3 ms·

Seeing AT commandes described as the "way that humans and machines can interact with a cellular modem" made me feel old because they didn't just say "remember A

by quartz 5y ago

Seeing AT commandes described as the "way that humans and machines can interact with a cellular modem" made me feel old because they didn't just say "remember AT commands from manually driving your Hayes 9600baud dial up modem?"

tallanvor 5y ago
9600? Try 1200 baud! Of course, this guarantees that someone will chime in talking about starting off with a 300 baud modem that worked like they showed in WarGames.
- jon_adler 5y ago
  I also ran through most of the modem speeds. All the lower speeds were calls made to BBSs, pre internet. 1200, 2400, 9600, 14400, 28800, 33600…
  - lordelph 5y ago
    I recall accessing Prestel at 1200/75 - 1200 baud coming down, but a measly 75 baud going back up!
- jes 5y ago
  Back in the 70s, I dialed a number on my parent’s rotary phone. When the remote computer answered, I would shove the handset into the earmuffs on the acoustic coupler[1]. It usually worked. I don’t remember if the baud rate was 300 or 110. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler
- DonHopkins 5y ago
  Modems used to cost a dollar a baud, about $100 for a 110 baud modem, $300 for a 300 baud modem, and $1200 for a 1200 baud modem.
13of40 5y ago
I remember when the Hayes command set started to become the standard, because for a while you could get on a group chat on a BBS and press +++ATH to make the outbound modems hang everyone up. I think there was an AT command to remap that pattern, but it wasn't adopted by all the BBS software right away. Edit: To clarify, before then you would have something like a 300 baud modem that didn't have an out-of-band command set, so you would dial the number on your phone and flick a switch on the modem to make it connect and everything would be sent to the other side verbatim. The "+++" is the escape sequence you send to a Hayes modem to break it into command mode, the "AT" is the prefix for the command (attention?), and "H" means "hang up". IIRC, puritans would say "ATH0" because the "0" represents some particular state to hang up to, but it's the same as "ATH".
- DonHopkins 5y ago
  The DC Hayes Micromodem II for the Apple ][ had its own weird command codes using control characters, with ^A at the "attention" command. IN#3 (Apple ][ command to hook input from slot #3) ^A ^F (modem command to set full duplex) ^A ^Q (modem command to pulse dial the following number) ^A ^Z (modem command to hang up) https://mirrors.apple2.org.za/ftp.apple.asimov.net/documentation/hardware/io/Hayes%20Micromodem%20II%20Manual.pdf https://mirrors.apple2.org.za/ftp.apple.asimov.net/documenta... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_Microcomputer_Products#Early_Hayes_products https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_Microcomputer_Products#E... https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102645985 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/10264598... https://www.ebay.com/itm/393165436881 https://www.ebay.com/itm/393165436881 Later on once the Hayes AT command set took over and BBSs became popular in the 80's, there was a flat $25/month subscription service called "PC Pursuit" that had banks of modems in different cities connected by a network, which you could dial up locally, then connect over the network to another modem, and dial out to a local BBS system. It was a subsidiary of Telenet, which spun off from BBN, and later was a subsidiary of U.S. Sprint. http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/library/CONCEPTS/SERVICES/PCPURSUIT/hackpcp.htm http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/library/CONCEPTS/SERVICES/PCPU... https://bbs.fandom.com/wiki/PC_Pursuit https://bbs.fandom.com/wiki/PC_Pursuit https://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/pc-pursuit---the-forerunner-of-voip.asp https://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/pc-pursuit---t... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telenet#PC_Pursuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telenet#PC_Pursuit There was a fun game you could play called "PC Roulette", in which you first connected to a remote modem with the PCP command, then issued the command "A/" directly to the modem, to redial the last number somebody else dialed on that modem!

by quartz 5y ago

tallanvor 5y ago

9600? Try 1200 baud! Of course, this guarantees that someone will chime in talking about starting off with a 300 baud modem that worked like they showed in WarGames.

jon_adler 5y ago
I also ran through most of the modem speeds. All the lower speeds were calls made to BBSs, pre internet. 1200, 2400, 9600, 14400, 28800, 33600…
- lordelph 5y ago
  I recall accessing Prestel at 1200/75 - 1200 baud coming down, but a measly 75 baud going back up!
jes 5y ago
Back in the 70s, I dialed a number on my parent’s rotary phone. When the remote computer answered, I would shove the handset into the earmuffs on the acoustic coupler[1]. It usually worked. I don’t remember if the baud rate was 300 or 110. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler
DonHopkins 5y ago
Modems used to cost a dollar a baud, about $100 for a 110 baud modem, $300 for a 300 baud modem, and $1200 for a 1200 baud modem.

13of40 5y ago

I remember when the Hayes command set started to become the standard, because for a while you could get on a group chat on a BBS and press +++ATH to make the outbound modems hang everyone up. I think there was an AT command to remap that pattern, but it wasn't adopted by all the BBS software right away. Edit: To clarify, before then you would have something like a 300 baud modem that didn't have an out-of-band command set, so you would dial the number on your phone and flick a switch on the modem to make it connect and everything would be sent to the other side verbatim. The "+++" is the escape sequence you send to a Hayes modem to break it into command mode, the "AT" is the prefix for the command (attention?), and "H" means "hang up". IIRC, puritans would say "ATH0" because the "0" represents some particular state to hang up to, but it's the same as "ATH".

DonHopkins 5y ago
The DC Hayes Micromodem II for the Apple ][ had its own weird command codes using control characters, with ^A at the "attention" command. IN#3 (Apple ][ command to hook input from slot #3) ^A ^F (modem command to set full duplex) ^A ^Q (modem command to pulse dial the following number) ^A ^Z (modem command to hang up) https://mirrors.apple2.org.za/ftp.apple.asimov.net/documentation/hardware/io/Hayes%20Micromodem%20II%20Manual.pdf https://mirrors.apple2.org.za/ftp.apple.asimov.net/documenta... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_Microcomputer_Products#Early_Hayes_products https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_Microcomputer_Products#E... https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102645985 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/10264598... https://www.ebay.com/itm/393165436881 https://www.ebay.com/itm/393165436881 Later on once the Hayes AT command set took over and BBSs became popular in the 80's, there was a flat $25/month subscription service called "PC Pursuit" that had banks of modems in different cities connected by a network, which you could dial up locally, then connect over the network to another modem, and dial out to a local BBS system. It was a subsidiary of Telenet, which spun off from BBN, and later was a subsidiary of U.S. Sprint. http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/library/CONCEPTS/SERVICES/PCPURSUIT/hackpcp.htm http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/library/CONCEPTS/SERVICES/PCPU... https://bbs.fandom.com/wiki/PC_Pursuit https://bbs.fandom.com/wiki/PC_Pursuit https://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/pc-pursuit---the-forerunner-of-voip.asp https://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/pc-pursuit---t... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telenet#PC_Pursuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telenet#PC_Pursuit There was a fun game you could play called "PC Roulette", in which you first connected to a remote modem with the PCP command, then issued the command "A/" directly to the modem, to redial the last number somebody else dialed on that modem!