Monday 11 June 2012

Early telesoftware (1978)

When you think of telesoftware, you think of mid-80s BBC Micro software broadcast in magazine 7.  However, this wasn't the first telesoftware to be demonstrated.
   
This page describes how a teletext decoder has all of the peripheral parts of a computer (a display and a key pad) and is only missing a CPU in order to become a computer.You added a CPU and voila: a computer on your television.

In 1978, tests were broadcast on ORACLE.  The program starts with $%$%$% (just in case you don't come into the page at subpage 1) and continues from there.

The web page above names a few test programs that were broadcast - the first page of one is shown below.  The data aren't that accurate though - you can see how the header is slightly corrupt, and the data in the page are likely to be just as iffy quality-wise.


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