I need advice on getting an external modem for an oooold PC.
The PC is non-std UART 8MHz 80186 (1985 Ampro2210).
Newer modems have all sorts of different configs.
I actually have a 1980 (Z80) HP2621a smart-terminal hooked up to this PC
for mon/kybd and I might use the terminal solo as well.
(The most I'd really use it for is emergency dial up to.. Panix, of course!
Mind you, I used to turn this machine on once a month when the modem worked
and rarely do now. THe HP is still the best mon/kybd combo anywhere, tho.
And gosh, it was my college terminal. Yes, I still have my college car, too!)
I've found USR Couriers on compuvest.com
In 4/01 lighting fried a modem that worked fine (MAxum 1200)
I replaced it with a USR Sportster on 9/01 (Jinx: was in transit on 9/11)
But the Sportster somehow needed programming because the factory settings
weren't compatible. I never got it to work.
Guess what? a few weeks ago, it got fried by lightning.
(Well, in both cases, it kept the phone off the hook)
(Ok, I now know, all it took was a simple ground wire!)
Now the USR claimed to work with Fax Class 2 but it really worked with fax class 2.0.
The difference is that Stefan Cordes (cordes@adr.de) DOSFAX uses class 2.
Not an essential conveience, but you never know if it doesn't occassionally come in handy.
- = -
Vasos-Peter John Panagiotopoulos II, Columbia'81+, Bio$trategist
BachMozart ReaganQuayle EvrytanoKastorian
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/vjp2/vasos.htm
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
In article <cgo0i5$mm4$2@reader1.panix.com>,
vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:
spiffed up 8086), and it doesn't have a UART. What you are likely
thinking about is the National 8250 (which was superceeded by
the 16450, 16550, and 16550A in later years). The problem with
the older UARTs is that the FIFO was real short, and this limited
the _Port_ speed to about 38400 BPS max. You should be able to
take any modern serial modem that you can plug into this old
dog, and after reading the manual that comes with the modem,
find the Hayes command to limit the connect speed to something
usable. On the software end, you need only set the _Port_ speed
to 38400 or less. Now, how you do this depends on the
application you are running that connects to serial port. I
have _no_ idea what software you might be using, but the notes
I have for DataStorm Technologies "Procomm 2.4.2" indicate this is
done under "Line Settings". Remember that you'll have to tell
the modem to negotiate a slower connection (a USR uses &Nn to set
the maximum connect speed), lest the peer starts shoveling bits
down the wire faster than you can handle them.
That UART is the key. I've seen a 56K modem used IN an original
IBM PC-XT (4.77 MHz 8088) running some terminal software under
MS-DOS 3.3. The computer was PAINFULLY SLOW, but it was down
loading compressed tarballs at 50K.
Yes, but setting the modem to "factory default" as a starting point
will probably handle a lot of it. But you should at least glance
at the Hayes commands it uses.
My second backup is an unknown 2400 BPS in the file server. So? Neither
the primary or secondary backups are connected to the phone line for
security.
Off topic, but the genuine IBM keyboards are a lot of peoples favorite.
Old guy
