ASCIInaut 🪬
Bunny MickleyComputers used to scream out in pain when we connected them to the Internet.
This was a clue and we just didn't listen.
Ed RossSure it wasn't a Cat-from-Red-Dwarf style screech of joy? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjFItQPBF3E
RED DWARF: Introduction of "Cat"
MyNameIsForMyFriends
Luke@opsnlops I can still hear the cry of the hardwired telephone modems.
OldAndCranky@Lukeadams @opsnlops I miss that sound!
cohomology is FUN!@Lukeadams @opsnlops same here!
@stevewfolds@Lukeadams @opsnlops Z80s 300, 1200 & 56k baud to BBSs & University’s ARPANET ‘80s. We sent software updates on 5-1/4” floppies by overnight mail ‘84-5. Simpler times at 80x25.
Mark Gardner@opsnlops In the 1980s they whistled cheerfully at 300 baud and you could whistle back. Then we started force-feeding them at speeds faster than we could read. That’s when the screaming began.
Commodore 64 with a 1660 modem in 2017 calling DDIAL
@mjgardner I loved DDial back in the day! It was so amazing.
@opsnlops Have you seen what they’re doing over at https://ddial.com?
The Official DDial Homepage
Welcome to the DDial online community, Diversi-Dial, is still alive and active today. This official homepage is the hub for all DDialers and STS'ers to come together as a community to share the past, DDial in the present, and take part in the future as DDial continues to evolve into the modern world.
@mjgardner No! I had no idea.
Steveg58@mjgardner @opsnlops
We used to whistle to trigger 1200 baud modems and fax machines to test them. ADSL modems would still fall back to 1200 baud if the line was bad enough but I never found a good way to whistle into their inputs.
We used to whistle to trigger 1200 baud modems and fax machines to test them. ADSL modems would still fall back to 1200 baud if the line was bad enough but I never found a good way to whistle into their inputs.
Elias Mårtenson@mjgardner @opsnlops There is a meme to be made using the "absolute fools" template that explains that computers were not meant to speak strange languages. 🙂
m0xEE
jrm4Two entities, who'd never much been together before, but now by design or by purpose find themselves united in an intertwining communion, exchanging the essences and cores of their being;what i'm saying is, you sure that's a scream of "pain?" :) :) :)
@krisnelson@opsnlops Pain or ecstasy? Who can say really
חתול זוללת@krisnelson @opsnlops cenobite vibes
Claude
Douglas Dodds@opsnlops I used to think of it as more of a mating call. Sometimes they hooked up, and sometimes they didn’t.
Frang 
@opsnlops The voice of Shub-Internet
What's it to you?@opsnlops I remember printing a picture of flowers on a dot matrix back in the late '80s. It screamed and screamed just so I could have something nice to look at.
If that wasn't an artistic commentary on humanity, I don't know what is.
Velinion@opsnlops I miss my 3com/US Robotics modem's song of connectivity. Beeee-deee-boooo be-do-be-do-be khhhhhhhhhhh-khhhaaaaaaaaaa BOING!
*Contemplates finding a recording and scripting it to play when VPN client connects*
*Contemplates finding a recording and scripting it to play when VPN client connects*
seedsinputinspocket@opsnlops Wondering if anyone else can perfectly recall that dial up modem sound.
Aviva Gary@opsnlops Pain or pleasure 👀
Finnley Dolfin@opsnlops As the connections got faster the screams got quieter. If you listen carefully near the cable modems, you can faintly hear the screams.
David@opsnlops Can I steal that? There is a story in there.
@duskcomics All you want! 😅
Allison O
ChibiGemgem@opsnlops and did morse code when we were going to get a text message 🤣
amuletofyendor@opsnlops they used to scream like that when we loaded software too 🤔
Anne Dee 🏳️⚧️@amuletofyendor @opsnlops No.
A cassette player could either sing the sweet sweet sound of Alice Cooper, or it could scream in agony if you asked it to communicate with a ZX Spectrum 48K.
A cassette player could either sing the sweet sweet sound of Alice Cooper, or it could scream in agony if you asked it to communicate with a ZX Spectrum 48K.
🏳️⚧️ Siobhán Sarelle@AnneDee @amuletofyendor @opsnlops
I recorded the sound of my computer screaming, onto rust.
Then I played it back to my computer, repeatedly.
Jorge Cornejo 
@opsnlops oooooo my god all those ones and zeros!!!!
⁂ Panda | 서판다@opsnlops After reading your toot, I went looking for some modem sounds as it's been too long since I have heard any such modulations and found a nice compilation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckc6XSSh52w
(I wrote reviews of many many modems in France, the US and the UK in a distant past life.)
ALL Old Modem Sounds (300 baud to 56K)
Tips for Overcomers
ricardo 
@opsnlops it was glorious! Now they suffer in silence. 😄
Patty Bluebird 🦩@opsnlops I remember the olden days.
/Kiran?\sLightpaw/@opsnlops Remember listening really closely to the handshake and reconnecting if it “sounded off.” After awhile you could predict the final baud just by what the handshake sounded like.
I miss those days.
0x09f91102@opsnlops I'm not even from the dialup era but the sound just involuntarily played back to me
Fons Goudsmit@opsnlops Mine never gave a blink.
MaggieL@MaggieL Hoppy new year! :)
Ray [REDACTED]@opsnlops this is an excellent post
Mar'questor@opsnlops
Eventually, they became desensitized.
Eventually, they became desensitized.
ZeNeece 🦄🏎️@opsnlops I remember that scream. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. The horror!!!
Steve Williams@opsnlops More like an extended yawn of a thousand grumpy hamsters waking and spinning up the generator wheels of their creaky servers.
Chris Anderson@opsnlops apparently we could scream back and they would listen. Via https://superuser.com/questions/477358/why-did-dialup-modems-make-noise#comment564836_477545
"Back in the day (and before my voice broke), I used to be able to connect to 300 baud modems. That is, scream at the right frequency. Wikipedia's article on modems implies this was at 1,070 Hz or 1,270 Hz, if my vocal chords were the originating "modem"."
Hiker Geek 🌲💻🌲@opsnlops Scream in pain? I always saw it as technology helping people reach out and connect. A joyful noise.
What was this "pain" a clue to?
I will always remember finally getting my Hayes 2400 smart modem to upgrade my Wildcat! BBS. It was sleek and beautiful to me.
Phil Thane ✅@opsnlops Mm. And remember when off-site storage/processing was just "someone else's computer" and not a lovely fluffy cloud.
sortius@opsnlops I can still hear the wails now, even in the evening stillness
🪻Gigi_Bean🪻@opsnlops
Oh my my, I forgot about those screams.
We were forewarned 😳😄
Moved ->
Daniel M Karlsson@opsnlops [nods slowly]
maddie (MOVED!) 
@opsnlops technically they were screaming at the internet company over the phone telling them they wanted to connect, i wonder what that implies