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The lost online world that came before the Internet and the World Wide Web

  • Paul McNally--The Escapist
  • published date: 2026-05-20 15:36:31 UTC

A personal history of Prestel and Micronet 800, Britain’s pre-internet online world of chatlines, hacking, MUDs, and Shades.

These days, we sit down at a PC or whip out a smartphone, and we are connected to pretty much every corner of the world. There was a time, however, when going online meant physically wrestling the fa… [+14159 chars]