Question about Atari Modems?

[NML32]

Is there any use in having a modem? I guess what I am asking is are they still being used if so what for? Are there any BBS still around and in use?

 

Any possibility of getting on the Internet with one, lol I guess not.

 

But I am curious if anyone is still using one and what for.

 

Thanks,

Mark

Edited June 27, 2009 by NML32

[nathanallan]

Right, getting them online is pretty much not workable these days. Most providers don't support speeds that slow.

 

If you have a friend that has an Atari that also has a modem, you can play games against each other. Right now the only thing I can think of is modem wars, not sure if that was ever made for the Atari computers right now.

[Warriorisabouttodie]

Is there any use in having a modem? I guess what I am asking is are they still being used if so what for? Are there any BBS still around and in use?

 

Any possibility of getting on the Internet with one, lol I guess not.

 

But I am curious if anyone is still using one and what for.

 

Thanks,

Mark

 

 

not sure there is much use for the 830, 835, 1030, xm301 or sx212 anymore but I suppose you might be able to get something going with a faster dial up modem and a 850/PR Connection or similar deveice, that is if you can find someplace that has shell style accounts. Even with that your experience will be slow, ugly and of little real use these days.

 

As far as bbs's if any still exist that you can call with a modem, they are few and far between. They have no real purpose anymore except I suppose for the die hard nostalgia of calling a bbs.

[sl0re]

Is there any use in having a modem? I guess what I am asking is are they still being used if so what for? Are there any BBS still around and in use?

 

Any possibility of getting on the Internet with one, lol I guess not.

 

But I am curious if anyone is still using one and what for.

 

Thanks,

Mark

 

Not really. Some people use lantronics adapters in modem emulation mode to do similar things over the internet... but thats not really a modem. Its an ethernet to serial device that acts like one.

[nathanallan]

Well, those modems can't be practically used much, but modems still are in general. Some insurance companies still have dumb terminals out there contracted out. They're at speeds of 14.4K, but they are still in service in some places for some applications. Speeds the Atari modems use, well, those are pretty much hobby only.

 

But they're still neat as all get-out.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Well,

here are some PD modem games one could play with two (or more) Ataris connected to each other via modem... Note: I never tried them, since I do not have (and never had!) an A8 modem... -Andreas Koch.

[mckafka99]

as to the other questions, BBSs still exist; some you can telnet to. The other day I was checking out an Atari one; I think it was clled DarkForce or something like that. There is a list somewhere around here on this forum of the BBS available.

[Warriorisabouttodie]

as to the other questions, BBSs still exist; some you can telnet to. The other day I was checking out an Atari one; I think it was clled DarkForce or something like that. There is a list somewhere around here on this forum of the BBS available.

 

Yes but I think he wants to call the bbs on the phone with a Atari modem. I don't think there are too many, if any bbs's answering the telephone with a carrier tone these days. By the early 90's most bbs's wouldn't allow you to connect at 300/1200 baud anymore.

 

You know what would be neat? If someone were to write a bbs emulator. A program you could run on a modern computer that would simulate what it was like to call a bbs and log on, the bbs itself could have forums that were online too... the look and feel could be totally 8bit, and underneath it all would be just a regular forum like we have here on Atariage. You could even make options like "c64, Atari 800, Apple II etc.." to change the style and feel of the interface and text.

Edited July 2, 2009 by Warriorisabouttodie

[sl0re]

as to the other questions, BBSs still exist; some you can telnet to. The other day I was checking out an Atari one; I think it was clled DarkForce or something like that. There is a list somewhere around here on this forum of the BBS available.

 

Yes but I think he wants to call the bbs on the phone with a Atari modem. I don't think there are too many, if any bbs's answering the telephone with a carrier tone these days. By the early 90's most bbs's wouldn't allow you to connect at 300/1200 baud anymore.

