Thread by @RetroTechChris

Let's test out this recent acquisition of mine, a Xircom Credit Card Modem 56T (PCMCIA). I'm not optimistic, more on that in a minute. Time for a 🧵

First, some context. I picked this up at L&Y Electronics last week since I was excited to see a PCMCIA card that actually had a dongle that hadn't been lost! I paid $10 for it, despite what you see:

https://x.com/RetroTechChris/status/1936494543245107360

As I noted in the first post, I'm not optimistic. The connector is pretty shot. Furthermore, while it might not make a difference, this connector is designed for the "phone line" connection as opposed to the "modem" connection. See this "complete" example for reference.

I decided to try this with Windows for Workgroups 3.11. The SystemSoft CardWizard found it right away, and configured the settings for me! Great!

I'm going to connect up using a VOIP line via an Obi 200 as you see here. We'll connect the dongle to the "top" jack first, though that is probably wrong.

Modem is all configured and responding to AT command. However, when I try to call the Diamond Mine BBS, I did not get a dialtone.

I did try the dongle in both ports. No luck!

So, that's the bad news. The good news? I have other PCMCIA cards, including this US Robotics modem with XJACK. I plugged it in and it got detected right away!

And what do we get when we call the Diamond Mine BBS now? Success! So, that means the line configuration is good.

Well, anyway, the good news is that if I REALLY wanted one of these, I could find one. But this was an impulse purchase anyway, so I think I am good for now.

As always, thanks for following along!

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