[comp.sys.cbm] Swiftlink-232

scott@max.u.washington.edu (05/03/90)

I just became aware of an new product for the C64 and C128 from
Dr. Evils Laboratory (you know the people who brought you the highly
acclaimed KERMIT V2.2 terminal program and the sid-stereo cartridge)
that many of you might be very interested.  This time, their new
release is an RS-232 interface called SwiftLink-232.  This RS-232
interface allows a "proud" owner of of a C64 or a C128 to use with the
fastest modems around and yet to come.  Unlike most RS-232 interfaces
which uses the slow user-port for transmitting data, SwiftLink-232
uses the expansion port (or cartridge port) thus allowing to achieve
the very fast data transfer.
 
Here are some other specs:
 
SwiftLink-232 can accelerate your C-64 or C-128 to interface with the
fastest modems: 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, even 38,400 bps!
 
Terminal software included! SwiftLink-232 comes with all the software
you'll need to communicate at warp speeds: Desterm 128 (C-128),
Terminal One (C-64), Q-Term (CP/M) and others.
 
Industry-standard interface: SwiftLink-232 has an "IBM-AT" style DB-9
serial connector so you can connect it to any standard modem or
network link quickly and economically.
 
Flexibility: SwiftLink-232 can be configured to "live" at different
addresses in memory to ensure that it won't interfere with other
cartridges you may own.
 
Compatibility: SwiftLink-232 is completely compatible with all of
CBM's RAM Expansion Units....(Does this means that one can plug in a
REU and SwiftLink-232 both at the same time?)
 
Use in any mode! SwiftLink-232 can be used with a C-64 or C-128 in
C-64, C-128, and CP/M modes.
 
Commercial telecommunications software support: The authors of
Dialogue 128 (C-128) and BellTerm (C-64) have pledged support for
SwiftLink-232 in the next releases of their products.
 
SwiftLink-232 is not just for telecommunications.  This cartridge can
link your C-64/128 and any IBM PC (or compatible), Amiga, or Macintosh
together for super fast file transfer via a "null-modem" connection.
 
SwiftLink-232 is priced at $29.95 (a very competitive price, I think).
 
 
 
Note: SwiftLink-232 is *not* designed to work with any modem that
plugs directly into the C-64/128's user port.  It is designed to work
with any Hayes Compatible modem...(but then, to achieve a baud rate
higher than 2400 you almost have to get a standard Hayes compatible modem,
since there isn't any modem that directly plugs into the C-64/C128).
 
 
 
For more info contact Kent Sullivan at:
 
E-mail address:
microsoft!kentsu@beaver.cs.washington.edu
 
US-Mail-Address:
Dr. Evil Laboratories
P.O. Box 3432
Redmond, WA. 98073-3432
 
 
----
 
Sincerely,
Scott K. Stephen
 
P.S.  I am in no way associated with the above company.

geoffw@xenitec.on.ca (Geoffrey Welsh) (05/05/90)

In article <13698.263f5a30@max.u.washington.edu> scott@max.u.washington.edu writes:
>Terminal software included! SwiftLink-232 comes with all the software
>you'll need to communicate at warp speeds: Desterm 128 (C-128),
>Terminal One (C-64), Q-Term (CP/M) and others.

   As a contributing author to DesTerm, and with Matthew Desmond (the
author) on the voice line as I type this, this comes as a surprise to us.

   DesTerm 128 v2.00 does indeed support Dr. Evil Labs' 6551 ACIA
cartridge, but as of yet no discussions have taken place regarding the
distribution of DesTerm with the unit. We rather like the idea and we'll
discuss it with the folks from Dr. Evil Labs, but for the time being that
announcement is a bit premature.

>Compatibility: SwiftLink-232 is completely compatible with all of
>CBM's RAM Expansion Units....(Does this means that one can plug in a
>REU and SwiftLink-232 both at the same time?)

   Theoretically, if your have a multi-cartridge board. We're about to
test that (imagine downloads to REU at 38,400 bps!)

   Geoff

UUCP:     watmath!xenitec!zswamp!root | 602-66 Mooregate Crescent
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My comments do not represent and should not obligate anyone but myself.

bbs00068@uafcseg.uucp (Joel Kolstad) (11/06/90)

Well, I got my Swiftlink cartridge the other day, and it works just fine.
(And in case anybody cares, it gets along great with a Schnedler Systems
Turbo Accelerator).

HOWEVER... according to the brief documentation included with it, it's 
supposed to have a switch to select between generating NMI and IRQ
interrupts.  Well, for the life of me, I can't find it!  There's even 
printing on the label that says "NMI and "IRQ", and I would think that
a switch would go right between the two labels, but there ain't one!

So what gives here?  Dr. Evil, you're still out there, right?  I'd like to 
know!

At least Novaterm doesn't mind that fact that it doesn't have a switch.  And
running at 4MHz makes scrolling those 8K 80 column screens a breeze...

						---Joel Kolstad

dattier@ddsw1.MCS.COM (David W. Tamkin) (11/08/90)

bbs00068@uafcseg.uucp (Joel Kolstad) wrote the following in
<5496@uafhp.uark.edu>.  I tried twice to come up with paths based on the
header of that article, but both bounced; ergo, now the whole continent gets
to read it.

| HOWEVER... according to the brief documentation included with it, it's 
| supposed to have a switch to select between generating NMI and IRQ
| interrupts.  Well, for the life of me, I can't find it!  There's even 
| printing on the label that says "NMI and "IRQ", and I would think that
| a switch would go right between the two labels, but there ain't one!
| 
| So what gives here?  Dr. Evil, you're still out there, right?  I'd like to 
| know!

Baffles me; I have one of the earliest SwiftLink-232's, and its switch is
right there in the hole next to the part of the label where the switch
settings are marked.  Mine has only one label, not two as you said yours
does.  [Make that "as Joel said his does" now that I'm posting instead of
emailing.]

| At least Novaterm doesn't mind that fact that it doesn't have a switch. 

Then it must already be set to NMI; the IRQ setting is only for certain CP/M
terminal programs.

| And running at 4MHz makes scrolling those 8K 80 column screens a breeze...

80K in an eighty-column screen?  That would require 103 screen lines.  It's
hard enough to read DesTerm's 52-line mode; I'd hate to think of what 103
must look like.

David Tamkin  Box 7002  Des Plaines IL  60018-7002  708 518 6769  312 693 0591
MCI Mail: 426-1818  GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN  CIS: 73720,1570   dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com

treesh@ircsun1.helios.nd.edu (11/12/90)

> And running at 4Mhz makes scrolling those.....

Just how are you running 4Mhz on your C128???

Or did I complety missunderstand that post??

 
ctfm