wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (10/10/88)
I sure hope this makes it out to the net. Apparently, our news postings have been disappearing into a black hole at ames lately. The original classic Trailblazer modem had a heavy gray painted high demsity molded foam case. The inside of the case was painted with conductive paint to vanquish RF emission. Even the phone cord was equipped with a torroidal coil to attempt to cut RF. The modem also employed a fan. These models seem to have been up through version 3.xx. The Trailblazer Plus came mout around the 3rd quarter of 1987 (at least that's when we first saw it). The tailblazer plus made the uucp spoofing and data compression standard features. The main circuitboard was also massively redesigned to incorporate most glue logic on a big ASIC chip. Power consumption was cut, so the fan was eliminated. The original ~2 inch speaker was replaced with a little transducer that looked more like a microphone than a speaker. The little transducer tends to fail if you have the volume above about AT s61=200. Other than the nasty litte speaker, it was quite nifty. A recessed reset button was also added to the rear panel so that factory defaults could easily be reestablihed. A disk with a MINIMAL telecom program was also included so that it was quite easy to configure the modem by (perhaps temporarily) plugging it into the comm port on an msdos computer. An internal programming resistor has been added to allow the output dB level to be set for use on leases lines. The newer Trailblazer Pluses seem to have cropped up around July of 1988 or so. The new Plus models seem to be the same as the above, except that the rear panel reset button has once again disappeared. Examining the circuit board shows that the solder pads are still there for the switch. Now, there are two pushbuttons on the front panel. One is a momentary contact that toggles between data and voice mode. The other button selects between two possible setups in the EAPROM chip. The cleaning crew keeps hitting the button for the A/B setup; to counter that, we've just made A and B have the same parameters. There are also now registers for programming the interface for SDLC. The new case is white styrene plastic. It looks a lot more "techie" from the distance, but in actuality it is a lot lighter duty construction. Eventhough the old case wasn't so pretty, I'd rather have that than the newer one. The brick-in-the- cord power pack is still the same old one that's been used all along. RF emissions are much lower now. By the way, how's come only V.32 modems seem to come with built-in power packs. I'm really fed up with all these dag gone bicks collecting on the floor or haning out of the wall sockets. The new T1000 is roughly comparable to the Trailblazer, and apparently is PEP compatible up to *9600* baud. That's the major diff, as the Trailblazer interface goes up to 19200. A blurb in PC Week mentioned that SLIP protocol was included. The list price is supposed to be about $795. That would make the T1000 only about 10% more expensive than the "uucp deal" price on the Trailblazer Plus, if you are buying via a purchase order. For the Trailblazer Plus, the P.O. discount is 45% from list, while the cash price is 50% from list. The list price is $1350 (US). I've heard that the deal has been extended yet again. It was originally supposed to run out on Sep. 30, 1988 most recently. Shipping is about $15 per unit. Interested people should probably email to telebit!modems. I'd recommend putting "Attn: uucp program coordinator" in the subject line. The name of the lady handling the uucp stuff is Tessie Opel. I've tried the Trailblazer, USR HST, and several other high speed modems. The Trailblazer has the most convenient command set, fastest uucp throughput, and handles noisy phone lines best of the lot. About the only thing I feel is close in value/dollar is the Codex/UDS/Motorola V.32 modem. About the only place where a V.32 modem is clearly superior is in a situation where there is nearly continuous data in both directions at the same time. For example, a modem being fed by a statistical multiplexor. --Bill wtm@neoucom wtm@impulse
vixie@decwrl.dec.com (Paul Vixie) (10/11/88)
In article <1364@neoucom.UUCP> wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes...
...an excellent article that explains much of Telebit lore. One thing, tho:
# The new T1000 is roughly comparable to the Trailblazer, [...]
# A blurb in PC Week mentioned that SLIP protocol was included.
Hmmm. Not from what I hear. SLIP won't be "supported" until the SLIP
community makes up their mind what the framing is going to be. Does anyone
have the exact quote? I suspect it's something like "SLIP is supported"
which means basically nothing. SLIP is supported on copper wire, too.
I think the Trailblazer is a great modem, but it does not as yet "include
SLIP" the way it includes UUCP.
