Re: Ethernet Modems

["Peter de Vroomen" <peterv[at][spamblock]jaytown[dot]com>]

> I've been looking around at a hardware solution for putting an Apple BBS
> online, or making outgoing calls via ethernet.  I've come across this
> product which has "Ethernet Modem" capabilites.  It acts as a standard
modem
> to the computer (uses the standard modem command set) and uses ethernet
> instead of a phone line. The representative from the company says that it
is

$150! Hmm. Let's see. You can buy an old '486 computer with an ethernet card
and a serial port for, say, $10? You could run Linux or even good ole' DOS
on it (makes it harder because it doesn't have native networking built in,
let alone TCP/IP). Connect your old Apple II to the PC with a NULL modem.
And what's left to do is write a small Linux or DOS program that takes
commands and data from the serial port and does all what the above does.

It might even be done as a small application that runs under Windows on your
main computer, using your main Internet connection. A small background
application that runs in the taskbar together with your other applications.
It will hardly eat any system resources (CPU power, memory).

You could buy a lot of Apple 2's for $150 :). It's still just a hobby. $150
buys me 4 full tanks of gasoline.

PeterV