News that the Minitel, France's pioneering computing machine, is being made redundant after 30 years of service has prompted nostalgia from readers for the "little French box" that was a staple in many French homes and pre-dated the world wide web.

In the comments, readers have added their memories of life and work with the Minitel.

Helen121 writes:

I remember being in Paris in 1984 and being introduced to the Minitel to find local restaurants, make reservations etc and being totally blown away. RIP Minitel.

oppochips, a 35-year-old in the Paris area, recalls:

I remember playing costly RPGs on it and blowing the parental phone bill. Checking out minitel rose on the sly but not liking the rip-off atmosphere. And checking my baccalaureat/GCSE results on it in '94. Buying a last minute discount ticket to Hungary on Maalev in 1996, concert and train tickets and using it a lot for the yellow/white pages.

leuan remembers receiving a Minitel for the first time:

I was staying with a friend in Paris, when we woke up one morning and found a large cardboard box outside the front door. I seem to remember there were some sort of instructions included, so we got this 'computer' set up (and a lot more modern than a Sinclair it looked - Sinclairs having been my only experience of 'computers' up to then) and connected. I don't think we slept for 48 hours, just playing ... it was amazing, a little slice of the future, delivered direct to the door.

Westgarth asks what the future holds for existing users of the service:

It is not clear what the hundreds of thousands of remaining users of the service are supposed to do now. I know a couple near me in the sud-ouest who, now in their early 80s, have no computer and have never mastered that technology. The Orange site actually says users can keep ther terminals or they will be recycled by France Telecom, most stuff is now available online or by phone. But this snippet from the Orange help page suggests the terminal-to-terminal communication service (like MSN) will continue. So, really, the demise of Minitel has not really happened - it is just that the majority of stuff has been switched off, but not all! 'Non, le service de communication de Minitel à Minitel continue au-delà du 30 juin 2012 car ce service ne dépend pas du même réseau technique que l'offre Minitel.'

grigou comments:

Maybe I should'nt take ours to the dechetterie, with all this nostalgia it might be worth something soon, it's very biege and brown with a dinky little cathode screen. I found minitel frustrating because I always had the impression that you had to put more information in than you wanted out.

Segolene44 posts:

In 1990 we were tapping into the Minitel systems (legally and by arrangement!) in schools in Stoke-on-Trent as a way of accessing authentic and up-to-date resources. It was exciting at the time to be able to get traffic reports, phone numbers, weather reports, the TV guide etc. long before the internet made it all seem a bit low key! Adieu Minitel!

You can join the discussion while the thread is open here. Minitel users are using the hashtag #ripminitel on Twitter to share tributes to the device and for those looking to indulge in further nostalgia.

There's a Tumblr dedicated to the Minitel's end and old Minitel adverts on YouTube (is that the French Bob Hoskins?) to keep you going.

Alternatively, if you're in the Paris area - how about an RIP Minitel party?