Jolt Country

Bruce might be the only one here intrigued by this, but I've mentioned a couple of times here how my working Apple II computer was fried in a power surge a while back, and how I really needed to get another one. Well, I've finally re-acquired an Apple IIe and IIc and decided to start a blog documenting my messing around with them:

http://www.mozomedia.com/apple2

8-bit wonders ahoy!

JJ

Little Computer People!! Nice.

If I had an Apple, I would leave that thing on 24/7.

jjsonick wrote:Bruce might be the only one here intrigued by this, but I've mentioned a couple of times here how my working Apple II computer was fried in a power surge a while back, and how I really needed to get another one. Well, I've finally re-acquired an Apple IIe and IIc and decided to start a blog documenting my messing around with them:

http://www.mozomedia.com/apple2

8-bit wonders ahoy!

JJ

Yeah, I'd actually found it via a2central, and thought "jjsonick sounds familiar."

I'm enjoying it.

If you're serious about creating stuff with them, I've been wanting to host a BBS on one (using a modem emulator to talk to the serial port from something Internet-accessible). So a new multi-base multi-line BBS would be a really really cool project from *my* perspective.

Bruce

bruce wrote:If you're serious about creating stuff with them, I've been wanting to host a BBS on one (using a modem emulator to talk to the serial port from something Internet-accessible). So a new multi-base multi-line BBS would be a really really cool project from *my* perspective.

I would love to connect an Apple II to the internet - I've looked into the Uther Apple II ethernet card (www.a2retrosystems.com) a bit, and it seems like the next step is determining whether my router would work with it, or if I need an extra hub or something. I also keep meaning to try out AppleWin's emulation of the Uther card, in order to take the Contiki web browser for a spin. Anyway, I missed out on the real-deal BBS's back in my Apple II youth, but I'd be interested in trying them out if I managed to get an Apple II online.

It sounds like you'd be going a different route than the Uther for the BBS's connection, right?

JJ

jjsonick wrote:I would love to connect an Apple II to the internet - I've looked into the Uther Apple II ethernet card (www.a2retrosystems.com) a bit, and it seems like the next step is determining whether my router would work with it, or if I need an extra hub or something.

If your router has autosensing (I think the Uthernet is 10mbps only) you should be fine.

What I had planned was simply an RS-232 cable going to a Super Serial Card (or two or three). Then emulate a modem. You know..."RING" gets sent at the DCE speed when it's ringing, then the software picks up the port and then it's just ASCII text at 1200 baud or whatever.

This would require a telnet-to-RS232 gateway, but, really, that's not hard. You accept a connection to the Linux (or whatever) box, send "RING", wait until there's a handshake, and then start streaming data. At the end of the call, the Apple will toggle DCE low or something, and you interpret that signal on the Linux box and drop the telnet session.

Bruce

Ah, that sounds very interesting. I'd definitely contribute to any Apple BBS you set up (whether by OS X telnet or preferably my IIe with an Uthernet card, if I get that to work).

Speaking of which, just today there's a post on comp.sys.apple2 about collaborating on an 8-bit A2 BBS:

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys ... 3df514b20c#

JJ

By the way, I did enjoy your article here, JJ!

http://www.mozomedia.com/apple2/2008/11 ... -stations/

Thank ya, Jonsey! Yeah, I have a bunch more A2 games I want to review - I'll try to do one a week, though real life may get in the way of that. ;)