17 Nov
2010
17 Nov
'10
8:42 p.m.
Ahhh, yes, I remember those days. :)
Brings back memories to me too...
I had a 300 baud Radio Shack direct connect modem that I bought on sale
for $22 on the clearance rack. Its main feature, "direct connect" was
an improvement over acoustic couplers of the time. It had one big red
button on the right hand side, and an answer/originate switch on the
left hand side. It wasn't Hayes compatible or have any command modes,
etc. or did anything other than modulate and demodulate. :)
My first modem was a Radio Shack accoustic coupler. I used it with the
only telephone in the house, a GPO 746 rotary dial thing (and of course
with no number memories or last numbr redail). The computer I used as a
terminal was a TRS-80 Model 1 with a home-made RS232 board. It was nowhre
near the modem, so I had a long RS232 lead (I saved money bby useign a 4
pinDIN plug to fit the 'Coco connectotr' on the modem, after I'd checked
inside to see tht there was nothing I needed the other RS232 signals for.
Anyway, I'd phone a BBS (or the univeristy computer dial-up line, I was an
udergraduate at the time), when I got the carrier I'd stick the handset
into the coupler, if the 'carrier' LED turned on, I'd dash back to the
TRS-80 and hope the rmeote machien hadn't timed out by the time I got
there...
-tony