[comp.sys.mac.comm] Modems for a IIfx: Internal, External, Etc.

eberard@bsemac.UUCP (Edward V. Berard) (05/09/90)

People,

Yes, I now have a Mac IIfx (160 meg internal disk, 4 (soon to be 8) megs of RAM).
The machine is fantastic. However, now my attention is turning to modems.

I am beta testing Umail (a UUCP mail/news product for the Mac, from ICE Engineering
in Whitmore Lake, Michigan). The product allows me to get all my e-mail, and news
on my Mac. However, the amount of net traffic I read is "exhausting" my 2400 bps
external modem.

I have a number of questions:

	1. For high volume trasfers over phone lines, what are my options for internal
	   (i.e., on a NuBus card) and external modems? I suspect I am looking for at
	   least 9600 bps. People have said good things about something called a
	   "Telebit" (sp?).

	2. I also have need for a FAX modem. What are my options for internal and
	   external modems?

	3. Can one modem handle both, or should I plan on getting two?

	4. What are the criteria that I should be using to select a modem? a FAX modem?

I am mostly interested in recommendations based on experience.

				-- Ed Berard
				   (301) 353-9652

mes@sequent.UUCP (Mike Seyfrit) (05/10/90)

. Ed Berard asks about
. modems for high traffic use. on his macIIfx (I'm jealous!).

I have used both a trailblazer/telebit type modems for communication
between the company machine and my mac at home, both for file transmission
and for simple communications.  I like both the error correction they
provide (no more {{_ from even noisy phone lines) and the MUCH greater
file transfer rate that you get when you set the appropriate protocol
switches. (They understand kermit, uucp, xmodem, etc. and do the checksum
or crc in the modem so the ACK or whatever gets sent much faster than
waiting for the computer to process and send it.)  I've had no problems
with using these faster modems after I've gotten them set up, though,
as always, MACs don't do quite the same handshaking as other computers,
and it takes a little fiddling to get it right--especially when you're
of the software and not the hardware persuasion!

[Hi, Ed.   I remember you from my Ada days @ Verdix]




-- 
  ===== Mike Seyfrit  phone:503-241-4121       | \ mail:625 NW Everett #228 =
        net:{uunet,sun,tektronix)!sequent!mes  |  \     Portland, OR, 97209 =
  ===== org: Sequent Computers, Beaverton, OR  | / \  =======================