How to make almost any computer a modern-day PLATO terminal

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

In our previous deep dive into the groundbreaking world of PLATO, we pointed out the technological advances the system heralded in graphical displays, sound, and user interface; the trailblazing software environment it hosted with educational content, networked messaging and communications, and multiplayer games; and the cultural impact it had on subsequent systems—and even on the modern Internet.

But all’s not lost if you missed out on PLATO the first time around. The spirit, technology, and even software of PLATO live on in modern retrocomputing re-creations. In today’s article, we’ll look at two of these services and demonstrate how almost any computer can be a modern-day PLATO terminal, too.

Sign in and turn on

Although other resurrected PLATO instances are around, today we’ll be looking at two that specifically cater to the curious public, IRATA.ONLINE (yes, Atari spelled backwards, just like in M.U.L.E.) and Cyber1. Both sites operate a server running an emulated PLATO environment with many of the same software components, but the specific mix of lessons (i.e., PLATO applications, more or less) and their front-ends differ somewhat.