On 8/2/05, Cini, Richard <Richard.Cini at wachovia.com> wrote:
I was talking about the VCF exhibit, where I
believe you would still
need a modem bank. If I have two Apple II's each with a modem plugged into
the PBX and I "dial" extension 101 which is the host PC, won't I get a
busy
when the second Apple dials "101"? I think you do need a modem bank on the
host PC with the fallover feature on the PBX programmed properly. The PBX is
simply acting as the "phone company" for purposes of connecting the two.
The "CO emulator" sold by Black Box will do this, for limited numbers
of connections. The model I have is smaller than a phone book and
supports 4 phones. The lingering question I have (since I haven't
powered it up in 10+ years) is if it supports two simulaneous
connections, or only allows one of three extensions to call the
primary. In any case, for at least a single connection, it allows two
modems to talk, each thinking they are attached to the POTS network -
dial tone, ring tones, ring voltage, the whole enchilada.
Of course, if you want to support more than one or two lines, a small
PBX is the way to go.
My old COMBOX product would only be useful for point-to-point. It's
as real a connection as a PBX, but only two lines. In practice, that
should be enough, unless you really want to sit people down in front
of a machine and have them pretend they are a BBS user and make them
choose from two or three different destinations. Entertaining, but
time consuming.
Of course, you'll have to simulate busy signals as well ;-) [ except
when Star Trek is on TV - that was always the best time to call the
local BBSes - all the nerds were in front of their televisions, and
they didn't have their computers in the same room back then ]
-ethan