Pretty much the question. I heard about Usenet a while back but never managed to wrap my head around it.
Bravo! Outstanding explanation. I got lost on like the second sentence though. If you have the time, can you also ELI5
dial into with a modem
It’s a common enough expression but what does it even mean?
Wow, this caught me off guard. I read an article about kids being given old tech and they knew people waved Polaroids (even though it doesn’t enhance development) from pop culture. Are young people really unaware that we used to dial with a modem to connect to the net?
No I meant do analog modems use tones to transmit information, or how does it work?
Like what is the process of “dial with a modem to connect to the net”.
Modem is short for modulator/demodulator. It took a data stream and encoded it onto tones, multiple (audible) frequencies were used to increase data rates. You had to dial in to either a server, another computer, or an ISP. If you picked up the phone you would hear what sounded like white noise.
I lost many a download, or ‘online’ game to my mother picking up the phone to make a phone call.
Think of it like a “fast”, automated telegraph that speaks in audible binary instead of Morse code.
Watch Wargames. The main character uses the Ethernet somewhat realistically compared to more modern “depictions” of “hackers,” and has to use an absolutely ancient modem to connect to the network.
That I can help. Back in the day, to access someone’s else computer you literally hooked up yours to a phone line. Your desktop would then dial to some number you got that had another computer listening to answer, and they would start a “conversation”. Your computer sent what to us would sound like noise, the receiving computer would listen to that noise and answer back. Voilá, you’re connected to a network!