 

You know what would be neat? If someone were to write a bbs emulator. A program you could run on a modern computer that would simulate what it was like to call a bbs and log on, the bbs itself could have forums that were online too... the look and feel could be totally 8bit, and underneath it all would be just a regular forum like we have here on Atariage. You could even make options like "c64, Atari 800, Apple II etc.." to change the style and feel of the interface and text.

 

Some genuine IBM / PC forum software exists from that era already. They look pretty similar to Atari boards as is. They just don't support the Atari characters... I think even back in the day a few people used PCs to host Atari themed BBSs.

[Warriorisabouttodie]

as to the other questions, BBSs still exist; some you can telnet to. The other day I was checking out an Atari one; I think it was clled DarkForce or something like that. There is a list somewhere around here on this forum of the BBS available.

 

Yes but I think he wants to call the bbs on the phone with a Atari modem. I don't think there are too many, if any bbs's answering the telephone with a carrier tone these days. By the early 90's most bbs's wouldn't allow you to connect at 300/1200 baud anymore.

 

You know what would be neat? If someone were to write a bbs emulator. A program you could run on a modern computer that would simulate what it was like to call a bbs and log on, the bbs itself could have forums that were online too... the look and feel could be totally 8bit, and underneath it all would be just a regular forum like we have here on Atariage. You could even make options like "c64, Atari 800, Apple II etc.." to change the style and feel of the interface and text.

 

Some genuine IBM / PC forum software exists from that era already. They look pretty similar to Atari boards as is. They just don't support the Atari characters... I think even back in the day a few people used PCs to host Atari themed BBSs.

 

 

I was thinking more along the lines of a app you ran in windows that looked like you were calling a bbs and sounded like it, but you would actually be posting on a internet forum basically a modified browser that was customized for this one thing. Everything could run at 9600 baud to give it the authentic scrolling feeling too.... I dunno just thinking out loud. nIt would only be interesting for people into old computers and it would just be a novelty, but it would be kinda cool.

[Fox-1 / mnx]

I was thinking more along the lines of a app you ran in windows that looked like you were calling a bbs and sounded like it, but you would actually be posting on a internet forum basically a modified browser that was customized for this one thing.

I think it's much cooler to let any terminal running on PC/Mac/whatever connect (via internet) to a BBS which runs on real Atari 8-bit hardware.

[+bf2k+]

I was thinking more along the lines of a app you ran in windows that looked like you were calling a bbs and sounded like it, but you would actually be posting on a internet forum basically a modified browser that was customized for this one thing.

I think it's much cooler to let any terminal running on PC/Mac/whatever connect (via internet) to a BBS which runs on real Atari 8-bit hardware.

 

 

I connect to Internet Atari BBSes using a PC Windoze-based ATASCII (that's right... ATASCII) terminal.

[Fox-1 / mnx]

I connect to Internet Atari BBSes using a PC Windoze-based ATASCII (that's right... ATASCII) terminal.

I use SyncTerm (ATASCII 80 columns) to locally log-in if I need something to do ATASCII related but usually I just fire up HyperTerm. When using SyncTerm it's difficult to use the BBS control functions as the keyboard layout is not compatible. Control-N in SyncTerm is not the same as control-N on a real Atari 8-bit.

[atari frank]

I just dialed into the prison board bbs in tx, I used 130xe with sx212 modem (1200 baud) and got in fine and then jumped to the atari bbs from there.The only problem i have is I used sx express software which is in black and white, and a lot of characters were all garbled, even when I switched between ascII and atascII But worked well at the boot factory(atascII). Can any one recommend a software program for this application.It seems to me the program I got with my 1030 25 years ago worked better.

[+bf2k+]

I just dialed into the prison board bbs in tx, I used 130xe with sx212 modem (1200 baud) and got in fine and then jumped to the atari bbs from there.The only problem i have is I used sx express software which is in black and white, and a lot of characters were all garbled, even when I switched between ascII and atascII But worked well at the boot factory(atascII). Can any one recommend a software program for this application.It seems to me the program I got with my 1030 25 years ago worked better.

 

Bobterm or Express. Maybe you had Prison set up in ANSI graphics mode hence all the funny chars ([-).