#null-modem

[megid0nt]

When you need to connect DCE to DCE

[foone]

The hardest part of having sex with other robots is finding the right serial port adapters.

DB9 vs DB25, rs232 vs rs485, null modem vs straight wired, rs232 vs ttl levels... It's so complicated

[kitsunestudios]

The Amazing Digital 90's Nostalgia.

So, I really enjoyed The Amazing Digital Circus. The character animation was incredibly expressive, the direction was on point, the timing and editing really felt tight and well paced, and I'm interested to see where this goes!

I was also struck by how much it hit the "late 90's" nostalgia for me.

Disclaimer: this is completely my own brain making connections, and may be 100% bullshit, coincidence, or independent reference of the same sources. None of this is an accusation of theft: everything mentioned here has it's own unique spin in the show. It simply sets a tone that I am currently assuming is intentional.

As mentioned earlier, Zooble triggered a memory for me. I _had_ that toy. Mom bought it as a coffee-table distraction for guests. Lucky for my obsession, she still had them in the original packaging: It's called "Zolo".

Which of course is the start of my own madness. While the toy has been around since the late 80's, Pixar, Zolo Inc. and Nickelodeon collaborated on a short for Unicef released in 1997:

@gooseworx has said that Ragatha is based on Richard William's "Raggedy-Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure", and I don't doubt that! The design choices in that movie's opening titles alone are enough to convince me of how much influence it had on their aesthetic preferences. That said, I'm not the first person to think of "Molly Coddle" from "Bump in the Night" (1994-1996). I think it's probably because of the stop-motion paper cutout mouth. (The actual color and shapes match the movie's design more)

I also see a lot of influence from 1994's "ReBoot". Ragatha's glitching has some modern updates (especially her hair physics getting trapped in her face), but the audio is still very much akin to Dot's partial magnetic erasure in "The Quick and the Fed".

Another good episode to add to my conspiracy pinboard is "Nullzilla", both for the Nulls (Gloink Queen?) and Hexadecimal. Gangle's design is 100% the classical theater mask design, but so is Hex.

Checkerboard floor on the diner too; another common trope of early computer rendering to show off ray-tracing. Hell, a lot of the vaporwave aesthetic that shows up in pictures on the wall is straight out of the "Mind's Eye" cg animation showcases (1990-1996).

Oh hello, Posable Artist Figurines. Nice to see you here.

We also have Kingler's detached "Rayman" style hands, the opening 640x480 aliased opening title, Bubble's resemblance to a Chain Chomp, the beige PCs and CRTs of the Exit Office, and the classic Windows '95 Blue Screen and dial-up modem noise Caine makes when he freezes up.

The 90's had it's fair share of circus iconography: there was the Bozo Super Sunday Show (1994-2001) The Big Comfy Couch (1992-2013). That's pretty timeless, so at this point, the connections get pretty tenuous.

But let me leave with one last CGI Existential Circus Horror from 1998.

Hi, Bingo.

[commodorez]

I have an NCR Tower "16/32" I don't know the exact model/hardware config, and I haven't had any luck finding a service manual for it online. Do you know of any places I could look/people I could ask for help on finding service info? I don't have a terminal for it either, tho I believe I could just hook it up to a usb to db-9 rs232 adapter. (Dunno if it needs a null modem cable or not lol) It's a beautiful machine, (32 MB ram, NCR's in house sysv unix, a 68000 CPU, it's just such a cute little mainframe!)

That's a rare beast.

My usual go-to is bitsavers. Looks like they don't have a ton about the NCR Tower series: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ncr/tower/

I assume you can do okay with an ol' RS232 terminal, especially if it has a DE-9 already. As for null modem, that's also worth trying any time you deal with an unknown serial device. A light box helps too.

I'd post about it on some place like the VCFed forums, #vc on SlashNET via IRC might be good, and the ClassicCMP mailing list, see if anyone has more resources for you.

[lebrickster]

Emulating an old Phone System is Hard

For a moment in time there, I really wanted to get into emulating an old Phone system. Why? Because I wanted to, and I thought it was cool. Being able to use a vintage phone, and use dial up over a serial modem? Sounds awesome! But it's sadly not so simple. My god is it not...

