Miracle WS2000 Modem

Your Computer

Overall 4/5

Anthony Thompson 4/5

MODEM ROUTE TO SUCCESS A good modem can cost as much as a computer. Anthony Thompson investigates. Every branch of computing has its own set of jargon. With word-processors you can cut, paste, insert or zap. With joysticks you can have auto-fire, pistol grips and microswitches and with monitors you can have RGBs, dual frequency and monochrome display. In most cases, common sense will give you a rough idea of what the jargon means but there is one area of computing where you might need a little help. Communications is an area filled with seemingly meaningless phrases but one which offers rich rewards to those who dare to enter; to link your computer to the world of unlimited telephone bills, all you need is a modem. The word modem is an abbreviation of modulator-demodulator. It is a device which translates the electronic language of a computer into a series of sound waves and vice versa. Those sounds are then sent down a telephone line to whatever service you choose. All modems require software to work. With some models such as the Miracle Technology 64 multimodem it is built-in, while others like the Datastar Magic modem require a separate package. Software varies in price depending on the machine and the number of features you want. AUTO-DIALLING More expensive systems may incorporate more facilities such as auto-dialling and answering, on-screen clocks and memory buffers to store incoming data. Such features are really worth buying only if you intend to make full use of them. An auto-answer machine, combined with the correct software package, will allow you to create your own bulletin board with whatever services you like, but unless you do not use your telephone a great deal, it is best to have a separate line installed. Modems in the same price range tend to have similar functions. The more expensive models have several additional features but the value is dependent on the purpose for which you intend to use it most. The baud rate, the speed at which the modem sends and receives data, is an important consideration. Some systems send and receive data at 300/300 baud, the equivalent of 30 characters per second, but more recently many viewdata and bulletin board systems have adopted the Prestel standard of 1,200/75. While more and more systems are using that speed, the number still using 300/300 is sufficient to justify buying a modem which can handle both. Faster speeds are available but they cost considerably more and can really be used only with the commercial electronic mail systems; they are geared more towards business than home users. Most modern modems connect directly into the telephone socket. For those whose homes use older-type connections, acoustically-coupled modems which incorporate rubber cups to fit on the handset are available but they are often more difficult to use. Modems capable of faster speeds such as 1,200/1,200 are available but they cost considerably more and can really be used only with commercial electronic mail systems which are geared more towards business rather than home users. The operating speed of a modem is sometimes defined by the V system. That relates to a set of recommendations for data transmission by telephone made by the United Nations technical committee. V21 refers to the 300/300 system while V23 includes 1,200/75. There is also V22, the 1,200/1,200 system, and others which define modems which can auto-dial, auto-answer and so on. Modems are sometimes also defined as being intelligent or Hayes-compatible; the latter refers to an American standard and the AT command set which some software packages use. Using this system, to dial a number from the keyboard, you type ATD followed by the number and return. The AT command attracts the attention of the modem while the D tells the modem to dial. Variations of the command set include help functions and dialling from memory. Most modern modems connect directly into a telephone socket. For those whose homes use older-type connections, acoustically-coupled modems which incorporate rubber cups to fit on the handset are available but they are often more difficult to use. A final point to mention is to ensure that the modem you buy is BABT-approved. If it is, it will display the green approval sticker - it is a criminal offence to use a non-approved modem on the BT network. MIRACLE WS2000 MODEM Price: £130 Baud Rate: A, B, C, D Auto Dial As Standard: No Star Rating: **** MIRACLE WS3000 MODEM Price: £399 Baud Rate: A, B Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: **** PRISM VTX5000 MODEM Price: £70 Baud Rate: B Auto Dial As Standard: No Star Rating: ** VOYAGER 7 MODEM Price: £79 Baud Rate: A, B, C, D Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: **** CIRKIT Price: £35 Baud Rate: A, B, C, D Auto Dial As Standard: No Star Rating: **** MINI-MAX Price: £66 Baud Rate: A, B, C Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: **** MAGIC MODEM Price: £79 Baud Rate: A, B Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: *** TANDATA Price: £99 Baud Rate: B, D Auto Dial As Standard: No Star Rating: *** DATACHAT 1223 Price: £89 Baud Rate: B Auto Dial As Standard: No Star Rating: ** INTERMOVER M5021 Price: £98 Baud Rate: A Auto Dial As Standard: No Star Rating: *** 64 MULTIMODEM Price: £99 Baud Rate: A, B, C Auto Dial As Standard: No Star Rating: **** VOYAGER 11 Price: £99 Baud Rate: A, B, C, D Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: **** PACE NIGHTINGALE Price: £137 Baud Rate: A, B Auto Dial As Standard: No Star Rating: *** DIGISOLVE CHIPCHAT Price: £150 Baud Rate: A, B, D Auto Dial As Standard: No Star Rating: *** AMSTRAD MODEM Price: £175 Baud Rate: A, B, C, D Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: **** TANDATA TM200 Price: £199 Baud Rate: A, B, C, D Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: *** DACOM DSL2123AD Price: £255 Baud Rate: A, B, C, D Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: **** PACE 2123S Price: £239 Baud Rate: A, B, C Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: **** M4000 Price: £282 Baud Rate: A, B, C, D Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: *** DACOM 2123GT Price: £395 Baud Rate: A, B, C, D Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: ***** PACE 2400S Price: £595 Baud Rate: A, B, C, D, E Auto Dial As Standard: Yes Star Rating: *****

AMSTRAD At around £35, the Cirkit acoUstic is probably the cheapest modem available for the Amstrad CPC range. It operates on 1,200/75 baud, allowing access to Prestel, Micronet, BT Gold and several others. The price includes the interface and companion software. The interface can be used with other modems offering a wider variety of baud rates and it can also be used to interface other RS232 devices. The software provides full Prestel support and is available on either tape or disc. SPECTRUM The Mini-Max modem from KDS Electronics represents superb value. It connects directly to the BT lines and features 300/300 and full duplex 1,200/75 operation. It also has an auto-dial mode and for an additional £15 an add-on board will give you an auto-answer facility as well. The modern will operate with any computer with an RS232 interface. COMMODORE The direct-Connect Compunet modem offers the Commodore 64 user access to Compunet; three months' subscription is included in the price. A baud rate of 1,200/75 means that users could access Prestel if they so desired but Compunet, being a specialist database, can offer much more of interest to the Commodore user than Prestel or any of the other Commercial databases could ever hope to do. No interface is required. BBC The recently BABT-approved Datastar magic modem is good value for the BBC micro, long hailed as the king of the communications computer world. The modem has a six-way rotary switch and LED indicators to show Which mode you are in. The Companion software costs around £20 and is controlled by the function keys; 1200/75- and 300/300 baud rates are available, giving access, to Prestel and many private bulletin boards.

