Info on Dataspeed's products - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

9 Mar 2003

Happened to find this thread while searching for old colleagues; thought
I would send you some info.

I worked as an R&D Engineer at Dataspeed from during 1983-85, and was
the principal developer of the Modio software.  I left when Lotus
purchased Dataspeed, and sadly, my stock options became worthless.

With regards to the thread (included below), we were using the sideband
on the PBS FM stations.  At the time I left, we were airing stock,
commodities, and futures data during "market hours", and sports during
off-hours.  The service was by subscription, and there was a hash
algorithm which used the unit's serial number and the subscriber account
number to generate the flags which activated various services.  If
memory serves, the flags were "splattered" across the memory map, e.g.
bits in different locations together formed the service byte for a
service.

Lost contact with the other engineers and staff.  One engineer is
installing Internet in churches in Korea; one of the co-founders owned a
sports bar in Pacifica, CA.  But all this is old info.

I still do have a framed Quotrek on my office wall !

Pass on this info as you deem fit.
Gary Apte

It's my understanding (infamously unreliable) that Lotus Signal was
descended from DataSpeed's Modio which was descended from DataSpeed's
Quotrek which dates back as far as 1981.  - Jim

Jim Keohane, Multi-Platforms, Inc.

   "It's not whether you win or lose. It's whether you win!"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marvin Johnston" &lt;marvin(a)rain.org&gt;
To: &lt;cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt;
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 01:35
Subject: Re: Lotus Signal Receiver, was Re: QUOTE or TICKER

...
  I would be really curious to know how this thing works
(or worked if the
...
  service is no longer available.) The disks I have are
for the PC or AT 
...
  and are on 5 1/4" floppies (probably 360K).
I'll copy them onto a 3 1/2"
...
  disk and bring it with me at the end of the month. If
you have a power 
...
  supply with yours, what is the polarity (if not AC)
and voltage?

 Has anyone on the list actually used one of these things?

 Mike Ford wrote:
 >
 > At 05:31 PM 1/29/03 -0800, Marvin Johnston wrote:
 > >Mike, I have what I *think* is the same thing, and it is copyright 1986;
...
  > >he was looking for pre 1984 or so. If you
need copies of the software,
...
  > >*assuming* the software I have is good, it
won't be a problem. I can
...
  > >bring it to TRW late this month.
 > >
 > >Anyone know what frequency this works on, and if the supporting
 > >transmitter is still on the air? It indicated this was a subscription
...
  > >service, and I would be most interested to
know how they enforced that.
...
  > >
 > >Mike Ford wrote:
 > > >
 > > > At 11:46 PM 1/21/03 -0500, Jim Keohane wrote:
 > > > >    Looking for handheld quote device, ticker display or any
peripheral
...
  > > > > for IBM PC, Apple ][, etc. to pick
up ticker broadcast via FM Broadcast
...
  > > > > or geosynchronous satellite
broadcast. Does not necessarilly have
to be
...
  > > > > functioning. User manual would be
great.
 > > >
 > > > I have a Lotus box, but no software or paperwork.
 > > >
 > > > Lotus FM Receiver
 >
 > Mine has three ports on the back, antenna via coax F connector, serial
DB25
...
  > thing, and BNC (data out, could ethernet
maybe?).
 >
 > What platform do you have software for, and sure. ;) That will give me a
...
  > good excuse to get my bones out to TRW.
 >
 > I think this type of device used sidebands of commercial broadcast
 > frequencies, but I haven't looked inside, or hooked up an antenna to see
...
  > what happens.
 >
 > No real guess on the pay/data controls, could be software, could be serial
...
  > number related activation key broadcast in middle
of data etc. 