Modems have been around since the 60s. The Bell 103 (1962) was the first commercial one. 300baud. 300bps. It took until 1986 before a 56kbps modem was invented. (And actually, modems were first used by Air Civil Defense and the Air Force during the 50s to transmit data between crisis centers.)
Yeah I knew about the airforce etc. Most households didn't have the internet until very recently. I was one of the first when I got it in 1995.
Macs took a long time to get 56kbps modems. I had a Mac in 1995 with only 28.8kbps.
Yeah I knew about the airforce etc. Most households didn't have the internet until very recently. I was one of the first when I got it in 1995.
Macs took a long time to get 56kbps modems. I had a Mac in 1995 with only 28.8kbps.
I had net access in my apartment in 1989. '95 was way late to be getting net access among my circle, but then again, we were all geeks who needed our MUD fixes.
In 1991 I had a 56k modem in my PowerBook. Had to buy it as an after market item. (AE was the company, I think. Man, I still have that around here somewhere.) It was standard a while later.
I do recall that it seemed to take forever for Apple to upgrade the uber funky modem port (GeoPort? GlobalPort? G-something-Port) to 56k. Something to do with the motherboard chip having a flaw they didn't catch until much later.
I had net access in my apartment in 1989. '95 was way late to be getting net access among my circle, but then again, we were all geeks who needed our MUD fixes.
In 1991 I had a 56k modem in my PowerBook. Had to buy it as an after market item. (AE was the company, I think. Man, I still have that around here somewhere.) It was standard a while later.
I do recall that it seemed to take forever for Apple to upgrade the uber funky modem port (GeoPort? GlobalPort? G-something-Port) to 56k. Something to do with the motherboard chip having a flaw they didn't catch until much later.
Cool this is really interesting talking about old technology. In 1995 I was nine. Most of my friends didn't have the internet or even know about it. My school didn't really use it. Obviously I understand other people did use it and had done for years.
Cool this is really interesting talking about old technology. In 1995 I was nine.
Ow. Excuse me while I go take my Geritol.
Quote:
Most of my friends didn't have the internet or even know about it. My school didn't really use it. Obviously I understand other people did use it and had done for years.
It's been amazing to watch - I got into it in the mid 80s, when there was no web, no graphics, just text. Everything was done over modem, and bulletin boards (forums) were all the rage. Usenet (newsgroups) had actual content, no spam, and had flamewars which are legendary even today. (They lasted *months*, were literally global, and some spawned off entirely new newsgroups just to humiliate certain individuals who really dug themselves into a hole over time.)
Now it's all graphics, forums, and other than the lack of massive flamewars, pretty much the same except slower. D'oh.
In 1991 I had a 56k modem in my PowerBook. Had to buy it as an after market item. (AE was the company, I think. Man, I still have that around here somewhere.) It was standard a while later.
I remember my first modem back in 1993 or so. It was a 14.4k modem, and I distinctly remember that the only modems faster than it (until 28.8 came out) were the 19.2k v.32terbo modems, which were nonstandard and not supported most of the time anyway. 28.8 came out later, and I remember the Macworld articles about it. 33.6 and 56k both came out while I was in high school (I remember flashing our 28.8 modem that we had at the time to 33.6) which was from 1996 to 2000. So you can't have had a 56k modem back in 1991.
But don't take my word for it, I can Google up some proof:
What you might have had was a 14,400 modem with data compression - some manufacturers liked to advertise 9600 modems as "38,400 modems" and 14,400 modems as "57,600 modems" because of the effective throughput you'd get due to compression. This was, in my opinion, a deceptive marketing practice since you'd only get that speed with uncompressed files such as text. It's a lot like the "TopSpeed" crap that AOL is advertising these days.
I had a 14.4 SupraModem in 1994 with a PowerMac 6100/60 250MB HD and 4x CD-Rom drive... oh, and a spiffy-ass 14inch AV Monitor (640x480 res baybeeee). I was the shit. Oh yeah... and I had a Super Drive too
It played Marathon like a scarecrow on fire!!!!
