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If you're in North America, or anywhere else that uses 110-volt AC power, you'll need a step-up transformer to feed your terminal with 220-V AC power (unless you've managed to obtain a native U.S. version, of course!). If all goes well, you'll be able to turn it on, and be able to type on the keyboard and see characters echoed to the screen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was the late 1970s. Former French presidents Charles de Gaulle and George Pompidou had recently died. The Arab oil embargo caused energy prices to quadruple for a time. Marseille remained gripped by drug lords. And France had to face the fact that its telephone network was one of the worst in the industrialized world. Fewer than 7 million telephone lines served 47 million French citizens, and the country?s elite felt that the domination of U.S. firms in telephone equipment, computers, databases, and information networks threatened their national sovereignty. Or at least it damaged their cultural pride. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of US (Mailland) Grew up in Paris in the 1980s, Surrounded by Advertisements for Racy "pink" chat rooms, accessible through terminals connected to France's Minitel network. They were a lucrative part of the wider Minitel economy, which also let you send messages, check bank balances, and read news. By 2000, as the Internet displaced the Minitel network, the billboards started being replaced by piles of terminals abandoned by trash cans. In 2010, while researching Minitel law and policy for a project that became the first English-language academic book on Minitel, I'd collected over 15 terminals of various models, when I met an American home brewer (Driscoll) who wanted to play with them. • We quickly completed our first project: turning a terminal into a Twitter client. Then we turned it into a webcam client; then, into a videotex slideshow display. We found a lot of help along the way because we weren't the only people unwilling to let these stylish terminals end up as e-waste. Indeed, there's now a vibrant Minitel hacking scene. You don't need to be in France to try any of these upcyling projects either. Minitel was an open platform, and a number of failed attempts to replicate Minitel's success means there are localized terminals to be found, with ones for Ireland, South Africa, and the United States, among others. • However, a lot of the guidance we relied upon is in French, so here we'd like to offer an English-language introduction to Minitel hacking. • The first thing you'll need is a terminal. French terminals are plentiful on eBay, and despite their age, very sturdy. A reasonable offer shouldn't top US $23 (shipping is the issue, thanks to relatively heavy cathode ray tubes. Expect that to cost at least $90 to North America). We recommend getting the "1B" model, the sturdiest and most versatile. Steer away from Magis, M2, or M12, each of which present problems for the home brewer. Your terminal must have a five-pin DIN connector in the back. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the table of contents for this issue of this publication. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Lost cyberspaces are like lost cities. You can read about their architecture and learn about the mark they made on history, but you can't explore the place yourself. Even when the hardware or software that folks used to visit those spaces remains, once the last server goes off line, all that's left are the memories. Unless, that is, one of the original builders decides to do some reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Now that everyone uses the Internet daily, it?s getting hard to recall the magic of logging on to an online service back when they were new. Happily enough, we've got Julien Mailland [standing] and Kevin Driscoll, who?ve been researching the history of France's pioneering Minitel telematics system and who wrote "The French Connection Machine" in this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a retrospective of the Minitel telecommunications system after the devices were discontinued on June 30, 2012. Topics discussed include the practical applications for the Minitel, in which users could buy groceries, send mail electronically, and read the news, a discussion of why the device was not successful outside of France, and how the advent of the cheaper Internet ended interest in Minitel

Presents information on Minitel of Europe. Revenues in 1993; Percentage of households with Minitel terminal; Installed base.

Reports on the introduction of an international electronic directory service from France Telecom. Availability of the technology from Minitel videotex terminal that allows search of electronic telephone directories in Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.