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lackthought ( lackthought@lemmy.sdf.org )  to retrocomputing@lemmy.sdf.org · 3 years ago

What was the first modem you ever had? How fast was it?

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What was the first modem you ever had? How fast was it?

lackthought ( lackthought@lemmy.sdf.org )  to retrocomputing@lemmy.sdf.org · 3 years ago
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  • boomboxnation ( boomboxnation@lemmy.ca ) 
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    3 years ago

    Hayes 1200. Anyone know why these things were built to be bombproof? Always kinda wondered about that…

  • xmanmonk ( xmanmonk@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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    3 years ago

    300 baud home made.

  • Beej Jorgensen ( beejjorgensen@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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    3 years ago

    C64 VICModem. 300 baud, manual dial. :)

    • funchords ( funchords@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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      3 years ago

      That was my first one as well.

      My first PC modem was the US Robotics Sportster 14400 FAX Modem. A cool feature was that you could flip a couple of bits and it would do 19200. USR reportedly grumbled about that breaking the warranty and using it against its design limits, but it worked great.

  • colournoun ( colournoun@beehaw.org ) 
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    3 years ago

    300 baud C64

  • I, Mekon ( imekon@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 
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    3 years ago

    300baud from work. Fun times logging in with it. Eventually moved to 2400baud.

  • lackthought ( lackthought@lemmy.sdf.org ) OP
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    3 years ago

    I don’t know the model, but my first modem was 2400 baud

    Downloading anything took forever but it was still a magical experience to me!

    I couldn’t figure out how to silence the modem sounds either (if it was even possible) so every time I wanted to use the computer when someone in the house was sleeping I had to pray the connection sounds wouldn’t wake anyone up!

    • Beej Jorgensen ( beejjorgensen@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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      3 years ago

      ATL0 or ATM0 should have silenced it. Unfortunately I had to use the Internet to look that up. :)

      • lackthought ( lackthought@lemmy.sdf.org ) OP
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        3 years ago

        saving this for when time travel is invented so I can go back and tell my younger self, my mother would appreciate it!

  • mnrockclimber ( mnrockclimber@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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    3 years ago

    Supra 2400, to LineLink 144E, to Practical Peripherals 28.8 (all of these external). Being a kid I was limited to upgrading when birthday and holiday money was saved up.

    To one way broadband with this weird box containing a 56kbps modem you plugged a phone cord into for the uplink and a 1.5mbps downlink over cable coax. Bi directional broadband wasnt available yet.

  • dllama ( dllama@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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    3 years ago

    A thoroughly obsolete 1200bps Racal-Vadic thing that didn’t do the Hayes command set. Its command set was sufficiently different to AT that I couldn’t configure my terminal program to control it, so I’d pick up the phone, dial whichever BBS I wanted to call, wait for the beep, push the connect button on the modem’s front panel, and put down the phone.

    I think it was sufficiently obsolete that the BBSes I called would have had 9600bps or 14.4kbps modems by then.

    Found the manual! https://usermanual.wiki/m/e841e449995c65b1eb3d261c6cec7d97d5b42039de6114e9fed37628782b868a.pdf

  • lonlazarus ( lonlazarus@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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    3 years ago

    My brother had an acoustic coupled 300 baud modem for his C64, but that stuff was off limits to me. My first was a 2400 baud on ISA card, I bought for the family IBM XT Clone when I was maybe 13, I came up with the money with a hustle. I bought an old lionel train set at a garage sale with $20, sold it to a train shop for $100 (they probably screwed me over). It was my first pc component install, I remember setting the dip switches for the IRQ channel.

  • marv99 ( marv99@feddit.de ) 
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    3 years ago

    My first modem was a Dataphone s21 (German Akustikkoppler) for the Commodore C64. It gave me breath-taking 300 baud on the data highway (aka boards).

  • infinite_zero ( infinite_zero@beehaw.org ) 
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    3 years ago

    Apple Geoport Telecom Adapter: 9600 baud.

    I’m reading up on it now to confirm actual details match my memory, and seeing that it was software upgradable up to 33.6 kbps. I don’t think we ever actually did that, seeing as how our Macintosh Centris 660AV was never upgraded past the System 7.1 it came with.

  • jdlahmann ( jdlahmann@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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    3 years ago

    First one that I had myself was a 300 baud acoustic modem. It came in a wooden box that was about the size of a shoe box but more square.

  • jmcunx ( jmcunx@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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    3 years ago

    2400 on a 386SX IIRC, I was late to the game. I started connecting when I moved to Coherent OS from DOS. I used kermit to dial into work. Work would then call back so I would avoid any charges:)

    They had USENET on a SUNOS plus I could download source for items I wanted.

    • davefischer ( davefischer@beehaw.org ) 
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      3 years ago

      I ran Coherent on a 286 for a few years. Had a usenet feed. Replaced that with a 3B2.

  • unix_joe ( unix_joe@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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    3 years ago

    deleted by creator

  • Frater Mus ( fratermus@lemmy.sdf.org ) 
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    3 years ago

    Acoustic-coupling modem for a TI 99/4a. 300 baud?

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