Browse Items (171 total)

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Minitel 1 terminal manufactured by Telic Alcatel.

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The "Pathfinder" patch on this yellow hat refers to trial of Canada's Telidon videotex system that ran from 1982-1983 in the province of Saskatchewan.

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This Minitel 5 terminal by Matracom was designed for portability. It features a monochrome LCD on a hinge. The ports on the rear of the device include a second telephone jack for use with a carphone.

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This serial cable features a standard DB25 connector on one end and the 9-pin DIN connector on the other. It was bundled with a kit that included software for connecting an Amstrad PC to a Minitel terminal.

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This is a Minitel terminal by Magis. It features a chip-card (also known as a "smart card") reader. The chip-card reader enabled a number of applications, from online payments using your regular bank card, to sophisticated professional banking…

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Leather case designed to hold a Minitel terminal. We found this item on ebay and had never seen one before. We believe this is a tailor-made, one of a kind item, possibly made for a traveling salesman. It fits a Minitel 1, 1B, and our American…

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Thermal printer connects to the serial port on a standard Minitel. Note that the industrial design of the printer is meant to match the typical coloring of the Minitel 1 and 1B terminals.

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This Minitel 2 terminal was manufactured by Philips for the US market.

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This terminal is an Alcatel 1B re-purposed for the Italian market. It was distributed by SIP (Società Italiana per l'Esercizio Telefonico), the Italian monopoly telephone company

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This Alcatel M1B/US (branded as "Alcatel V2000") was manufactured in 1990 by Telic Alcatel for US Friden. This particular machine is #47 in the series. It was part of a batch shipped to San Francisco as part of a venture called "101 Online." The…

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3614 Auditel Pin

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Not all Minitel was pink. The keychain below advertises the site of a butane-propane distributor.

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3615 Aficion Pin

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3615 Air Pur Pin

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3615 Asterix Pin

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3615 Belgique Pin

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3615 British Rail Pin

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3615 CAF Pin

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3615 COLLEC* PINS Pin

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3615 Consul Plus Pin

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3615 Contact FM Pin

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3615 Ecubank Pin

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3615 Golf Club Pin

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This pin celebrates the 3615 network and bears an appropriate pink color.

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3615 Laetitia Pin

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3615 Lipstick Pin

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3612 Minicom Pin

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An ad for the Minitel site of Naf Naf, a clothing company.

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3615 Nintendo Pin

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3615 Sancerre Pin

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3616 Ecubank Pin

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3628 Kompass Pin

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36 37 Telethon Pin

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BNP Point Minitel Pin

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Depaepe Telecom Pin

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France Telecom 42C Pin

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This pin was produced by France Telecom to celebrate the production of the 5,000,000th Minitel terminal.

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France Telecom GP Pin

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L'Annuaire Soleil Pin

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Le Journal Téléphone Pin

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Les Pages Jaunes Pin

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Les Pages Jaune Pin

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Les Pages Soleil Pin

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Les Pages Soleil Pin

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Les Pages Soleil Pin

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Les Pages Soleil Pin

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Philips Telematics Pin

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This is a hybrid terminal designed to access both the Minitel (Teletel) network and the Internet. This model is equipped with a pointing stick, but others used a trackpad. The web browser it used was HotJava, developed by JavaSoft (part of Sun…

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This laptop Apple Newton features a slick handle for portability

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Found this beauty at the W6TRW Amateur Radio Club Swap Meet on the Nothrop Grumman parking lot in El Segundo, CA. Not Minitel related, but so nice we couldn't pass on it.

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Don't be fooled by the small size of this slick designed Minitel terminal. Among other things, it included a powerful address book. The lead engineer on the France Telecom side was Bernard Louvel, who was on the original team led by Jean-Paul…

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This is a standard issue rotary phone. These would be plugged into Minitel terminals and used to dial short codes such as 11 or 3615. This particular holding was manufactured by Dunyach & Leclert in Plazolles, France, under procurement contract…

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Most Minitel terminals were single units where the keyboard was attached to the screen. Minitel 12 terminals departed from this tradition. The handset rested atop the keyboard and connected through a wire to a separate CRT unit.

