Subject: Mini-review of $99 LineLink 144e Modem Date: Fri, 17 Sep 93 15:39:28 -0400 From: MacFarland Hale OK, here's the mini-review I promised. Hope it's of use to some of you. Perhaps if I can get the couple of questions I ask below answered I can write a more complete review (is TidBITS interested Adam and Tonya?). Warning! I'm no modem expert! Just a somewhat well-informed modem user - I know just enough to be dangerous. :-) ......................................................................... MacFarland Hale machale@mitre.org The MITRE Corporation (617) 271-3703, FAX (617) 271-2352 202 Burlington Road, MS K331 "All opinions are my own - but feel Bedford, MA 01730-1420 USA free to share them if you like..." ......................................................................... The LineLink 144e modem is being sold by MacWareHouse for $99 (plus $3 overnight shipping, at least in the US). Their number is 1-800-ALL-MACS (international 1-908-370-4779). The part number is BND 0249. The following is a mini-review based on a couple nights use. I reserve the right to make errors and glaring omissions whenever I feel like it. :-) One thing to note up front is that MacWareHouse is NOT offering a 30 day money back guarantee, but does provide a 90 day warranty. The LineLink 144e is made by Technology Concepts, Inc. (TCI) which is a subsidiary or division or something of Prometheus who is better known in the modem world. TCI's number is 1-800-477-3473 or 1-503-692-9600. The modem's specs, according to a data sheet I got directly from TCI are as follows: Physical characteristics: External modem Data speeds: 300 bps/CCITT V.21 and Bell 103; 1200 bps/CCITT V.22 and Bell 212A; 2400 bps/CCITT V.22bis; 9600 bps/CCITT V.32; 14400 bps/CCITT V.32bis Data compression: CCITT V.42bis; MNP-5 for 2:1 Error correction: CCITT V.42 (LAP-M); MNP 1-4 Operation: Full or half duplex Dialing: Rotary or touch-tone compatible Data commands: Hayes AT command set Phone connectors: Two RJ11C/RJ13 phone jacks Requirements: Mac Plus or higher, System 6.0.4 or higher, System 7 savvy Package includes: MAcKNOWLEDGE (I received version 1.06MW), Macintosh hardware flow control cable, coupons for on-line services (I received a standard freebie startup kit for CompuServe only) Technical support is being provided by MacWareHouse (1-800-925-6227), which concerns me a little since the sales folks, at least, didn't have most of the above specs available. In fairness, though, I didn't call the tech support number at all so they may (or may not) be good. In addition, MacWareHouse is including a free copy of Accu-Weather (Software Toolworks, Inc.) which appears to use a subscription dial-in account to produce full weather maps on screen. It looks like it may be interesting, but I haven't had time to play with it yet. As shipped, the modem doesn't do faxes, but TCI sells MaxFax software for $29.95 (and MacWareHouse will soon too) which allows fax operation with the modem. When I type the Hayes command ATI4, one of the configuration settings it returns is "SRFAX", so it does appear to be just a software issue. I'd GUESS that FaxSTF would work with it too, but be warned that I have no direct experience with fax modems. I have not bought any fax software so I can't verify the modem's fax performance. OK, I said "mini-review" and here it is: it works for me! I have an LCIII and live in a 2.5 year old home about 30 miles north of Boston, so I probably have decent phone lines (at least noise does not seem to be a problem so far). I just plugged it in and went with it. The MAcKNOWLEDGE software (I really hate the way they capitalize that) has an "auto-configure" mode which I used to set things up. I then copied the initialization string it created into ZTerm and MacLayers for testing, and it all flies quite smoothly. I've barely used MAcKNOWLEDGE beyond that, so I won't give you any comments on it except to say that the copy I got had no printed manual (an electronic one was provided), and apparently it can not save custom scripts. The modem itself did come with a printed manual, which is sparse but probably sufficient for those who've used modems before. It has a short table summary of a buncha AT commands that I've found useful, but I'm not sure it's complete. It has no information describing which registers are for what. (Question: is there a full, descriptive list of AT commands and registers available on-line somewhere?) I've been using the modem with MacLayers a bit and everything zips along with 3 or 4 windows open simultaneously. I've tried using ZTerm to transfer a few files with Zmodem and it seems to work fine. The transfer progress box ZTerm displays only shows about 1900 cps, but I don't know how ZTerm measures transfer speed. A 750K file took about 7 minutes to transfer. I'd really like to get my hands on something that can MEASURE the transfer speed of the modem in a realistic way. I asked the list, but no replies - if you have an idea please let me know! I'm not a modem expert, so I'll take any advice on how to test this beast. AS TIME PERMITS, I'll perform tests that you folks suggest and post the results. OK, there's been a bunch of talk (mostly questions) about this modem on the lists (MAC-L and Info-Mac) - hope this was useful. Overall, I recommend the modem. The price is worth the risk of no 30 day MBG, especially now that you know at least one person got it to work!