Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!ames!lll-lcc!pyramid!fmsrl7!wayne From: wayne@fmsrl7.UUCP (//ichael R. //ayne) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems Subject: Re: 9600 Baud Question Message-ID: <5969@fmsrl7.UUCP> Date: 24 Dec 87 04:59:51 GMT References: <195.004254@adam.DG.COM> Reply-To: wayne@fmsrl7.UUCP (/\/\ichael R. \/\/ayne) Organization: Ford Motor Company, Scientific Research Labs, Dearborn, MI Lines: 68 In article <195.004254@adam.DG.COM> writes: > > I have been trying to decide on which 9600 modem to buy/upgrade >to. I currently have a USR Courrier 2400 and want to go to 9600 (or >17.2 if worth the $$ and time). Having just obtained my 2 Telebit Trailblazer modems for $680 apiece, I start to wonder why anyone would purchase anything else unless they were in a situation where they had to confrom to existing 9600 baud modems. With the processing power in these modems, there is no technological reason why Telebit can not make their modem conform to the 9600 standard (when it is finally developed). Several people have voiced questions as to why the company does not already do this, answers range from "lack of time" to "the standard does not exist yet". My personal opinion (looking at things from a business point of view) is that Telebit does not wish to encourage people to use other people's modems (no :-) here) but will do the protocol when there is sufficiant demand. The trailblazer is a wonderful modem, I have less line noise with it than any other modem I have used when talking at 1200 & 2400 baud as well. High speed interactive mode is quite reasonable once you get used to the little delay in character echo (certainly better than 2400 baud!). The modem even understands several protocols (kermit, uucp g, xmodem) and speeds up the file xfer if one of these is used. Since the technological issues have been discussed here (at length) and are available from the company, I will not repeat them. There are a few negative points about the modem. Since I have not seen any negative press on these, I thought I should balance the picture a bit: 1) Although there are a lot of configuration registers, I can find no way to shut off the OK response to commands (this could be just me). 2) Interactive mode is packetized (an annoyance). I understand that this is being addressed. 3) The manual could use a few more examples in configuring the (many) registers (ideal would be a subheading under each register description of the suggested setting for common configurations: inbound, uucp out, and general outbound would be a good start). The information is all there but you have to RTFM (not an enticing prospect when you have just unpacked them and are dying to try them out :-). 4) The future, non bug-related, ROM upgrades could be made freely available/downloadable/duplicatable. At present they cost a small amount. 5) Many people do not understand what happens to a (smaller) machine when it has a couple of serial lines doing uucp at 19.2K. Not really a Telebit problem, more a user perception issue. 6) There is no second source for the modems. This makes it extremely difficult to get the purchasing department of a large corporation to permit the purchase. Of course, the 9600 baud modems are no better at present. 7) An option to suspend transmission of the escape character until it is recognized as either a normal character (and transmitted) or an escape (and not transmitted) would be a welcome addition. 8) At present, the modems must agree on which protocol they are going to "spoof". This means that at least one of the modems must know what type of transmission it is going to do. Optional automatic protocol recognition would be more desireable. None of the above are really major problems (except, perhaps #6). Considering the price, I have a very hard time justifying anything else. If you want information call 800-TELEBIT and talk to the company directly. If I had it to do over, I'd buy them again. Obviously, I have no connection withe TELEBIT (or I would have fixxed the above problems). /\/\ \/\/ -- Michael R. Wayne *** TMC & Associates *** INTERNET: wayne@ford-vax.arpa uucp: {philabs | pyramid} !fmsrl7!wayne OR wayne@fmsrl7.UUCP >> If you own an MPulse, please contact me to exchange info and experiences <<