Overview: This document sets out to describe how the Internet was started in South Africa. It is a ramble around some of the background events that caused this to happen. There might be little apparent logic, nor any good sequence, in this document perhaps time will permit some tidying up to be done. So be it, but everything described in this text had an influence on the startup of the Internet in South Africa.
In brief, a group of three persons, viz Francois Jacot Guillarmod, Dave Wilson and the author, found a way to establish a sustainable email link to the Internet in 1988. A number of others helped with this exercise, particularly Randy Bush and Pat Terry. The link was established between Rhodes University, in a small city called Grahamstown, and the home of Randy Bush in Portland, Oregon.
Acknowledgement: The author would like to thank a number of people who have kindly provided some information about the early days of networking in South Africa. These include Dave Wilson, Francois Jacot Guillarmod, Justin Jonas, Pat Terry, Victor Wilson* and Sean Haffey.
*Victor Wilson was an early Tac2 member, more recently appointed as President of the SA Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) in April, 2008.
Link to the PDF: The History of the Internet in South Africa by Mike Lawrie
Inside this issue: A visit to the SAA simulators at Jan Smuts airport, announcing the Computer Faire at Tradex in the Kine Centre, a short story by Eddie Hague, Apple User Group announcements (including special interest groups Pascal, Forth, Hardware and Commercial), a tele-promt or autocue program listing in BASIC, an accounting of Tac2 subscriptions hosted at the Wits University library and a few back page advertisement.
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