NEW RELEASES The new series four from Pace Micro Technology are intelligent modems offering high-speed operation. There are three models, ranging from the 2123S which operates at V21 and V23 to the 2400S which can operate at V21, V22, V22bis and V23. All the models have a 32-character LCD display which is used to provide useful information during operation. That includes the real and elapsed time and diagnostic messages if a transmission should fail. The modem will also store up to 64 numbers which can then be dialled automatically. Further development of the internal software to include additional features such as error-correction and password security is under way. Modem House has produced a range of multi-standard, multi-computer modems. The Voyager 7 model features built-in auto-dial and answer functions, full CCITT V21 and V23 specification and full function LED display. The basic cost is low, at around £79.95 plus VAT, but the software and interface for, say, an Amstrad CPC6128 raises the price to £159.95. That modem can also be operated anywhere in the world with an optional 11.0V power supply. Full bell tones, essential for communicating with American bulletin boards, are also available but only as an optional extra, because full bell-tone specifications are illegal in the UK, and certain other countries.

SUPPLIERS GUIDE 1. Cirkit Acoustic Modem Cirkit [redacted] 2. Mini Max Modem KDS Electronics [redacted] 3. Micronet VTX 5000 Modem House [redacted] 4. Magic Modem Jansz Computer Communications, [redacted] 5. Tandata TM110 V23 Tandata [redacted] 6. Voyager 7 Modem House [redacted] 7. Datachat 1223 GEC Communications [redacted] 8. Intermover M5023 Modular Technology [redacted] 9. 64 Multi Modem Miracle Technology [redacted] 10. Voyager 11 Modem House [redacted] 11. Pace Nightingale Pace Micro Technology [redacted] 12. Digisolve ChipChat Digisolve [redacted] 13. Miracle Technology WS2000 Miracle Technology [redacted] 14. Amstrad Modem KDS Electronics [redacted] 15. Tandata TM200 Tandata [redacted] 16. Dacom DSL2123AD Da Com Systems [redacted] 17. Pace 2123S Pace Micro Technology [redacted] 18. Modular Technology M4000 Modular Technology [redacted] 19. Dacom 2123GT D Com Systems [redacted] 20. Miracle Technology WS3000 Miracle Technology [redacted] 21. Pace 2400S Pace Micro Technology [redacted]

Your Spectrum

BASKING IN GLORY If ever you need to track down a basking shark in a hurry, then this modem from Miracle Technology will do the trick. Well, that's what it was used for in the Wildtrack telly program - and it's worked a few wonders for others as well. Operation Raleigh is using them to send data back to headquarters, for example. And even if your needs are a trifle more mundane - no sharks in Sidcup, eh? - it may still be worth your while taking a look at the multi-speed, multi-standard WS2000. And the reason Miracle is shouting about it? Well, it's just become the first modem ever to be chosen as one of the four finalists for the British Micro Computing Awards 1985 Peripheral of the Year. If you're impressed and you've got £154.73 (including VAT and delivery) then you can order one direct from Miracle. They can be tracked down by ringing [redacted].

Essential equipment for the modern traveller.

Sinclair User

MIRACULOUS MODEM The WS2000 modem from Miracle Technology has been a popular addition for the BBC for some time. Recently, however, it has received the coveted British Telecom approval so it can now be legally connected to the telephone lines. I wonder what users did with them before. Spectrum users are now catered for as well with the aptly named ZX Interface and software which connects the computer to the modem. Unlike the VTX5000 the WS2000 offers a complete range of transmission and reception rates so it can be used to access other modems around the world. Those rates are the standard 1200/75, used to access Prestel and Micronet 800, 75/1200 so you can pretend to be your own Prestel, 1200/1200 or 600/600 half and 300/300 full duplex. As transmission standards vary it is normally set to CCITT V21, as used in Britain. Because of the BT regulations the CCITT V23 setting should only be used off-line to test equipment and the BELL 103/113/108 and BELL 202 settings can be used only if you remove a small pin. The WS2000 can also have auto-dial and auto-answer boards fitted but neither the ZX Interface nor the software support them at the moment. The interface plugs into the Spectrum user port and joins the modem via a cable. It has six switches on the back which are used to set the transmit and receive baud rates, which can be 75, 300 or 1200. The software is remarkably easy to use. Once loaded from tape you are given seven options. The first is to enter your personal ID number; one of the other options is to make a back-up copy of the software and that would automatically save the ID with it. That SAVE is the one annoying feature of the software; it will only save to tape, although you can subsequently transfer it by hand to microdrive. The other options are Viewdata mode, as used on Prestel; Teletype mode, as used on the 300/300 bulletin boards; the ability to change the transmission format from a wide selection; a frame processor and a Mailbox Editor. Overall it is an impressive piece of software; it offers enough facilities for most applications, and could be easily used by someone with little, or no, experience. It is also remarkably short considering it contains the complete Prestel character set. The manual is helpful too, the only omission being a list of the Prestel characters. The snag with all this is the price. The modem costs a whacking £149.44 and the ZX Interface a further £45.94. While this is possibly the only modem you will ever have to buy, considering the recent price reduction of the VTX5000, it is nevertheless too high. If you want more information contact Miracle Technology (UK) Ltd, [redacted].

