The first thread

[ChristTrekker]

Are Apple modems hardware modems?

Almost definitely. I don't think the idea of "winmodems" came about until the Win95 era. Before that, it was always hardware AFAIK. I keep my old 56k ext. modem around just on the off chance that I end up moving to the sticks, so I could use one of my 68k Macs as an always-on 'net gateway.

Correction...I forgot about Geoport modems. Some of those were basically adapters so you could plug a phone line in. Software was required to run them.

 

[cuvtixo]

Correction...I forgot about Geoport modems. Some of those were basically adapters so you could plug a phone line in. Software was required to run them.

They were a clever hack (in the original sense) in that they used already built-in audio processing capabilities for serial port telephony. If you wanted to use an old Geoport mac dedicated as a modem/caller id machine- its great! The problem is the faster you want it and the more you use it- the less you can use other resources. Eats up CPU cycles. I would use Appletalk or something else for networking.

I'd definitely discourage a gui in vintage mac unix. If you absolutely must use a gui, stick with Mac OS- or try linux on modern hardware.