Minitel
See also: minitel
English
Proper noun
Minitel
- (historical) A French videotex service utilising the telephone network, popular before and alongside the World Wide Web.
- 2017 June 16, Julien Mailand, “Minitel, the Open Network Before the Internet”, in The Atlantic[1]:
- Minitel was a computer terminal. It housed a screen, a keyboard, and a modem—but not a microprocessor. Instead of computing on its own, Minitel connected to remote services via uplink, like a 1960s mainframe or a modern Google Chromebook. Terminals were given out, for free, to every French telephone subscriber by the state (which also ran the phone company).
Further reading
French
Alternative forms
Etymology
Abbreviation of Médium interactif par numérisation d’information téléphonique (“Interactive medium for digitized information by telephone”).
Pronunciation
Proper noun
Minitel m
- (historical) Minitel
- 2009, William Edmiston, Annie Dumenil, La France contemporaine, Cengage Learning (→ISBN), page 286:
- Le Minitel était le premier réseau informatique du monde, créé bien avant Internet (réseau informatique mondial). Au départ, le Minitel était destiné à remplacer l'annuaire téléphonique en papier par l'annuaire électronique, et l'on s'en servait uniquement dans les bureaux de poste.
- 2009, William Edmiston, Annie Dumenil, La France contemporaine, Cengage Learning (→ISBN), page 286:
Further reading
Minitel on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia fr