Viewdata and telesoftware: links

Silicon Village

This is a virtual village, now largely closed for business. In its heyday, it was a vewdata-themed hub for discussion, an early version of Second Life, if you like. Visitors could visit the leisure centre, with games such as F1, and the newsagent where people could chat and post comments. Formatted in a teletext format, this was an online version of teletext.

Carbuncle Corner was one section of the Silicon Village site that spun off into its own website. Originally transmitted on the viewdata service, site now serves as a place for Ben Hervey's comment as well as nostalgia from the old SV website and some other stuff, such as his guide to Cornwall, only updated when 'he had something to write about' much like a blog.

Telesoftware was a program for BBC Microcomputers with teletext adaptors. They worked on BBC Basic, a coding software which pretty much allowed for users to create their own teletext style pages. It seems the graphics are a bit more advanced also but the white on black aesthetic remains.

Left is a screenshot from a test page. Believe it or not, there is a BBC Micro emulation program which allows PC users to experience the original.

Andrew Wiseman's Television room