Re: Future Developments

[david@uow.edu.au (David Wilson)]

Ralph Glatt <mairsil@my-deja.com> writes:
>Well, one thing I'd like to see is a way for 8-bit Apple users to get on
>the internet without having to use a Shell account. I really don't want
>much, just a way to email and read the usenet, and possibly a way to
>telnet into systems that can accomodate an Apple //. Nathan Mates said
>this isn't possible with TCP/IP lines, though, so I doubt it'll ever
>happen.

Given that this is possible using a Linux box as the interface between
the 8 bit Apple // and the PPP dialup line, my thought was to build a
smart serial card with the PPP code running on an onboard CPU. In the same
way that you can control a Hayes compatible modem over the same serial port
as your data communication occurs, a Telnet session could be established
using a comms program treating the smart serial card as a modem of sorts.
Instead of dialing a phone number you could dial an IP address (or if DNS
is available a host name).

CPU+RAM+ROM(Flash)+serial chip+glue=smart serial card
--
David Wilson  School of IT & CS, Uni of Wollongong, Australia