a PAVI (Point d'Accès VIdéotexte, "videotext access point"). The PAVI transmitted information to the servers of the appropriate company or administration using the Transpac X.25 network.

In France the most common dial number was "36 15", while "36 17" was used by more expensive services. Minitel services names were often prefixed with this number to identify them as such. Billboard ads at the time often consisted of nothing more than an image, a company name, and a "36 15" number; the fact that a Minitel service was being advertised was then clear by implication.

Minitel used a half-duplex asymmetric data transmission via its modem. It downlinked at 1200 bit/s and uplinked at 75 bit/s. This allowed fast downloads, for the time. The system, which came to be known as "1275" was more correctly known as V.23. This system was developed solely for Minitel and its clones around the world.

Technically, Minitel refers to the terminals, while the network is known as Teletel.