mnu@INEL.GOV (Rick Morneau) (11/09/90)
Organization: Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Reply-To: mnu@nairobi.inel.gov I would like to cut down on weekend trips to work, so I've decided to buy a modem. Hopefully, having one will let me use my Amiga at home to log on to some of the computers at work (a NeXT and a SUN). However, I know next to nothing about modems and communication software for the Amiga. I'm hoping that someone in netland can steer me in the right direction. I have an Amiga 2000 with 1 meg of RAM, an 80MB hard disk and a rev 6 motherboard. Any advice on how to get started will be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Rick *=*=* A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. (T.J.) *=*=* = Rick Morneau Idaho National Engineering Laboratory = * mnu@nairobi.inel.gov Idaho Falls, Idaho 83415 * =*=*=*=*=*=* All kings is mostly rapscallions. (M.T.) =*=*=*=*=*=*=
joseph@valnet.UUCP (Joseph P. Hillenburg) (11/11/90)
Go pick up a SupraModem 2400 and JR-Comm 1.01. The modem costs $109 + cable + shipping, and JR-Comm is shareware, and it will cost $30, when you want to register. Overall, that's pretty cheap. The price for the modem was from the mailorder house Computibility. Joseph Hillenburg, Secretary, Bloomington Amiga Users Group (BAUG) joseph@valnet.UUCP ...!iuvax!valnet!joseph "Only Apple could slow down a 68000 chip." -Computer Shopper
lron@easy.UUCP (Dwight Hubbard) (11/12/90)
>In article <9011091510.AA00206@.nairobi.inel.gov.inel.gov.> mnu@INEL.GOV (Rick Morneau) writes: >Organization: Idaho National Engineering Laboratory >Reply-To: mnu@nairobi.inel.gov > >I would like to cut down on weekend trips to work, so I've >decided to buy a modem. Hopefully, having one will let me >use my Amiga at home to log on to some of the computers at >work (a NeXT and a SUN). However, I know next to nothing >about modems and communication software for the Amiga. I'm >hoping that someone in netland can steer me in the right >direction. > >I have an Amiga 2000 with 1 meg of RAM, an 80MB hard disk >and a rev 6 motherboard. Any advice on how to get started >will be greatly appreciated. Thanks! > All this depends on how fast you wish to go. Modems in the 2400bps range such as the Supra which goes for around $110 mail order (don't get the internal the driver is buggy). For more money you can get an MNP5 or V.42bis equiped 2400bps modem (around $160 if I remeber right, not sure) these modems IMHO are not worth the extra money. Next in price are the V.32 9600Bps modems most of these modems come equipped with both MNP5 error correction/compression and V.42bis error correction. The prices are around $479 mail order (Intel 9600EX). Next are the US Robotics HST modems, these modems support a protocol only available on US Robotics HST modems, they support a 14.4Kbps trans- mition speed and are very common on BBS systems (although almost nowhere else) also since you mentioned connecting to a system at work the HST protocol used by these modems is not FULL Duplex (Full duplex means that the modem is capable of transmitting data at their rated speeds in both directions at the same time) the HST modems are Ansymetric (they transfer data at 14.4K in one direction and either 300bps or 450bps in the other direction and switch to whatever direction is going the fastest every second or so) this makes the HST modems unsutible for interactive use (if you have data scrolling and hit CTRL-C to stop it an HST will send something like 2 screens of data before it stops, a V.32 modems does not have this problem), The HST modems do however do very fast file transfers with streaming protocols like Zmodem and YmodemG (1700cps average), however they do not do so well with non-streaming protocols such as the UUCP-G protocol, Kermit and Xmodem (350cps average on the UUCP-G protocol). Next there are some modems that support V.32bis, which is a recommended standard for 14.4K full duplex communications (it has not been approved yet, but some companies are producing modems for the submited standard) the only one I can think of is the Digicomm (cost around $800 mail order). If you have the money there is the US Robotics Dual Standard, this modem is basically both a US Robotics 14.4K HST modem and a US Robotics V.32 modem which allows connection to both V.32 and HST modems (currently what I have :->) the List price is $1200 but it can be gotten mail order for around $925-$975. One other thing you did not mention is the brand of hard drive controller. This is very important because some hard drive controllers will interfere with the serial port when the hard drive is being accessed. -- -Dwight Hubbard, |-Kaneohe, HI -USENET: uunet.uu.net!easy!lron |-GT-Power: 029/004
jma@beach.cis.ufl.edu (John 'Vlad' Adams) (11/12/90)
Well, as to modems, it really depends on what your worksite has.
If your worksite has V.32 9600 modems, then you would do well
to get a modem such as the USR Courier Dual-Standard. Retails
for around a $1000, so it can be picked up mailorder for a good
hundred less (and probably more.) The nice thing about the dual
standard is that a *LOT* of Amiga-oriented boards have HST modems
which the dual standard will talk to and get transfer rates of
1400 to 1700 CPS (characters per second) over a standard phone line.
Else, you could get any V.32 9600 modem which would at least talk
to other V.32 modems (including Telebit modems which are common
on UNIX boxes.) Vanilla V.32 modems can be found for $400 and up,
but cannot talk to HST modems. V.32 gets about 1000 CPS.
At the least, you'll want a 2400 modem. Most any is ok, just check
the warranty. The Practical Peripherals PM2400SA MNP-5 (error
correcting/compressing protocol) is great with a five year warranty.
However, it cannot be locked at 9600 baud in RTS/CTS mode on
the standard Amiga serial.device. And without 9600 buard RTS/CTS,
you won't get the best benefits of the MNP. MNP5 has the ability of
doubling the transfer rate (under optimum conditions). With my
2400 MNP-5 Microcom modem, I get about 415 CPS on text file transfers
and 250-270 CPS on lharced files and 270-310 CPS on IFF files.
(Yes, my Microcom will lock at 9600 RTS/CTS without a hitch.)
As to software. Well, I'll assume you need VT-100 emulation
if you are talking to Suns and NeXT machines. I'd recom{end
VLT or VT100. Both provide good vt100 emulation, plus they
are AREXX-compatible for scripting. Jr-Comm 1.01 is supose
to have a decent vt100, but it doesn't have hooks for
Arexx yet. Handshake 2.12a has a flawless vt100 emulator,
but it doesn't have Arexx, and I also believe it doesn't have
Zmodem.
Um, I'm losing my train of thought, so I'll stop here.
Let me know via email if I could be of any more help.
--
John M. Adams --**-- Professional Student on the eight-year plan! ///
Internet: jma@beach.cis.ufl.edu -or- vladimir@maple.circa.ufl.edu ///
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