How was life like without internet?
In the early 1980s, the PC I used was known as an XT. I think it was only running at a blazing 6 MHz!! I paid S$3000 for my PC without a harddisk. I had to buy the harddisk separately, and it cost $400 for a 300MB capacity. It ran on DOS (Disk Operating System), which was all texts on screen, without images or videos. Sound was only from a small internal speaker, mostly beeps and ticks.
The fastest modem, in the form of an internal card, with connection to the telephone point, was 14.4 kbps. There were no handphones then, only line telephones. We had to look for a telephone at home or any shop or office, or use public phones which accepted only 10 cent coins. Without a 10 cent coin, one would be lost if he wanted to make a phone call from a public phone. It was very inconvenient.
Each time I wanted to go online, I had to dial up using a software, and waited for the line to be connected. Usually line will drop a few times, and I would be lucky to go online within 10 minutes. I went online to log into BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems), an online platform set up by hobbyists for fun. No broadband, no cable, no wifi, no fibre. Users had to register with a BBS, then login to chat, post on forums, exchange files…and nothing much else. No emails. But that was the best there was to be online. All I saw on the screen was green texts on black background (we called it the green monitor). When I decided to upgrade, it was CGA (Color Graphics Adaptor) monitor, which offered 16 colors for display.
Later, 28.8 kbps modems came along, then 56kbps ones came too, just about the time internet slowly began to be available in Singapore. Even then, it was only in text form, with no images or videos.
