this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2025
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One of the earliest consumer internet options, AOL's dial-up service was once the most common way for people to access the early web.

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[–] Talaraine@fedia.io 60 points 3 days ago (1 children)

While I hated AOL for reasons, this is the end of an era. RIP

[–] Fyrnyx@kbin.melroy.org 33 points 3 days ago (2 children)

AOL will be remembered more fondly for things like this. But, nobody ever has a fond memory of the software AOL shoved out. It was clampware, unreliable and frequently crashed.

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 3 days ago (2 children)

But they gave out nice coasters

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

Eh....I wouldn't call them "nice". They were ok. Wouldn't put them on a nice table.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Before that, they gave out floppy disks. You could tape over the write protect hole and reuse them.

[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

But they were 720k. Barely usable

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You could punch a hole in the corner and double the capacity 😁

[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You couldn’t flip a 3.5in floppy

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You didn't need to flip it, 3.5" readers could already read both sides, but the hole or lack of is what told them whether both sides were available. I've done it myself.

https://www.webcommand.net/index.php/2019/07/31/does-anyone-remember-the-floppy-disk-punch-notcher/

[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Ahhhhh.

By the time I came around they were all 1.44 floppies

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 hours ago

Pfft, bloody kids... 😂

I should have a look, I've got a load of old floppies here, so might have one I've punched 🙂

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 days ago

They were free and not everything needs 1.44MB.

[–] meliante@lemmy.pt 7 points 3 days ago

The early vibe coders.