Personal Computer News

PLUG IN PARAPHERNALIA Our eight-page guide to Christmas peripherals. PICK OF THE PRINTERS MONITORS IN FOCUS DISK DRIVES ASSESSED ...AND OTHER ADD-ONS DECIPHERING THE PERIPHERALS PUZZLE Once you've had a computer for a little while,you may be wondering what else you can do with it, aside from playing games and writing the odd program. Buying one of the wealth of peripherals currently on the market can open up a whole new realm of possibilities, by presenting new programming challenges, new types of software,and providing more capabilities for your computer. The problem is, what to buy, for how much,and where from? Probably the most uninteresting peripherals are printers,which are only of real use for word processing, screen dumps,and program listings. These come in many different types, sizes, prices and capabilities,from dot matrix to daisywheel. Of much more interest these days are modems. Unfortunately,they can give you that dreaded disease known as Hackery, which includes symptoms such as high telephone bills, sleepless nights and no interest in anything else. Other add-ons include light pens and touch pads for budding computer artists. These generally come with some software, but make sure when you buy that there are some details on howto program it yourself. The same applies to joysticks and tracker balls. On some machines handling these is easy but on others, such as the Spectrum and Electron, things area little more difficult. There are so many gadgets available that it would be impossible to name them all. Out of these, perhaps the most exciting are second processors, some of which can turn your humble home micro into something approaching the power of a minicomputer. Others are just add-ons to allow a sought after CP/M system. These are much more common, being available for the BBC, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC464, and Sinclair QL, to name but a few. One point to bear in mind when you buy something extra for your micro is what you are going to do with it when you become fed up with the applications that come with it. If you make sure that there are details on how to access and control it, you will be able to write your own routines to run it, thereby giving it a whole new lease of life. PCN's six page peripherals guide should give you some idea of what is available, how much you should expect to pay, and where you can get them from. PRINTERS Many people think they can live without printers, probably due to their high prices, but eventually you'll probably want one for your microcomputer. There are a number of types around, from the more expensive daisy wheels to the cheaper thermal or ballpoint pen printers. Not to be forgotten, too, are the ubiquitous dot matrix and the ink jet types. The former are generally judged by their Epson compatibility and features. Once the type of printer has been decided upon, there are then a number of additional features to choose from, print buffers, RS232 or Centronics, graphics capabilities, redefinable character sets, and speed being just a few. A printer with all of these the Smith Corona D200 for example - can cost up to £500. Alternatively, a ballpoint pen plotter such as a MCP-40 will cost around £150, but this only takes narrow paper and doesn't give you half the facilities. THERMAL BROTHER EP-22 The EP-22 is quite cheap and will take either thermal paper or a carbon ribbon. It has a keyboard, which makes it a word processor too. PRICE: £169.95 INTERFACES: RS232 REVIEW: Issue 35 FEED MECH: Pinch PRINT MECH: Thermal paper or thermal carbon ribbon PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED (APPROX): 16cps POWER SUPPLY: 4 U2 batteries AVAILABILITY: Brother [redacted] BROTHER HR5 The HR5 thermal printer from Brother basically uses the same mechanism as the EP-22 and EP-44. PRICE: £180.55 INTERFACES: RS232 REVIEW: Issue 47 FEED MECH: Pinch PRINT MECH: Thermal paper or carbon ribbon PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED (APPROX): 16cps POWER SUPPLY: 4 U2 batteries AVAILABILITY: Jones & Brother [redacted] DOT MATRIX SMITH CORONA D200 If you want a dot matrix that does nearly everything for your needs then the Smith Corona D200, at £483, is a good buy. PRICE: £483 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics, both fitted REVIEW: Issue 87 FEED MECH: Pinch and tractor PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 160cps FEATURES: 2K internal buffer, NLQ AVAILABILITY: Smith Corona dealers WALTERS WM80 If you just want a workhorse with no fancy bits, then choose a bottom-end machine such as this. PRICE: £189.75 INTERFACES: RS232 or Centronics REVIEW: Issue 43 FEED MECH: Pinch and tractor PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 80cps AVAILABILITY: Walters Microsystems International, [redacted] COLOUR INTEGREX COLORJET The Integrex Colorjet is mainly for BBC and Apple owners. A BBC screen dump program comes with this very versatile printer. PRICE: £632.50 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics REVIEW: Issue 51 and 44 FEED MECH: Pinch PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 37cps AVAILABILITY: Integrex [redacted] COMMODORE MPS 801 There are no frills on this and you will have difficulty attaching it to anything except a Commodore. PRICE: £395.95 INTERFACES: I triple Commodorey REVIEW: Issue 79 FEED MECH: Pinch and tractor PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 38cps AVAILABILITY: Commodore [redacted] DAISIES JUKI 6100 The Juki 6100 has above average speed at 17cps and is a nice cheap daisy wheel printer although it does have a few rough edges. PRICE: £385.25 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics REVIEW: Issue 17 FEED MECH: Pinch WHEEL TYPES: Triumph Adler PAPER SIZE: Up to 13in SPEED: 17cps AVAILABILITY: Most dealers SMITH CORONA L1000 The L1000 from Smith Corona is a good quality printer if a little noisy and slow. £50 extra for a parallel interface. PRICE: £368 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics REVIEW: Issue 78 FEED MECH: Pinch and optional tractor feed WHEEL TYPES: Smith Corona PAPER SIZE: Up to 13in SPEED: 12cps AVAILABILITY: Smith Corona dealers MODEMS Modems could well be classed as the up and coming peripheral of 1985. With the rapid growth of bulletin boards and the increase in Prestel-type systems, the number of cheap modems available has doubled since last year. One of the problems that beset their introduction was BABT/BSI approval. The modems had to be sent to the BABT or BSI for testing for compatibility with BT's telephone network. By the middle of 1984, there were so many modems awaiting the green sticker that people started selling them without. Things have settled down a bit now and there are a number of good modems on the market. These can be split up into different types - direct connection, acoustic coupler, single speed, or multi speed. The standard transmission speeds are 300/300 and 120005. The first is generally used for bulletin boards, although both Prestel and Telecom Gold are available on this speed. Whatever modem you buy, make sure you get one that fits your needs as far as baud rates go, otherwise you may feel a bit left out. COMMODORE COMMUNICATIONS Those with a Commodore 64 needn't feel left out. The Commodore Communications modem gives you access to Compunet, of course, and also Prestel. In the near future, Commodore is going to produce some software to allow user to user communication. If you want to use the various bulletin boards, you will have to