#modems

We needed a way to send data to our server without an internet connection. A team member came up with this fantastic idea of using DTMF tones!

Most people don’t have a land line anymore, nor are there many BBS’s online that are connected to the old phone system, so the only option is using VoIP to connect them. However if you read online, most people say it’s either not possible or would be painfully slow. So, let’s see if we can get something working.

Hello and welcome back to The Cool Blog. For once I’m finally doing something other than operating systems and instead and back to doing something that shouldn’t be done. Dial-up over Discord.

While the design is admittedly pushing the definition of what can realistically be called a “badge,” there’s a lanyard attached so it’s technically wearable. If the idea of being surrounded by a bunch of nerds wearing tiny modems around their necks is as enticing to you as it is to us, you’ll absolutely be among friends during this Philadelphia-area hacker con.

Having decided the retro late-80s early-90s theme for JawnCon 0x1, the inspiration for the badge seemed almost immediately obvious: the iconic, venerable Hayes SmartModem oozes industrial design of the era and is instantly recognizable to any of us who grew up when computers had the decency to shriek like digital banshees to let us know when they were plotting against us.

But my Commodore 64 is mobile now, like yours, and the modems are invisible, and the internet is the air all around us. And the good friends, the real friends, are finding each other, and connecting with each other, and my Mom is turning out to be more right than ever.

PLEASE DON'T HIT ME WITH YOUR MODEM!

"Consider for a moment, if you will, how much computer you're seeing in this shot. Each of those machines is a fully set up PC compatible, with the attendant costs of memory, hard drive, and internal cards. They are all connected to modems (some of which you can see stacked on top) and all of this collection of hardware are plugged into the masses of power strips along the back. The room was obviously never designed for these computers - it has a regular carpet and those power strips are ad hoc. Consider how much effort was expended to make this system even work, to keep it all running, to make it function, to administer the software. This was a hell of a way to make a buck."

"V.92 PCM upstream handshake mp3 audio"

"These few remaining dial-up BBSes understandably receive very few calls these days, so they tend to feel a little eerie and lonely, like digital ghost towns."