Re: Modem for //c

[dmitton@mulberry.com (Douglas E. Mitton)]

You have to be willing to "tinker" a bit as you can't just go into a
store anymore and buy the proper cables ... you'll probably have to
make one ... Radio Shack has all the stuff!!!

An external Hayes compatible modem with a DB25 connector on it should
work no problem ... basically just get a cheap modem ... I don't mean
a "No Name" but an older technology one (that you have seen work, or
is sealed in the box) that no one with newer equipment wants.  9600
baud seem to be getting scarce but 14.4 are starting to drop in price
A LOT!!!

The next problem is the software ... getting a package which supports
Hardware Handshake ... with out this you can't get more than 2400 baud
out of your modem ... even though you have a 14.4.  Others here with
more experience will comment on this.  I only ever used Talk Is Cheap
at 300, 1200 and 2400 baud ... attempts at 9600 were not too
successful.  By the way, even a 14.4 can be made to work only at 2400
if you want ... you just need the proper "initialization string" which
the modem manual should tell you!

The cable I made/used for several years came right out of the Talk Is
Cheap manual and is not complicated at all ... if you get to the point
where you have the components, let me know and I'll send the wiring
and parts list.

If you have an original //c (ROM00 or FF?) (the FAQ will tell you how
to check this) there is a small serial port problem.  For me it showed
up as a couple of lost characters every time the scroll back buffer
saved to disk while data was still coming through the modem.  If you
don't use this "feature" you shouldn't have a problem.  Just reading
information on the screen or down loading files never was a problem
for me BUT I used to call GEnie, grab all the stuff I wanted to read
to disk, hang up and read at my leisure!

Sorry for rambling ... the "?" marks above are things I don't remember
right off as its been some time (I've been using a //gs for several
years) but the FAQs by Nathan Mates and others should have all the
details.  The //c is great for this kind of use!

Good luck and ask questions!

Nick Hatch <nch@pacifier.com> wrote:

>If this question has been done to death please forgive me.

>I have an old //c and I am trying to figure out how to hook a modem up
>to it. I called one store and they said there was no way I could get it
>to work. The FAQ for the Newsgroup was helpful, it just wasn't enough.
>Where do I get a modem? I'm not going to be doing anything except use
>it for text based e-mail and internet. What speed should I get? Where
>can I get software? About how much should it cost? Thanks in advance.

   ----------------------------------
   Doug Mitton 
    * In Brockville, Ontario, Canada
      (City of the Thousand Islands!)
   EMail: dmitton@mulberry.com
   ----------------------------------