A year or so later I got a Global Village 33.6 modem while everyone else had a 28.8.
What you might have had was a 9600 modem or a 14,400 modem with data compression - some manufacturers liked to advertise 9600 modems as "38,400 modems" and 14,400 modems as "57,600 modems" because of the effective throughput you'd get due to compression. This was, in my opinion, a deceptive marketing practice since you'd only get that speed with uncompressed files such as text. It's a lot like the "TopSpeed" crap that AOL is advertising these days.
You know, I wasn't sure I remembered it right either, so I went and pulled the original box and manual out of the attic, and was coming back here to correct myself.
You are correct sir, it was a 14.4k modem with data compression to hit 56k or so on a perfect line with perfect data. My apologies, and hat off to you.
You know, I wasn't sure I remembered it right either, so I went and pulled the original box and manual out of the attic, and was coming back here to correct myself.
You are correct sir, it was a 14.4k modem with data compression to hit 56k or so on a perfect line with perfect data. My apologies, and hat off to you.
I was doubting the 56.6kbps modem. It's amazing to think how technology has changed in my life. Modems are hardly used these days. Most people are on broadband. Wireless is faster than any modem and it just makes me laugh when I think that my primary school only had two computers (one with a CD-RAM disk and a massive external modem.) What's odd is that seven years ago the iMac was 233 MHz and now Apple speedbump computers by 233MHz and that signifies a small upgrade. My original computer (well my families) was an LC with 12" monitor - hundreds of colours. With great software: after dark and kid pix!!! My HD was 40MB and I've got no idea how little RAM, I'll have to turn it on later. It uses system 7.5. It still works and was used until very recently by my mum for word processing. The stylewriter is also working which prints better black and white than any colour inkjet! Apple Macs really do last.
Modems have been around since the 60s. The Bell 103 (1962) was the first commercial one. 300baud. 300bps. It took until 1986 before a 56kbps modem was invented. (And actually, modems were first used by Air Civil Defense and the Air Force during the 50s to transmit data between crisis centers.)
Thinking of modems, can anyone explain in a couple of sentences why 56kb/s is the maximum that we use over a standard phone line?
Thinking of modems, can anyone explain in a couple of sentences why 56kb/s is the maximum that we use over a standard phone line?
Mendosi
I'm probably wrong but it uses the same proportion of the line as audio in a conversation and therefore a very small amount. Broadband uses all the line.
I'm probably wrong but it uses the same proportion of the line as audio in a conversation and therefore a very small amount. Broadband uses all the line.
But you can use the phone whilst using broadband..?
Well, I've learned a lesson about software updates: Check Apple forums BEFORE downloading.
I installed the OS X update and immediately noticed increased fan usage on my Powermac G5. So I visited the Apple website forums and there are numerous posts about strange fan behaviour. It seems to be a pervasive problem among Powermac G5 owners who have downloaded the latest OS update. The "general" consensus there is to set processor performance to high but that seems like a temporary solution at best. Anyone else out there having similar problems?
CDP
Yes, I'm having this exact same problem on my PowerMac G5. The increased intense fan activity sounds like a plane taking off every five minutes. I found some similar complaints on another forum but no solution was provided.
Thinking of modems, can anyone explain in a couple of sentences why 56kb/s is the maximum that we use over a standard phone line?
Mendosi
According to the Shannon-Hartley theorem (Shannon's Law), the capacity of a channel is limited by its bandwidth and the signal-to-noise ratio achievable at the receiver.
hey yeah the trackpad jumping on my iBook has gone away.... whoa
usually it happens when i have my finger on one part of the trackpad, then accidentally place another finger on another part of the trackpad, it jumps to where the second finger is, then jumps back when i lift that second finger
i kinda like the jumping, when it happened i fantasised about my trackpad being an advanced dee-jay scraching device
Comments
Originally posted by Kickaha
Modems have been around since the 60s.
