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1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone

oldtelephoneroom.ca

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Re: 1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone

#21

Post by contingencies »

rob74 wrote: post #19

> Elsewhere in the world, phones were modular. Handsets connected to their bases via small RJ-9 jacks, allowing devices like the VICModem to intercept the line between the handset and the base. Easy. But not in Canada. I would beg to differ. Maybe in some places in the world, but definitely not "everywhere else but in Canada". That's why the acoustic coupler ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler ) was inve…

Wait: wasn't it created because earlier telephones (before RJ socketed replaceable handsets) were by definition wacko analog things with rotary dial and no standardization of plugs, and therefore the only designed way to couple was mechanically?

Touched a nerve: I had a 300baud acoustic coupled modem in mint condition original box which I bought from a garage sale in ~1995 and my flipping mother threw it out before Y2K. Man I was livid. Imagine what it'd be worth now.

Re: 1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone

#22

Post by vessenes »

contingencies wrote: post #21
rob74 wrote: post #19

> Elsewhere in the world, phones were modular. Handsets connected to their bases via small RJ-9 jacks, allowing devices like the VICModem to intercept the line between the handset and the base. Easy. But not in Canada. I would beg to differ. Maybe in some places in the world, but definitely not "everywhere else but in Canada". That's why the acoustic coupler ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler ) was inve…

Wait: wasn't it created because earlier telephones (before RJ socketed replaceable handsets) were by definition wacko analog things with rotary dial and no standardization of plugs, and therefore the only designed way to couple was mechanically? Touched a nerve: I had a 300baud acoustic coupled modem in mint condition original box which I bought from a garage sale in ~1995 and my flipping mother threw it out before Y…

Much less than the 2 shares of apple stock you could have bought :)

I’d be upset too.

Re: 1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone

#23

Post by [deleted] »

contingencies wrote: post #21
rob74 wrote: post #19

> Elsewhere in the world, phones were modular. Handsets connected to their bases via small RJ-9 jacks, allowing devices like the VICModem to intercept the line between the handset and the base. Easy. But not in Canada. I would beg to differ. Maybe in some places in the world, but definitely not "everywhere else but in Canada". That's why the acoustic coupler ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler ) was inve…

Wait: wasn't it created because earlier telephones (before RJ socketed replaceable handsets) were by definition wacko analog things with rotary dial and no standardization of plugs, and therefore the only designed way to couple was mechanically? Touched a nerve: I had a 300baud acoustic coupled modem in mint condition original box which I bought from a garage sale in ~1995 and my flipping mother threw it out before Y…

[deleted]

Re: 1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone

#24

Post by Aardwolf »

rob74 wrote: post #19

> Elsewhere in the world, phones were modular. Handsets connected to their bases via small RJ-9 jacks, allowing devices like the VICModem to intercept the line between the handset and the base. Easy. But not in Canada. I would beg to differ. Maybe in some places in the world, but definitely not "everywhere else but in Canada". That's why the acoustic coupler ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler ) was inve…

Even the acoustic coupler seems to have had compatiblity issues, see timestamp 1:10 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqJ159pngY8 ("1986: Email - the Perfect Tech for the Jet Set? | Micro Live | BBC Archive")

Re: 1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone

#25

Post by jagged-chisel »

dokyun wrote: post #16
userbinator wrote: post #5

Telco regulations were also why modems used an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler instead of being directly connected. As an aside, the em-dash density of this article is one of the highest I've ever seen.

There's only two in the whole article, what are you smoking?

"This article" is the HN post, not the wiki article. Confusing pronoun reference.

Re: 1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone

#26

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

contingencies wrote: post #21
rob74 wrote: post #19

> Elsewhere in the world, phones were modular. Handsets connected to their bases via small RJ-9 jacks, allowing devices like the VICModem to intercept the line between the handset and the base. Easy. But not in Canada. I would beg to differ. Maybe in some places in the world, but definitely not "everywhere else but in Canada". That's why the acoustic coupler ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler ) was inve…

Wait: wasn't it created because earlier telephones (before RJ socketed replaceable handsets) were by definition wacko analog things with rotary dial and no standardization of plugs, and therefore the only designed way to couple was mechanically? Touched a nerve: I had a 300baud acoustic coupled modem in mint condition original box which I bought from a garage sale in ~1995 and my flipping mother threw it out before Y…

Couplers were necessitated because you weren't permitted to alter the wiring as it was all owned by the phone company. Prior to RJ you had screw terminals that could have been used for a modem if allowed.

Re: 1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone

#27

Post by IAmBroom »

Towaway69 wrote: post #18
userbinator wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just the em-dash—it's the style of writing. The short paragraphs. The Consistent Titled Sections. Classic LLMese at its finest.

LLMs being based on probabilities and these are based on averages, hence whatever the LLM produces must be an average of what its been trained on. So doesn't the LLM just regurgitating the average writing style of the internet and isn't the author just an average writer and hence the em-dashes.

The average is not necessarily a highly populated bin. It may in fact be empty (bimodal distributions can have this).

Re: 1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone

#28

Post by mindslight »

1. If Commodore could simply design and sell a piece of hardware that connects to the phone line, why couldn't the modem connect directly to the phone line?

2. Wouldn't the adapter be illegal under the same regulation? The phone remains physically connected to the network (there is a cable running to it), yet when the switch is flipped that phone is no longer functional!

3. Why did Commodore even need to ship a phone, rather than just the adapter?

Squinting a bit I can see that perhaps there was some contracts behind these scenes between these two companies that let Commodore bend the rules as long as they were paying the bribe of buying a new phone, but it isn't explained at all.

Re: 1983 Northern Telecom Commodore Phone

#29

Post by kalleboo »

contingencies wrote: post #21
rob74 wrote: post #19

> Elsewhere in the world, phones were modular. Handsets connected to their bases via small RJ-9 jacks, allowing devices like the VICModem to intercept the line between the handset and the base. Easy. But not in Canada. I would beg to differ. Maybe in some places in the world, but definitely not "everywhere else but in Canada". That's why the acoustic coupler ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_coupler ) was inve…

Wait: wasn't it created because earlier telephones (before RJ socketed replaceable handsets) were by definition wacko analog things with rotary dial and no standardization of plugs, and therefore the only designed way to couple was mechanically? Touched a nerve: I had a 300baud acoustic coupled modem in mint condition original box which I bought from a garage sale in ~1995 and my flipping mother threw it out before Y…

What's seems (increasingly less) crazy these days is the Bell system even sued over the mechanical coupling of a little plastic cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hush-A-Phone_Corp._v._United_S...
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