old modems & a packet switcher

From: William Donzelli <william_at_ans.net>
Date: Mon Aug 3 15:28:19 1998

> Yes, but a 400lb VAX is much more exciting than a 9600 baud leased-line
> modem that weighs 1/30 as much. I only have a little bit of interesting
> data comm hardware, the best of which is an ASR33 with built-in 110 baud
> dataset. It terminates in a three-wire POTS line - red, green and yellow,
> presumably for ring voltage to auto answer and turn on. When you send it
> an EOT (CTRL-D), it turns off. The modem is in the pedestal... the whole
> pedestal. I cannot concieve of a time in my own lifetime when a 1200
> baud Hayes modem will be considered exciting.

Aggreed, but a Hayes modem (or any modem) is about as simple as you are
going to get. What about old switches, muxes, and routers? Simple modems
they aint!

Anyway, I think old datacom and networking equipment is at least as
interesting as the disk and tape drives we love so much.

William Donzelli
william_at_ans.net
Received on Mon Aug 03 1998 - 15:28:19 BST

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