Xref: utzoo gnu.misc.discuss:3261 comp.misc:12733 comp.dcom.modems:10061 Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss,comp.misc,comp.dcom.modems Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!mintaka!bloom-picayune.mit.edu!math.mit.edu!drw From: drw@paley.mit.edu (Dale R. Worley) Subject: Re: hayes lawsuit In-Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com's message of 23 May 91 22:42:05 GMT Message-ID: Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system) Organization: MIT Dept. of Tetrapilotomy, Cambridge, MA, USA References: <4913@orbit.cts.com> <9BDBC58@xds13.ferranti.com> <1991May17.222410.26944@MDI.COM> Distribution: gnu Date: 29 May 91 00:34:57 Lines: 23 In article peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes: Like I said, it's a kludge that covers for an inadequate programming interface to the hardware. True, it is a kludge. There is a correct and standardized way to control and dial a modem. If all you need is to answer the phone, a proper implementation of RS-232 will do the job. (The usual way to describe it is "with full modem control".) If you need to dial the phone, there is a standardized interface to control that, too. (Dec sold a device for the PDP-11 that enabled the computer to control a standard auto-dialer.) The problem is that all of this requires hardware which was usually not supplied (in order to save $$$), and operating system support, which was also usually not supplied (in order to save $$$ in development). In other words, it usually didn't work. Hayes figured out a workable way to drive a modem and autodialer that worked even if you had the most minimal hardware and operating system support. And as a result, Hayes-compatible modems have taken over the auto-dialing niche of computer hardware. Dale