on 9/30/03 2:59 PM, Warren 'Llama' Ernst at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Jeff, > > *I* know what you have there. I had at least three of these myself. But first, > some background. > > Back in 1984 or so, the "best" and most desirable modem for the Apple II was > the "Novation Apple Cat II." As has been mentioned, the base model was a > single, full length card that typically went in Slot 2.
> In a world that mostly ran at 300 baud, 1200 baud at half duplex was something > worth writing specialized software for, and "Cat Send" and "CatFur" made > transferring files and disks reasonably easy and "blazingly" fast. I seem to > recall the best music program being called "The Cat's Meow." > > Now, to your item. The Apple Cat TYPICALLY connected to the phone line via a > female RJ-11 socket that plugged into the Apple Cat via two (or four) thin > wires. That was it. It was molded to slide into one of the wedge-shaped > openings on the back of the original Apple ][ and the Apple ][+. The Apple //e > had real cut-outs that the Apple Cat phone jack never fit into properly. > > The thing you have is probably about the size of a deck of cards. IT plugged > into the Apple Cat board via a ribbon cable, and it was supposed to be stuck > onto the back of your Apple II via double-stick foam tape. It provided TWO > phone jacks (one was a smaller, "handset" jack), plus the other ports you > describe. > > I played with this stuff quite extensively, and can report that the headset > socket was useful to record some of the Apple Cat music to a tape recorder. > The 4-prong socket was intended for some sort of X-10-like device control > (like turning lamps on and off), but I never had the supporting hardware. The > serial port on that thing was supposed to be an external serial port for > printers and TTYs and such, but I *NEVER* got it to work after weeks of > playing with it. I had the idea that you had to enable the port from the Apple > Cat software somehow, and could then send commands through it, but that seemed > totally pointless. > > Anyway, without the Apple Cat II card itself, what you have isn't really > useful. And even with an Apple Cat II, it really didn't add any more useable > functionality. > > It did *LOOK* cool, though. > > Warren Ernst > former Beagle Bros Tech Support > Contributing Editor, PC Magazine Warren, good to see your response. The Beagles were one of my favorite A2 software dogs. This seems to be the fabled Apple CAt II Modem. That card-thing I described is what mounts to the outside rear of the Apple. There's a card with a profile and length identical to cards found in the Apple IIgs. It also comes with a spudgefull of cables and connectors. ON that card is the little tan square doohickey with the words "Novation Communications Module" on it. Sadly, tho', no software. Jeff -- Apple2list is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... / Buy books, CDs, videos, and more from Amazon.com \ / <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/lowendmac> \ Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Apple2list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/apple2.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/apple2list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
