[thetis]

Minitel is the terminal system, with the CPU, keyboard & screen, but by extension, it includes the protocol to display & download the data. Actually, i was used to connect to "minitel" servers, RTC or BBS-like that were dedicated to the developement of HP48 calculator applications. It was a very rich scene in France, with RTC servers named Pulsar, RTC-one, etc. Basic BBS boards with discussion boards (like HN!) and where you could download HP 48 programs. Some history (in french) about one of these boards http://wiz0u.free.fr/pulsar/historique.php

It was back in 1997 with a pre-internet scene, the first IRL parties, internet friends, etc Basicly it was some smart guy hosting an atari st in the garage, with a dedicated telecom line (so 1 people connected at the same time!).