It wasn't this difficult 40 years ago ... Logging in to bulletin boards, university mainframe, CompuServe(!) ....
Just resurrected my 1978 Apple II. The Mountain Computer CPS card just didn't work any more so I got an Apple SuperSerial Card.
All working fine. I get the "APPLE SSC: " prompt. It responds to CTRL-A commands like Echo. Connected to an external USR V.92 Faxmodem. When SSC engages, the modem indicates "Terminal Ready" (TR).
I have a list of Bulletin Boards (https://ramsaso.com/) and when I dial-up a number I hear those sweet tones from the 1980s. BUT, nothing happens. I get no Carrier Detect (CD) . Nuffin. It just screams away at me.
I flipped the switch on the modem to override the CD (I read something about doing that somewhere), but it nothing happens.
I don't remember it being this hard. Any hints?
Thanks.
Paul
Remember about setting baud rates, odd/even parity, data bits, etc?
How is your SSC configured and what are the required settings for the BBS' you are trying to connect to?
You might want to get some terminal software. I'm not sure what will run on your 1978 Apple ][, as probably a lot of term software at least requires a ][+, and a lot will require 64k and an 80 column card too.
But chances are you may have cabling issues, or your SSC is not configured properly. The block needs to be in the correct direction and the dip switches need to be set right, especially if you are using it using the onboard firmware. And modem cabling can be tricky. I haven't (thankfully) had to deal with it for years, but I usually ended up soldering up a custom cable.
The first thing to do is to get and install ProTerm 3.1 on your IIe.
https://macgui.com/downloads/?file_id=2089
Make sure that you set your CD DIP switch to always on or your Apple II will not receive any incoming comms from the modem in local mode.
Then go online (closed-apple-T), and start dialling.
There are also some direct dial BBS systems listed on the Telnet BBS Guide:
https://www.telnetbbsguide.com/bbs/connection/dial-up/
He said 1978 Apple ][. I don't think ProTerm will work on that. If he has a //e then ProTerm is a great choice, specially if he has > 128k of memory, as it will use it for a nice big scrollback buffer.
I am using a modified "Dow Jones" program in the SSC Manual for 19.2:
40 D$ = CHR$ (4)
42 A$ = CHR$ (1)
50 Print D$; "PR#2"; REM Slot 2
52 Print A$; "15 Baud"; REM 19,200
54 Print A$; "1 Data"; REM 7 Data, 1 Stop
56 Print A$; "0 Parity"; REM No Parity
58 Print A$; "LF Disable"; REM No LF after CR
60 Print A$; "Term Mode"; REM Enter Terminal mode
65 Print A$; "E E"; REM Half duplex - echo characters
100 End
Yeah, my mistake - in that case use a terminal program like ASCII Express or Modemworks.
He may need to check to make sure he has enough memory and I don't know if ASCII Express requires Applesoft or Autostart ROMs. The Wikipedia page says "Any Apple II with DOS 3.3" but I don't know how accurate that is.