The CAPTAIN system (for Character and Pattern Telephone Access Information Network system) was a Japanese

videotex Videotex (or interactive videotex) was one of the earliest implementations of an end-user information system. From the late 1970s to early 2010s, it was used to deliver information (usually pages of text) to a user in computer-like format, typi ...

system created by NTT. Announced in 1978, it was trialled from 1979 to 1981, with a second larger trial held from 1982 to 1983. The service launched commercially in November 1984. Captain differed from comparable European videotex systems by not being based on the transmission of alphanumeric characters. The Japanese

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

character set has over 3,500 characters, and in the late 1970s to try to include a character generator in the user's terminal that could retain and then generate so many characters on demand was seen as prohibitive. Instead pages were therefore substantially sent to the end user as pre-rendered images, using coding strategies similar to

facsimile machine Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other out ...

s. By December 1985, Captain had 650 information providers, and the next year was rolled out to 245 cities. However, by March 1992, the system still only had 120,000 subscribers.

Sanyo is a former Japanese electronics manufacturer founded in 1947 by Toshio Iue, the brother-in-law of Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial, now known as Panasonic. Iue left Matsushita Electric to start his own bu ...

released a CAPTAIN adapter for

MSX1 Homeobox protein MSX-1, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''MSX1'' gene. MSX1 transcripts are not only found in thyrotrope-derived TSH cells, but also in the TtT97 thyrotropic tumor, which is a well differentiated hyperplastic tissue ...

computers, and

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

released a similar device for the MSX2. Like other videotex systems worldwide (with the exception of the French

Minitel The Minitel, officially known as TELETEL, was an interactive videotex online service accessible through telephone lines. It was the world's first and most successful mass-market online service prior to the World Wide Web. It was developed in Ces ...

), it never broke through to achieve mass-market usage. The system was closed on March 31, 2002. File:Captain.jpg, Home page File:Captain2.jpg File:CaptainFuji.jpg File:CaptainMasque.jpg

References

External links

Thanks Captain
{{Videotex Videotex 1984 establishments in Japan 2002 disestablishments in Japan Pre–World Wide Web online services NTT Communications