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Expansion pack for Thomson MO5

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Thomson MO5 were 8-bit computers. They are remembered in France as part of Le Plan Informatique pour Tous, a State program where over 100,000 machines were distributed in French school starting in 1985. They were used to teach pupils programming…

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Joystick for use with the Thomson line of microcomputers (MO5, T07)

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Light pen for use with the Thomson line of microcomputers (MO5, T07)

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Thomson MO5 cassette drive

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This slick-looking mini-Minitel features a tiny screen and a phone combo. Built in 1995.

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Noe Willer "...Sur Minitel"

A: ...Sur Minitel 5.12 (N. Willer/ N. Willer-M. Devaux) D.R.
Production: Nelly Seberg - King Kong Music
Programme Synthe: M. Devaux
Arrangements: N. Willer

B: Hollywood* 3.45 (N. Willer) D. R.
Production: Nelly…

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Marie-Paule Belle"Mini-Minitel"Roméo ProductionCarrereA: Mini-Minitel 2'58 (Françoise Maillet-Joris/Marie-Paule Belle) Arr: Serge PerathonerB: Chez Pivot * Paroles: Françoise Mallet-Joris **Musiques: Marie-Paule BelleArrangements: Serge…

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Liaison
(Kernoa/Jean S. Berger)
"Minitel... Miniquoi?"

A: Minitel - Miniquoi 6'24 (Version Remix - Sp�cial Club)
B1: Minitel - Miniquoi 3'57
B2: Minitel (Version DJ) 1'29
B3: Minitel - Miniquoi (instrumental) 3'58

Arrangements: C. DI…

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Pornography has historically been a driver of new communication technologies. Minitel was no exception. As of December 2011, the popular 'pink Minitel' site '3615 ULLA' was still drawing significant crowds to chat rooms. Below is one of 15 pages…

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This is a photo of a 3615 portal from June 2011. This is the point at which you might enter a short code such as PLNUIT or ULLA to access a 3615 service. If you look closely, you will see that the portal also offers a searchable directory and…

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As of June, 2011, the Minitel site of Bordeaux University's communication school was "temporarily unavailable."

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'3615 TELNET' was an email system that also enabled one to send text messages to cell phones from a Minitel terminal. Last visited June 2011.

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The Minitel site of the roads & bridges government agency was also "temporarily unavailable" as of June of 2011

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'3618 Minitel a Minitel' was a real-time one-on-one chat room operated by France Telecom. Last visited June 2011.

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3614 Gestcomptes 2 is a telebanking kit for owners of Atari ST computers published by LOG-ACCESS. The kit includes a diskette with software to run on the PC and a serial cable for connecting to a Minitel terminal. There were advantages to this design…

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This is a "download kit" for owners of the Amstrad CPC home computer, published in 1988 by AZURSOFT. The kit includes a diskette with terminal and file-transfer software as well as a serial cable for connecting the Amstrad PC and Minitel terminal.

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This is a trading card with general information about the origins of Minitel published in 1989. The photo on the front of the card depicts a typical installation of Minitel terminal equipment in the home. While a PC might be stored in a home office…

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This is a promotional sticker for 3615 FFT, a service run by the French tennis federation.

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This is a magazine ad for PIFTEL, the Minitel site of PIF, a weekly comic magazine for children published by the French Communist Party. At its peak, PIF printed up to 1 million copies. This ad presents PIFTEL as an online companion to the printed…

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Special Agent Dale Cooper likes to hang out around Minitels being hacked.

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Documentation from a Minitel hackathon, July 28, 2011

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Miguel Mennig's L'Indispensable pour Minitel (1987) is a guide to the world of Minitel with material aimed at both the casual and hardcore miniteliste. In addition to a directory of services and peripheral buyer's guide, Mennig's book features…

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Les Secrets du Minitel is another trade book aimed at the Minitel enthusiast. Editions Techniques et Scientifiques Françaises published the first edition in 1985 and a second edition in 1988.