acquire an RS232 port and a standard 300 modem. PRICE: £99.95 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 1200/75 INTERFACE: Commodore cartridge port and direct connection to BT CONTACT: Commodore dealers PRISM VTX 5000 One of the most popular modems for the Spectrum is the Prism VTX 5000. If you only want access to Micronet and Prestel it is ideal, although it can have a few problems with Interface 1. The way around this is to connect the whole system up without the modem and let it warm up (go and make a cup of coffee). Once warm, the VTX5000 can be connected (after powering down again) and it will work. PRICE: £99.95 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 1200/75 INTERFACE: Spectrum system bus and direct connection to BT CONTACT: Micronet 800, [redacted] PACE NIGHTINGALE The Pace Nightingale is another multi speed modem with both Bell and CCITT frequencies. It is a hard wire modem ie it connects directly into the telephone socket. Built mainly to be used with the BBC, for which the Commstar ROM is available, the complete package costs about £136. It is also available for any other RS232 compatible communications package. PRICE: £136.85 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 300/300 1200/75 INTERFACE: RS423/232 CONTACT: Pace Software [redacted] MINOR MIRACLES WS2000 The Minor Miracle WS2000 is great for bulletin board hackers and Prestel users alike. It lacks auto dial and auto answer facilities, which are a little expensive at £30 each but at least you're given the option. PRICE: £149.44 Auto dial and answer boards extra at £30 each BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 300, 1200/75, half duplex 600,1200 INTERFACE: RS232 with DTR, RTS, CTS, DCD handshaking EXTRAS: Also has the Bell 103/113, 108, 202 and CCITT, V21, V23 tones standards fitted. CONTACT: Minor Miracles [redacted] SENDATA 700B For the ultimate in portability, it is hard to beat the Sendata 700B acoustic modem, distributed by Tandy. This modem will fit onto any standard telephone via its flexible connector so you can use it in a phone box if you don't mind the pips corrupting your data. PRICE: £235 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 300/300 INTERFACE: RS232 to the computer, and acoustic modem to BT CONTACT: Sendata [redacted] MONITORS The major excuse for not buying a monitor is that it's not strictly necessary if you have a TV. The counter arguments are that with a monitor you can see your superb high-resolution graphics with less eyestrain. The clincher is that someone else might want to watch TV. You mostly measure a monitor's quality by its bandwidth. This defines how fast the individual dots are scanned on the screen so obviously the faster it does this, the better the picture will be. 10MHz is at the low end of the range with the better colour monitors having over 20MHz. Another consideration is whether to buy colour or monochrome. The latter comes in various different coloured phosphors, usually green on green. Other options are orange on orange or grey on grey, if you want full colour, you must pay quite a lot more for high quality. If you are not too bothered about that there are a number of converted TV tube monitors available for much less. CHEAP COLOUR At the very cheap end come the JVC and Fidelity converted TV tube-type monitors. The JVCs come in two different versions, medium- and high-resolution. The 1302-2 is the high-resolution version but has a rather dirty white. This is generally caused by the quality of the phosphors used. However, it's not at all bad for £229.95. The lower priced version, the 1302-1, costs less at £149.95 but the bandwidth is not as good. MONITOR: JVC 1302-1/1302-2 PRICE: £253 RESOLUTION: 370 x 470 pixels/580 x 470 CRT SIZE: 14in/14in BANDWIDTH: 6MHz/10MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25/80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB analogue/TTL SYNC: Pos or neg AVAILABILITY: Opus Supplies, [redacted] The Fidelity CM14 resembles the JVCs ie it's a converted TV tube. Its advantage is that it can be interfaced to a number of different machines, and has a built-in speaker and amplifier to allow access to, for instance, the Commodore 64's sound output. Cables for a number of machines are available from Tape Recorder Spares. One drawback to the CM14 is that it gives a better picture with some computers such as the Oric, but a bad one with others, notably the Dragon. MONITOR: Fidelity CM14 PRICE: £228 RESOLUTION: 370 x 470 pixels CRT SIZE: 14in BANDWIDTH: 12MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB TTL, Audio input (1Kohm imp) SYNC: Pos or neg AVAILABILITY: Micro Peripherals [redacted] BETTER QUALITY Near the top of the range of colour monitors are Kaga, Microvitec, and one from Prism. The latter looks suspiciously like the Fidelity although it is better quality. The Kaga monitors come in a range, at the top of which is the Vision III. This has a black anti-glare tube and good colours. MONITOR: Kaga Vision III PRICE: £370 RESOLUTION: 640 x 440 CRT SIZE: 12in BANDWIDTH: 18MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB AVAILABILITY: MBS Data Efficiency, [redacted] The Cub is popular and usually found attached to BBCs. The range is wide but the standard version is probably the most common. MONITOR: Microvitec Cub 1431 PRICE: £225 RESOLUTION: 452 x 585 CRT SIZE: 12in BANDWIDTH: 18MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB TTL AVAILABILITY: Dealers MONOCHROME There are several monochromes around, and again, you pay for quality. A very average green-on-green monitor is Zenith's. This produces a fairly good picture on its 12in tube. It does have a switched option to allow the screen size to be altered between 40 or 80 columns. MONITOR: Zenith 123E PRICE: £90.85 RESOLUTION: 640 x 300 CRT SIZE: 12in BANDWIDTH: 18MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 or 40 x 25 CONNECTION: Composite video AVAILABILITY: Most dealers Since most home micros now have an RF output socket as standard, many people want to use them with TVs. The quality of picture varies but the Sony Trinitron range is generally the best. MONITOR: Sony Trinitron KV1430 PRICE: £249 RESOLUTION: 320 x 250 CRT SIZE: 14in CHARACTERS: 60 x 25 CONNECTION: UHF switchable. AVAILABILITY: Electrical stores STORAGE Most home micros can only store data and programs on cassette, which can be a major hassle. The first big upgrade step that most micro owners take is some kind of fast access, mass storage system. For most machines this means a disk drive although for the Spectrum, Microdrives or Wafa drives are usually cheaper. As well as the disk/wafer drive, most machines need an interface to allow them to control the system. The odd one out is the Commodore 64 which has all the necessary bits and pieces built in. The problem here is that it can only be used with Commodore disk units (a typical Commodore gambit). SPECTRUM The main Spectrum storage system is the Sinclair Microdrive. This needs the Interface 1 to be fitted but once in, up to eight drives can be used, each giving access to 85K or so of storage. Unfortunately, this is not too reliable and is still rather slow, and there's no fancy filing system. The additional commands are those printed on the top row of the keyboard in red, so there are no random access files and no way of telling what type the file is until you try to load it. A better system is the Rotronics Wafa drive. This gives access to more storage space and a few more details about file types and sizes. The