A brief look at two versions of a program for downloading games from the French Minitel system.
Unfortunately as Minitel ceased operating in 2012 looking at these screens is a "look and feel" exercise and the closest we'll ever get to the real thing. :(
So two questions for anyone here that used this:
1. Were commercial games available using this or just type-ins?
2. Did the CPC connect directly to a Minitel terminal or was an interface/phone line combination used?
From CPCPOWER-
"This is version 2.0 of the Arcades software. This program allows the downloading of listings on 464, 664, 6128. To do this, all you have to do is choose the configuration of your system, then when the computer prompts you, start the Minitel and dial the 3615 code ARCADES. After the presentation, you will be presented with a list of programs. Each program is identified by a number. Once this number has been entered, the Minitel will give you an indicative loading time.
When the minitel asks you to launch ARCADES, you will have to press the space bar.
The procedure is then automatic, the blocks are loaded one after the other. Since the downloaded programs are immediately placed on the floppy disk, your version of ARCADES must be write-protected. It is therefore preferable to make a backup copy of the original and to keep the latter in a safe place.
At the end of downloading a program, it is possible to continue by making another choice on the Minitel and pressing the SPACE key as soon as the server invites you to launch ARCADES."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC4VwAjc3J0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC4VwAjc3J0)
Entry at Computerhistory.org:
https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102747098 (https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102747098)
Related thread at CPCWiki:
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/found-a-strange-cable-with-the-last-plus-i-got/ (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/amstrad-cpc-hardware/found-a-strange-cable-with-the-last-plus-i-got/)
Other links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotex (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotex)
https://www.minitel.us/book-minitel-welcome-to-the-internet (https://www.minitel.us/book-minitel-welcome-to-the-internet)
https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=10291 (https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=10291)
https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=12147 (https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=12147)
https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=staff&lenom=Soracom (https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=staff&lenom=Soracom)
https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=database (https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=database)
https://cpcrulez.fr/search-engine.php?s=&m=minitel&sk=gr7h&st=mw%3D%3D&yr=&lg=&z=GO (https://cpcrulez.fr/search-engine.php?s=&m=minitel&sk=gr7h&st=mw%3D%3D&yr=&lg=&z=GO)
Not emulated - original hardware and software.
Please note that the aspect ratio for this YouTube video is 16:9 but the CPC monitor
has an aspect ratio of 4:3 so you may wish to adjust your viewing device accordingly.
You could do that with Minitel? Whoa. Are there anywhere the titles you could get?
Don't know unfortunately but I'd like to!
One point of note - no setup or configuration menu(s) with the software. That's a big plus for the customer/user - almost Plug and Play :)
This was available via Minitel:
https://cpcrulez.fr/GamesTest/zupple.htm (https://cpcrulez.fr/GamesTest/zupple.htm)
If I run across any others I'll post them too.