81
votes
Accepted
After creating HTML, why did Tim Berners-Lee bother creating HTTP? Why didn't he just write a HTML renderer for a FTP client?
The browser did, in fact, support retrieving pages over anonymous FTP from the beginning, and it also supported other protocols. But, some of the early documents mention additional features for ...
- 1,647
42
votes
What were the major things that caused TCP/IP to become the internet standard protocol?
Back in the 1970's, there were essentially two candidates for a potential internet protocol suite: TCP/IP and ISO Open Systems Interconnection (OSI).
OSI was being designed by a consortium of ...
- 2,370
37
votes
How did the AOL software provide internet access to other applications running on Windows 95/98?
In the Windows 2 and Windows 3 days, Windows didn't ship with a means of connecting to the internet. Instead, Microsoft defined the Windows Sockets API for apps to use, and they allowed third-party ...
- 5,111
25
votes
What were the major things that caused TCP/IP to become the internet standard protocol?
It was there and it worked, it was an open standard, and it was reasonably straightforward.
(FWIW, I had a small role on the losing team, working in a corner of DECnet/OSI, aka DECnet Phase V, which ...
- 36.9k
22
votes
Why was Wireplay "faster and more reliable" than dial-up Internet, since they both used the same hardware?
I was the architect for BT Wireplay from 1995-2000 and am one of the co-authors of the patented network protocol. Essentially @hobbs answer is correct, in that 90s Internet links were often highly ...
- 321
19
votes
Accepted
How fast was ARPANET?
From the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 44(2) 8-19 (2022) titled Seeking High IMP Reliability in Maintenance of the 1970s ARPAnet on finds
The design called for a small computer called an
...
- 1,338
14
votes
Accepted
Why was the percent sign chosen as escape character for URLs?
Looks to me as if the cited paragraph already answered that perfectly.
It must be a character available on as many keyboards as possible
Should not be one that gets already escaped on their own ...
- 231k
13
votes
What were the major things that caused TCP/IP to become the internet standard protocol?
I used to work at a university in the UK, and went to a talk on the history of JANet (the Joint Academic Network, one of the first National-area networks that links university campuses and other ...
- 953
12
votes
What were the major things that caused TCP/IP to become the internet standard protocol?
I think IP became ubiquitous because there really wasn't anything else to compete with it.
You see IP is not a protocol for networking computers together, it's a protocol (actually a suite or ...
- 11.8k
11
votes
What were the earliest images uploaded on the internet before the web?
A crop of the November 1972 issue of Playboy centerfold model Lena Forsén, AKA Lenna, used as a standard test image for image processing, as well as data compression, has been circulating in the ...
- 20.6k
8
votes
How were images uploaded in online service providers?
You may have heard the very true proverb that
There is no cloud, but someone elses computer!
right? The very same misunderstanding seems to be at work here:
There is no 'World Wide Web', only ...
- 231k
8
votes
What was the first satellite data link that can properly be called an internet connection?
What was the first satellite data link that can properly be called an internet connection?
I'd say the first dial up across the pond that by chance happened to end up on a satellite connection:)
A ...
- 231k
8
votes
Accepted
What systems actually used the ACCT command in FTP?
My question is – can anyone give examples of historical FTP server implementations which actually accepted or required ACCT?
FTP on BS2000 for example (*1).
I would assume those implementations were ...
- 231k
6
votes
What were the major things that caused TCP/IP to become the internet standard protocol?
One reason that the IP suite got everywhere is that there are good specifications for running it on top of various other networks. So if you're already using X.25 or ATM, you don't need to add more ...
- 1,686
5
votes
What were the major things that caused TCP/IP to become the internet standard protocol?
There's a lot of apples and oranges here. And everyone had a lot of good points made, but your question is simple, and has a very simple answer. I'll endeavor to address that directly, but do need to ...
- 65
5
votes
What were the major things that caused TCP/IP to become the internet standard protocol?
In the late '80s I was working for a university CS dept as the hardware manager. We had various computers with different networks running on them. At various points, we were running token ring (pushed ...
- 51
5
votes
Accepted
ARPANET IMP topology using NCP
Early ARPANET logical maps (from 1970 onwards), as well as the geographic maps (note the UTAH spur in the 1969 map), show that it was not a full-mesh topology; there must therefore have been some kind ...
- 499
5
votes
What was the first satellite data link that can properly be called an internet connection?
The main question is "define Internet": When we're talking about the commercial Internet, that really only took off in the late 1980s, early 1990, this coincides with the development and ...
- 36.3k
4
votes
How fast was ARPANET?
Does anyone know how long that message must have been taken to transmit, or an estimate at least?
It's two characters, so even considering an inefficient protocol and slow lines (*1) will be ...
- 231k
4
votes
What is the easiest way to get an Amiga online?
My solution to this problem was to purchase a Raspberry Pi Zero W 1.1 and install Raspbian Lite (no gui). I then connected a generic USB to RS-232 adapter to the Pi and configured it to open a tty on ...
- 10.2k
3
votes
How were images uploaded in online service providers?
Before the WWW, you couldn't guarantee that:
your communications link could send 8-bit bytes as a single character;
the remote computer (and possibly even your local computer) represented data in ...
- 21.9k
3
votes
Accepted
How can I connect the Psion 5mx email client to a secure email provider?
Connecting an email client without SSL to a modern server requires some sort of SSL gateway on another machine. For example, under Linux you might run a command like
socat -v ssl:imap.gmail.com:993,...
- 4,009
3
votes
Latest web browser compatible with Windows 95 / 98
Fresh news with options!
Lynx Version 2.9.0 (January 2024).
Current versions of Lynx run on Unix, VMS, Windows95
through Windows 8, 386DOS and OS/2 EMX.
Lynx is a fully-featured World Wide Web (WWW) ...
- 709
3
votes
What was the equivalent of "America Online" (AOL) outside America?
While Poland had a reasonably popular dial-up service since 1996, and a lot of people have fond memories of dialing 0202122 (mostly at night, as the rates were lower), it wasn't really until about ...
3
votes
How fast was ARPANET?
When using a packet-switched protocol such as TCP/IP with John Nagle's flow-control algorithm, a system that has sent out a packet of data will hold off on sending further data for the channel until ...
- 38k
3
votes
What were the major things that caused TCP/IP to become the internet standard protocol?
It may be worth looking at institutional aspects, as well.
It wasn't that clear sailing as one might suppose. While the US DoD had switched to TCP/IP on Jan. 1, 1983, there was also the competing (and ...
- 406
3
votes
Setting email up on MacOS System 7
This VOGONS thread covers someone asking a similar question about getting Outlook Express 5 to log into GMail back in 2018.
You have two (possibly three) problems to solve:
The mail host now ...
- 7,133
2
votes
What systems actually used the ACCT command in FTP?
On Multics, users often had multiple accounts. The (extremely elaborate!) login command allowed you to specify a Project_id when logging in. Home directories were organized by project and person, so ...
- 3,005
2
votes
How can I construct a dial-up network in my home, purely for the kicks?
To connect two telephones together, you need a battery. The battery supplies line current to the telephones.
A modem typically listens for a dial tone, and a ring tone. You can buy dial tone and ring ...
- 306
2
votes
What was the first dedicated core router?
I'm not clear what you mean by "core router," nor on what kind of protocols and purposes you want the selection limited to. Providing more details about the implicit taxonomy of routers that ...
- 27.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible