2026 is the International Year of Retro Communications
We have lost the ability to land people on the moon and we have lost the ability for our modems to talk to each other. We can fix that. At least the modems bit, anyhow.
Communications across distances is a very important function for computers and most vintage computers have that ability through serial interfaces. The focus of the International Year of Retro Communications is to get our modems singing to each other across continents.
Modems connecting on a bench is fun. Getting them to connect within a building is interesting. Connecting any two modems located anywhere on Earth will be nearly as significant now as it was the first time around.
Ethernet and other networking technologies are equally important. They are definitely in-scope and any contributions toward increased networking of vintage computers is very welcome.
The best outcome of this focus on retro communications will be a standardised solution to restore period correct communications between any vintage device using the Internet to replace decommissioned telephone networks (eg PSTN/POTS, ISDN).
Spread the word and please report back here with responses, reports, progress, guides, howtos, solutions, blogs, vlogs, not so much “short video format” 