Friesen@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA (10/01/87)
I am new to the net, in fact this is my first posting to it. I have
been having a friend print it for me and have been reading it since the
beginning of summer. I don't have a modem, my friend is posting this
for me, but I want to get one. I own an Atari 1040 ST and want to know
what modem and modem software is recommended. I want a 2400 baud modem.
The prices here are $200 plus about $60-$80 for software and cables. Is
this a good price? Is there anything I should know about modems before
I buy one?
I know it's probably a dumb question, but, also I have seen people talk
about arcing, dearcing, coding, and uncoding. What does all this mean,
and where can I find out?
Thanks in advance, Aric Friesen.bissiri@blake.acs.washington.edu (Moja Fritzah) (04/23/89)
A friend wants to buy a 2400 baud modem. He is interested in the supra 2400 or the smart one. Pros and cons would be helpful. Thanks. -kevin
derrick@ritcsh.UUCP (Derrick Williams) (04/24/89)
A while back Kevin asked about the pros and cons of Supra Modems.
Modems nowadays are pretty much commodity items, so I'll take it as granted
that everyone knows the accepted standard (I.e, hayes compatability, lights,
etc.), so I'll just touch on the characteristics.
I own a Supra 2400, my third modem. The Supra is probably the cheapest stand
alone modem on the market,and it's really compact, not much larger than a
radar detector. It's made out of real metal (remember metal?)(for the casing)
and it's pretty solid, after 3 months of use. I've had no problems with
line noise errors or operations. It's worth your money.
However, there are two quirks (features?) that annoy me about this modem.
One is its speaker. It's a little dinky, and can be hard to hear sometimes.
While modem's arn't supposed to be hi-fi units, it'll be nice to hear what's
going on if someone's playing music down the hall. It can be adjusted by
program commands, but I'll rather be able to crank it up with a knob or
some kind of control.
Another feature is that the Supra forgets a command after going online. This isnot a problem, but can be annoying. For example, if one dials a computer, and
for whatever reason, gets disconnected, it's not possible to dial the number
again by typing "a/". You have to redial the number.
These are the only things I can think of. If you really want top-of-the line
quality, get a Hayes Smartmodem. I brought a 300 baud one in 1982, and it's
still going strong, even though it's poinless to use 300bps. I've dropped it
from a second story window to a sidewalk once, and it wasn't even fazed. I
would never think of trying this with the Supra.
So to make sense of all this rambling - The supra is a good deal, will perform
for you for normal modem operations (good for bbs's) and comes with a 2 year
warranty (I think, better check this out) , and can be had for less than $140.
Thanks,
Derrick Williams
ROch. Inst. Of Tech
cs163afu@sdcc10.ucsd.EDU (Some call me...Tim) (04/30/89)
In article <2928@ritcsh.UUCP> derrick@ritcsh.UUCP (Derrick Williams) writes: > > A while back Kevin asked about the pros and cons of Supra Modems. > ... > So to make sense of all this rambling - The supra is a good deal, will perform >for you for normal modem operations (good for bbs's) and comes with a 2 year >warranty (I think, better check this out) , and can be had for less than $140. > I used a Supra for a while, and agree with everything said above--it is a good modem, and a good deal. But when it came time to buy a modem, I got one that was just a "generic" 2400 baud modem. And I like it a lot better than the Supra for a few reasons: It has stored phone numbers-- I usually call one number (UCSD), and only need to dial: atds and, unlike this supra, a/ does redial the last number. And, the speaker is very nice, though there isn't a volume control. And this modem has "line isolation," which means that when the modem goes "off hook," it disconnects the phone plugged into the back, which is VERY convienient when uploading to someone you were just talking to... And it has a bunch of other, less important features that the Supra doesn't have. It is, by the way, in a metal case, and is the size of a Hayes modem. Price? I got it for $109 from a company in Santa Clara, CA called Gems computers. I got it about a month ago, and it has proven to be a VERY good investment. GEMS computers can be reached at 1-800-332-GEMS I have no affiliation with GEMS, and this is the only product I've ever purchased from them, so I can only say that they did give me excellent service on this one thing--it arrived in about 3 days. ----------- Tim Mensch Internet: tmensch@ucsd.edu