Editing Videotex (section)

=== United Kingdom ===
{{Main|Prestel}}
Prestel was somewhat popular for a time, but never gained anywhere near the popularity of Ceefax. This may have been due primarily to the relatively low penetration of suitable hardware in British homes, requiring the user to pay for the terminal (today referred to as a [[set-top box]]), a monthly charge for the service, and phone bills on top of that (unlike the US, local calls were paid for in most of Europe at that time). In the late 1980s the system was re-focused as a provider of financial data, and eventually bought out by the Financial Times in 1994. It continues today in name only, as FT's information service. A closed access videotex system based on the Prestel model was developed by the travel industry, and continues to be almost universally used by [[Travel agency|travel agents]] throughout the country.

Using a prototype domestic television equipped with the Prestel chip set, [[Michael Aldrich]] of [[Rediffusion|Redifon Computers Ltd]] demonstrated a real-time transaction processing in 1979; the idea is currently referred to as [[online shopping]].<ref>'Videotex takes Gateshead Teleshopping into the home' 'The Incorporated Engineer' Journal of the IEEIE London September 1984, p. 6.</ref> Starting in 1980, he designed, sold and installed systems with major UK companies including the world's first travel industry system, the world's first vehicle locator system for one of the world's largest auto manufacturers and the world's first supermarket system.<ref>{{cite web| title=Pioneers of Online Shopping| publisher=Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton| url=http://www.aldricharchive.com | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023012859/http://www.aldricharchive.com/online_pioneers.html | archive-date=2018-10-23}}</ref> He wrote a book about his ideas and systems which among other topics explored a future of [[online shopping]] and [[remote work]]ing that has proven to be prophetic.<ref>Videotex-Key to the Wired City, Aldrich MJ, Quiller Press London 1982</ref> Before the [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]], [[Microsoft]] [[MS-DOS]] and the [[Internet]] or World Wide Web, he invented and manufactured and sold the '' 'Teleputer' '', a PC that communicated using its Prestel chip set.

The ''Teleputer ''was a range of computers that were suffixed with a number. Only the ''Teleputer 1'' and ''Teleputer 3'' were manufactured and sold. The ''Teleputer 1'' was a very simple device and only worked as a teletex terminal, whereas the ''Teleputer 3'' was a [[Zilog Z80|Z80]] based [[microcomputer]]. It ran with a pair of single sided 5{{frac|1|4}}&nbsp;inch floppy disk drive; a 20Mb Hard disk drive version was available towards the end of the product's life. The operating system was [[CP/M]] or a proprietary variant CP*, and the unit was supplied with a suite of applications, consisting of a word processor, spreadsheet, database and a semi-compiled basic programming language. The display supplied with the unit (both the ''Teleputer 1'' and ''3'') was a modified Rediffusion 14&nbsp;inch portable colour television, with the tuner circuitry removed and being driven by a RGB input. The unit had a 64Kb onboard memory which could be expanded to 128Kb with a plug in card. Graphics were the standard videotext (or teletext) resolution and colour, but a high resolution graphic card was also available. A 75/1200 baud modem was fitted as standard (could also run at 300/300 and 1200/1200), and connected to the telephone via an old style round telephone connector. In addition an [[IEEE]] interface card could be fitted. On the back of the unit there was a [[RS-232]] and [[Parallel_port#Centronics|Centronics]] connections and on the front was the connector for the keyboard.

The proposed ''Teleputer 4'' & ''5'' were planned to have a laser disk attached and would allow the units to control video output on a separate screen.