wafers, so far, have also been found to be much more reliable than the Sinclair Micro cartridges. SYSTEM: ZX Microdrive expansion pack PRICE: £99.95 COMMENTS: Comes with Interface 1, a single Microdrive, four pieces of software, an introductory cartridge, and a blank. Extra drives at £49.95 each. Interface 1 has a pseudo RS232 and a network port. AVAILABILITY: High street stores SYSTEM: Rotronics Wafa drive PRICE: £129.95 COMMENTS: Includes two drives, a word processor and a blank cartridge. Also includes an RS232 and a Centronics port. AVAILABILITY: High street stores BBC The BBC has one of the better filing systems found on home micros. From Basic you get proper random access files, loading and saving of programs and data with the big bonus that it is fast. The drawbacks are that you must have your Beeb altered and a disk controller fitted, costing around £100. You are also limited to a maximum of 31 files per disk and only four drives.The Acorn system is the most common, so if you don't buy its disk drives (which are not the best) you won't get a format program or a disk manual. Most dealers have sussed this and will sell you some other drives with the format disk included, or just the format disk at a nominal cost. The manual or a facsimile can be obtained in most good computer stores. There are a number of alternative filing systems for the BBC. These include the AMCOM, Watford, plus many others. They are not standard and some AcornSoft programs may not run on them. They do, however, improve on the Acorn DFS by getting around the 31 file limit. Which one you get depends on its price, performance, and what you want to do. Also for the BBC are a number of fast tape systems, including the Ikon Ultradrive and the Phloopy. The Ultradrive is better and costs about a quarter the price of a disk system. SYSTEM: Acorn DFS Upgrade PRICE: £115 Fitted DISK DRIVES: Cumana 100K £171.35, 200K £222 AVAILABILITY: Acorn Dealers SYSTEM: Watford DFS PRICE: In kit form £142.60 for single density, £97.75 for double density COMMENTS: The single density (100K 40 track) is more expensive due to the 8271 disk controller costing £90 AVAILABILITY: Watford Electronics [redacted] SYSTEM: Ikon Ultradrive PRICE: £79.95 COMMENTS: Pack of 6 cassettes £20.13 AVAILABILITY: Ikon Computer Products [redacted] AMSTRAD The Amstrad has a disk system in the offing, from Amstrad itself. This is a Hitachi drive and can be accessed from Basic using the definable I command to give IA, IB to select which drive, ITAPE, IDISC, ICPM, IDIR, IERA, and IUSER. From Basic there are, unfortunately, no random access files. The facilities are minimal with no proper filing. However, it does come with a full CP/M system and DR Logo fitted. The CP/M is the same good old standard that has been around for a number of years, the assembler is for the 8080 but on the whole, it paves the way for the Amstrad to become a full business system. SYSTEM: DDI-1 PRICE: £199.95 COMMENTS: Includes interface CP/M and DR Logo AVAILABILITY: High street stores INPUTS Input devices are things like joysticks, add-on keyboards, touchpads and light pens. Most of these can be simply plugged in and either come with their own software or can be used with existing games. Most computers have a minimum of a keyboard for input but some, most notably the original Spectrum Minus, have a keyboard that is less than suitable for a great deal of typing, as in word processing. Due to this, there has been a ready supply of add-on keyboards offerings from, for instance, Fuller, Cheetah, Transform and lately Sinclair itself, with the launch of the Spectrum Plus. Touchpads also seem to be booming with the release of the Touchmaster system for the Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Dragon. Also in the running is the KoalaPad but this is mainly for the Commodore 64 and the Apple. Also in the range of peripherals to help you with your graphics are light pens. These are usually for the Commodore 64 and imported from the US. A number of add-on Spectrum keyboards are available and most require fitting by the user. All you do is invalidate your guarantee by opening up the Spectrum's case, and pull out the keyboard connectors. These are then replugged into the add-on keyboard with the Spectrum circuit board and the add-on box re-assembled. A simpler way uses a buffer that plugs directly into the back of the Spectrum, so you don't have to invalidate your guarantee. KEYBOARD: Transform PRICE: £69.95 FITTING: Invalidates guarantee AVAILABILITY: Transform [redacted] KEYBOARD: Fuller FDS PRICE: £49.95 FITTING: Invalidates guarantee AVAILABILITY: Fuller [redacted] KEYBOARD: Stonechip PRICE: £59.95 FITTING: Plugs straight in AVAILABILITY: Stonechip Electronics [redacted] The peripheral for games players who want more speed and style is a joystick. The shape, size, and quality vary greatly but a rule of thumb is that quality costs more. Joysticks also fall into two types, is switched and analogue. The former is by far the most common with the usual connection being the standard Atari D plug with nine pins. Commodore, Atari, and Spectrum use this type and it is normally possible to obtain an interface for most other machines. The BBC micro is left out when it comes to joysticks as it uses the analogue type. These tend to be more expensive but more flexible to use. The major thing to watch out for is whether the stick might break just as you escape from the whirling hurling alien that is breathing down your back. One of the best is the Quickshot MkII, which comes with suction cups on the base to stop it slipping at tight moments. It also has its fire button built into the handle - good value for £12.95. Another good 'un is the Kempston Pro which doesn't have the fire button in the handle. It has two in tandem on the base allowing use by fight or left handers. It is also very solid. The BBC requires analogue sticks that plug into the analogue port at the back. The recommended version is marketed by Acorn but it seems to have been designed the wrong way round and is difficult to control. Other versions such as the Shado sticks from Spectrum at £16.95, come with an automatic centering mechanism that improves things no end. Of the light pen systems available, most and by far the best, are for the Commodore 64. The Flexidraw package from Inkwell Systems costs £140 but the accompanying software is flexible with full rubber banding, circles, fills, and a zoom. For the BBC, the best graphics package available is the BitStick. The trouble is that this does require the 6502 second processor and disk drives plus a souped-up joystick. However, for your money you get a system that will allow very high quality graphics to be designed and stored. The cleverest part is where you can zoom into part of a picture and then into a smaller part and so on until you run out of disk space. This means pictures can be designed with much more detail than is possible to see on screen. The major drawbacks are the price (£375 plus £199 for the second processor), and the lack of a suitable printer/plotter to obtain hard copy. The Spectrum is way behind in the graphics stakes with Touchmaster, DK'Tronics, and Stack being the few to produce something. The packages that come with these systems are primitive compared with other machines. The problem appears to be lack of interest from the US. The Touchmaster system costs £149.95 and is available from Touchmaster on [redacted]. The DK'Tronics light pen costs £19.95 and is available from DK'Tronics [redacted].

