DREUBEN@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU) ("DOUGLAS SCOTT REUBEN) (08/13/90)
Hi- All this talk about the Apple Cat reminded me of a problem I once had: I have lots of programs that I wrote for the Cat, which do things such as dialing, call-forwarding, etc. They were all quite modular, and after I got my US Robotics modem, I tried modifying my programs so that they could work with either the Cat or the USR. I basically figured that I'd have a toggle in the beginning of the program which asked "Should I use the Cat or the Serial Card/US Robotics modem?". However, when I tried to get the Serial Card/USR to dial or check for busy or talking on the line, etc. (things that you could easily do with a few Peeks and Pokes on the Cat), nothing came of it. I couldn't seem to get the USR to do anything other than pick up the phone, and couldn't even manage to send telephone numbers down the line for the USR to "touch tone" out. I even tried to get it to "flash" a call for a 3-way dial tone, but that didn't work either. Now I know that the USR/Courrier has some of these features built into it, and they can be access from a good terminal program, but short of writing my own terminal program, is there any way to effectively control the USR (or any modem connected to a Super Serial Card) in a method similar to that which one may use to control the Cat? The idea is to integrate such a control method into my existing programs, and not to have to rewrite them all so that they will work with the USR/Serial Card yet be incompatable with the Cat... Alternately, are there any good 2400 bps modems on the market now that are as easily accessable as the Cat was? Thanks in advance for any help! -Doug dreuben@eagle.wesleyan.edu dreuben@wesleyan.bitnet
toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) (08/14/90)
ALL the external modems use a 'hayes compatible' command set, and it is a VERY modal command set that is designed to be used with terminal programs and macros and such. Only an internal card based modem is going to do what you want. Your best bet, really, is to find a modem chip set and build your own modem around it. While you're at it, make it a 6502 coprocessed card for the Apple -- write GS/OS drivers for the thing and sell it cheap and get rich. Todd Whitesel toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu