Hayes S100 modem (80-103A) commands

From: Jack Rubin <jack.rubin_at_ameritech.net>
Date: Tue Sep 30 20:29:11 2003

Sorry - I wasn't paying too much attention to this thread, but I have
the manual for the Hayes S100 modem (80-103A) which includes a short
modem control program written in 1977 by Dale Heatherington (the
co-founder of DC Hayes; guess who was the marketing guy and who was the
engineer!). Control was by bit-setting a couple of control bytes to
handle bit (baud) rate (high/low - typically 300/110 bps, but low rate
could also be set to 75 or 134.5 bps). Other bits set transmit enable
(on/off), mode select (answer/originate), break, self-test, ring
indicator, and off hook.

The manual includes a chapter on "Applications". Section 5.5
Telecommuting is reproduced here: "The energy situation being what it
is, more and more people are seriously considering alternatives to
commuting. If your job consists mostly of slaving over a hot computer
terminal, the 80-103A may offer an economical way for your job to come
to you instead of the other way around. Of course you would want to make
an occasional trip to the office for meetings, but think how much pain
and energy you could save. You might even be able to move to that
beautiful valley 'way up there in the mountains..."

Of course the hot setup was the PMMI modem which could be overclocked to
450 baud, but Don Brown died in the late '70s (?) and the company
disappeared.

But what the world was really waiting for was a good 1200 baud modem...

Jack Rubin
USRobotics 1984-95
Received on Tue Sep 30 2003 - 20:29:11 BST