The start of the XM301 - Just a rebadged 1030? Or more?

[doctor_x]

The collectives want to know...

[Fres]

I think this is probably well documented elsewhere.  Couple of things come to mind, though:  XM301 had a ring detector and the 1030 did not.  XM301 was powered over the SIO while the 1030 used an external power supply.  The 1030 also had built in rudimentary terminal software?  XM301 relied entirely (wisely) on loadable software.

 

Please, feel free to correct me.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Fres

[+Stephen]

Also - the 1030 used the PoKey to generate the dialing tones, while the XM301 did not.  Really big size difference too.  Pretty safe bet it was an all new design.

[CommodoreDecker]

Fun side note:  I had an XM301. Back when 300 baud inside a gray brick with angled power light was cool... The XM301 also had a nice little design flaw where, in some units, there were several bare wires inside the chassis by the SIO cable entry point that could short out the entire unit. Oops. I opened mine back in the day and thankfully there were no exposed wires. The solution for those who had the issue was to clip off the bare copper or wrap them in electrical tape. The only things that are good fried are few, and none of those contain electronics. 

 

[manterola]

Another difference: 1030 has 2 SIO ports to make it part of the SIO chain. XM301 has built-in SIO pigtail cable, so it can be used at the end of the chain, only. Typical Atari corp. saving cost measures. It is also significantly smaller.

I still have great appreciation for both models. The XM301 was my first modem and it was in use well into the 90s to connect to internet from home using a dial-up number to a SunOS machine at the University (at a time when people was already getting connected at 9.6k and 14.4k). I remember I used the "upload text" option in the XETerm program to upload previously typed emails (typed in Xlent word processor). It was pretty convenient at the time...

The was able to get a 1030 not long ago, and it is also a super cool and beautiful piece of hardware. Atari clearly had in mind the user friendly and foolproof aspects of home computing at the time: you can get online was just booting your computer, the 1030 modem supplied the R: handler and Terminal program for the Computer to operate.

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by manterola

[Mathy]

Hello guys

 

IIRC, the 1030 was Bell 300 only, while the XM301 also did CCITT 300.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

[zzip]

20 hours ago, Stephen said:

Also - the 1030 used the PoKey to generate the dialing tones, while the XM301 did not.  Really big size difference too.  Pretty safe bet it was an all new design.

I thought the XM301 used Pokey as well?

 

18 hours ago, manterola said:

XM301 has built-in SIO pigtail cable, so it can be used at the end of the chain, only. Typical Atari corp. saving cost measures.

One of my memories of the XM301 was how cheap it felt,  I always preferred the styling of the 1030 as it would have matched my 800XL,  but the XM301 had a price that was hard to argue with.   It was cool that it was powered by SIO though.

[+DrVenkman]

18 hours ago, manterola said:

Atari clearly had in mind the user friendly and foolproof aspects of home computing at the time: you can get online was just booting your computer, the 1030 modem supplied the R: handler and Terminal program for the Computer to operate.

I had one BITD - my first modem. Wasn't it a "T:" (Terminal) handler for the 1030? It's been a few decades and I might be mis-remembering.

[+kheller2]

21 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

I had one BITD - my first modem. Wasn't it a "T:" (Terminal) handler for the 1030? It's been a few decades and I might be mis-remembering.

Why yes.. and used TScope software or Amodem or even HomePack (I loved using that for a while .. watching the data characters stream across the screen, anxiously waiting to see things!).

 

[+DrVenkman]

1 minute ago, kheller2 said:

Why yes.. and used TScope software or Amodem or even HomePack (I loved using that for a while .. watching the data characters stream across the screen, anxiously waiting to see things!).

 

I know I used all three of those at one point or another. I probably still have my (original or pirated) disks too, but not the 1030 itself, even if would still be usable on modern phone systems. I haven't had a landline in close to a decade anyway.

[+x=usr(1536)]

5 hours ago, Mathy said:

IIRC, the 1030 was Bell 300 only, while the XM301 also did CCITT 300.

 

Something makes me want to say that the 830, 835, 1030, and XM301 were Bell 103.  The SX212 was Bell 212, however, hence the name.

[+MrFish]

37 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Something makes me want to say that the 830, 835, 1030, and XM301 were Bell 103.  The SX212 was Bell 212, however, hence the name.

That's correct.

 

[doctor_x]

Sorry I’m just now revisiting. I certainly knew that there were some differences - I didn’t know if the base board was “basically” the same though yea, I suppose the mini-size of the xm301 compared to the 1030 sort of gives that away - my bad. Love some of the other comments and I believe MrFish is correct about everything up to the SX212 being Bell 103 compliant.

