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Re: Apple II's and modems

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 19:27:59 -0800, johnw_94020 wrote:

> In the film "A View to a Kill" made in 85 the scientist in the film
> used her Apple II to dial into her work, and get detailed earthquake
> and other scientific data for Roger Moore.

	Not having seen the movie I have no idea how accurately they portrayed
the computer.

> Can someone please explain
> how this was possible using a 2400 baud modem I'm assuming and without
> a Internet?

	I was using the internet (or a variant there of) in 87 or 88.
Coincidentally it was with an Apple][+ and a 300 baud modem. Back in the
day it was (and still is) possible to set up individual computers for
direct connections. Writing a program to go out and get specific data from
such a machine is easy. What the program does once it gets the data is up
to the programmer.

	Then there were all those BBSs. Single line in and the user could read
their messages online in 20 minutes or download them in less than two and
read them off line. The larger ones had multiple lines and offered chat
capability. Toward the end, a friend and I ran one which allowed PC and
Mac users to connect and play games like Doom, Heretic, Decent, and so on.
Although we had no lag time (pings were VERY fast) we were did in by the
internet and our local phone company.

	By the time I got my //e clone I went through a 2400 baud to a 14.4K
modem. My GS connecting to the university handled 56K with no problems.

>  I did not know such machines could do so much in their
> day.  

	The only thing they don't do (because it is still under development) is
the broadband and graphics stuff. If you've been reading some of the other
threads, it's not too far off.

	BTW the server software is built into most *NIX distributions (free). In
the M$ world you got to pay. There are still BBS programs for the Apple,
but you have to look for them. To connect an Apple// to a *NIX machine is
easy. Setting up a BBS on a *NIX machine is easy too.

> John

				Later
				Mike