Especially the younger of us can sometimes think that the Internet and electronic communication have always been there. However, on Thursday, January 7, it is exactly thirty years since we first connected the university to the world computer network EARN.

At the beginning of 1991, we connected Masaryk University to the world's computer networks for the first time. It was not yet the Internet (that came a year later), but the academic network EARN - European Academic Research Network, the European branch of the American network BITNET.

The network was connecting mainly large mainframes of the IBM 360/370 type (in its heyday it had over 3000 connected nodes) and provided services such as e-mail, mail discussion groups (LISTSERV), file transfer (FTP), or remote program execution (NJE, Network Job Entry).

Sending an E-mail Using a Floppy Disk

For the first time, university students and employees got the opportunity to try out the then-new modern electronic communication services. However, the MU computer network did not exist at that time; it was just beginning to be built. Those interested in these "conveniences" either had to physically reach the terminals at ICS or SCI or connect from their computer by modem connection using switched telephone lines (a solution available only for real enthusiasts).

We introduced a unique "off-line e-mail" service for users without connections and network experiences, where the text of their prepared e-mail could be delivered on a floppy disk to the terminal operator who sent it over time returned the floppy disk with recorded possible answers. However, we were connected!