Nortel modem-terminals/display phones

From: Bill Richman <bill_r_at_inetnebr.com>
Date: Thu Feb 10 15:59:26 2000

Next time I'm at the location where they're stored, I can try to find you a
number. They're RS-232, but they're a bit funky to get to work with
anything else; I don't remember the details, but it seems like they used
really odd settings - like 6 bits, mark parity, 2 stop bits. Also, the
attached phone only works with Northern Telecom phone systems, unless you
were to gut the whole thing and stick the electronics from a one piece phone
in them. What I've decided to do for terminals around the house (including
the kitchen and bathroom) is to buy some old 486 laptops with color displays
and PCMCIA slots. I've got PCMCIA ethernet cards for them, and am shopping
for PCMCIA sound cards. My plan is to run Linux or FreeBSD on them, and
X-windows, and let them surf the web as well as accessing our answering
machine (which runs on our file server, and is already web-enabled), Mister
House control console, and the CD jukebox control software. I'm going to
*try* to set up either a Real Audio server or some kind of multicast audio
server, and have a sound card in the server sampling and digitizing the
output of the CD jukebox and the computer-controlled FM radio tuner, so you
can "tune in" from any workstation in the place and listen to the radio or
CDs. (Hey - I've gotta have *something* to keep me out of trouble!)

>Someone moments ago made a reference to old Nortel (well, Northern
>Telecom, back then) display phones, but I didn't realize what they
>were referring to until I'd deleted the message :-/
>
>If those are the little black-paneled phones with CRTs and slide-out
>keyboard drawers, could you give me a model number? I've just realized
>that that'd make the perfect kitchen terminal, and might keep an eye
>out for them now, but it's awfully hard to search the 'net for
>'nortel display phones' without getting bunches of current stuff.
>
> -Rich
>
>--
>------------------------------ Rich Lafferty ---------------------------
> Sysadmin/Programmer, Instructional and Information Technology Services
> Concordia University, Montreal, QC (514) 848-7625
>------------------------- rich_at_alcor.concordia.ca ----------------------
>
>

                                        Bill Richman
                                        incolor.inetnebr.com/bill_r
                                        (Home of the COSMAC Elf
                                         microcomputer simulator!)
Received on Thu Feb 10 2000 - 15:59:26 GMT