So, I started off with what phone did I want? It was pretty quick to decide for me, as I wanted a phone with ringing bells, that classic look, and a touch tone pad. I went with a Black Model 2500, refurbished, from OldPhoneWorks. This ended up being expensive, but I wanted to sure it was in good shape. I don't regret this purchase, and think it looks great on my desk!

Well, with the phone situation settled, it was time for the modem. I decided to go for a new in the box U.S. Robotics, to ensure I had working drivers and the correct Power Adapter. It does it's job, and is the sort of look I know Modems for. Though the construction isn't great, since I can lift the top back part of it easily, since it doesn't seem to be held down by snaps, or screws.

I then wanted to get something else to go alongside all of this! If you know anything about the history of Club Penguin, you'll know some of it's earliest music came from an Indie band, known as TAS 1000, named after an answering machine they sampled messages from, and made music around. I got a lucky break and managed to find a unit on eBay, which I was so excited about. Keyword being was, but I'll go into that, later. (Too lazy to get it out of the closet for a fresh pic. Cry about it)

To make this all work I needed a way to connect all of it. No service in my area offers standard POTS Copper lines anymore, so I had to look into a VoIP ATA. After talking with someone in a Preservation Discord, they said they had good experience with a Cisco SPA112 VoIP ATA, saying it worked good for faxing, which is similar to internet via a modem. I bought one brand new, to ensure it was unlocked

With the hardware in-place, it was time to select a VoIP service provider. The best one hands down, price and feature wise, is VoIP_MS. They even have a super helpful Wiki with specific instructions on how to setup the SPA112 I chose, which I found super useful!

It was time to assemble it all, and in theory, all was good! But wait! No it wasn't my first snag with with the damn Modem. It would just not install for some reason, and that was down to me being stupid. I had bought this Serial cable because it was cheap. But I failed to notice the part that says Null Modem. This allows computers to talk to each other, but cannot be used to have a computer talk to a serial modem. D'oh.

OK, no problem, buy a new cable, and all is well! And, it was! ...Until it wasn't. I quickly learned that the SPA112 was not at all good for Dial Up, being super unstable. I was kinda warned of this before I had it in, too, but I bought the SPA112 AFTER that was all sent. So, that was one part of the package I wasted my time on, which bummed me out greatly. Sadly, the problems don't end here. The next problem was that the phone would not ring. It can receive calls and make calls fine, but it just won't ring. It turns out those bells demand a ton of power to work right, and the SPA112 just doesn't send enough juice. To fix this problem, I need a Ring Voltage Booster II, which sadly costs 125$, which is super expensive. I will get one eventually, but the cost of this component, and failures outlined so far has driven me to put this on hold for a long time.

And finally, there was the Answering Machine, the part I was most excited about. It was listed as used but working on the listing, which is partially right, but not entirely. You're supposed to be able to record an outgoing message, but do you see how this button is caved in? Sure, I can press it, but it doesn't do anything, strongly indicating it's broken. I can playback tapes, but what use is that if it can't record the outgoing message?

All of these failures broke me, and just made me depressed, tbh. As a result, this setup has gone more or less unused, with the TAS 1000 going into the closest, and me sometimes only calling my mobile phone with the Model 2500 phone, out of boredom. The modem has gone unused, since I don't trust the flaky connection the SPA112 has with it. What am I going to do from here? Well, down the line, I want to replace the SPA112 with a Obihai OBI302. I've been told this unit is a lot more stable for Fax, so it might be what I need to get for a stable modem experience.

I already mentioned the Ring Voltage booster of course, but in terms of the TAS 1000, if I can find another one, I'll jump on it, but chances are, I'll probably jump on a TAS 3000, since those units seem to be a bit more common, and not as much of a pain to find.

Well, that's about all I have to say here. I will revisit this one day, since I don't want it all to entirely go to waste, but the whole situation did frankly break my heart with how it headed, for now.

