darrelj@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Darrel VanBuer) (02/28/84)
An associate knows the president of Anchor Automation. They are aware of
the inability to send break with their 1200 bps modem, and are going to fix
the problem. The fix requires a new (masked) ROM, so will take a while.
--
Darrel J. Van Buer, PhD
System Development Corp.
2500 Colorado Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90406
(213)820-4111 x5449
...{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,sdccsu3,trw-unix}!sdcrdcf!darrelj
VANBUER@USC-ECL.ARPARICK%mit-mc@sri-unix.UUCP (03/09/84)
From: Richard P. Wilkes <RICK@mit-mc> The modem break is certainly not the only problem with the Mark XII. One, it does not, and will not, support a DTR lead. This means that in many applications, it is impossible to get the thing to hang up the phone without first sending the escape sequence (+++). Secondly, it is missing the dip switches which are found on the Hayes for handling the auto-answer, result codes, command echo, and RS-232C control lines. If you have a Mark XII attached to your home phone line, remember to turn it off or send it the "do not answer the phone sequence" or it will answer on the first ring (annoying). On the Hayes this can be turned off using the dip switch. Most importantly, the two modems we have gotten from Anchor will not connect to any 212 modems other than the Racal Vadic triples. This is obviously a timing problem. The remote modem detects carrier, the Mark XII detects carrier, but it does not return "CONNECT 1200" to the console so the link is not established. At first glance, this may appear to be a problem with the phone line. However, none of our other modems have this problem; two of the Mark XII's do. I have spent over an hour talking to the Anchor people (much of that on hold), have returned one of the modems for analysis, and all the Anchor people say is that "no one else seems to have that problem..." From my personal dealings with Hayes Microcomputers, I doubt that would be their response. In addition, the lack of a speaker for audible call monitoring is really tough on the operator since the Anchor appears to mistake busy signals for other conditions much more often that modems like the Vadic 212PA. I honestly think that they have a lot of work to do before their modem is bug-resistant. Another point: the modem is touted as "Hayes compatible." However, it is missing many of the control features of the Hayes *and* returns different result codes to the computer. For example, the Hayes will only return ERROR, NO CARRIER, CONNECT, or CONNECT 1200 while dialing. The Mark XII adds "dialing status" which can really confuse the average software. When told of this condition, they felt it was a feature, not a deficiency. Matter of opinion I guess. Last comment: when I asked about the ROM update, I was told that it would be ready "in a couple of months." I asked whether current owners would be notified. "I doubt it; why don't you call back in a few months." Next time, I think I'll spend the extra bucks for another Smartmodem 1200. I have a more complete flame if anyone wants one. -Rick at MIT-MC