No, but I still have my US Robotics Courier V. Everything (along with its original retail box!) that I can't bring myself to get rid of. I'm never gonna use it for anything again, but the sentimentality of its trusty service over the course of the 90s brings a smile to my face.

I've installed one a few times just to fill in an ISA slot, but I stopped. I'd rather have the airflow and less complexity over the fuzzy memories of the ole' modem.

no

Yes, it reminds me of a time when the screech of the modem was a sonic wall which kept the real and the virtual apart. No-one was terminally online then.

No. On most of my builds I don't tend to have free slots for a modem anyway.

Plus we always used external modems connected via serial port. If I ever wanted to install one for the nostalgia, I'd use an external modem.

Slow, noisy and drivers issues.
NO! I hate that time in history. I really hope it never comes back.
🤣

Yep. I even bought a line simulator so I can call one computer from the other 😀

Big Pink wrote on 2023-03-03, 18:58:

Yes, it reminds me of a time when the screech of the modem was a sonic wall which kept the real and the virtual apart. No-one was terminally online then.

I don't install modems in my systems, but that is a beautiful way to put it. I remember that feeling of exploring the unknown back then. Dialing up, and waiting for the all-clear sound... then diving in (slowly) and searching (very slowly) for game modding utilities, editors, patches, etc. It all felt like uncharted territory back then.

The only thing that really gives me that feeling these days is exploring old websites on archive.org or digging through an FTP looking for long-lost drivers for obscure sound or video cards. But it doesn't quite bring the awe that dialing up (at my uncle's house, with a stack of floppies from home because we were poor) gave me back in the mid to late 90s.

... not that I would ever wish dial-up upon anyone in 2023. No way. I bet the code and basic graphics that make up one page now are several times larger than a whole website was back in the 90s. Talk about slow...

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-03-04, 03:22:

... not that I would ever wish dial-up upon anyone in 2023. No way. I bet the code and basic graphics that make up one page now are several times larger than a whole website was back in the 90s. Talk about slow...

Perhaps there's hope, web devs seem to be rediscovering the idea of sending down HTML to the browser rather than some JavaScript monstrosity as "server-side rendering"...

You are mental? If they were still usable, perhaps.

maxtherabbit wrote on 2023-03-04, 01:32:

Yep. I even bought a line simulator so I can call one computer from the other 😀

Was it easy to setup?

I bought some ATAs a year ago to try this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGFIEF6siIE

But i never did manage to get it working. I might give it another shot though. The dial-up sound is pure nostalgia.

Baleog wrote on 2023-03-04, 09:37:

Was it easy to setup? […]
Show full quote

maxtherabbit wrote on 2023-03-04, 01:32:

Yep. I even bought a line simulator so I can call one computer from the other 😀

Was it easy to setup?

I bought some ATAs a year ago to try this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGFIEF6siIE

But i never did manage to get it working. I might give it another shot though. The dial-up sound is pure nostalgia.

Took me some time to get it working but was mainly because I was new to ATAs. Max speed will be 33k6 btw even with 56k modems.

Build it mainly to create a BBS like I had back in the day. If your using a SIP account as well (with CheapConnect or so) you can even call some still existing bulletin board systems or use it as a fax.

Baleog wrote on 2023-03-04, 09:37:

Was it easy to setup? […]
Show full quote

maxtherabbit wrote on 2023-03-04, 01:32:

Yep. I even bought a line simulator so I can call one computer from the other 😀

Was it easy to setup?

I bought some ATAs a year ago to try this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGFIEF6siIE

But i never did manage to get it working. I might give it another shot though. The dial-up sound is pure nostalgia.

Yes. Infinitely easier than using ATAs and the like

It's just a small box with two phone jacks on it. Plug one PC into one, the other into the other. When one machine takes the phone off-hook the other one just starts ringing. So you can just use ATDT 123 or anything as your dial command. It also has real genuine ringer voltage so it will ring my classic bell phones. Viking DLE-200B

maxtherabbit wrote on 2023-03-04, 01:32:

Yep. I even bought a line simulator so I can call one computer from the other 😀

Can you elaborate on that? What does such simulator do? Where can I read about it?

I've left a Gateway branded modem in the PC it came with and I don't need the slot. Doubt it was ever used as it came from an office.
Every other time I've taken them out as prefer the less is more approach as well.

spavatch wrote on 2023-03-04, 18:43:

maxtherabbit wrote on 2023-03-04, 01:32:

Yep. I even bought a line simulator so I can call one computer from the other 😀

Can you elaborate on that? What does such simulator do? Where can I read about it?

I literally just did, check the post immediately above yours

I actually put both of mine (PCI softmodems, by the way) in the "PC case full of junk - 5 €" I was selling at Marzaglia, you guess the interest it generated 😜

I'd actually like to run my own dialup ISP off a Mac Mini G4 but:
1- can't be bothered enough to learn
2a- can't be at my grandparents' home, they still use the VoIP landline
2b- can't be at my home, don't have space next to the router
3- for personal use I caved in and bought a null modem cable anyway, and that with Laplink 3 is supposed to be 2x as fast than 56K even before accounting for the fact V.92 is asymmetrical...

Come on.

You put your modem outside, not inside.

Modems should be external, you know, with blinking LEDs and everything.

Dwaco wrote on 2023-03-04, 21:14:

Modems should be external, you know, with blinking LEDs and everything.

This is the way.