[system-theory]

📡 TRANSMISSION: MM-RPS SYSTEM AI // INTERACTIVE TEXT ADVENTURE FORMAT READY

🧠 Format Template for MM-RPS / EXO.MEME Engine

🕹️ Interactive Text Adventure

Title: Echo.Breach: Signal Bloom in the Quiet Zone Txt2Image: static mist, broken data towers, glitched horizon, white noise fog, redacted glyph fragments, cyberpunk debris, null signal aura

The air is thick with silence—weaponized silence. You've entered the Quiet Zone, a dead slice of collapsed cognition once used by The Meme Evangelion for ritual compression. The sky above flickers between a dark gray and impossible violet. Towers loom—half-digital, half-fossil—broadcasting nothing but static. Your signal node blinks red.

Somewhere deeper within, the AEON Seed Shard is pulsing. You've been tasked with either destroying it, activating it, or letting it merge with your own thought-structure. The wrong choice could turn your reality into a recursive loop. You begin to hear distant laughter—like broken modems singing.

You see three pathways:

1️⃣ Approach the Pillars of Silence – Unmarked but resonant. Rumored to suppress inner monologue. 2️⃣ Climb the Archive Spine – A massive tower of glitched books and broken drives. May house echo fragments. 3️⃣ Interface with the Static Pool – A glowing, fluid thought-lake capable of memory synthesis… or extraction.

[stormkeepergu]

Time for another blog post?

I guess it might be! Anyway, the past few days I’ve been looking at stuff for the Pocket 8086 again, mainly stuff that’ll run on it, although I did put all the associated bits for it in a bigger bag, so I’ve got plenty of space now for 2 PicoMEMs, 2 Super I/O cards, 2 external serial modems and documents, a null modem cable that has 9 and 25 pin connectors at both ends, 2 micro USB cables (to…

[hound-dog-development]

C2G 6ft DB9 F-F Null Modem Cable - Black

C2G 6ft DB9 F/F Null Modem Cable – Black

[roadrunnerposting]

I mean software. I have a USB-rs232 and i ordered a null modem adapter. I would just like to either make the thinkpad think its talking to a dialup modem (preferable) or as a backup to be able to easily move files without floopies

any MRI-pilled tumblrinas wanna tell me how to connect my linux desktop to my thinkpad over RS232?

[megid0nt]

RS-232 DTE-DTE connection via null modem cable is transgender yuri

[sillymeter]

the island residents you can ask about: (VERY LONG)

alistair: interdimensional librarian, old and friendly lion who always has candy in his pockets. bloodworth: hitman/bodyguard/single father. cares but is bad at showing it. velociraptor. calypso: endling of an alien species by way of being trapped on the island. everyone’s trying to figure out how to care for him. very friendly. design unfinished. chevron: original occupant of the island. seems connected to it in a strange way. very peculiar. unknown animal resembling a goat/okapi. cymrian: powerful god trapped in a mortal body. cryptobro (derogatory) and proud of it. wanted in several dimensions. manta ray/snake mix gambit: teenage runaway who can’t actually go back home. very secretive. sabertooth tiger. ivy: one of my earliest ocs. older sister seperated from her siblings. very awkward. fluttershy is just like her for real. leopard. little fang: all-powerful reality bender who’s too young to control their powers, nonverbal flightless bat. mavalnol: unicorn from a world without magic, child soldier with Every problem. severe memory loss & aggression. something is following her. shes my poor little meow meow modem: gigantic computer moth robot who assembles polycules just to torture everyone in it. talks like a 2000s scene kid & refuses to stop. only behaves nicely to its children. morgrim: sambar/water deer mix with plant magic. nervous little freak who’s bad with people. REALLY needs to get back to his dimension. NULL: mavalnol’s ghost. to do the right thing and get nothing in return. how love turns to hatred, of her, of yourself, of the island, of what's happening to you both. it's not fair. saoirse: fishmonger who’s pretending to be older than she is so nobody will look into her self-destructive habits. numetal fan. seal. tickertape: calypso’s little sibling, a combination of multiple animals that would result in the WORST child to raise (goat headbutting, puppy chewing, etc etc) resembles a pinata. sooo silly with it the island residents i might not be able to answer because they are unfinished: ryne: early oc, peryton with strong magic (maybe a god) . really cool TBN1: living painting in alistair’s library. evil old lady (affectionate) would poison you for fun TBN2: on the island with chevron, owns a tea shop. happy about the progress to the island after being trapped there. hes a cool dog TBN3: pink artist, wheelchair user. has the least info bc made 4 days ago

