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Monster Media 1994 #1
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WILDCAT
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WCBBS13.ZIP
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CH.8
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Text File
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1994-01-25
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7KB
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121 lines
GET A GOOD MODEM
By good, these days, I am talking about a 14.4K bps
fax/modem. When I started out I had a rip-roaring
1200 bps and I thought that was great ... because I
didn't know any better. It was my first one in my
first computer and I didn't have anything to compare
it to...so it looked good to me. Then when I visited
my "mentor's" house and saw his "zooming" 2400 baud,
I knew that I was living in the dark ages. So it
wasn't long before I got one of those. I swore,
then, though, that that was as fast as a modem ought
to go, and that I would NEVER get one of those
new-fangled 9600 bps-ers! Just no need for it, said
I to myself! Then along came the 14.4K's....and I
said to myself, "Self, this is just too much, who
needs all that speed?" "It's a waste of money"!
Well, a couple of years later, here I am happily
zinging away with my 14.4K wondering how I EVER got
along without it! It certainly makes long download
fly right by ... especially at long distance. It
also makes it just all around more enjoyable to be on
a board run with a 14.4K. It is almost as fast as
running my own board locally! That'll be a 19200, I
suppose, and let me say right now that I WILL get one
of those as soon as the price is right! I can see
now that the object is to get "local" quality out to
the user! A lot less nerve wracking for everyone
involved. Waiting for those screens to scroll and be
a real pain sometimes.
Of course, those individuals who are still puttering
away at 300 baud ... we'll..... it gets me so
frustrated that I don't allow them on my board
anymore! There oughta be a law about those
MODEL-T's! Heheheh! But, of course, a lot of times
300 is all a person can afford! I understand that ..
but for goodness sakes saves those pennies real fast
and by yourself a REAL modem, if only at 1200 bps.
Installing a modem after you have bought one is one
of those breath-holding types of deals....Especially
with the newer models, they are built to take right
out of the box and have up and running in about 10
minutes! The breath holding part comes at the 10
minute mark when either they told the truth or get me
another coke it is going take longer than expected.
To save yourself a lot of hassle just remember a
couple of points: modems have jumpers that have to be
set: COM PORT 1-4 and IRQ 2,3,5,7 or whatever is
free. Most systems will accept COM 2 IRQ 3 as the
winning ticket! But sometimes there are conflicts
with other loaded hardware so you have experiment a
little to find the right combination! And that is
what is takes most of the time: plain and simple
experimentation: trial and error.
There is usually a preset configuration .mdm file
somewhere in the configuration set up. Just select
the name of the modem you have, or one closest to its
description, and it will automatically load all of
the configuration options and strings. I have a U.S.
Robotics Sportster. When I configured it with my
QModem Pro Comm program the file was right there
waiting for me to configure. It was easy! Really
was.
There are also DIP switches either internally or
externally on the modem. Follow the guide in the
user's manual to tell you how to set these default
switches.
Make sure also, that the phone line coming from the
wall is plugged into the jack in the modem that says
phone. The other jack is for a line coming out of
the modem and into your phone so you can still use
the phone (when the board is not on, obviously). Make
sure the phone has an off/on switch for this line, as
you don't want it ringing all the time when someone
calls the board.
There is also a command switch in the bbs program for
turning off the computer speaker while the board is
running....as you don't need to listen to all of the
screeching and whistling that comes with each user
connection to the board. Just type in M0 at the end
of the INIT string and it will shut it off for you!
If you get all this set up and the board still does
not work properly, check and MAKE SURE all of the COM
PORTS and IRQs are different! I had a problem with
mine because I did not take the time to read the
label on the modem which said "Phone" line! I put
the phone line in the second jack and wondered why it
didn't work at all! also - I had a problem of users
not being able to upload anything to me, and me not
being able to download from other boards....After
days of pulling my hair out trying to figure that one
out I literally took out a second modem that I had
left connected when I got the new one. That did the
trick. Even though it was not configured it still
was causing some kind of interrupt problem. When I
removed the modem, it worked fine.
There is also another little quirk I found in my
system....if I run the board through Windows
everything works fine. If I take the board out of
Windows but do not reboot...no one is able to
download anything. In fact I even have to shut the
computer OFF for a minute, then turn it back on.... I
have tried every other sane method of compensating
for this personality quirk ... but that is the way
the system wants it! No doubt your system has its
own little idiosyncracies as well!