Re: newbie needs advice

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

mairsil@my-dejanews.com wrote:

>"Adalbert Goertz" <adalbert.goertz@pikespeak.net> wrote:
>
>> You'll be able to use your 14.4k modem, but it'll have to be set at
>> 9600, or it'll drop letters. For software, Proterm is your best bet.
>> >>
>> Adalbert Goertz responds >>>>>>>>>>>>
>> >>
>> What is the reason for this? I noticed that,too.
>> Will a higher speed modem prevent dropping letters?
>> I first thought that the local phone line is the culprit.
>
>I got an email a few days ago from someone who said they set their Proterm on
>19.6k and used a 14.4k modem, and it worked fine. <shrug> Personally, I had
>always thought it had to do with the clocking speed on the computer

Nope.  Think about it, the Disk II interface is pumping more data
in terms of speed into an Apple II than even a 56k modem.  Why
can't an Apple II keep up with a mere 19.6k transfer?  The answer
is that it CAN.  The Apple IIGS, for example, has serial ports capable
of AppleTalk, which is 230k.

The reason why the Apple IIc and IIc+ (and only these two models)
have problems above 9600k is not clocking speed, but a missing
wire in their serial connectors that prevents them from doing
hardware handshaking.

If you have an Apple IIe and a Super Serial Card, most of the cards
also have problems above 9600k because of a nasty bug in the
6551 serial chip that scrambles characters when using hardware
handshaking.  Later Super Serial Cards fixed this and users can fix
it themselves by swapping the 6551.  When the card is fixed, even
a nonaccelerated 1Mhz Apple IIe with ProTERM can pull 19.6k
port speeds using a 14.4k modem.  I've done this myself.  Characters
do not drop.