I remember learning about these as a child and thinking France was so technologically advanced to have these in every home. Sure we had Beebs in the classroom, but connecting online in the UK was not a common thing or something most of us had much awareness of for another decade.
As I said, this is about ubiquity. Only a niche group of enthusiasts had a prestel box at home and the range of services was far lower. Every home in France had minitel and the services and support across multiple providers was extensive.
I (German) remember visiting France in the late 1980s and these terminals were everywhere. I was quite jealous because in Germany we had a service called BTX (Bildschirmtext), but it was very expensive and basically no private person or small business used it.
Ascetic-anise@reddit
If you have a Minitel try https://github.com/beddy70/M-Kiwi
NagateTanikaze@reddit
You the author?
Ascetic-anise@reddit
Not me.
justeUnMec@reddit
I remember learning about these as a child and thinking France was so technologically advanced to have these in every home. Sure we had Beebs in the classroom, but connecting online in the UK was not a common thing or something most of us had much awareness of for another decade.
magnificentfoxes@reddit
Except that we kind of did... We had Prestel then Teletext.
justeUnMec@reddit
As I said, this is about ubiquity. Only a niche group of enthusiasts had a prestel box at home and the range of services was far lower. Every home in France had minitel and the services and support across multiple providers was extensive.
Maeglin75@reddit
I (German) remember visiting France in the late 1980s and these terminals were everywhere. I was quite jealous because in Germany we had a service called BTX (Bildschirmtext), but it was very expensive and basically no private person or small business used it.
Journ9er@reddit
One of my cousin’s in laws used to work for the French phone company. I’m told he still has their Minitel.
Martipar@reddit
Minitel. The UK equivalent was Prestel.
VivienM7@reddit
There was theoretically an equivalent in Canada too, but it never caught on...
Squeepty@reddit
Ah yes and the cost of paying the connection over a phone line by the minute I remember back then 😅
CoolBlackSmith75@reddit
Videotex 1200/75 baudrate. The future back then