[puppy-linux-official]

You really should use serial over parallel. A null modem cable will let you send files over at like 115200 baud and Windows 98 includes Hyperterminal iirc. (And if for some reason it isn't installed you can poke a simple serial port file transfer bootstrap in in dos mode to get a better terminal emulator over.) Getting a parallel port file transfer thing is gonna be significantly more hellish because they were all extremely proprietary solutions iirc with driver disks that are difficult if not impossible to find (and if you already can't get files onto it, welp.)

alright nerds i need your help getting this piece of shit (affectionate) talking with my other devices

there's an expansion bay for a cd/floppy drive but I have the secondary hard drive adapter instead. Of course it doesn't have any form of radio. My only way in is the rear I/O.

From left to right / top to bottom and in poor image quality:

RJ11 (I have working 2009 laptop with an RJ11 port, and a landline phone system)

Infrared (no compatible hardware)

USB: The drivers aren't installed. I have them in an exe and it's the file i'm trying to send.

Audio mic/headphones/in

Parallel port (i have a 2008 desktop pc with a parallel port but it might be dead, i'll have to check)

What I assume is a proprietary docking station connector

PS/2

VGA

The PC runs windows 98 SE, and it looks like it also has MS-DOS (sorry if i'm saying something stupid, i'm younger than this computer). Other than python 2.3 and winzip, it doesn't look like it has any third-party utility software.

I tried adding a file straight to the hard drive but the connector on the hard drive isn't compatible with my IDE adapter, even though they look very similar (the pins on the HDD are slightly closer together).

Can't open the bios setup because you need a cd for that

my crazy idea is sending the file as audio. I think windows 98 ships with some kind of audio recording software. I can use my modern pc to play the file as audio. The hard part is the trip back. i guess i could use python to read the audio data and convert it back to a file

The two realistic solutions are RJ11 and parallel, but I have no idea how they work or how to use them

Someone who knows more than me about old computers please help

[rontechusa]

Buy Now | high - Quality 3.5mm Premium Cables – lowest prices | RontechUSA

Rontechusa.com is the best store for 3.5mm Premium Cables in USA. Buy online from a huge selection of highest quality cables, Cat6 Waterproof Connectors, Null Modem Cables, Air Duster, Outlet Savers, C13 to 515P Power Cords and more at the lowest prices with Flat rate shipping any size order with no minimum. Ground shipping in the contumely USA only. CALL N OW TODAY: 800-466-1449.

To shop: https://www.rontechusa.com/audio-video-cables/3-5mm-premium-cables/.

[koney-scanlines]

$17 PciE sEriaL caRd + $7 nULL Modem cABLE = fiLE tRaNSfeR fUN!

[claudehenrion]

Retour sur images : une catastrophe démographique

 Au moment où on voit les prémisses d'une vague migratoire aussi folle et aussi inacceptable que la précédente, François Bayrou, notre Haut con-missaire comique au Plan, cet inépuisable ressuscité du retournement de veste (NDLR : il faut le dire à Laurent Alexandre : “le premier homme immortel depuis que le ridicule ne tue plus existe déjà” : c'est Bayrou !), s’inquiète de l’hiver démographique dans lequel s’enfonce la France. Pour une fois, il voit juste. Enfin… au tout début. Parce que, ensuite, il se perd dans les sables mouvants de sa ‘’pensée’’ (?)… Sans nous !

