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From: scott@blueeyes.kines.uiuc.edu (scott)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Apple-Cat Modem and TDD
Message-ID: <15736@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 2 Jan 91 01:10:48 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 2, Message 4 of 11


In article <15706@accuvax.nwu.edu> rhyre@cinoss1.ATT.COM (Ralph W.
Hyre) writes:

>The Apple-Cat was a neat modem, you could run a crude voice-mail
>system on it and build an answering machine surpassing anything
>available commercially at the time.  I heard rumors (on Telecom, in
>fact) that the manufacturer was sued by AT&T because of the fraud
>potential.  (And perhaps because they heard that John Draper, aka
>Captain Crunch, designed it) The modem had an on-board D/A converter
>for touch-tone generation and voice synthesis, and some folks wrote
>programs to generate 2600hz and other signalling frequencies, TSPS
>being the most infamous.  It even had menu items for 'Quarter',
>'Dime', and 'Nickel'.

I'm confused about something here:

In Steven Levy's excellent book "Hackers," on p. 271, there is mention
of the modem (essentially a complete blue-box-on-a-card) that Draper
designed for Apple (note that the Apple Cat II was a Novation
product). It appears that Apple never actually marketed the board.
Chris Espinosa is quoted in the book as saying "When Mike Scott [of
Apple] discovered what [Draper's board] could do, he axed the project
instantly. It was much too dangerous to put out in the world for
anyone to have."

Did Draper also design the Apple Cat II (after Apple axed his earlier
project)? BTW, I saw a message from the Captain on the net (perhaps
even c.d.t) several months back - perhaps we can get the answer to
this question direct from the source ;-)


Scott Coleman   tmkk@uiuc.edu


[Moderator's Note: Mr. Draper has written notes to the Digest in the
past. Perhaps he will see this and respond either to you or the entire
readership.  PAT]