I am old enough to remember using my Apple //c and Everex external 2400bps modem to access bulletin board systems across the nation (and world, too) through networks like Telenet/Tymnet and services like PC Pursuit.
Some file transfer protocols didn't work all that well across those networks depending on what you were using. I think I remember xmodem being the most problematic.
Anyway, those were the days when I had late night TV on during a school night watching the red blinking lights on the front of the modem recording the progress of the file transfer in the glow of the TV. With the lights off, the red 5.25 inch floppy drive light would kick on every so often letting you know that your data was being safely recorded.
Then there were the nights spent war dialing local prefixes. I could hardly wait to wake up the next day and see what I found. Who can forget the days of Kermit file transfers from the local university mainframe. Nevermind that I was still in high school at the time. submitted by /u/Immediate-Season-152 [link] [comments]