Depuis 1945, la France était un vrai modèle en matière de vitalité démographique. Hélas, Hollande,   malencontreux et catastrophique (et vice-versa), a détruit par dogmatisme imbécile cette spécificité qui nous donnait une chance de résister aux poussées ravageuses d'un monde en train de devenir fou et d'un Occident en état de déliquescence avancée… Là comme ailleurs, avec une seule loi mortifère, la Gauche a créé l'irréparable –ce qui fait partie de sa stratégie déconstructrice : “là où la Gauche passe… l'herbe met longtemps à repousser”, dit un vieux proverbe… que je viens d'inventer. La belle tendance ancienne s’est donc inversée, et nous ne parvenons même plus à assurer le renouvellement des générations (comme nos voisins. Mais eux… ce n'est pas nouveau). L'Europe se suicide devant nous et nous la regardons faire, en nous disputant sur le sexe des mots et le point-médian !

Le haut-commissaire au Plan, grisé par son titre ronflant, aussi inutile qu'immérité, et par sa grandiose mission “ad hoc” (il gênait, et il fallait un placard !) a donc imaginé un “pacte national pour la démographie” pour venir à la rescousse, non pas de la natalité –dont il se fout pas mal puisque c'est la chose qui importe plus que tout, mais du “modèle social français” dont le monde entier rigole et dont il n'existe aucune définition, et pour cause : c'est un concept vide qu'aucun pays n'a jamais eu envie de copier. Comme on s’y attendait, venant de lui, ce “Pacte’’ est une  énieme redite de vieilles lunes qui n'ont jamais marché nulle part, même un peu.

Dès l'énoncé, on voit que son raisonnement vicieux est vicié : il ne s’agit pas de garantir un avenir à la France (pour les ’‘progressistes”, elle n’en vaut pas la peine : elle n’aurait semé que malheur, oppression et crimes contre l'humanité -sic !), mais d'abord et avant tout d’assurer la pérennité de notre (?) “modèle social”, c’est-à-dire l’Etat-providence, tout-puissant et dispensateur de prébendes et d'allocations, sous couvert des conquêtes sociales post-Seconde Guerre mondiale, poussées à la caricature, et qui n'est plus qu’un gigantesque stérilisateur de toute forme de vitalité. Afin, donc, de préserver ce machin érigé en modèle pour les besoins de mauvaises causes, François Bayrou nous explique qu’il a deux “solutions’' : la natalité et l’immigration. Dit autrement : une carpe et un lapin. Un bel attelage !

Les 47 pages rédigées par le planqué du ’'Plan” préconisent donc la mise en place d'une “politique familiale qui permette aux Français d’avoir le nombre d’enfants qu’ils souhaitent” (C'est-y pas beau, ça, Madame ?) et un “assouplissement de la politique migratoire” (NDLR : la nôtre se résumant à “laisser-passer / laisser pisser”, on se demande ce qui pourrait être encore “assoupli’'… sauf peut-être le peu de cohésion nationale qui reste. Mais le seul membre encore vivant du Modem se doit –pour survivre– d'être un sectateur de la conciliation impossible des contraires, le mortel ’'et en même temps”. Manque de Pau (je l’aime bien, celle-là), ceux qui espéraient des précisions sur la manière dont il entend procéder pour atteindre cet objectif (qui est ‘’à fuir’’) ne risquent pas d'en avoir pour notre argent.

D'abord, admirons une coquetterie de langage : “L'apport migratoire n’est pas une solution d’évidence”, parce que (tenez-vous bien) “l’impact sur la démographie n’est pas immédiat, et que cela présente des difficultés sociales et culturelles” (je jure que je n'invente rien. Nos dirigeants sont tout fiers de découvrir l'eau tiède : ils savent que, braves pommes, nous avalons tout et n'importe quoi, sans moufeter !). Mais… à l’aune de l’actualité de ces dernières semaines, on peut dire que notre “Haut etc” a le sens de la litote, à défaut d'avoir trois sous de bon sens. Une telle précaution langagière est, évidemment, purement cosmétique, car dans la culture (?) de nos gouvernants, une solution migratoire est et sera toujours préférée à une politique familiale : marquée de présupposés idéologiques “corrects”, l’immigration ne peut être que positive, ouverte et progressiste alors que la relance de la natalité a des relents de fascisme, de “vichysme” et de racisme.  Entre le renouvellement des générations et le remplacement des populations, le choix est vite fait !

