The Home Page of this website has a headline which says “Anniversary of the Great Schism of 2000”.
Having joined the large scale fraternity of 2005 (assuming that the figure 2000 refers to a year and not a number of people) I was unaware of the above mentioned event.
I am curious about the schism and who were/are the schismatics. lol
I didn’t see anything but I suspect it refers to when Largescale Online decided overnight to shutdown? That “event” caused the shocked users to migrate to other websites, namely here and MLS, boosting thier online presence. LSOL eventually came back but most users were pretty burned and wouldn’t have any more to do with it. Hence the "schism ".
A long time ago, in a land far away, the internet began. To many of us there were 2 basic worlds - large scale online and a big trains list serv. Many friends and deals were made amongst the people that gathered at these sites. Lives revolved around daily communication with friends through out the World on the small subject of large scale trains that ran outdoors. Then on June 28, 2000, this world of large scale online came crashing to a sudden and violent end. Yes, It was sudden and there was much tearing of clothes and nashing of teeth, but the blow was not fatal and with the birth of the cell phone and a slow communication of smoke signals, tin cans and string and a few dedicated folks that saw that from the ashes a new social industry could be born. There were many that tried and died quickly with failures and political firestorms, but a few flourished and progressed. However, many of those have fallen along the trail leaving bleached bones to weather in the sun. Dedicated individuals have kept the communication alive through good times and bad. We owe much to the dedicated few.
How long ago?
Okay, eleven years. That is both of your hands and one of your toes. This isn’t rocket science.
It was actually all starting about 1994 in the model railroad stuff, but Jon Radder was in on the beginning of all of this confuser stuff.
Ric Golding said:
Okay, eleven years. That is both of your hands and one of your toes. This isn't rocket science.It was actually all starting about 1994 in the model railroad stuff, but Jon Radder was in on the beginning of all of this confuser stuff.
I did own computers long before the internet - starting with a Trash-80 Model One. I know DOS, CP/M, UNIX and a few other acronyms My brother-in-law and I had an idea for an on-line community that eventually was marketed by someone smarter (and with more cash) as Prodigy. We were young and stupid; had a willing investor that only wanted 51% to put up ALL the capital. We refused. Oh, and we were experimenting with wireless networking in 1983 using TRS-80’s and CB radio
Edit to fix numerous typos 
Ric Golding said:You guys are building Rockets and I wasn't invited ??
Okay, eleven years. That is both of your hands and one of your toes. This isn't rocket science. .
David Russell said:
Ric Golding said:
Okay, eleven years. That is both of your hands and one of your toes. This isn’t rocket science. .You guys are building Rockets and I wasn’t invited ??
Ric Golding said:It is if you're a Pobble and have no toes.
Okay, eleven years. That is both of your hands and one of your toes. This isn't rocket science.
David Russell said:Well, if they build a Novelty, Sans Pareil, Perseverance and Cycloped too ... Or Catch Me Who Can ...
You guys are building Rockets and I wasn't invited ??
Many thanks Ric for the clarification. I had not heard about this issue before. My experiences have been solely with rotweilers, whom I now avoid, who reside elsewhere. lol
Thanks to the other guys who gave me a few laughs this morning.
Alas, the hobby gathering point in model train stores has all but disappeared. Supportive train store interaction is replaced by the memory of therapists extolling “you need a hobby other than just work.” The train shop was a source for solace, companionship, and hobby therapy. The customer shop “regulars” supplemented behind the counter “train therapists” by being in front of it. While conversations were abundant, large scale sales grew sparse. The result was the shops disappeared and the customer therapists moved to the internet.
We are here.
Wendell
Jon, a question of history:
“I did own computers long before the internet - starting with a Trash-80 Model One.”
The TRS-80 was first sold in November 1977… I guess, technically speaking, the Internet was still called Arpanet… I was on the Arpanet in 1972…
There were not a lot of connections then (In fact I was hacking into military base computers, but that’s another story)… but it did exist, and Arpanet existed long before your first computer.
But I sort of don’t know that 1977 was “long before” the Internet, it was though long before the Internet was huge…
Just some interesting timelines…
Regards, Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
Jon, a question of history:“I did own computers long before the internet - starting with a Trash-80 Model One.”
The TRS-80 was first sold in November 1977… I guess, technically speaking, the Internet was still called Arpanet… I was on the Arpanet in 1972…
There were not a lot of connections then (In fact I was hacking into military base computers, but that’s another story)… but it did exist, and Arpanet existed long before your first computer.
But I sort of don’t know that 1977 was “long before” the Internet, it was though long before the Internet was huge…
Just some interesting timelines…
Regards, Greg
How about long before the internet was accessible to the general public? Or Steve’s answer sounds good too
And if you really want to go back, digital computers existed long before transistors, and perhaps even before me 
According to the German WIKI the first functional (yes that would help!) digital computer was the Z3 built in 1941 in Berlin by Konrad Zuse in cooperation with Helmut Schreyer. In contrast to some of the other machines of that time it could do algorithms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer)
Older than me!
Were’nt early versions of digital computers used on Naval ships near the end of WW2 that were used for gunnery ranging calculations?
