Does anyone have a picture or description of the VIC-1605 VICMODEM Adaptor as listed in the Canonical List here:
http://www.zimmers.net/commie/docs/cbm-products.txt
???
Also, what is the exact reason for the voltage differences between the VIC-1011A and the VIC-1011B RS232 adaptors?
VIC-1605 VICmodem adaptor?
Moderator: Moderators
The 1605 refers to a little, light beige box that plugs into the end of the VICModem and gives you two RJ-11 jacks, one to connect the modem to the phone line and one for you to plug the phone into. I did a quick Google image search for the VICModem and oddly, none of the photos showed the 1605. I can dig mine out and take a picture if you want to see what it looks like.
In the end it will be as if nothing ever happened.
Oh! Is this thing just like a regular phone "splitter" you can buy at Radio Shack or Canadian Tire?
That's what I used on my VICmodem back in the 1980s. I didn't know Commodore actually had an "official" version.
If there is a Commodore label on the 1605, then I would really like to see a photo (as it never seems to have been archived on the 'net). If it's just a bog standard, unlabelled Y splitter box, then I can picture it.
That's what I used on my VICmodem back in the 1980s. I didn't know Commodore actually had an "official" version.
If there is a Commodore label on the 1605, then I would really like to see a photo (as it never seems to have been archived on the 'net). If it's just a bog standard, unlabelled Y splitter box, then I can picture it.
Not exactly. It wasn't just a splitter, it was a switcher and an adaptor.ral-clan wrote:Oh! Is this thing just like a regular phone "splitter" you can buy at Radio Shack or Canadian Tire?
This requires an explanation that will be long and boring so sit back for a history lesson. You've been warned.
The VICModem has an RJ-9 jack on the back, not an RJ-11 jack for "standard" phone cables because Commodore intended that users would disconnect the cable that went between their phone's base and the handset and plug that cable into the back of the modem so that they could use the phones keypad (on tone phones) or spinner (on pulse phones) to dial the number they wanted to connect to with the modem.
The reason the phone companies used a cable with RJ-9 jacks to connect the phone's base to the handset was so that people wouldn't be able to plug their handsets directly into the wall jack. Things were a little different in Canada where Northern Electric, the precursor to Northern Telecom and sole suppler of telecom equipment to Bell Canada avoided this problem entirely by hardwiring the handsets to the phone's base. The problem was that with hardwired handsets, the phone couldn't be connected between the modem and the wall jack and as a result, the VICModem would be useless in Canada.
Commodore Canada came up with a simple solution to the problem; they would include a phone with every VICModem sold in Canada. The one problem was that Bell Canada owned the phone network in Canada and had very strict rules about what could be connected to their network. In fact, Bell Canada owned every phone in Canada and they leased them to their customers. Bell Canada agree to the usage of the phones provided that they were only sold with the modems, complied with government regulations and were made by their subsidiary, Northern Electric. Commodore agreed, placed the order and Northern Electric made the phones (the ones with the Commodore name and logo on them) and shipped them to Commodore. That's where things got complicated. The phones Northern Electric made were their standard issue phones -- with hardwired handsets. Worse yet, when Commodore complained that the phones wouldn't work in the intended fashion, Bell told them that they wouldn't allow phones such phones on their network anyway because of an obscure regulation that said all phones had to remain fully functional if they were connected to the network. A phone without a handset wouldn't be fully functional and as a result, was forbidden.
Screwed again!
Commodore was forced to go back to the drawing board and they came up with the 1605. On one side it had an RJ-9 plug to fit into the VICModem, on the other side it had two RJ-11 jacks, one into which a person would plug their phone and the other into which they plugged a cable to connect the modem to the phone jack and it also had a little modem/telephone switch. Problem solved. Commodore was sitting on a bunch of phones so they figured they might as well sell them with the VICModem and that's exactly what they did.
If Commodore had known all the Canadian telecommunication regulations they could have spared themselves a lot of time and money and gone with the 1605 plan in the first place. C'est la vie.
I still haven't found my VICModem but as soon as I do, I'll post some pictures for the official record. Might as well add them to the Wiki too.
In the end it will be as if nothing ever happened.