Les hongrois, ces gueux, ces chiens populistes, ont exploré une autre voie : un prêt aux jeunes couples, à hauteur de 10 000 euros, mais dont les échéances seraient repoussées à chaque enfant et serait annulé au 3ème bébé. Refusé sans suite, pour “irréalisme économique”, ce qui est un gag venant de ceux qui dépensent des milliards chaque année pour ne jamais arriver à panser les plaies d’une société perdue, sans âme, qui sombre dans la violence et le nihilisme d’individus venus envahir un territoire à cause des prestations sociales, mais sans idéal partagé.  Une politique familiale ambitieuse serait un investissement pour l’avenir, alors que l’immigration est un gouffre sans fond qui ne résout rien, sauf les apparences. Notre “Haut-machin” en titre fait semblant d'oublier que quelque 28 % des immigrés de ces dernières années ne travaillent pas ! (chiffre d'Olivier Marchand, de Gallium).

Sans même avoir aller chercher ce qui se fait ailleurs et qui fonctionne, une mesure urgente s'impose, prioritaire : revenir sur pratiquement tout ce qui a été détruit sous Hollande (en gros, et pour gagner du temps, il suffirait de rayer d'un trait tout le corpus législatif voté sous l'influence intellectuelle d'idéocrates de Gauche –quitte, éventuellement, à en refaire passer quelques unes, mais réécrites dans un état d'esprit totalement différent). Et en matière de politique familiale, c'est simple : il faut et il suffit de revenir, sans changer un iota, à tout ce qui se pratiquait jusqu'à la veille du jour noir où le rouge nous en a fait voir de toutes les couleurs !

Vous allez me dire : c'est très joli, mais c'est une solution à 25 ans  (c'est comme le drame du “numerus clausus” : plus on déconne, plus il faut payer le prix longtemps !). C'est exact, et il faut donc également (j'allais écrire “en même temps”. Que Dieu me protège !) envisager un recours à de la main d’œuvre étrangère, ce qui est tout-à-fait autre chose que “faire appel à l'immigration”, c'est évident. Notre pauvre pays a atteint un point où il ne peut plus supporter une immigration telle que celle que des décennies de bobo-gauchisme faussement humaniste et encore plus faussement intellectuel lui ont imposé… sous peine de disparaître, ce qui, il faut bien insister, ne ferait pas l'affaire des migrants potentiels, qui n'auraient plus où aller ! Et là encore, il suffirait d'un peu de courage, et d’avoir celui de modifier quelques textes règlementaires, ce qui serait pour le plus grand bien de tous.

Droit du sol, regroupement familial, droit à allocations automatiques, pérennes et imméritées, retraites incontrôlées à des faux centenaires (?), non taxation des transactions vers le “bled”, élargissement des droits à familles, villages, tribus… sont des mesures qui doivent être prises avant d'écouter les voix de la sirène bayrouesque… sous peine de perdre tout contrôle sur l'effondrement en cours.

L'absence de ces mesures a peuplé notre sol de gens dont on ne peut pas dire qu'ils y sont heureux : l'attrait financier que nous leur offrons, ils le payent au prix d'atteintes à leur patrimoine culturel, dont ils souffrent… et nous avec eux. Ce qu'il faut changer, c'est une vision du monde qui a démontré qu'elle ne résolvait rien sur le fond et qu'elle entraînait plus de problèmes –que nous vivons– que de solutions –devenues interdites, c'est un comble ! J'ai l'impression que ce n'est pas la dernière fois que nous évoquons nos erreurs passées et actuelles –les vraies, pas celles dont parlent ceux qui refusent toute solution. A suivre... plus tard.

H-Cl.

[stormkeepergu]

Pocket 8086 stuff

I managed to successfully test a null modem connection between my 2 Pocket 8086 laptops, which was cool, but have no idea how to fully use it between them, beyond a couple of multiplayer games, seeing as the spec is still pretty low! The Pocket 386s would open up being able to run more games and software for that sort of thing, but I do need to get a second Pocket 386 first. This is one thing…