TTYs for the deaf

From: Fred Cisin <cisin_at_xenosoft.com>
Date: Sat Dec 11 16:24:47 2004

On Sat, 11 Dec 2004, Michael Sokolov wrote:
> > Do you know of any timesharing host or BBS that is compatible with TTY?
> Sure, any PDP-11 or VAX UNIX timesharing host with a Bell 103 modem
> attached to one of its RS-232 ports will happily accept calls from an
> ASR33 TTY.
so,...
the ASR33 TTY is Bell 103 at 300 baud?
"MODERN" modems that will do Bell 103, will often only do it at 300 baud.

... and if you take that Bell 103 modem off, and replace it with a V.18
modem, then the TDDs can connect at 45.45 baud.

> It's a pity that the deaf TTYs are 5-bit rather than ASCII. The reason
surely SOMEBODY knows how to write a look-up table program to translate!
(it's substantially less than 1K)

> for my question had to do with my campaign to get the few people I care
> about to switch from PeeCees to timesharing computing, i.e., instead of
> using a PeeCee, paying for Internet service, etc., get an account on my
> VAX and dial into it from a Teletype. One of the problems is of course
> that no one has Teletypes any more. I was wondering if the deaf ones
> could be used, as in the current horrible state of the world it seems
> like Teletypes are now only used by the disabled, rather than by 100% bodily
> abled people who are more intelligent than the masses and want to use
> timesharing UNIX (or VMS or RSX or TENEX or ...) instead of a pee sea.

The cheapest terminal that you can get is an obsolete PC.
Come to my neighborhood during the sidewalk/bulk pickup days!

TDDs are more expensive, and do not have a 24 x 80 screen.
They typically have a single line display, and sometimes an
adding machine width printer.

For what kind of applications would you consider that interface connected
to a timesharing system to be more usable than a personal computer,
or a 24 x 80 screen terminal?
Received on Sat Dec 11 2004 - 16:24:47 GMT