rlcarr@athena.mit.edu (Rich Carreiro) (07/19/88)
The following is a summary of responses to my request about 2400 bd
modems in general, the SupraModem 2400 in particular. For the record,
I have ordered the SupraModem from Abel Supply for $143.
Thanks to all who responded!
--------------
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 88 10:12:09 PDT
From: dyl@ji.Berkeley.EDU (Dylan McNamee)
Hello,
I have had a Supra Modem for 6 months now, and am very happy with it.
It is constructed very well, and have had no problems with it. It has some
nice features that other "hayes compatible" modems do not have, like busy
detect, and storage of user parameters when power is off. In short, I think
it's a good buy, especially since it Lists for only $179, and gets discounted
a lot.
Needless to say, I have no commercial interest in promoting this modem.
I'm just a happy owner.
dylan
dyl@ji.berkeley.edu
----------------------
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 88 15:30:35 EDT
From: blandy@cs.cornell.edu (Jim Blandy)
I've had a Supra 2400 for quite some time now. One needs a straight
RS-232 cable to connect it to one's Amiga (no handshaking swaps or
null-modem business, or at least mine works fine without it). It's
been reliable at 2400 baud (I haven't used it much at other speeds),
handles pulse and tone dialing, keeps a number in non-volatile memory
(dial with the 'ATDZ' command), and seems to be well-documented.
As far as I can tell, Hayes compatibility really comes into play when you're
doing sophisticated fancy modemy things, which I don't do. I've been using
it with vt100 (the public domain vt100 emulator), doing kermit downloads, etc.
without a hitch; it was plug-and-go for me. It does claim to be Hayes-
compatible, however.
The documentation is good. You can't beat the price for a 2400 baud modem,
I think.
Jim Blandy - blandy@crnlcs.bitnet
-----------------
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 88 14:48:35 PDT
From: Kenn Barry <barry@eos.arc.nasa.gov>
Hi,
I just upgraded from a Hayes Smartmodem 1200 to the Supra 2400
about 2 months ago (I've got an Amiga 1000). Everything has been fine.
The cable is the same one I used for my Hayes (sorry, don't know the
exact specs; someone at work put it together for me). The Supra lists, I
believe, for $180, but I paid $170, and all the stores that I've seen
carrying it sell it for $170. Mail order may be even cheaper, I don't
know.
The command set is a superset of the Hayes 1200. The modem has a
number of additional commands, and a few other additional features I
like - it can remember a user-set default setup even when unplugged,
will accept 'AT' commands in upper or lower case (Hayes accepted U/C
only), and the on/off switch is on the front instead of the back. It is
also smaller than my old Hayes, another plus.
Only two negatives, so far. The first Supra I took home didn't
work. It talked to my Amiga all right, but not to the phone lines. In
fact, my phone would stop working altogether when I plugged in the
Supra, even if the Supra was turned off. No dial tone, and the dial tone
wouldn't reappear until about 30 seconds after I disconnected the modem.
*Very* weird. Weirder yet, it worked fine in the store when I returned
it, and the identical Supra they gave me in exchange worked fine when I
got it home. Go figure.
The other negative is that most all of the places I dial up from
home only run at 1200 baud. The only thing I'm talking to at 2400 right
now is Compuserve, so perhaps I haven't adequately tested the 2400 speed
yet. Works fine with Compuserve, though.
In summary, I've been completely satisfied with the Supra, and
would recommend it.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Kenn Barry
--------------------
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 88 14:55:32 PDT
From: Dale Snell <dales%teksce.sce.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET>
Hi Rich,
A friend of mine has a Supra 2400 baud modem and is quite happy with it.
From everything I've heard, that is a very nice modem.
The "US Something-or-other" is a USRobotics Courier 2400. I have one of
them, and I find it a very nice modem. I understand that it has been
replaced by a Courier 2400e (or something like that). I don't know what (if
any) new features the "e" version has. In the interest of fairness I should
say that some people had problems with the Courier 2400, especially the early
versions. I have never had any problems with mine though, and I have one of
the early models -- I bought it when they first came out. Apparently USR had
quality control problems.
As for cables: I'm using a "standard" (HAH!) modem cable. I'm at work
right now, so I can't look at it, but I believe that it is male on one end,
and female on the other. I know that it does *not* swap any lines around.
Works fine with my 2000 as is. With a gender changer, it works fine with my
friend's 1000s.
Hayes compatability. Well... Never having had dealings with a Real[tm]
Hayes modem, I can't give a blow-by-blow comparison, but all the modem
software I've used has worked fine with my 2400. There are 16 S-registers,
which control things like # of rings before answer, speed of touch-tone
dialing, time before carrier detect, etc., etc. It has a nice set of help
screens to show current settings, and definitions. There's a little dip
switch on the bottom to set various defaults, including swapping the Tx and
Rx lines around. There's also a printed summary of the command set on the
bottom. Unfortunately, there is no memory for a directory of phone numbers,
nor does it remember it's previous settings after being reset or shut off. :-(
My friend tells me that his Supra works with the software he has.
That's all I know.
Price. I have seen the 2400 going for about $120, mail order. Probably
the discounted-for-quick-disposal price. I think that the 2400e is going for
around $400 -- but don't quote me. Check the ads in magazines like Computer
Shopper or Byte or Amiga Whirled. Somebody else will have to tell you how
much the Supra costs. $200 suggests itself to me, but that's likely to be
*way* out of line. These are sold mail order, places like Computer Mail
Order and J.D.R. MicroDevices carry 'em.
Hope that this was of some help. Whichever you get, enjoy your new toy!
--dds
----------------------------
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 88 04:40:20 mdt
From: rodger anderson <rodger%hpdml93@hplabs.HP.COM>
When my 1200 baud Duck (from DAK) blew out, I decided it was time to get
a 2400 baud unit. I had heard good things about the Supra, and the price
was right.
>Hayes-compatible. I've heard of one by Supra and by US Something-or-other.
As far as I can tell, its pretty Hayes-compatible.
>Could you fellow netters send me info on them or any other 2400 baud
>modems. Mention price, degree of hayes compatibility, performance,
>and what cable I need to connect to an Amiga 1000.
I paid about $150 for mine, and I got it at my local dealer. Of course,
I have a pretty nice local dealer, so you might need to get it mail order
for that price. I have seen it for as low as ~$140. I don't recall
exactly where I saw it, but just check the latest Amiga World or
Amazing Computing.
>If they are sold at mail order places, please mention which mail order
>place and their price.
>
>Please send email, I will summarixe to the net.
>Thanks!
Your welcome.
Rodger Anderson (rodger@hpdml93)
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* Rich Carreiro "...and she's buying a stairway to heaven." *
* rlcarr@athena.mit.edu - "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin *
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