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This how-to book was aimed at tech-savvy microcomputer owners. It offered information about using Minitel terminals as modems and running DIY Minitel services out of the home. Published in 1985 by SYBEX.

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The 1978 "Nora-Minc report" to the French President of the Republic, named "The Computerization of Society," was a landmark document that helped define French telecommunications policy, and was the precusor to the introduction of Minitel in the…

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The Minitel Saga by Marie Marchand is one of the few books about Minitel published in English. In 2016, Lori Emerson, founding director of the Media Archaeology Lab, scanned and shared a copy of this hard-to-find book. For more information, see:…

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A 1991 letter from France Telecom to its clients lauding the French telecommunications system as one of the most modern in the world. Indeed, "[i]n 1989, Minitel made France the world's most 'wired' country" - (James Gillies & Robert Cailliau, How…

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The 1991 France Telecom Price list, including Minitel's access and per-minute prices. Connecting to the online phone book for 3 minutes was free (for multiple searches, one would just disconnect and reconnect every 3 minutes to avoid being charged),…

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One of the original overt motivations behind the Minitel project was to digitize the phone book and save money on paper, printing, and distribution costs. Ironically, Minitel became so popular that France Telecom started printing a paper-based…

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Minitel: Welcome to the Internet grew out of this very lab. It was published in 2017 by The MIT Press as a part of the Platform Studies series. For more information, click on "About our book" at the left.

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This set of 3 cards only contained 5 phone units. This indicates that they were produced not for being sold, but as collectors items which France Telecom gifted to various dignitaries.

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This 120-unit card advertised Sillage, a device which combines a phone and answering machine with a Minitel terminal.

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This 50-unit card advertised Sillage, a device which combines a phone and answering machine with a Minitel terminal.

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This card reminded the citizenry that on October 18, 1996 at 23:00 hours, all French phone numbers would now feature a 2-digit area code in addition to the local 8-digit number. The indroduction of the 5 area codes multiplied by 5 the total of…

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This card advertised France Telecom's own service, 3612 Minicom, a Minitel-to-Minitel email system.

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This card advertised France Telecom's own service, 3612 Minicom, a Minitel-to-Minitel email system.

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This series of cards advertised France Telecom's customer service number, 3614 France Telecom. Note that one of our two holdings never got the smart chip embedded in the card and presents an unusual hole.

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This card for 3615 Ford featured the Fiesta Turbo Diesel

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This card for 3615 Ford featured the rather unusual Ford Fiesta Hawaii

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This card advertised the 3615 for Gites de France, a chain of hotels and short-term rental properties

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Don't be mistaken, this card for 3615 Hollywood did not advertise the City of Angels or a movie reservation system, but a famous french brand of chewing gums.

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This card advertised 3615 COJO92, the site for the winter Olympics held in France in 1992

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This card advertised the 3615 for the popular ginger ale

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Advertisement for the Minitel site of the National Assembly. Note the higher per minute rate than average commercial service, using the 3617 access code

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This was Julien's first telecarte, found on the ground at his junior high school in Paris, circa 1986 or 1987. As it turned out, however, all of the card's credit had already been used. Because the card bears no ad, we know it was produced between…

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In a series of humorous cards, France Telecom advertised the advanced natural language search features of its yellow pages service, "Le 11". On this card, the lady states: "On 'le 11,' I typed 'Who can organize my party?' ... well darling, 'le 11'…

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In a series of humorous cards, France Telecom advertised the advanced natural language search features of its yellow pages service, "Le 11". On this card, the lady states: "On Le 11, I typed 'Chill Chinese dinner ... well, Le 11 really kicked butt:…

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In a series of humorous cards, France Telecom advertised the advanced natural language search features of its yellow pages service, "Le 11". On this card, the teenager states: "On Le 11, I typed 'changing my scooter's carburetor' ... hey, can you…

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In a series of humorous cards, France Telecom advertised the advanced natural language search features of its yellow pages service, "Le 11". On this card, the teenager states: "On Le 11, I typed 'pumping my biceps' ... Le 11 gave me the contact info…

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In a series of humorous cards, France Telecom advertised the advanced natural language search features of its yellow pages service, "Le 11". On this card, the old lady is having a hilarious time searching the yellow pages. The parrot she bought seems…

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An ad for the Magis terminal, which included a bank card and access-control card reader. See also the access-control cards in our holdings.

