mac@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Myron A. Calhoun) (03/18/89)
I recently acquired several BRAND NEW AT&T Sceptre Videotex Terminals
and wonder if there is any market for my extras? These are "neat"
gizmos consisting of a control box about 3" high, 13" wide, and 10" deep
and a DETACHED (infrared link) QWERTY keyboard about the size of a
thick paperback book. It comes complete (even includes a 9-volt battery
for the keyboard!) with all cables, ready to connect to a TV (B/W or
color), the TV antenna or cable input, and a modular phone jack. When
the control-box power is ON, the TV becomes either a videotex terminal
(able to "display 16 different colors simultaneously from a pallet of 512
colors, with a resolution of 256 pixels per line and 200 lines per screen")
or an ASCII terminal (with a display of 40 characters per line, 20 lines
per screen). Communications through the terminal's built-in Dataphone (r)
212A compatible modem is at 1200 baud. When the control-box power is OFF,
the TV reverts to being a TV again.
The terminal can communicate both synchronously (using HDLC-LAPB) and in
a character asynchronous format. It uses the American National Standards
Institute "Presentation Level Protocol Syntax" for Videotex and can also
provide for secure data transfer at the request of the videotex service.
It can store up to 5 user-programmed telephone numbers, passwords, and
other dialing-in details (parity, etc.), and also has a self-test mode.
It has a printer port (modular phone jack), but I do NOT have any
details on the printer nor does the Owner's Manual say much about it.
I have used one to login to the two local computers whose telephone
numbers I know, but had to be satisfied with "dumb" terminal type on
unix. I've NOT tried it on any videotex service since I don't know
of any, but as an interesting "extra" terminal, it has its merits.
Does anyone want to make me an offer for one or more?
--
Myron A. Calhoun, PhD EE, W0PBV, (913) 532-6350 (work), 539-4448 (home).
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