Yeah I knew about the airforce etc. Most households didn't have the internet until very recently. I was one of the first when I got it in 1995.
Macs took a long time to get 56kbps modems. I had a Mac in 1995 with only 28.8kbps.
Originally posted by MacCrazy
Yeah I knew about the airforce etc. Most households didn't have the internet until very recently. I was one of the first when I got it in 1995.
Macs took a long time to get 56kbps modems. I had a Mac in 1995 with only 28.8kbps.
I had net access in my apartment in 1989. '95 was way late to be getting net access among my circle, but then again, we were all geeks who needed our MUD fixes.
In 1991 I had a 56k modem in my PowerBook. Had to buy it as an after market item. (AE was the company, I think. Man, I still have that around here somewhere.) It was standard a while later.
I do recall that it seemed to take forever for Apple to upgrade the uber funky modem port (GeoPort? GlobalPort? G-something-Port) to 56k. Something to do with the motherboard chip having a flaw they didn't catch until much later.
Originally posted by Kickaha
I had net access in my apartment in 1989. '95 was way late to be getting net access among my circle, but then again, we were all geeks who needed our MUD fixes.
In 1991 I had a 56k modem in my PowerBook. Had to buy it as an after market item. (AE was the company, I think. Man, I still have that around here somewhere.) It was standard a while later.
I do recall that it seemed to take forever for Apple to upgrade the uber funky modem port (GeoPort? GlobalPort? G-something-Port) to 56k. Something to do with the motherboard chip having a flaw they didn't catch until much later.
Cool this is really interesting talking about old technology. In 1995 I was nine. Most of my friends didn't have the internet or even know about it. My school didn't really use it. Obviously I understand other people did use it and had done for years.
Originally posted by MacCrazy
Cool this is really interesting talking about old technology. In 1995 I was nine.
Ow. Excuse me while I go take my Geritol.
Most of my friends didn't have the internet or even know about it. My school didn't really use it. Obviously I understand other people did use it and had done for years.
It's been amazing to watch - I got into it in the mid 80s, when there was no web, no graphics, just text. Everything was done over modem, and bulletin boards (forums) were all the rage. Usenet (newsgroups) had actual content, no spam, and had flamewars which are legendary even today. (They lasted *months*, were literally global, and some spawned off entirely new newsgroups just to humiliate certain individuals who really dug themselves into a hole over time.)
Now it's all graphics, forums, and other than the lack of massive flamewars, pretty much the same except slower. D'oh.
Originally posted by Kickaha
In 1991 I had a 56k modem in my PowerBook. Had to buy it as an after market item. (AE was the company, I think. Man, I still have that around here somewhere.) It was standard a while later.
I remember my first modem back in 1993 or so. It was a 14.4k modem, and I distinctly remember that the only modems faster than it (until 28.8 came out) were the 19.2k v.32terbo modems, which were nonstandard and not supported most of the time anyway. 28.8 came out later, and I remember the Macworld articles about it. 33.6 and 56k both came out while I was in high school (I remember flashing our 28.8 modem that we had at the time to 33.6) which was from 1996 to 2000. So you can't have had a 56k modem back in 1991.
But don't take my word for it, I can Google up some proof:
http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynami...100/intro.html
http://www.tcs.org/ioport/golden.htm
What you might have had was a 14,400 modem with data compression - some manufacturers liked to advertise 9600 modems as "38,400 modems" and 14,400 modems as "57,600 modems" because of the effective throughput you'd get due to compression. This was, in my opinion, a deceptive marketing practice since you'd only get that speed with uncompressed files such as text. It's a lot like the "TopSpeed" crap that AOL is advertising these days.
It played Marathon like a scarecrow on fire!!!!
A year or so later I got a Global Village 33.6 modem while everyone else had a 28.8.
God. Thats pathetic.
I love it
Originally posted by CharlesS
What you might have had was a 9600 modem or a 14,400 modem with data compression - some manufacturers liked to advertise 9600 modems as "38,400 modems" and 14,400 modems as "57,600 modems" because of the effective throughput you'd get due to compression. This was, in my opinion, a deceptive marketing practice since you'd only get that speed with uncompressed files such as text. It's a lot like the "TopSpeed" crap that AOL is advertising these days.