 

A bit of nostalgia - the XM301 was the first modem I *owned* but I did get to spend some time with an MPP1000c joystick port connector and all prior to that. This was at a time where I did not realize ASCII and ATASCII were something that was relatively incompatible... what was that? 1982? After googling it appears 1984.. Seemed so much earlier.

 

Additionally - and I have no idea how he knew to do this, I had an electrical engineer neighbor who built a “fone flasher” based auto answer device out of a 2 prong power cord, a joystick cable, and - of course - the radio shack fone flasher so I could run Forem 1030 (at first), then Marshware, then finally Express on my Atari 800XL single drive setup. Didn’t have room for warez, but had lots of room for dialups, long distance codes, and phreaking textfiles/apps.

 

The glory days.

[+DrVenkman]

Following up on the 1030 side of this discussion, tonight I found some of my telecom disks from BITD. The seem to still boot too. 

 

 

[+MrFish]

22 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Something makes me want to say that the 830, 835, 1030, and XM301 were Bell 103.  The SX212 was Bell 212, however, hence the name.

 

25 minutes ago, doctor_x said:

Love some of the other comments and I believe MrFish is correct about everything up to the SX212 being Bell 103 compliant.

 

I researched the specs for all of these modems for the hardware website I'm in progress building, and they are all just as stated by @x=usr(1536).

 

The SX212 is "Bell 103 & 212A, Hayes AT Command Set" compatible.

 

[Atari8guy]

Man I was stuck with an XM301 and Hometerm from Homepak.  I thought it was awesome too, playing BBS games and browsing warez and phreaking files.  Then my dad brought home a 286 with a 2400 baud modem and I was able to download stuff.  Still really fond memories but not as much "wonder" as when I first went online with the Atari.  Still have the Atari, 286 is long gone.

[+David_P]

Started with a Supra 300AT (rebranded MPP1000c). Upgraded to a SX212, and then a series of other modems over the years.  Right now, still have that original Supra, a pair of XM301s, and a sealed SX212...

[+Nezgar]

On 02/02/2021 at 4:31 PM, zzip said:

On 01/02/2021 at 8:01 PM, Stephen said:

Also - the 1030 used the PoKey to generate the dialing tones, while the XM301 did not.  Really big size difference too.  Pretty safe bet it was an all new design.

I thought the XM301 used Pokey as well?

I could have sworn by the sound coming out of my TV that the XM301 was doing the POKEY audio DTMF thing like the 1030. Though I've never owned a 1030 to say if the behavior is different, I always thought the XM301 was software-wise basically the same as a 1030... Id be happy to be corrected and learn!

[bfollowell]

20 hours ago, 8bitguy1 said:

Still have the Atari, 286 is long gone.

 

That is a perfect sentiment for our Ataris.

 

I'm part of a retro computer group, but it is mainly people drooling over old PCs and looking for third generation 3DFX cards to build an authentic 2000 era PC. To each their own, but I really don't get it. I love my modern gaming rig, but after a few years and newer games start running slowly or not at all, it just becomes an old computer to me; something to be replaced and moved on from. My Ataris, 8- and 16-bit alike, are something different. Maybe it's the era when they were made or my age when I used them the most. There's just something special about 8- and 16-bit non-PC style computers. They just have that nostalgia factor. It's hard for me to imagine someone having that same feeling for some random 1998 Pentium II PC.

 

[+Stephen]

17 minutes ago, Nezgar said:

On 2/2/2021 at 5:31 PM, zzip said:

On 2/1/2021 at 9:01 PM, Stephen said:

Also - the 1030 used the PoKey to generate the dialing tones, while the XM301 did not.  Really big size difference too.  Pretty safe bet it was an all new design.

I thought the XM301 used Pokey as well?

I could have sworn by the sound coming out of my TV that the XM301 was doing the POKEY audio DTMF thing like the 1030. Though I've never owned a 1030 to say if the behavior is different, I always thought the XM301 was software-wise basically the same as a 1030... Id be happy to be corrected and learn!

I could very much be wrong.  I was 12 years old when I bought my XM301 (1987).  I do still have a 1030 and an XM301 - I guess I could just plug the guys in and dial.

[Atari8guy]

2 hours ago, bfollowell said:

 

It's hard for me to imagine someone having that same feeling for some random 1998 Pentium II PC.

 

Yeah, especially when a modern PC is really just an upgraded version, or at least there is a clear family tree that connects my i7 to that Pentium II.  Still fun for gaming but as you say, lacks nostalgia.  I do like running games in dosbox from time to time with CGA graphics (I'm looking at you Commander Keen).  That magenta has some nostalgia....