-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Duell <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Tuesday, 8 December 1998 13:35
Subject: Re: WHOOPEE!
>If you think the first paragraph is bad, you should try the UK at about
>the same time. You had to rent the entire modem from the GPO (Post
>Office, who also ran the telephone system). And you had to have a
>'barrier box' (a box containing zeners and fuses) on the RS232 port of
>the modem, just in case your terminal decided to send mains down to the
>modem.
Australia was almost as bad. The then PMG Dept. (The phone 'company' was
part of the Post Office at that time) were rather hostile about plugging
anything but a phone in. Initially a "line isolation" unit was required
between any 3rd party device and the phone, and only a PMG technician could
install it. Eventually, they started to test and approve the modems etc
themselves, but it was virtually impossible to get anything homebuilt
through that process, since it involved providing examples for the PMG to
test to destruction by pouring enourmous voltages into them to ensure that
they would not permit said destructive voltage to reach the phone system.
Even now, we can't legally use modems that are not Austel approved, even if
they are ok under FCC or British Telecom regs. There was a time when lots
of BBS's ran illegal HST Modems, which were not imported into Australia, and
hence not type approved at the time.
Cheers
Geoff
Computer Room Internet Cafe
Port Pirie
South Australia.
netcafe_at_pirie.mtx.net.au
Received on Tue Dec 08 1998 - 09:22:32 GMT