Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL From: SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: Null modem file transfer. Message-ID: <8901110016.aa06337@SMOKE.BRL.MIL> Date: 11 Jan 89 04:50:18 GMT References: Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 38 >This may sound silly, but will a printer cable >work for a modem? I mean it fits, but is it >right? I tried it and for some reason couldn't >get the //c to recognize the modem. A perfectly logical question, and you'll *love* :-) the answer. The short version is a printer cable is different from a modem cable (you can take one end apart and switch the wires on pins 2 and 3 or buy a "null modem" cable for $12-$20). The long version is 1 - a printer is an OUTPUT device, while 2 - (you guessed it) a modem is an INPUT device The reason (yes, Virginia there IS one) is that modems date back to the days before personal computers when COMPUTERS communicated through modems to terminals (as in the Latin for "the end") which (to the host) looked like (tah tah) printers (the first modem probably sent output to a remote printer - the keyboard probably came later). So, the cable is wired so your PC is a PRINTER from the modem's end! 9600 baud sure looks fast to someone who thought 110 baud on a 33 KSR (a MECHANICAL teletype, aka TTY) was pretty neat (and not THAT MANY years ago either). Murph Sewall Vaporware? ---> [Gary Larson returns 1/1/90] Prof. of Marketing Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET Business School sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu [INTERNET] U of Connecticut {psuvax1 or mcvax }!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL [UUCP] -+- I don't speak for my employer, though I frequently wish that I could (subject to change without notice; void where prohibited) According to the American Facsimile Association, more than half the calls from Japan to the U.S. are fax calls. FAX it to me at: 1-203-486-5246