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Prestel
Prestel was the Brand#Brand names and trademark, brand name of a videotex service launched in the UK in 1979 by BT Group#Post Office Telecommunications, Post Office Telecommunications, a division of the British Post Office Limited#History, Post Office. It had around 95,500 attached terminals at its peak, and was a forerunner of the internet-based online services developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Prestel was discontinued in 1994 and its assets sold by BT Group, British Telecom to a company consortium. A subscriber to Prestel used an adapted TV set with a keypad or keyboard, a dedicated terminal, or a microcomputer to interact with a central database via an ordinary Telephone line, phoneline. Prestel offered hundreds of thousands of pages of general and specialised information, ranging from consumer advice to financial data, as well as services such as home banking, online shopping, travel booking, telesoftware, and messaging. In September 1982, to mark I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Videotex
Videotex (or interactive videotex) was one of the earliest implementations of an end-user information system. From the late 1970s to early 2010s, it was used to deliver information (usually pages of text) to a user in computer-like format, typically to be displayed on a television or a dumb terminal. In a strict definition, videotex is any system that provides interactive content and displays it on a video monitor such as a television, typically using modems to send data in both directions. A close relative is teletext, which sends data in one direction only, typically encoded in a television signal. All such systems are occasionally referred to as ''viewdata''. Unlike the modern Internet, traditional videotex services were highly centralized. Videotex in its broader definition can be used to refer to any such service, including teletext, the Internet, bulletin board systems, online service providers, and even the arrival/departure displays at an airport. This usage is no longe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Fedida
Samuel Fedida, OBE (4 May 1918 – 10 August 2007) was an Egyptian-born British telecommunication engineer responsible at Post Office Telecommunications for the development of Viewdata. Fedida was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He had the idea for Viewdata in 1968 after reading a publication with the title ''The Computer as Communications Device''. The first prototype became operational in 1974. In 1977 the system was introduced in the United Kingdom. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1980 Birthday Honours. The book ''Viewdata Revolution'' authored by Fedida and Rex Malik, ISBN 0852272146, was published in 1979. He died in 2007 in Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens .... References Sources * * * * * * * * * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viewdata
Viewdata is a Videotex implementation. It is a type of information retrieval service in which a subscriber can access a remote database via a common carrier channel, request data and receive requested data on a video display over a separate channel. Samuel Fedida, who had the idea for Viewdata in 1968, was credited as inventor of the system which was developed while working for the British Post Office which was the operator of the national telephone system. The first prototype became operational in 1974. The access, request and reception are usually via common carrier broadcast channels. This is in contrast with teletext. Design Viewdata offered a display of 40×24 characters, based on ISO 646 (IRV IA5) – 7 bits with no accented characters. Originally, Viewdata was accessed with a special purpose terminal (or emulation software) and a modem running at ITU-T V.23 speed (1,200 bit/s down, 75 bit/s up). By 2004, it was normally accessed over TCP/IP using Viewdata clien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Packet Switch Stream
Packet Switch Stream (PSS) was a public data network in the United Kingdom, provided by British Telecommunications (BT). It operated from the late 1970s through to the mid-2000s. Research, development and implementation EPSS Roger Scantlebury was seconded from the National Physical Laboratory to the British Post Office Telecommunications division (BPO-T) in 1969. He had worked with Donald Davies in the late 1960s pioneering the implementation of packet switching and the associated communication protocols on the local-area NPL network. By 1973, BPO-T engineers had developed a packet-switching communication protocol from basic principles for an Experimental Packet Switched Service (EPSS) based on a virtual call capability. However, the protocols were complex and limited; Donald Davies described them as "esoteric". Ferranti supplied the hardware and software. The handling of link control messages (acknowledgements and flow control) was different from that of most other network ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OS4000
OS4000 is a proprietary operating system introduced by GEC Computers Limited in 1977 as the successor to GEC DOS, for its range of GEC 4000 series 16-bit, and later 32-bit, minicomputers. OS4000 was developed through to late 1990s, and has been in a support-only mode since then. History The first operating systems for the GEC 4000 series were COS (Core Operating System) and DOS (Disk Operating System). These were basically single-user multi-tasking operating systems, designed for developing and running Process control type applications. OS4000 was first released around 1977. It reused many of the parts of DOS, but added multi-user access, OS4000 JCL Command-line interpreter, Batch processing, OS4000 hierarchical filesystem (although on-disk format very similar to the non-hierarchical DOS filesystem). OS4000 JCL was based on the Cambridge University Phoenix command interpreter. OS4000 Rel 3 arrived around 1980, and included Linked-OS — support for Linked OS4000 operating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GEC 4000 Series