Personal Computer News

Geof Wheelwight

Ian Scales

Kenn Garroch

PCN MICROPAEDIA VOL 20 PART 2 COMMUNICATIONS, MICROS AND MODEMS Modem summary Phoning the Future Dealing with Duplex HARDWARE TALK Deciding how to connect up your hardware is the next step in the process of using your micro as a communications tool. In choosing the hardware to suit what you think are your needs it tends to be a case of the more you pay the more features and flexibility you get. One of the main variables with modems is transmission speed. Buying a modem with a wide range of these tends to put the price up rather substantially. So remember, while this flexibility may be useful if you plan to use the facility for a wide range of tasks, under normal circumstances you may find that a simple 300 baud send/300 baud receive setting will suffice. 300/300 seems to have become a standard for most of the hobbyist bulletin boards worldwide. However, all this seems to be changing. There is at least one hardwired modem with a wide range of transmission/receive speeds for under £100 (see overleaf). Once you've decided on speed, it's time to start thinking about whether you should go acoustic or hardwired (see the boxes on this page). The relative prices of the two types seem to have swapped about over the past year or so, with simple hardwired modems coming out cheaper. Most of these use the new Telecom standard plug arrangement, so it's a simple process to install a two-way adaptor at the Telecom plug in the wall and run your telephone and modem without any inconvenience. Most hobbyists won't require facilities like auto-answer. If your computer already has an RS232 interface it should be possible to configure a modem for well under £100. Micros without serial interfaces are a little more problematical. There are add-on serial interfaces available for the Spectrum, plus a purpose-built unit complete with serial interface, modem and Prestel firmware built in. All you have to worry about after this is terminal software, the various 'status' parameters which must be set if the interface and modem are to work properly, this will be covered in depth in this issue. RS232 SERIAL INTERFACE Communicating through the telephone system initially requires the configuration of a device to convert the internal parallel binary numbers with which the computer deals into serial form so they can be carried on the line. For most users the device that does this very necessary job is likely to be an RS232 serial interface. The RS232 is usually built into the micro, though in some cases it can be configured as an extra card or add-on. It takes the parallel byte one bit at a time and sends the individual bits down the wire one after the other. An RS232 has at least five wires heading out to the outside world. They handle transmit, receive, request to send, clear to send and signal ground respectively. The bytes are usually sent with a cluster of other bits around them to perform certain functions. The RS232 can usually be configured through software to sandwich the byte in a start bit and end it with a parity bit and stop bit. RS232s work with a series of standard speeds to synchronise the sender and receiver. These speeds are known as baud rates and range from 75 baud (the slowest) to 19,200 baud (the fastest). The most commonly used speeds are 300 receive/300 send or 1200 receive/75 send. Baud rates relate to the number of bits sent per second, but as we observed above, these rates cannot be applied directly to the speed at which the bytes will come through because of those extra start and stop bits. There are more than eight bits per byte. There is also a gap between the end of one byte and the beginning of the next, slowing transmission down even further. With the right software it's possible to transfer information or programs between computers, using the RS232, without the imposition of a modem. This technique is becoming particularly useful with the arrival of the lap-held computer, where the user can transfer standard text files from an applications program in one machine to an applications program in another. All you need is a cable with the correct plugs. The trouble is that finding the right plugs is not as easy a task as it might sound. Although RS232 is supposed to be a communications 'standard', the configuration of the pins on RS232 cables varies from machine to machine. This has led to the development of a market for "smart cables' and 'suss-boxes' which help you to get machines with different cable configurations talking to one another easily. ACOUSTICALLY COUPLED MODEMS There are two basic types of modem available: one plugs directly into the telephone system via a wire and the other simply fits over the telephone handset. Each of these modems has its own particular strengths - and weaknesses. The modem with acoustic coupler has the advantage of being totally portable. This makes it particularly convenient to use in conjunction with luggable or lap-held micros. The coupler simply consists of a 'reverse' telephone handset. The microphone in the mouthpiece of the handset is coupled to small speaker and the speaker in the earpiece is coupled to a microphone in the coupler. Obviously, the coupler can be used with any telephone, but there are two disadvantages. Because it's coupled acoustically there is always the chance that background noise will creep into the transmission causing garbage to appear on the screen at odd moments. This can be reduced somewhat by a rubber wrap-around on each coupling to reduce the noise. But this brings disadvantages of its own as it means that every time you want to communicate you have to fiddle about coupling the two items together - a frustrating process at the best of times. But this method does have the distinct advantage of solving the isolating problem. When you are connecting an electrical appliance like a computer to the telephone system, the people responsible for the telephone network (in our case British Telelcom) are understandably concerned to ensure that there is no chance of a short circuit occurring in the computer or the modem, which will send a high-voltage current down into the ,delicate switching systems at the exchanges. An acoustic coupler ensures that the two systems are completely isolated. HARDWIRED MODEMS The second and probably best type of modem is the directly coupled or 'hardwired' one. This hooks directly into the telephone system, but don't be misled by the 'direct' terminology. As always, the part of the modem running off its own power must be completely isolated from the telephone system somehow. On the direct modem this is usually done through an LED system. But to the person using it 'direct' is exactly what it is. These little modems have become very cheap, with several on the market costing under £100. You don't have to worry about connecting them up to your telephone every time you want to use them and you don't have as much trouble with background noise. Many hardwired modems use the new Telecom standard wall plug arrangement - with the incorporation of a double plug adaptor for your wall socket you can have your normal telephone and the modem plugged in and ready to go at the same time - convenience should not be underestimated. Another advantage of this sort of modem is its facility to 'auto-answer' or even 'autodial' a number - though you will always find that facilities like these up the price of the products quite considerably. Telecom regulations are an important factor in this field. Always ensure that the modem you are about to purchase has been Telecom approved. Although it's not an offence for a dealer to advertise a non-approved modem, and it's not an offence for you to buy it, you are liable if you hook it up to the telephone system. This situation is complicated by Telecom's approving individual components, so advertisements you see are likely to make mention of 'Telecom approved components' - not actually of interest to the average buyer. The assembled product is the item which must be approved it it's to be of any use to you. The problem is that the discrepancy in speed of the micro industry and the speed of the British Telecom in approving make things very difficult for distributors - BT has just reduced the time needed for the approval procedure to three months. In fact, BT has also off-loaded direct responsibility for approval of modems to the (BABT) British Approvals Board for Telecommunications - which is hoping to speed up and slim down the approval process (Monitor, issue 52). MAPLINS' MODEM This modem, which you put together from a kit, is the cheapest way to get into telephone communications. At only £39.95, it uses the standard 300 baud CCITT system to communicate over the phone lines and runs at either half or full duplex. Maplin also runs its own mailbox and electronic mail service which lists much of the information in their catalogue and gives you the option to order it through that service. Connection to the computer is via a standard serial RS2320 interface - and if your computer doesn't already have one. Maplin do a number of such interfaces for the Dragon, the Vic-20, Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX-81. The modem has indicator lights showing when it's receiving, transmitting and locked. MINOR MIRACLES WS2000 WORLD MODEM This is one of the first of a new breed of international modem that runs on both the North American and British phone systems. Though the Minor Miracles modem does not have British Approvals Board for Telecommunications approval, the components in the modem are approved. It is not illegal to own one, but attaching it to the telephone system is... The specifications for the new modem are impressive; it operates at 300 baud full duplex, 1200 baud send/75 baud receive full duplex and 1200 baud half duplex, it recognises European and American protocols and an auto-dial/auto-answer plug-in can be bought for an extra £39. The Minor Miracles modem is hardwired and plugs straight into a standard British Telecom phone jack. MICRO-MYTE'S 160 IQ/D The Micro-Myte 160 IQ/D is a software-controlled acoustically-coupled modem for the Sinclair Spectrum which uses the cassette port, rather than the more standard RS232C serial interface. It can't be used to communicate with ordinary bulletin board so electronic mailboxes, but is instead designed to allow easy quick transfer of information between Spectrums. The Micro-Myte transfers data at the non-standard rate of 1032 baud, instead of the 300 baud speed used by most low-cost modems. But at the price of only £99, the 'non-standardness' of Micro-Myte's modem may not - in the end - matter. CONCORD'S V.22 DATA MODEM At £547, the Concord V.22 is at the upper end of what most people would be willing to spend on a modem - but it's also at the upper end of capabilities. It's a hardwire affair that runs at 1200, 600 and 300 baud and automatically filters out distortion on the line. The modem also auto-answers calls from other computers and, when it detects the call, analyses it's signal and selects the appropriate baud rate on its own. The system can be run manually if you don't like the idea of your modem answering your phone calls every five minutes. (Some modems - which are equipped with a device that detects whether a human voice or computer tone is calling you - can be run all the time.) The V.22 seems to be a comprehensively equipped, if somewhat expensive, device. SENDATA 700B SERIES ACOUSTIC COUPLER This is a truly portable 300 baud modem. The acoustic cups on either end of the modem mean you can use it with almost any phone and the rechargeable batteries mean you don't have to look for a main plug before you start transmitting. It's just a little more expensive than most acoustic couplers costing between £220 and £280 (depending on whether you buy it from Sendata or Tandy). And, of course, acoustic