JC

"J. Clarke"

09/02/2010 11:23 AM

1964 modem--woodworking content

http://www.retrothing.com/2009/05/1964-modem-reaches-out-and-touches-the-internet.html


This topic has 10 replies

ld

lektric dan

in reply to "J. Clarke" on 09/02/2010 11:23 AM

09/02/2010 10:48 PM

On Feb 9, 9:44=A0pm, Morris Dovey <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> It was downright spendy! I priced them (~1969, I think) and suffered
> severe sticker shock. It was a couple of years before I could pick up a
> reasonably priced accoustic coupler - which I still have.
>
What's reasonably priced? Somewhere in my piles of junk I've got a
Novation NovaCat. I think it was the astonomical sum of $100. It
should still work, along with the box of S-100 stuff and a Mits Altair
8080. This was maybe ten years newer than yours - several generations
for computers, even back then.

ld

lektric dan

in reply to "J. Clarke" on 09/02/2010 11:23 AM

10/02/2010 7:15 AM

On Feb 10, 1:14=A0am, Morris Dovey <[email protected]> wrote:

> My first computer was a DIY wire-wrapped monster with 16K
> words of writable control store and 64K bytes of normal RAM -
Ah, the "good old days". Debugging wire wrap was so much fun! Kids
today have it so easy!

>
> I liked the MITS, but liked IMSAI's control panel even more. :)
>
Yeah, that was the one with the "real computer" front panel.

s

in reply to "J. Clarke" on 09/02/2010 11:23 AM

09/02/2010 11:46 AM

On Tue, 9 Feb 2010 11:23:00 -0500, "J. Clarke"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>http://www.retrothing.com/2009/05/1964-modem-reaches-out-and-touches-the-internet.html


Real Steampunk! Thanks.

MJ

Mark & Juanita

in reply to "J. Clarke" on 09/02/2010 11:23 AM

09/02/2010 8:30 PM

J. Clarke wrote:

> http://www.retrothing.com/2009/05/1964-modem-reaches-out-and-touches-the-
internet.html

Pretty cool. Wonder how much that cost when it was new?



--

There is never a situation where having more rounds is a disadvantage

Rob Leatham

ld

lektric dan

in reply to "J. Clarke" on 09/02/2010 11:23 AM

09/02/2010 10:16 AM

On Feb 9, 10:46=A0am, [email protected] wrote:
> On Tue, 9 Feb 2010 11:23:00 -0500, "J. Clarke"
>
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> >http://www.retrothing.com/2009/05/1964-modem-reaches-out-and-touches-...
>
> Real Steampunk! Thanks.

That's not steampunk, it's just *old*. A 300 baud modem in the
original wooded box (a very *nice* box). If you want to go steampunk,
build your own, maybe a cable or DSL modem in a nice walnut veneered
case with dovetailed corners. Or if you want to go old-style, I've
still got a few TI TMS99532 modem chips you could build an acoustic
coupled modem from.

MD

Morris Dovey

in reply to "J. Clarke" on 09/02/2010 11:23 AM

09/02/2010 9:44 PM

On 2/9/2010 9:30 PM, Mark & Juanita wrote:
> J. Clarke wrote:
>
>> http://www.retrothing.com/2009/05/1964-modem-reaches-out-and-touches-the-
> internet.html
>
> Pretty cool. Wonder how much that cost when it was new?

It was downright spendy! I priced them (~1969, I think) and suffered
severe sticker shock. It was a couple of years before I could pick up a
reasonably priced accoustic coupler - which I still have.

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

MD

Morris Dovey

in reply to "J. Clarke" on 09/02/2010 11:23 AM

10/02/2010 1:14 AM

On 2/10/2010 12:48 AM, lektric dan wrote:
> On Feb 9, 9:44 pm, Morris Dovey<[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>> It was downright spendy! I priced them (~1969, I think) and suffered
>> severe sticker shock. It was a couple of years before I could pick up a
>> reasonably priced accoustic coupler - which I still have.
>>
> What's reasonably priced? Somewhere in my piles of junk I've got a
> Novation NovaCat. I think it was the astonomical sum of $100. It
> should still work, along with the box of S-100 stuff and a Mits Altair
> 8080. This was maybe ten years newer than yours - several generations
> for computers, even back then.

