9 Oct
2011
9 Oct
'11
12:39 p.m.
Even I can get a modem or a printer working on a
parallel or serial port.
Even I can get hardware and software to work on parallel or serial ports.
(OK, I don't HAVE any parallel port modems. Wish I did.)_
Rememebr that the original PC parallel port was officially output-only,
whcih imples it's not a MODEM, but a MO :-)
More seriosuly, didn't Commodore once make a GPIB-inteface Modem for the
PET? That's somethign I'd like to see. (As an aside, HP made an HPIL
accoustic coupler (HP82167 IIRC, it's one of the few HPIL devices I don't
own).) Btu a modem (at least at that time) is inherrently a bit-seiral
device, so it's not suprisng that most of them had RS232 host interfaces.
I can't get a USB modem to work, nor printer
drivers to STAY working on
some machines. "Troubleshooting" now seems to consist of: 1) check
whether it is plugged in. 2) Throw entire new machines at it.
Progress.
Even if yoy know what it should be doing (and the documentation for a lot
of modern devices, USB or otherwise, is useless), the equipment you need
to debug a USB interface is a lot mroe complex than the stuff you need to
debug an RS232 interface.
-tony