A dialup experience in the late 1990s using nearly period-accurate hardware, connecting to modern websites using outdated browsers over a 31.2kbit/s dialup connection. Page loads are in real time.
We all found ways to ride out the Pandemic in 2020. The engineer decided to recreate what it was like to connect to the internet via dialup back in the 1990s, and he likes to tinker with tech. He recorded the entire process in real time.
It used to take a long time to boot up a computer from a floppy disk, especially in the earlier part of the decade, when one could shower and make coffee. One needed a dedicated phone line for the internet connection because an incoming call could disrupt the connection, forcing one to repeat the dialup process all over again. Netscape and Microsoft Explorer made browsing the web very time-Consuming.
Since then, the Internet has gone from a curiosity to a necessity, changing our culture in the process. On his blog, he noted that:
The internet has become a vital part of our lives, but the way we experience it is different than it was in my childhood. In the late 90's to early 2000's, I had a non-MMX machine with 48MB of RAM and a Pentium 133MHz processor. This experience was reflective of the fact that internet was not considered a necessity or normal back then.
The miniProxy was needed to connect to modern websites.
The video opens with the Techway Endeavor II computer, which is free of commentary for the best dramatic effect. The basic specifications are an Intel Pentium I 100 MHz processor, 32MB of RAM, and a 2.6GB hard drive, augmented with a Sony 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. Microsoft Windows 98 SE is one of the featured software.
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Then come the sounds of a phone call to connect to the internet. We're ready to start surfing. "56k is not possible because of the analog nature of the connection." The changes in the protocols of the internet make it impossible to negotiate a common cipher. The miniProxy connects to the site in https, downloads the content, and then sends it back to the computer of the person who created it, with all the links rewritten, so they can use the proxy.
It took 3 minutes and 27 seconds to download the file.
It takes a while to download a sample page from Slashdot, as the status bar at the bottom helpfully provides updates on our progress. Web browsing technology has changed a lot over the years, and it looks very different than it did when Navigator was around.
The rest of the journey includes a visit to the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, as well as other websites, with everything loading in real time. It takes a full 3 minutes and 27 seconds to download the 120kb file. The video will make you thankful for all the technological advances over the last 20 years. Kids don't know how good they are.
The image is from the website/Gough Liu.
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