20 Jan
2014
20 Jan
'14
11:44 a.m.
On 01/20/2014 10:06 AM, William Donzelli wrote:
I am a mmeber of of the (UK) Telecommunications Herritage Group, and the
number of memebrs interested in old datacomms stuff can be couned on the
fingers of one had -- in unary.
I think part of the reason is that an old telepohne is stil luseful. You
can connect it to a modern POTS line and make and receive calls. Yes, you
can conenct up a 300 baud modem i nthe same way, but good luck in finding
somehtign to call. And if you do, well, broadband is, I am told, many, many,
times faster...
I have a few older modems, etc, and I am keepign them. Heck, I even use
them sometiems on my line simualtor.
Another thing that should be preserved IMHO is the X25 networking stuff
that was used for the UK JANET netowrk. I have a JNT--PAD somewhere too.
And a 'York Box' (X25 interface for machines withotu synchronous serial
ports -- it consistes of a DEC BA11-V with a Falcon, 28K words of DRAM,
DRV11 and DPV11 cards. The DPV11 is the X25 port, the DRV11 (parallel)
or a port on the Falcon (serial_) are the host interface).
-tony
Some day the telephone people with get serious
about their history (or
at least the history of what happens beyond the kitchen wall), so I
would suggest CHM lets them deal with their documentation and
knowledge. I see hope - there are more and more guys that have started
real work in old central office and long lines technology, and the
number seems to be growing. They just need to be "shown the way".
I was surprised the other day by an inability to locate an online photo
of a Bell 208 modem. A few 208 compatibles, yes, but not the seemingly
ubiquitous Western Electric model found everywhere.