I don't know what kind it is - it's buried in storage with a pile of
other old computer junk I'll probably never use again. In S-100 days I
went with the IMSAI-8080 (but replaced the IMSAI 8080 CPU card with a
TDL Z80 CPU). My first computer was a DIY wire-wrapped monster with 16K
words of writable control store and 64K bytes of normal RAM -
interesting mostly because the instruction set could be modified on the fly.

I liked the MITS, but liked IMSAI's control panel even more. :)

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

Bn

Brian

in reply to "J. Clarke" on 09/02/2010 11:23 AM

10/02/2010 12:17 PM

J. Clarke wrote:
> http://www.retrothing.com/2009/05/1964-modem-reaches-out-and-touches-the-internet.html
>

I have the Model B, serial # 1625. They dropped the dovetails in favour
of box joints but added a brass lid stay to keep the top open once it
is tilted back all the way, and 2 lights on the side for traffic
indicators.

cheers ...

brian

Stillwater Lake, NS

Ns

"Nonny"

in reply to "J. Clarke" on 09/02/2010 11:23 AM

09/02/2010 4:05 PM


<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>
> I also have a few TRS80-100 and TRS80-102's also complete and
> including acoustic couplers that fit over the ear and mouthpiece
> of
> pay phones. Used by newspaper reporters to file stories remotely
> into
> an ATEX/PDP11 mainframe at 300 BAUD.
>

Old memories, not necessarily good. <grin> I sent a branch office
an Epson MX80 printer with serial board installed, a Hayes 300
baud modem with the microswitch set to autoanswer, and a serial
cable. In the home office, an underwriter would use an IBM PC
with Visicalc 1.0 to do a spreadsheet, then use DOS "mode" command
to redirect LPT1 to the Console, after establishing a phone call
to the branch office and the autoanswer modem. The result was a
printer connected to the computer by 500 miles of telephone line.
<grin>

What's best was the printing speed. The 80CPS printer was faster
than the 30CPS (300 baud) modem, so it would screeeeeck across the
paper, then wait until the next print line was received. Still,
it was a heck of a lot cheaper than putting another PC in the
branch office.

--
Nonny

ELOQUIDIOT (n) A highly educated, sophisticated,
and articulate person who has absolutely no clue
concerning what they are talking about.
The person is typically a media commentator or politician

s

in reply to "J. Clarke" on 09/02/2010 11:23 AM

09/02/2010 1:25 PM

On Tue, 9 Feb 2010 10:16:14 -0800 (PST), lektric dan
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On Feb 9, 10:46 am, [email protected] wrote:
>> On Tue, 9 Feb 2010 11:23:00 -0500, "J. Clarke"
>>
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >http://www.retrothing.com/2009/05/1964-modem-reaches-out-and-touches-...
>>
>> Real Steampunk! Thanks.
>
>That's not steampunk, it's just *old*. A 300 baud modem in the
>original wooded box (a very *nice* box). If you want to go steampunk,
>build your own, maybe a cable or DSL modem in a nice walnut veneered
>case with dovetailed corners. Or if you want to go old-style, I've
>still got a few TI TMS99532 modem chips you could build an acoustic
>coupled modem from.

Do you find it difficult walking around with that broomstick up your
ass?

I still have my original IBM PC, complete with monitor, all
accessories, docs, and discs. I even have the sales receipt. I bought
it with the upgrade to 2 - 160k floppies. $4500

I also have a few TRS80-100 and TRS80-102's also complete and
including acoustic couplers that fit over the ear and mouthpiece of
pay phones. Used by newspaper reporters to file stories remotely into
an ATEX/PDP11 mainframe at 300 BAUD.


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