Perhaps some of the learned people on this list can help this chappie out? The ACMS is the Australian Computer Museum Society, and could in turn be a valuable resource for this list; note that he signs himself as a "PDP-11 Support Consultant"... Replies to him, please, unless deemed of interest to the list. -- Dave Horsfall VK2KFU dave(a)geac.com.au Ph: +61 2 9978-7493 Fx: +61 2 9978-7422 Geac Computers P/L (FGH Division) 2/57 Christie St, St Leonards 2065, Australia ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 21 May 2000 12:53:26 From: John G E R E M I N &lt;megajohn(a)sneaker.net.au&gt; To: ACS NSW List &lt;acsnsw-l(a)onelist.com&gt; Subject: ACMS, Questions on Internet History. Greetings All, (from a Netscape v3, Eudora and Win-3.11 system), The ACMS has been asked about the History Of The Internet In Australia. This assumes that the 'Internet' is defined as using IP protocols, and the World-Wide-Web that provided permanent (or semi-permanent) connections between major nodes and the end-users. We also know that DEC had world-wide DECNET for its corporate use. We know that U**X systems had FTP, TELNET etc available on systems using fixed line connections (eg within Unis, etc). We know about the ArpaNet origins (we hope) We know? that the first Internet users here were the CSIRO and Unis. But were they connected initially to the overseas Internet ? So some questions, designed to sort out some confusions. First hand experiences would be good as would pointers to documentation. Note - all these relate to Australia (but answers may include info relating to overseas contexts). a1 First use of Fido-Net or other BBS using Dial-up messaging ? a2 First use of E-MAIL via FidoNet or other BBS ? a3 First use of FreeWare/File Distribution via FidoNet or other BBS ? a4 First use of Message/Conference Areas/Groups on BBS ? b1 First use of permanent IP addresses ? b2 First use of E-MAIL via IP addresses ? b3 First use of File Transfers via Internet ? b4 First use of NewsGroups via Internet ? b5 First use of Graphical Displays via Internet ? b6 First use of 'http://www' type URL addressing via Internet ? b7 First use of two-way (interactive) audio via Internet ? b8 First use of two-way (intereactive) video via Internet ? c1 Any other major Internet milestones in the Australian environment ? Many thanks, John G. (PS you don't need to answer all questions!) John GEREMIN, megajohn(a)sneaker.net.au Ph. 02-9764 4855 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ PDP-11 Support Consultant, MEGATRONICS, Australia. http://www.posit.com.au/megatronics/ NEW Mob. => 0427 10 20 60 <= Hon. Treasurer, Australian COMPUTER MUSEUM Society Inc. http://www.terrigal.net.au/~acms/ Fax: 02-9764 4679 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  Received: (from major@localhost) by minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au (8.9.3/8.9.3) id XAA75969 for pups-liszt; Mon, 22 May 2000 23:57:33 +1000 (EST) (envelope-from owner-pups(a)minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au) Received: from threedee.com (mail.threedee.com [209.83.65.10]) by minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA75965 for &lt;pups(a)minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au&gt;au>; Mon, 22 May 2000 23:57:26 +1000 (EST) (envelope-from jfoust(a)threedee.com) Received: from winnie.threedee.com (winnie [192.198.5.13]) by threedee.com (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id IAA29050; Mon, 22 May 2000 08:56:39 -0500 Message-Id: <4.3.0.20000522085035.01c28580@pc> X-Sender: jfoust@pc X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3 Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 08:54:53 -0500 To: &lt;pups(a)minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au&gt; From: John Foust &lt;jfoust(a)threedee.com&gt; Subject: Re: ACMS, Questions on Internet History. (fwd) Cc: John G E R E M I N &lt;megajohn(a)sneaker.net.au&gt; In-Reply-To: &lt;Pine.GSO.4.21.0005221634220.26282-100000(a)fgh.geac.com.au&gt; Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-pups(a)minnie.cs.adfa.edu.au Precedence: bulk At 04:39 PM 5/22/00 +1000, Dave Horsfall wrote: Tom Jennings, the creator of FidoNet, is still available at &lt;tomj(a)wps.com&gt; and there's a history at http://wps.com/FidoNet/source/Fido-FidoNet/fhist.html. Tom is now moderating the Dead Media Project at http://wps.com/dead-media/index.html. But by no means was FidoNet the first BBS. - John