couplers that are cheaper aren't portable. Of course, if portability isn't important for your communications, then you'll probably be just as happy with a cheaper - but more stationary - conventional hardwire or acoustic modem. TANDATA'S TM100 The TM-100 is yet another modem to sell for under £100. The shape of this £99 modem is not dissimilar to a Oric-1 computer with no keyboard, but it is capable of 1200/75 transit and receive on full duplex can store up to eight telephone numbers of up to 16 digits each. Passwords and log-on identifiers for each of those phone numbers can also be stored on the TM100. You can automatically or manually transfer your ID, and you can change the ID and passwords currently stored in the modem. If you're using the modem by yourself and few others are likely to need to use it, you're probably safe leaving all the identifier stored in the modems. The modem is connected easily to any micro with an RS232C serial interface and connects to the phone line through a series modular jack plug. DACOM'S BUZZBOX At £69.95 this is probably the cheapest hardwire modem available (unless you count kit-based modems you have to build yourself). It's small, compact, easy to use and connects to any micro with an RS232C standard interface. The Buzzbox runs at only 300 baud (send and receive), but since that speed is used more often world-wide than any other, this shouldn't be a drawback. It's lightweight and plugs easily into a BT modular jack or the old 420-type and can run either on batteries or the mains though the battery-operated version might cost you a bit more. There are only two switches, one which switches the phone back and forth from answer to originate and one which lets you use the phone for either talking or transmitting data. PACES'S GRAPEVINE MODEM Pace has produced a new modem to rival the Minor Miracles WS 2000. For £125, the Grapevine will allow you to run 1200 baud receive, 75 baud send and 300 baud standard at full duplex. It offers CCITT (European) and Bell (USA) transmission frequencies and a self-test mode. The fact that it's hardwired, like the Buzzbox and Minor Miracles modems, minimises the risk of noise on the line interfering with and corrupting data. The Grapevine sports an integral power supply and uses a 5-pin DIN connector for interfacing with standard RS232 ports on micros. It comes standard with a lead suitable for connection to the BBC Micro, but Pace has said it will supply leads for other machines on request. PHONE TO TERMINAL There is a disturbing amount of jargon and constraints that come between you and getting to grips with using a modem to communicate. Most of the trouble stems from standards - it's not that there aren't any, but that there are so many, it's all a question of setting the right speed, the right number of start/stop bits which surround each byte of data you send or receive. Then there's duplex and parity. Standards demand ensuring the receiving machine expects the same sort of data at the same rate that the sending machine is dishing out. Thankfully, the actual course for the characters which are sent are fairly standard. Just about everything which communicates electronically uses a standard ASCII code. A is sent as 1000001. B comes out as 1000010 and so on up through the alphabet. But to send information you have to know if the receiver is expecting an odd or even parity. That's an easy one, you might say, the standard should be even parity. What could be easier - even parity for nice even data transfer? Not at all. Some systems are configured to accept odd parity. So before you can communicate you have to set your system to the correct parity. Every byte sent has an eighth bit which helps the receiving de vice check the integrity of the data at the other end. All characters are sent as numbers, which are, of course, odd or even. The parity bit is added to the number to make it odd or even - depending on what the receiving machine is expecting. If the status is even parity any character which has an odd number is given a parity bit of 1 to make up the difference, and vice versa if the character is already even it gets a 0 parity bit. Thus, if the receiving machine receives an odd number it can be sure when one of the bits is wrong. The concept of duplex is also complicated. Full duplex means communicating modems can receive and send simultaneously. They do this by sending and receiving on different frequencies, and they do it because it makes a good error check. In full duplex it's obviously a very fast process. Half duplex means the communication is two-way, but not simultaneous, so you're not getting a check back on what's appearing at the other end. Perhaps the most obvious variation is speed, or baud rate. Baud means the number of modulations per second. All this is excusable because transmission speed is a trade-off between speed and safety. The slower you send data over a telephone line, the more sure you are there's not going to be a breakdown in communication. The variables are large. Firstly, there is a wide variance in the quality of the line you happen to be using at any one time. Remember the last time you had to scream down the telephone to make yourself heard. You might be able to cope with that sort of aggravation, but computers can't. Problems of garbage appearing on your screen are certainty not unknown. So, when in doubt, the first thing to do is slow it down. Some of the cheaper modems like the slower speeds. Against this, of course, is the argument of time and money. The 75 baud rate is appallingly slow and a large document costs several minutes in telephone charges. These days a firm favourite is 300 baud transmit/300 baud receive - henceforth termed 300/300. The other common speed is 1200/75, which is the speed used by Prestel. You're also likely to come across 600 or 110 from time to time. When you communicate with another computer you are effectively turning your machine into a 'terminal' to receive and send information. In the commercial field terminals are used a lot to interact with mainframe or minicomputers. The terminal may be in the same room or miles away from the computer, in an airport for instance. These terminals can usually be split into smart or dumb terminals. A dumb terminal lives up to its name, it has no local facilities. It sends each character straight to its host as it's typed and has no way of retaining information sent to it - the moment it scrolls off the screen it's gone for good. A smart terminal, on the other hand, is assumed to have local capabilities. It can store and buffer ingoing and outgoing information. A micro is really an over-qualified smart terminal but its potential can only be realised with the incorporation of a good 'terminal' program. This is an applications program which should enable you to easily set and store all the variables mentioned above - parity, baud rate and soon. So, if you're in the habit of accessing a variety of remote systems, you can store all the communication variables in the terminal program and call it all up at the appropriate time. Some terminal programs, given the right hardware, even dial the number for you. As well as dealing with all the slog, a good terminal program enables you to easily save text and strip out unwanted control characters ready to insert in another applications program file. You should also be able to prepare text for transmission. Some programs, with the right computer in tow, will allow you to define keys for such things as passwords or frequently used keystroke sequences required by the system or systems you are accessing. FUTURE PLANS The future of computer-based communications is still very much an open question. There are futurists who confidently predict the advent of 'a micro in every home' within the next five years, while others stubbornly hold on to the idea that computer communications are largely going to be a big business concern and won't have much bearing on the home user. You can already buy a cheap modem and computer that opens up many large international mail and database facilities for under £200, but so far the incentive has been small and the 'on-line' cost still relatively high. One thing that might well reverse that trend is the heavy involvement of telephone companies in micro communications. It should come as no surprise that telephone companies are at the forefront of electronic communication, but it might surprise you to learn that some telephone companies are already working towards finding a cheap way to put a micro in every home - as a cost-saving measure. The key to this cost-saving is the annual printing of telephone books. Each year, phone companies all over the world must print and distribute new telephone books to all their subscribers. And in cities such as London - where the telephone directory runs to four volumes - that kind of printing isn't cheap. Some of that cost is off-set by the rates charged for listings in the Yellow Pages, but electronic communication offers a much cheaper way forward. Canada's BC Tel corporation has been looking at the possibility of equipping every home with a cheap communications micro that would allow people to phone up a huge computer database when they wanted to look up a number, rather than using a telephone book. The idea is that the cost of equipping every home with such a terminal would be quickly offset by not having to print new telephone books every year. Numbers would be added constantly to the database so that it was always current. A good deal of money would also be saved on operator information services, which could be largely handled by the computer database, even numbers which had only just come into service. The Yellow Pages would still spin money in the form of full-screen colour advertisements on the telephone terminal which could be charged according to how much storage 'space' is used on the service. In the UK there is an even greater incentive for the development of this kind of service. First of all, it would vastly increase the number of people who could use British Telecom's Prestel and BT Gold communications services and it would provide less costly alternatives to mail delivery. A terminal in every home would give most people an easy facility (with the addition of some form of keyboard) to use electronic mail, and would both speed up and reduce the cost of business communications. BT Gold and the new One-to-One electronic mail services are already looking toward this future by using electronic mail with existing non-electronic technology. On both services you can now send telexes and telemessages via your micro. Telexes feed the text generated by your micro to a larger computer system which puts them into telex format - from which they can then be printed out on standard telexes throughout the world. Telemessages are a slightly different mixture of old and new. You type a message out on your micro with a name and address at the top of it. That message is then printed out by BT or One-to-One on a standard line printer in their offices and the printed message is stuck in an envelope, addressed, stamped and posted. Large-scale use of communications facilities on micro will eventually make the need for such mixtures of old and new unnecessary - but for now they are useful in introducing people to the power of the new communications technology. The future will probably look something like this: you'll send your electronic mail message to a large storage device which the recipient can then ring up and read the messages from. Collecting mail will no longer be a matter of going to the doorstep or letter box - just dial a number. Micropaedia Editor: Geof Wheelwright Design: Nigel Wingrove Contributors: Kenn Garrock and Ian Scales NEXT WEEK: We conclude our look at communications with a detailed comparison of electronic mail and bulletin board services.

