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Ward Christensen (of BBS and XMODEM fame) has died

(en.wikipedia.org)
323 points DamonHD | 8 comments | 13 Oct 24 15:39 UTC | HN request time: 1.249s | source | bottom
1. freefolks ◴[13 Oct 24 22:03 UTC] No.41832086[source]▶
in the 90's, Xmodem seemed to be a inferior protocol compared to Z-Modem and HS-Link.
replies(4): >>41832198 #>>41832598 #>>41833959 #>>41836419 #
2. kragen ◴[13 Oct 24 22:20 UTC] No.41832198[source]▶
Sure, but that's because they were designed later with the benefit of hindsight on XMODEM, and didn't have to run on such tiny machines.
3. karaterobot ◴[13 Oct 24 23:17 UTC] No.41832598[source]▶
For what it's worth, Zmodem came about 10 years after Xmodem, and HS/Link came about 15 years after Xmodem.
4. snvzz ◴[14 Oct 24 03:38 UTC] No.41833959[source]▶
Yet they're both worse than Kermit, which is much older than them.

But XMODEM is still the oldest.

5. lproven ◴[14 Oct 24 11:17 UTC] No.41836419[source]▶
Hint: X comes before Y which comes before Z.

They were successor protocols designed and implemented to fix perceived shortcomings in the original one.

1977: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMODEM

1985: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YMODEM

1986: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZMODEM

replies(1): >>41836603 #
6. jpalomaki ◴[14 Oct 24 11:43 UTC] No.41836603[source]▶
And then https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMODEM

SModem supported simultaneous upload/download and chatting.

replies(1): >>41847823 #
7. lproven ◴[15 Oct 24 12:23 UTC] No.41847823{3}[source]▶
Fair play -- I didn't know about that one. It does seem to be less of a protocol and more of a specialised DOS client app, though...
replies(1): >>41856012 #
8. johng ◴[16 Oct 24 05:56 UTC] No.41856012{4}[source]▶
Smodem was a game changer. So was HS/Link. Being able to chat while still doing a download was awesome. Realizing that you can upload and download at the same time was awesome. When those protocols came out they blew my mind... and before that the first time I got the added speed from Zmodem over Xmodem I was amazed as well.

I sure miss those days. First modem was 2400 baud, so I was kind of a late comer.