The sad thing from my view is that Ceefax was a swift and well engineered service. If, for example, I wanted the footbal scores, I could call up page 308 (IIRC) and it would be there in a couple of seconds. The digital service takes minutes to load up and is merely a very stripped down version of the website with the same inverted pyramid format of content. Bloody useless for up to date stuff like the footie results.
I read an article in one of the amateur electronics mags in the mid 70s which described the service. The BBC claimed that in the early days, if the service went down, it was possible to phone everyone with a receiver to warn them.
Ah, yes! Not having a teletext adapter, but having (access to) a BBC Model B, it was a question of pressing "hold" when the first page came along, writing down the page, waiting for the next page and so on, then swapping the antenna lead (not only did we not have a teletext adapter, we only had one telly!) , and typing it all into the Beeb. And then debugging the typos.
The sad thing from my view is that Ceefax was a swift and well engineered service. If, for example, I wanted the footbal scores, I could call up page 308 (IIRC) and it would be there in a couple of seconds. The digital service takes minutes to load up and is merely a very stripped down version of the website with the same inverted pyramid format of content. Bloody useless for up to date stuff like the footie results.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else remember the Charivari pages?
ReplyDeleteI read an article in one of the amateur electronics mags in the mid 70s which described the service.
The BBC claimed that in the early days, if the service went down, it was possible to phone everyone with a receiver to warn them.
Telesoftware :(
ReplyDeleteAh, yes!
ReplyDeleteNot having a teletext adapter, but having (access to) a BBC Model B, it was a question of pressing "hold" when the first page came along, writing down the page, waiting for the next page and so on, then swapping the antenna lead (not only did we not have a teletext adapter, we only had one telly!) , and typing it all into the Beeb. And then debugging the typos.
It was rarely worth the effort.
Mr Smacky's going to visit you behind the knees next time I see you!
ReplyDelete