11 Dec
2004
11 Dec
'04
12:51 p.m.
Hello folks,
I have a question about those TTYs that the deaf use. Are they real
Teletypes, like ASR33 and friends, or not? I guess probably not, because
it would be so super-cool if they were that it's probably too good to
be true, but I thought I would ask anyway. So what are they? Are they
normal ASCII terminals with standard modems built in, or something
entirely different? Can one pretend to be deaf, go to some social service
or whatever agency asking to use a deaf TTY, and dial into a timesharing
host or BBS with it?
It also seems like there are two kinds of deaf devices, TTY and TDD.
What's the difference?
MS
I have one of those that used to belong to a friend of mine who taught
deaf children. This one is a real TTY, but not ASR-33. It's the 5 bit
Baudot version from the 1940s, not the 8 bit ASCII.
I saw them use these things before. They hooked up an acoustical
coupler to the phone and dialed someone else who had a TTY. I suppose
instant messaging and other modern technologies have rendered the old
TTYs obsolete.
Ashley