SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (01/07/88)
I have the good fortune of having the use of a Univerity owned 2400 baud modem on the Apple I have in my office along with a 1200 baud modem at home. Although our mainframe uses fullscreen editing (and a number of other processors), I haven't been enough impressed by the greater speed of 2400 baud to rush out and spend nearly $200 to replace my 1200 at home. Sure 2400 is faster, but nowhere nearly as dramatic as the difference between 300 and 1200. File transfer isn't really twice as fast either (faster yes, but then I usually find something else to do -- read mail, go get a snack, make a pit stop, etc. -- whenever I transfer a file of more than a few K); I can think of better uses for the money (more RAM for instance). We have a few Apple's around that are connected at 9600 baud (that's quick for sure, very nice, but most of the time not really any faster than 4800 baud because Apple's software scrolling 80 col card can't display characters at much more than that speed in any case. --------------------- ARPA: sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu Murphy A. Sewall BITNET: SEWALL@UCONNVM School of Business Admin. UUCP: ...ihnp4!psuvax1!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL University of Connecticut
rjg@sialis.mn.org (Robert J. Granvin) (01/09/88)
In article <8801062035.aa29520@SMOKE.BRL.ARPA> SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET writes: >I have the good fortune of having the use of a Univerity owned >2400 baud modem on the Apple I have in my office along with a >1200 baud modem at home. Although our mainframe uses fullscreen >editing (and a number of other processors), I haven't been enough >impressed by the greater speed of 2400 baud to rush out and spend >nearly $200 to replace my 1200 at home. Sure 2400 is faster, > [ ... ] However, depending on how you end up using your 2400 baud modem makes all the difference in the world. For example, 2400 allows you to have a full screen vi available. 1200 doesn't. To many people, this is a serious consideration. Some people also simply find the output speed of 1200 too slow when you are trying to display full page information on the screen. But again, that's a matter of preference. I've found, however, that since I tend to do sporadic, but intense long distance transfers or other work, the extra cost of a 2400 baud modem will save me more than the extra cost of the modem in long distance charge, in not so long of a time. But in general, most people simply find that the extra speed improves their productivity and just makes things that much easier. your mileage may vary. -- ___________________________________________________________ o/` o/` o/` | Robert J. Granvin | INTERNET: rjg@sialis.mn.org | The hills are | 2701 West 43rd Street | UUCP: ...ihnp4!meccts!sialis!rjg | alive, and they | Minneapolis, MN 55410 | ...uunet!rosevax!ems!sialis!rjg | ate my mother...
halp@TCGOULD.TN.CORNELL.EDU ("Bruce P. Halpern") (01/11/88)
On our system, full screen is available with a 1200 baud modem. ****DISCLAMER: My comments, etc., are my own shakey opinions ******** | Bruce P. Halpern Psychology & Neurobiology & Behavior Cornell Ithaca | | ARPA: halp@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu | | BITNET: HALP@CRNLTHRY D57J@CORNELLA D57J@CRNLVAX5 | | PHONE: 607-255-6433 Uris Hall, Cornell U., Ithaca, NY 14853-7601 |
dvac@drutx.ATT.COM (VachonD) (01/13/88)
Well, before you go spend $200 on a 2400 Baud modem, you may want to think about holding off and getting the latest modem from US Robotics. The USR 9600 HST. This modem is really I nice piece of hardware, and word is that USR is looking on putting out a new set of ROMS for the modem soon that allow it to go faster than 9600 Baud. It uses a technique called Trellis Coded Modulation for the transmission of data. The modem has a built in buffer which takes a bit of wait time off of your computer (especially if you run a BBS). The modem supports automatic fallback to lower baud rates, 300 and 1200 (Bell Standards), and 2400 (CCITT standard). Since 9600 has no standard yet (as far as CCITT is concerned), US Robotics last year offered a sysop support program to try and get a lot of their modems out in the field. The modem was being sold to BBS System Operators for $495 + Shipping ($505). I just ordered one for my BBS on 12/31/87...the last day for the offer. You can get the modem from mail order houses for around $650-$700. If you do a fair amount of long distance calling of other BBS's (like I do) , you will make up for the savings real quick. Look at it this way... Let's say you have a 4000 Block Prodos File....(Some Apple II GS software is that length) 300 Baud......5+ Hours 1200 Baud.....1 1/2 Hours 2400 Baud.....3/4 hour 9600 Baud.....15 minutes When you are paying for a long distance call during that time, you can see the savings you end up with. Look at a 250 Block file....(Average Apple II/e/c file length)... 300 Baud......1 Hour 1200 Baud.....20 minutes 2400 Baud.....13 minutes 9600 Baud.....5 Minutes These are all approximate or calculated times, but are pretty close.... As you can see if you do a lot of long distance data transfers it doesn't take long to make your money back. The USR HST 9600 is made for regular phone lines because it uses 9600 baud in one direction and 300 baud in the other. The reason for this is that most BBS/System operations are interactive and 300 baud is for the most part, fast enough since most people can only type that fast. For High Speed Data transfer type connections, this setup is great since the sending station can send at 9600 while ACK's or NAK's are sent at 300 in the return direction. The reason USR did this is to reduce the amount of tone overlap, and line noise while increasing data integrity and error occurrence. The USR HST 9600 baud uses priority sending which determines which end of the connection has the most data to send, and will flip/flop the 9600 baud lead to that direction. I have some files that explain the HST and it's technical aspects. If people would be interested in these, I could upload them to the net, or I could just e-mail them to those who want it. Or you can get the files yourself from the US Robotis Run Ubu Run BBS at 312-982-5092. Later -=> Dan Vachon <=- !ucbvax!ihnp4!drutx!dvac