A melted terminal of the French predecessor of the Internet is sold for €430 — as a work of art

An Alcatel Minitel 2 terminal of the Internet’s predecessor network, salvaged during a fire, exhibited for an eBay auction in France. The melted computer case leaves no chance for its practical use. Nevertheless, it is sold at auction for €430 as an inexpensive working smartphone or a very budget laptop.

• Minitel was an online service provided by France Telecom from 1982 to 2012. Launched in 1980 as an experiment to reduce the cost of printing phone book pages, it grew to become a popular way to make online purchases, book trains, send emails, and more. It worked much like the internet does today and was the most successful online service in the world.

The Alcatel Minitel 2 model up for auction was manufactured in 1993 to replace the Minitel 1B. The terminal had a monitor capable of displaying monochrome text, although color models were later available at an additional cost. The basic Minitel model was provided free of charge to France Telecom customers in exchange for not receiving paper copies of telephone directories.

The copy is described as having been saved from a fire, and there is obviously some truth to this. Although the screen and keyboard were almost unharmed, the case was melted almost to pieces. One of the images shows a fragment of a document that, according to the seller, could have been printed by the terminal.

The seller of the terminal has many other items on eBay, most of which are antiques or works of art. He positions the melted Minitel as a work of art. Apparently, the auction was not very successful. The initial bid for the item was €450, and now the price is €20 less. The auction ends on Sunday, June 23.

Source: Tom`s Hardware