gene@uicsl.csl.uiuc.edu (06/16/88)
Less avid Commodore 64/128 users might still be interested in using cassettes; In my case, I have a practical need for 3 or 4 C-64 systems; We have a deaf person in the family, and the need for 3 or 4 family-members to be able to conveniently communicate with him via modem. Since this is their primary interest, LOW-COST, low-complication is their main concern. Altho the terminal program "64-TERM" is satisfactory, I like "PLUS/TERM" which I copied out of COMPUTE! magazine...Feb or Mar '85, I believe. It has a 30k buffer that can be used to capture the conversation and can be viewed at will (or can be printed out if the budget permits a printer). The buffer can also be used to compose a lengthy text before you telephone, and then when phone contact is established, dump it onto the phone-line and hang up (if you want to save phone-time); after a few minutes, you can re-establish phone contact and use keyboard-to keyboard to continue conversation, or he can compose a long reply and "dump" it back to you and hang up...etc etc. By the way, we use the surplus "Total Communications" modems ($19..300-baud), altho they are probably no longer available. If you have one laying around, you may need to use some contact-cleaner and scrub the con- nector pins since they tend to get oxidized. We ignore all the complicated options that come with it, and simply hand-dial (or tone) the number, and plug in the phone line into a "tee" when we hear a tone, or when we think the other end is ready to plug their phone line in. The older Commodore 1600 300-baud modem is currently being advertised in Computes! Gazette for $19 (somewhere in FLA), altho it is probably not as convenient (uses handset plug instead of regular phone-line receptacle, as I recall). ANYWAY, the thought that prompted this message was that one portion of PLUS/TERM is machine language, and if you're copying from Disk-to-Cassette, the usual methods don't work! Some experts on this net will probably respond with some simpler tricks, but the only thing that worked for me, was to first load in a M.L.X. program from Disk (I used a version 2 or 3 yrs old which gives the option of SAVEing to Tape...perhaps the later versions do also?) and typed in the beginning & ending addresses...given in the magazine article, then do a contr/L to load in the "PLUS/TERM.ML" program from "D"isk, then SAVE it to TAPE; FIRST, however, I forgot to mention that you should SAVE "SCREEN-80" first on the tape (if you have a monitor capable of viewing 80 columns), then second SAVE "PLUS/TERM". For 40-column display, you can eliminate "SCREEN-80", or simply fast-forward over it and do LOAD "PLUS/TERM". By the way, if you are copying "PLUS/TERM",8 from a disk, don't forget to change one of the line numbers from an 8 to a 1, as described in magazine-text, before you save it to tape. If you DO use "SCREEN-80", after it loads you RUN it, then type NEW before continuing on to LOAD "PLUS/TERM" which you RUN. (It will then automatically load the machine-language from its program if you leave your "PLAY" button down).