The GEC 4000 was a series of 16-bit, 16/32-bit minicomputers produced by GEC Computers, GEC Computers Ltd in the United Kingdom during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. History GEC Computers was formed in 1968 as a business unit of the General Electric Company, GEC conglomerate. It inherited from Elliott Brothers (computer company), Elliott Automation the ageing Elliott 900 series, and needed to develop a new range of systems. Three ranges were identified, known internally as Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Alpha appeared first and became the GEC 2050 8-bit minicomputer. Beta followed and became the GEC 4080. Gamma was never developed, so a few of its enhanced features were consequently pulled back into the 4080. The principal designer of the GEC 4080 was Dr. Michael Melliar-Smith and the principal designer of the 4060 and 4090 was Peter Mackley. The 4000 series systems were developed and manufactured in the UK at GEC Computers' Borehamwood offices in Elstree Way. Development and m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Engineering Research
Engineering research - as a branch of science, it stands primarily for research that is oriented towards achieving a specific goal that would be useful, while seeking to employ the powerful tools already developed in Engineering as well as in non-Engineering sciences such as Physics, Mathematics, Computer science, Chemistry, Biology, etc. Often, some of the knowledge required to develop such tools is nonexistent or is simply not good enough, and the engineering research takes the form of a non-engineering science. Since engineering is extensive, it comprises specialised areas such as bioengineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, civil and environmental engineering, agricultural engineering, etc. The largest professional organisation is the IEEE that today includes much more than the original Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Major contributors to engineering research around the world include governments, private business, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centre For Computing History
The Centre for Computing History is a computer museum in Cambridge, England, established to create a permanent public exhibition telling the story of the Information Age. Overview The museum acts as a repository for vintage computers and related artefacts. The museum is open Wednesdays through to Sundays from 10am to 5pm in term time and 7 days a week during school holidays. On display are key items from the early era of computers (and even before) from ageing comptometers through the Altair 8800 to the ZX Spectrum and Apple II. The museum also holds vintage games consoles, peripherals, vintage software, software and an extensive collection of computer manuals, magazines and other literature. It is home to the Megaprocessor, an enormous version of a computer chip designed by James Newman. History and status The centre is a registered educational charity. It is funded by a combination of sponsors from local businesses and private individuals. Venture capitalist and entreprene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Mail
Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels). Formed in 2001, the company used the name Consignia for a brief period but changed it soon afterwards. Prior to this date, Royal Mail and Parcelforce were (along with Post Office Counters Ltd) part of the Post Office, a UK state-owned enterprise the history of which is summarised below. Long before it came to be a company name, the 'Royal Mail' brand had been used by the General Post Office to identify its distribution network (which over the centuries included horse-drawn mail coaches, horse carts and hand carts, ships, trains, vans, motorcycle combinations and aircraft). The company provides mail collection and delivery services throughout the UK. Letters and parcels are deposited in post or parcel boxes, or are collected in bul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commemorative Stamp
A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike definitive stamps which normally depict the subject along with the denomination and country name only. Many postal services issue several commemorative stamps each year, sometimes holding first day of issue ceremonies at locations connected with the subjects. Commemorative stamps can be used alongside ordinary stamps. Unlike definitive stamps that are often reprinted and sold over a prolonged period of time for general usage, commemorative stamps are usually printed in limited quantities and sold for a much shorter period of time, usually, until supplies run out. First commemoratives There are several candidates for the title of the first commemorative. A 17-cent stamp issued in 1860 by New Brunswick, showing the Prince of Wales in antic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The King's Awards For Enterprise
The King's Awards for Enterprise, previously known as The Queen's Award for Enterprise, is an awards programme for British businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation, sustainable development or promoting opportunity (through social mobility). They are the highest official UK awards for British businesses. The scheme was established as The Queen's Award to Industry by a royal warrant of 30 November 1965, and awards are given for outstanding achievement by UK businesses in the categories of innovation, international trade, sustainable development and promoting opportunity through social mobility. Each award is valid for five years: recipients are invited to a royal reception and are presented with the award at their company premises by one of the King's representatives, a Lord-lieutenant. Recipients are also able to fly the King's Awards flag at their main office, and use the emblem on marketing materials such as packaging and adverts. History ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pentagram (design Firm)
Pentagram is a design firm. It was founded in 1972, by Alan Fletcher (graphic designer), Alan Fletcher, Theo Crosby, Colin Forbes (graphic designer), Colin Forbes, Kenneth Grange, and Mervyn Kurlansky at Needham Road, Notting Hill, London. The company has offices in London, New York City, San Francisco, Berlin and Austin, Texas. In addition to its influential work, the firm is known for its unusual structure in the design industry, in which a hierarchically flat group of partners own and manage the firm. It restricts ownership to only graphic designers and/or designers. Each partner is responsible for their team and the clients they manage. History Alan Fletcher, Colin Forbes, and Bob Gill announced the opening of design studio ''Fletcher/Forbes/Gill'' on April 1, 1962. Three years later, Gill left the firm, and Fletcher and Forbes were joined by architect Theo Crosby, forming ''Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes'' in 1965. ''This is Tomorrow'' from August 9 to September 9, 1956 The i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
