Minitel

See also: minitel

English

Alternative forms

• MINITEL

Etymology

From French Minitel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪniˌtɛl/

Proper noun

Minitel

1. (historical) A French videotex service utilising the telephone network, popular before and alongside the World Wide Web.
   • 1995 September, Richard Barbrook, Andy Cameron, “The Californian Ideology”, in Mute‎^[1], volume 1, number 3, →ISSN:

     The lesson of MINITEL is that hypermedia within Europe should be developed as a hybrid of state intervention, capitalist entrepreneurship and d.i.y. culture.

   • 2017 June 16, Julien Mailand, “Minitel, the Open Network Before the Internet”, in The Atlantic‎^[2]:

     Minitel was a computer terminal. It housed a screen, a keyboard, and a modem—but not a microprocessor. Instead of computing on its own, Minitel connected to remote services via uplink, like a 1960s mainframe or a modern Google Chromebook. Terminals were given out, for free, to every French telephone subscriber by the state (which also ran the phone company).

Further reading

• Minitel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• limnite

French

Alternative forms

• minitel

Etymology

Abbreviation of Médium interactif par numérisation d’information téléphonique (“Interactive medium for digitized information by telephone”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.ni.tɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Minitel m

1. (historical) Minitel
   • 2009, William Edmiston, Annie Dumenil, La France contemporaine, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 286:

     Le Minitel était le premier réseau informatique du monde, créé bien avant Internet (réseau informatique mondial). Au départ, le Minitel était destiné à remplacer l’annuaire téléphonique en papier par l’annuaire électronique, et l’on s’en servait uniquement dans les bureaux de poste.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• Minitel on the French Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^fr