Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!atha!lsuc!jimomura From: jimomura@lsuc.on.ca (Jim Omura) Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds Subject: Re: HP 95LX and modem. Message-ID: <1991Jun26.015610.28088@lsuc.on.ca> Date: 26 Jun 91 01:56:10 GMT References: Organization: Consultant, Toronto Lines: 43 In article cioni@xenlink.cuc.ab.ca (Terry Cioni) writes: >Greetings, > >I finally managed to purchase the 95LX - I am impressed so far. I don't think I >will be rushing off to sell my other computer(s) - but it no doubt very useful. > >I purchased the connectivity pack - I had hoped to connect the 95LX to a regular >modem - so far no luck. Is this possible or am I missing something? Well, the flippant answer is "about 6 signal lines". :-) Seriously, the serial output for the HP-95LX has only 3 lines and I don't have the definitions, but there have to be 1 Data Transmit and 1 Data Receive so I'd guess that the 3rd one is probably ground. You'll have to check your manual for that though. But the bottom line is that you're going to have to do some fancy wiring to get your modem to do much. Hopefully the documentation of the connectivity pack will cover everything you need, but some of the areas that might cause you problems are: 1. No DTR to the modem -- you may need to set a DIP switch 2. No carrier detect -- actually maybe to summarize, you'll have to rely on "text" replies from a Hayes modem or status lights to figure out what's happening. That's not going to affect you much unless you want an automated transfer. 3. Flow control will have to be Xon-Xoff if you're doing data stream tranfers without protocols. 4. You won't generally want to try to run a BBS or anything with auto-answer enabled on the modem. If you try it, you'll find occasionally that you get bothered by "twits". A "twit" could keep your modem occupied in many cases because you can't disconnect them by forcing DTR low. So in general you're looking at using it as an "outbound" data station -- probably that's all you'll every want to use it for anyway. 5. No "syncronous" usage. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Mostly, it shouldn't affect most people much. I don't expect anybody is going to buy an HP-95LX to run a BBS on. :-) -- Jim Omura, 2A King George's Drive, Toronto, (416) 652-3880 lsuc!jimomura Byte Information eXchange: jimomura