Personal Computer News

Ralph Bancroft

THOROUGHLY MODERN MODEM Ralph Bancroft marvels at an innovative modem. PRICE: £118 including VAT, due to increase when approved by BABT BAUD RATES: 300/300, 1200/75, 75/1200 full duplex; 600, 1200 half-duplex STANDARDS: Bell 103/113/108/202 CCITT V21/V23 INTERFACE: RS232 with DTR, RTS, CTS, DCD handshaking EQUALISATION: Selectable in 1200 baud modes OPTIONS: Auto-dial, auto-answer board to be released shortly at £45; control lead for external selection of baud rates £11 MANUFACTURER: Minor Miracles, [redacted] The Minor Miracles WS2000 modem could turn out to be the peripheral you can't live without. Not only does it communicate at all the most commonly used baud rates (an achievement itself) but it also operates on both European and American carrier frequencies. All this in a box costing (currently) £118. The secret is the chip at the heart of the device. Generally referred to as the world standard modem chip. It is the AMD 7910 and contains on one piece of silicon all the logic to speak in several tongues. Other manufacturers have made or are making modems that use this marvellous piece of wizardry but Minor Miracles is the first company to exploit its capabilities to the full. CONSTRUCTION The WS2000 is a compact cream coloured, plastic box. On the front are three switches. A large one to select the speed and US/European standards, and two smaller ones to switch the modem on line and toggle between 1200/75 and 75/1200 baud. A small switch selects originate or answer mode. Four LEDs indicate power, carrier, on-line and data being sent. At the rear are the mains on/off switch. RS232 socket (using a DIN plug) and a series 600 jack socket for the telephone. Two leads come out of the box - one is for the mains supply and the other plugs into a series 600 wall socket to connect with the telephone system. Inside the box are two sparsely populated circuit boards. In the middle of the main board is space to plug in the optional auto-dial/auto-answer board. IN USE At the moment it is illegal to use the Minor Miracles modem as it has yet to receive full approval from the British Approvals Board for Telecommunications (BABT). It takes several months and thousands of pounds to get even a simple modem using standard components through the process. Wisely, Minor Miracles sought the advice of BABT before finalising its design and is hopeful that it should get through the procedure with the minimum of delay. Official approval is expected at any moment. PCN is an official test site for the product, so we can use the modem with a degree of 'official' sanction. However, it cannot be emphasised too strongly that while it is legal to buy a WS2000 modem, using one is strictly forbidden unless it carries a BABT seal of approval sticker. The (illegal) WS2000 costs £118, but when approval comes through, Minor Miracles expects to charge more. The modem is relatively easy to use. For BBC users, it's almost a question of plug in and go. The documentation supplied (not the final printed version in our case) included a Basic listing to turn the BBC into a simple terminal. A number of ROM, disk and cassette programs are available that add more advanced features. Other users should check with Minor Miracles to see whether it can provide purpose-made leads to work with other micros. To talk to a remote computer simply set the modem to the standard required, dial up the number using the attached phone, turn the on-line switch when you hear the carrier and away you go. The modem was used with a number of services and bulletin boards without a hitch, even a bulletin board in the United States. The only disconcerting thing was the time taken to echo back a character. VERDICT It is not surprising that bulletin board hackers have nothing but praise for the WS2000. It has all you could want from a modem and a little bit more. At the price it is a bargain (even half-way similar modems traditionally cost two to three times the price). But this could change as other manufacturers jump on the world standard chip bandwagon. But the Minor Miracles modem is likely to be in many homes by then. Particularly when it gets BABT approval and the promised auto-dial, auto-answer board.