--
Paul Vixie
Work: vixie@decwrl.dec.com decwrl!vixie +1 415 853 6600
Play: paul@vixie.sf.ca.us vixie!paul +1 415 864 7013henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (10/11/88)
In article <1364@neoucom.UUCP> wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes: >By the way, how's come only V.32 modems seem to come with built-in >power packs. I'm really fed up with all these dag gone bicks >collecting on the floor or haning out of the wall sockets. The bricks are very attractive to manufacturers because (as I understand it) things like UL and CSA approval are much simpler if there is no 110V AC running around inside the box. It also gets a major source of heat out of the box, simplifying cooling. By using a brick, one transfers most of the safety issues and some of the cooling problems to the brick manufacturer. Inconvenient though they are for the customer -- after some searching I've concluded that nobody makes a power bar with the outlets spaced far enough apart for even the smallest plug-in bricks -- they make all kinds of sense from the manufacturer's viewpoint. -- The meek can have the Earth; | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology the rest of us have other plans.|uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
steve@ivucsb.UUCP (Steve Lemke <steve>) (10/16/88)
In article <1988Oct11.165614.25645@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >In article <1364@neoucom.UUCP> wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes: >>By the way, how's come only V.32 modems seem to come with built-in >>power packs. I'm really fed up with all these dag gone bicks >>collecting on the floor or haning out of the wall sockets. > >...after some >searching I've concluded that nobody makes a power bar with the outlets >spaced far enough apart for even the smallest plug-in bricks. Actually, I've seen some strips like this - usually they're meant for mounting along a workbench or in an equipment rack. They're made by SL Waber, and sold by Specialized Products Company. Here's what seems appropriate: A strip that is 49 inches long and has eight outlets for $51, or fifteen outlets for $60. Also, a strip that is 73 inches long and has ten outlets for $61. These are all with six foot line cord, circuit breaket, master switch and pilot light. A fifteen foot cord is $5 extra for all. If you've never heard of Specialized Products Co., then you certainly should have their catalog. They have everything from tool kits and cases to test equipment to telecomm stuff to hand tools, etc. Also, their prices are the best I've found anywhere. Their number is (800) 527-5018 - call and request a catalog. I've no special relationship to Specialized, except that I order most of my tools from them and am a very happy customer. ----- Steve Lemke ------------------- "MS-DOS (OS/2, etc.) - just say no!" ----- Internet: steve@ivucsb.UUCP; lemke@apple.COM AppleLink: LEMKE ----- uucp: pyramid!comdesign!ivucsb!steve CompuServe: 73627,570 ----- alt.uucp: {decwrl!}sun!apple!lemke GEnie: S.Lemke ----- Quote: "What'd I go to college for?" "You had fun, didn't you?"
jerry@olivey.olivetti.com (Jerry Aguirre) (10/18/88)
In article <1988Oct11.165614.25645@utzoo.uucp> henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes: >manufacturer. Inconvenient though they are for the customer -- after some >searching I've concluded that nobody makes a power bar with the outlets >spaced far enough apart for even the smallest plug-in bricks -- they make Actually, as others have pointed out, strips with the outlets as far a one foot apart are available. Of course locating one modem every foot tends to use up a little more space... What I would like to find is a strip with the outlets rotated 90 degrees. Most of the power modules I have seen stick way out in the direction that the ground pin is located. This is what keeps them from being mounted close together. They are usually desiged to mount on a wall outlet and hang down from it, not teribly convenient if you have several at one location. It is less convenient, but not significantly more difficult, for the outlet strip makers to mount them with the ground pin along one side. I could then plug in a power module at every location of a normally spaced outlet strip. The other alternative is for the power module to have a short AC cord. I have several modems using this type and can make full use of conventional outlets. One can duplicate this by buying a short extension cord to use between the module and the strip. The problem with this is that it adds more wires to an already messy situation. Jerry Aguirre
vixie@decwrl.dec.com (Paul Vixie) (10/19/88)
In article <1364@neoucom.UUCP> wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes:
# By the way, how's come only V.32 modems seem to come with built-in
# power packs. I'm really fed up with all these dag gone bicks
# collecting on the floor or haning out of the wall sockets.
Well, one thing that doesn't seem to have come up in this discussion, despite
the subject line, is that the Telebit Trailblazers put the brick in the middle
of the cord rather than at the plug-end. Thus the transformer has two cables
hanging out of it; one for AC input, one for (DC?) low-voltage output.
This means that you only need room on the floor, you can use a standard power
strip with closely spaced outlets. This is one more way in which I've been
spoiled by the Telebit modems -- I will be very hard to sell on a modem with
the old Vadic 345X style of transformer -- where you give up four outlets on
your power strip just to plug the darned thing in.
--
Paul Vixie
Work: vixie@decwrl.dec.com decwrl!vixie +1 415 853 6600
Play: paul@vixie.sf.ca.us vixie!paul +1 415 864 7013wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (10/24/88)
I know that the plastic encapsulated cord-lumps make it somewhat
easier for manufacturers. Here are a few ways:
1. Keeps heat outside the modem.
2. Can buy generic units that already have FCC/VDE/CSA/UL, etc.
approval.
3. Easily swapped for 220v, etc operation in other countries.
What annoys me is more the asthetics of having a picle of those
bricks, I suppose. Also, all three of the V.32 modems I messed
around with did have internal power supplies. Even the least
expensive UDS/Motorola/Codex modem ($1595 US list price) managed
it. Since there are relatively fewer V.32 units sold, the power
supply must be a proportionately more expensive element due to
higher engineering costs over fewer units sold.
To Telebit's credit, they do have a really nifty rack-mount
controller unit, but none of our sites have enough trailblazers to
make the rack economical.
One peculiar brick-transformer deivce is the HP Deskjet printer.
Curiously, the Deskjet has a facny switch mode power supply in the
printer to generate the several voltages needed. I gess that isn't
curious; what is is that the swticher is supplied 18 VAC from the
cord-brick transformer. It doesn't seem like it would have been
that hard to have designed an off-line switcher, since they were
using a switcher anyway.
--Bill