As a side note, I think every state owned phone operator held similar restrictions to what equipment you were allowed to connect. Not until c:a 1988 or even later the first batch of 3rd party telephones arrived in Sweden, and it took even longer before each phone didn't need a specific permit from the operator to be sold and used. While some books and magazines published home-built circuits for modems, answering machines and other exciting ways to (mis)use the phone line, they were always accompanied with a warning that you were not allowed to connect this circuit to an existing installation anyway. 
Anders Carlsson
I remember that in Canada in the very early 1980s, if you got a modem, you were SUPPOSED to call Bell Canada (the ONLY phone company at the time) and let them know you were going to use it on your phone line. Usually this meant having to explain what a modem was to the person who answered the phone 
.
The end result was that they would charge you more for the line, because you needed a higher quality connection, or some such other silly thing.
Once modems got really popular, by the mid-1980s, Bell couldn't practically enforce this rule, and so they just gave up.
.The end result was that they would charge you more for the line, because you needed a higher quality connection, or some such other silly thing.
Once modems got really popular, by the mid-1980s, Bell couldn't practically enforce this rule, and so they just gave up.
Yeah, I also remember using a modem would cost more per minute than just using a telephone. The phone company did not like unadvertised BBS:es so they couldn't charge extra for the traffic.
Along the same line of thinking, people who speak exceptionally fast or with a strong accent should be charged extra when they make or receive a call. You need a very good, clear phone line to hear what these people say!
Along the same line of thinking, people who speak exceptionally fast or with a strong accent should be charged extra when they make or receive a call. You need a very good, clear phone line to hear what these people say!
Anders Carlsson
I added this info to the WIKI (with slight editing to make it blend with the other info there).
http://sleepingelephant.com/denial/wiki ... p/VICModem
A footnote: I bought my first modem in around 1985-86 while attending the World of Commodore in Toronto. It was a VICModem and they (Commodore?) were clearing them out for $20 each. This was at a time when the VIC was old hat, and 1200 baud modems were starting to come around. People were clamouring for them. These ones DID NOT come with the Commodore telephone, as normal, but did come with the switch.
http://sleepingelephant.com/denial/wiki ... p/VICModem
A footnote: I bought my first modem in around 1985-86 while attending the World of Commodore in Toronto. It was a VICModem and they (Commodore?) were clearing them out for $20 each. This was at a time when the VIC was old hat, and 1200 baud modems were starting to come around. People were clamouring for them. These ones DID NOT come with the Commodore telephone, as normal, but did come with the switch.
I'l see if I can rewrite that in a less conversational tone for permanent inclusion in the Wiki. I've written stuff for the Wikipedia so I'm familiar with the style they prefer. It might also be worth noting that due to the nature of the protocol, 300 baud wasn't a hard limit on speed. The VICModem could be run at higher speed depending on line conditions.
On a related note, in the summer of 1981 my dad replaced our acoustically coupled modem with a direct connect 300 baud Hayes Smartmodem. It was considered the Cadillac of modems and even though it was exorbitantly priced, it wasn't capable of speeds greater than about 350 baud. A few years later a company called BOT Engineering came out with a diminutively sized modem called, appropriately enough, the Pocket Modem and while it cost a fraction of the price of a Smartmodem, it was capable of running at 450-500 baud reliably. I went out and bought one straight away and never regretted it. That speed demon was one of the best purchases I ever made for my Commodore.
On a related note, in the summer of 1981 my dad replaced our acoustically coupled modem with a direct connect 300 baud Hayes Smartmodem. It was considered the Cadillac of modems and even though it was exorbitantly priced, it wasn't capable of speeds greater than about 350 baud. A few years later a company called BOT Engineering came out with a diminutively sized modem called, appropriately enough, the Pocket Modem and while it cost a fraction of the price of a Smartmodem, it was capable of running at 450-500 baud reliably. I went out and bought one straight away and never regretted it. That speed demon was one of the best purchases I ever made for my Commodore.
In the end it will be as if nothing ever happened.
Yeah, I remember cranking my VICmodem up on my C64 to about 400 to 450 baud without too many errors. I think I even tried 600 baud, but by that point to you were getting every other character garbled.
Ah...the days of downloading pirated C64 games from Darkstar BBS's around Toronto at 300 baud!
Ah...the days of downloading pirated C64 games from Darkstar BBS's around Toronto at 300 baud!
Last edited by ral-clan on Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Ian Colquhoun
- Vic 20 Hobbyist
- Posts: 147
- Joined: Fri Dec 29, 2006 7:38 am
- Location: Toronto, Canada
