XLACHA1@WEIZMANN.BITNET (Omer Zak) (01/25/89)
Hi modem addicts,
Technology marches on. While deaf persons in USA are arguing and slowly
embracing ASCII TDDs, which use the Bell 103 modem standard at 300 baud,
and while Israeli deaf persons are using more and more Hebrew-speaking
purely ASCII TDDs based upon popular personal computers, the rest of the
world advanced to 2400 baud and will soon be shooting data at 9600 baud
and even faster.
However, unlike the case of Baudot vs. ASCII incompatibility in American
TDDs, all new modems retain the ability to fall back to Bell 103 standard
at 300 baud.
But... there is a tiny problem. To be actually able to communicate at 300
baud, your terminal program must usually be appropriately configured, and
likewise the modem. Some modems can be configured solely by software (AT
commands), but others need switches to be pressed in order to go down from
38400 baud or so to lowly 300 baud.
Few days ago I tried communicating by my Commodore 64 based TDD with a
friend who has a MAC with a 2400 baud modem. His hardware could handle
but he didn't have the appropriate software configuration defined (an entry
with my phone number and all the specific protocol parameters), and we
didn't have time to hack it (I was at his home and my TDD operated in
an answering machine mode - a neat setup for tests).
So... please be and continue to be accessible to deaf persons via phone by:
1. Making sure that your modem has also the ability to support the Bell
103 standard.
2. After configuring your terminal software to work at the usual dazzling
high baud rate, please add another configuration (in whatever form your
terminal software handles it) to make your system able to work at 300 baud
using Bell 103 standard, without requiring more than few keystrokes and
without requiring further trial-and-error.
If your modem needs switches to be pressed, write exactly what is to be
done before and after talking to your deaf fellow.
--- Omer
"Would a kind TrailBlazer owning soul please figure out and test and
publish instructions how to configure it to simple Bell 103, 300 baud
work, in originate and answer modes?"