642
We were warned
(lemmy.ml)
I get it. I also scream when forced to handshake.
The screaming was not only during handshake. The acoustic coupler you see in the image was making that "scream" all the time (that's how the data was transmitted), so no noise, no communication/data.
People got so used to the noise that some of them could even diagnose connection issues based on the sound the coupler made.
When modems were updated they internally converted the data directly to electrical signals to be sent over the telephone via, without the audio indirection, but most modems had a built in speaker anyway that still played back the audio during handshake (on default settings) to allow users to hear/debug connection issues.
Practically all modems from that time allowed you to turn off that noise - even during handshake.
Over the years the need to "hear" the data went away.
Practically all modems from that time allowed you to turn off that noise - even during handshake.
Well this bit of info came a few decades too late, but TIL.
My parlor trick back in the day was that when a call came in from a modem or fax, I could whistle in a way that it would connect. Couldn't do anything past that, but it was fun.
Capn’ Crunch in the house!
Buwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh, dunng. Ge-dunga-dunga-dunga. Nggggggggggghghghghghgghghghghghghghghghghghgh...!
bweeeeyoooop. buweeeeeeyooooop.
Ever heard the sound of children on a school yard? They might scream but they are not in pain - most of the time. It's their way of communication, I heard.
Same goes for construction sites. It's just the worker's outdoors voices. They use it for long distance information transfer.
what about orange cats? they scream all the time. are they in pain? well, emotionally.
Is coil whine short-form communication?
Umm... Maybe. :)
I was actually thinking about these sounds the other day, and if it would be possible to replicate them well enough using your own voice to actually be read as data. Maybe not necessarily the modem thing, but recording onto a cassette for a DAT drive. Would be a dope test of your mimickry skills if you could shout a bunch of noise and end up with a picture.
I posted this below, but I used to be able to whistle in a way to make a modem or fax handshake and connect. Couldn't do any data, but I could make it connect.
No that's impossible with your voice even for those slow speeds back then. But one could implement a similar system that converts sound to data/images if you invent you own modulation depending on how precise you can make sounds. If you are totally ungifted with your voice like me, the simplest would probably be something like morse. If you have perfect pitch you could use many different frequencies and amplitudes and combine those (a bit like QAM but without phase modulation, because humans can't control the phase with their vocal cords). The more different frequency-amplitude combinations you can make and the faster you can switch between them the faster you "manual" data transmission could be.
Sounds actually pretty fun to play around with 🤣
PS: I personally would drop amplitude modulation and only use different frequencies (FM) and only pick a few different values (maybe four? or eight - one octave cdefgabc') with variable speed (decoding based on short pauses between notes) to be most reliable.
PPS: what did you (and adhd) do to me 😅. Now I want to make something like that and have no time on my hands anyway.
PPS: what did you (and adhd) do to me 😅. Now I want to make something like that and have no time on my hands anyway.
It was my ADHD making a handshake connection with your ADHD.
༼ つ ◕‿◕ ༽つ
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"Enjoy your apocalyptic singularity ingrates"
Don't worry, it was only screaming because it was so slow, it is perfectly happy for us to suffer.
Now I’m curious, what is the oldest telephone that would work with a handset modem?
this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2025
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