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An ad for the Magis terminal, which included a bank card and access-control card reader. See also the access-control cards in our holdings.

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A set of 2 cards (50 and 120 units) advertising the Minitel 2 terminal.

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The first 110,000 terminals to roll out of the Telic Alcatel production line featured an alphabetical keyboard layout. France Telecom and Telic Alcatel were testing to see if path dependence could be beaten or if the AZERTY keyboard layout was to…

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Terminals chilling together at Julien's Los Angeles home

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Belgian phone card

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"I'm connected on Minitel, how about you? No... Well then go pick one up at your local France Telecom branch"

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This smart card is preprogrammed for use with an advanced Minitel terminal. It promises easy access to a variety of services. The back of the card invites users to update its features by connecting to 3623 MAGIS.

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This smart card was preprogrammed for use with Magis Minitel terminals. The packaging promises to make Minitel even easier to use.

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Most of the macro photography in the archive was created using this DIY lightbox.

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A truly unusual pop single featuring two tracks by Taboo about a popular messagerie called Crac. The front of the sleeve depicts a partially nude Taboo flying over the keyboard of a Minitel terminal with the instructions "Telephone 3615 / Tapez CRAC"…

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This twelve-inch single features two high energy house songs cut at 45 RPM. Side A: "Sex on the Minitel" Side B: "Man & Minitel" The record is packaged in a clear plastic sleeve with a small sticker. The only liner notes are the artist's name and…

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This Minitel guidebook was published in 1993 by France Telecom. The preamble includes a short insert consisting of 16 full-color, glossy pages with technical details about various terminals, the schedule of fees, how-to information for beginners, and…

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Another third party guidebook for Minitel. This edition of the "Le Guide" promises 4,500 services.

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Listel was a guidebook for Minitel services produced by a third party. It includes a much larger and broader range of services than the official directory published by France Telecom. The cover boasts 2,335 services.

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Godefroy Troude was the sysop of a Minitel micro-serveur called "Pinky" from 1986 to 1992. He shared with us two stories from his memories of that time: meeting a surprise user from Los Angeles online and listening to the sounds of data through his…

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Documentation for the Minitel 1b terminal equipment produced by Telic in 1986. The Minitel 1b, also known as the "bi standard" Minitel 1, supported two modes: videotex and telematic. The videotex mode was used to access serivces on the Télétel…

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"Minitel Follies" was published in Gay Comix issue 12 for Spring/Summer 1988. The six page comic follows the (mis)adventures of Fox as he looks for love on the Minitel. In the opening panels, Fox picks up a terminal from the local post office and…

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Promotional sticker for the home security service at 3614 SECURITAM

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Promotional sticker for 3615 ARGUS, a Minitel service attached to L'argus, a magazine about automobiles. The text refers to the used car services available online.

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Promotional sticker for 3615 CJEUNES

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On this promotional sticker, 3615 EVATEL invites "smart travelers" to an online service with cheap flights, travel stories, forums, games, and more.

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Promotional sticker for the Fédération Nationale Aéronautique encouraging others to "become a pilot!" In the illustration, "3615 FNA" is inscribed on the wing of a prop plane. Today, the FNA is known as la Fédération française aéronautique.

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Promotional sticker for 3615 FOOTFLASH, a service for football fans.

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Promotional sticker noting a Minitel service linked to Griottines cherries, a regional specialty of the Fougerolles.

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Sticker promoting Minitel services for privately-owned television networks La Cinq ("5") and M6. Based on the logos, this sticker was likely produced around 1987.
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