You know, I wasn't sure I remembered it right either, so I went and pulled the original box and manual out of the attic, and was coming back here to correct myself.
You are correct sir, it was a 14.4k modem with data compression to hit 56k or so on a perfect line with perfect data. My apologies, and hat off to you.
Originally posted by Kickaha
You know, I wasn't sure I remembered it right either, so I went and pulled the original box and manual out of the attic, and was coming back here to correct myself.
You are correct sir, it was a 14.4k modem with data compression to hit 56k or so on a perfect line with perfect data. My apologies, and hat off to you.
I was doubting the 56.6kbps modem. It's amazing to think how technology has changed in my life. Modems are hardly used these days. Most people are on broadband. Wireless is faster than any modem and it just makes me laugh when I think that my primary school only had two computers (one with a CD-RAM disk and a massive external modem.) What's odd is that seven years ago the iMac was 233 MHz and now Apple speedbump computers by 233MHz and that signifies a small upgrade. My original computer (well my families) was an LC with 12" monitor - hundreds of colours. With great software: after dark and kid pix!!! My HD was 40MB and I've got no idea how little RAM, I'll have to turn it on later. It uses system 7.5. It still works and was used until very recently by my mum for word processing. The stylewriter is also working which prints better black and white than any colour inkjet! Apple Macs really do last.
Originally posted by Kickaha
Modems have been around since the 60s.
Thinking of modems, can anyone explain in a couple of sentences why 56kb/s is the maximum that we use over a standard phone line?
Mendosi
Originally posted by Mendosi
Thinking of modems, can anyone explain in a couple of sentences why 56kb/s is the maximum that we use over a standard phone line?
Mendosi
I'm probably wrong but it uses the same proportion of the line as audio in a conversation and therefore a very small amount. Broadband uses all the line.
Originally posted by MacCrazy
I'm probably wrong but it uses the same proportion of the line as audio in a conversation and therefore a very small amount. Broadband uses all the line.
But you can use the phone whilst using broadband..?
Not quite a few lines but it will learn you all about DSL.
Originally posted by danielctull
But you can use the phone whilst using broadband..?
sorry what I meant was broadband uses the rest of it. There is enough space on the line for TV!!
Originally posted by cuello del pollo
Well, I've learned a lesson about software updates: Check Apple forums BEFORE downloading.
I installed the OS X update and immediately noticed increased fan usage on my Powermac G5. So I visited the Apple website forums and there are numerous posts about strange fan behaviour. It seems to be a pervasive problem among Powermac G5 owners who have downloaded the latest OS update. The "general" consensus there is to set processor performance to high but that seems like a temporary solution at best. Anyone else out there having similar problems?
CDP
Yes, I'm having this exact same problem on my PowerMac G5. The increased intense fan activity sounds like a plane taking off every five minutes. I found some similar complaints on another forum but no solution was provided.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Originally posted by CharlesS
Time travel.
Now, ...?
Originally posted by Mendosi
Thinking of modems, can anyone explain in a couple of sentences why 56kb/s is the maximum that we use over a standard phone line?
Mendosi
According to the Shannon-Hartley theorem (Shannon's Law), the capacity of a channel is limited by its bandwidth and the signal-to-noise ratio achievable at the receiver.
For more info, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_limit [wikipedia].
This page also explains how 56k modems worked. Hope this helps.
fnord
10.3.8 seems smooth... no QuickTime problems as some have reported re: iMac g5
Much less than before (also because recently am using mouse more) but the trackpad random jumping still happens...
*sigh*
usually it happens when i have my finger on one part of the trackpad, then accidentally place another finger on another part of the trackpad, it jumps to where the second finger is, then jumps back when i lift that second finger
i kinda like the jumping, when it happened i fantasised about my trackpad being an advanced dee-jay scraching device