Re: Terminal Emulation

[wernst@deltanet.com (Warren 'Llama' Ernst)]

jponge@mtu.edu (Joshua P. Onge) wrote:
>
>Hi all,
>
>OK, Here's what I wanna do.  I have a IIc at Home, and a Unix account on a
>Sun at school.  I want to use the IIc to dial in to the sun for simple
>text based computing.  I have two questions: 
>
>1) Since all I'm going to be doing is transferring text data, do I need a
>very fast modem.  Am I going to see a substantial difference between say a
>300 baud modem and a 14,400 baud modem.  Can a IIc even handle a 14,400 or
>a 9,600 baud connection?

I'm afraid it depends on the IIc in question. Some of the earlier
IIc's had a hardware problem that prevented "high speed" modem
comminucations, which at the time meant higher than 1200 baud. I don't
recall what the test was to check your system before hand, but I'm
sure someone here does. It used to be a free fix from Apple, but I
suspect any official apple person you talk to will probably think you
are talking about a Mac IIcx or IIci and blow you off.

As for what you need in terms of speed, I used to work at 2400 baud
just fine for using vi and emacs when I was in school with my Apple
IIe. Since even 8 bit Apple II programs aren't HUGE compared to PCs
and Mac, even downloading apple files from the 'net isn't a terrible
chore (it takes, what, about 40 minutes a disk? anyone?). Yo can get a
used external 2400 baud modem for less than $30, i'd bet. I think 9600
is the theoretical maximum baud rate on a fixed IIc.

>2) What Software should I use.  I guess I want to emulate a VT220 or
>something (Actually I have no idea what that means).  Will this Proterm
>program I here about work.  If so where can I get.  (A decent freeware or
>shareware program would be preffered, as I do not want to spend a lot of
>money on this.)

ProTerm is a commerical program that is still my favorite modem
program of all time, regardless of platform. Quality Computers is
probably the best place to get it. I seem to recall using a shareware
program called z-link or z-term that had the best vt100 emulation I
had seen for an Apple II by 1990, but proterm may have caught up.
VT100 emulation is all you need to do everything a shell account could
throw at you. 

Good luck! Sometimes I wish I could still use Proterm without an
emulator on my PC or Mac. Hmm, maybe I should try it...

Virtually,
Warr
Ex Beagle Bros Tech Support
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