Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!netnews.upenn.edu!cps3xx!usenet
From: usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re: Modem directly connected to Atari
Summary: Warning- not that simple
Keywords: RS-232, 8bit, direct connect, special cable
Message-ID: <6371@cps3xx.UUCP>
Date: 9 Feb 90 01:34:50 GMT
References: <1990Feb7.060203.24025@uokmax.uucp> <18482.25d03ac5@merrimack.edu>
Reply-To: conklin@frith.UUCP (Terry Conklin)
Organization: Engineering, Michigan State University, E. Lansing
Lines: 22


Connecting a standard RS-232 device is not as simple as making a cable.
The Atari SIO (Serial I/O) port CAN work as an RS-232 port, but it needs
a little help.

Further, some of the lines coming off the modem are tough or impossible
to replicate so what you normally want is a subset.

The cable that most likely came with the Supra is an R-Verter, a
commercial product. The R-Verter was a slick device that looked 
like a cable, but hidden inside the RS232 end of the cale, inside 
the hood, was a weel made tiny little board with a single IC.

The Atari SX212 "direct connected" to the SIO port by putting the
equivalent of this chip inside the modem. The chip isn't anything
special, just a little glue logto get the signals right.

Terry Conklin
conklin@egr.msu.edu
uunet!frith!conklin
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