Re: Apple IIe + Modem (Sportster 14.4) ?

[Jim Pendarvis <jpendarv@patriot.net>]

My experience was similar. This is how it went for me.

I used an internal 2400 modem for a long time. I never had any problems
except that I couldn't do zmodem even though the program supported it. I
believe the reason for that is zmodem requires flow control which didn't
seem to otherwise be an issue with the 2400.

Then I upgraded to a 14.4 that I had connected to a PC. I got an SSC and
hooked it up. The program would hang on start-up. After trying out
assorted init strings, I finally got around to watching the lights on the
modem and discovered that the computer was not communicating with it.

After checking the SSC switches again, again, and then again, I assumed
I had a cable problem. The good news was I had several cables
on hand, the bad news was few of them were marked. So I tried them
one-by-one. And none of them worked. I thought that maybe the card was
bad, so I configured it for my printer and it worked great.

I went to Micro Center and bought a modem cable (for a PC). It
didn't work either. Somewhere I read there is a difference between printer
and modem cables. So with nothing to lose I ended up connecting 2 cables
together and it finally worked so i left it alone.

Almost everything worked. The init string included RTS/CTS flow control.
Zmodem worked for downloads, but not uploads. I had to use xmodem for
that. But overall I was happy.

Then I changed ISPs. Now I have to do uploads/downloads from the shell
command line. Zmodem downloads worked, but longer files continued to send
data while the program is writing to disk. I ended up adding xon/xoff
flow control to the init string (RTS/CTS is already there). Now zmodem
works for long files, but sometimes hangs when finished and I have to exit
from it manually. And I can't upload at all even with xmodem.


jim pendarvis


On 17 Mar 2001, KellihanB wrote:

> Hello,
>
>    I finally got a Super Serial Card for my Apple IIe.  I also got a USRobotics
> Sportster 14,400 Fax Modem.  Unfortunately I've been having some problems
> getting them to work.
>   Using  Apple Access II, I wasn't able to get it to automatically dial
> anything.  It says the modem isn't responding.  However, by going into terminal
> mode, and typing AT commands blindly, the modem will respond correctly and even
> make a connection.  Unfortunately this program has no facility for VT100 or
> ANSI emulation and can't even do XModem transfers...
>   So I got myself a copy of ZLINK.  The disk boots and I start ZLink.  It hangs
> after you select ZLINK.SYSTEM from the ProDOS start up.  Now, on a hunch, I
> tried unplugging the modem.  ZLINK works fine.  Plugging the modem in doesn't
> affect ZLINK until you type a key.  It locks up.  Unplugging the modem will get
> ZLINK going again...
>    What's wrong?  Does anyone know what's causing this behavior?
>
> Thanks,
> Bret
>