Please contact the contributing institution for more information regarding the copyright status of this object.
Description
Atari 830 Acoustic Modem and power adapter in original box. From the online Atari Museum: The Atari 830 modem was sold separately and also in the Telecommunicator Package that Atari sold. The package included the 830 modem, modem cable, 850 interface module, owners manual, 850 technical manual and the Telelink I communications cartridge. The kit also included signups to Compu$erve and The Source on-line networks. Suddenly your computer became a thousand times more powerful and useful, on the screen came (VERY SLOWLY) worlds of information and more importantly once on CompuServe.... CHAT. You could go to the Atari Forum and suddenly you could talk with other Atari computer owners, then you found out about the world of Bulletin Board Systems, it was amazing and fun. However when you used the modem there could be no TV, no radio, nothing.... because when you used an acoustic coupler modem, IT HEARD EVERYTHING!!!! Users who remember so many frustrating nights of spending hours redialing manually on the phone over and over again to the same number because a BBS was busy (hey no phones with redial yet!), then you'd get on-line and all of a sudden, someone would knock on your door or you'd sneeze or your friend would talk too loud and... WHAM!!! (xxxxxxxxx00x0xx0x0x0x0xx0x0x0x0xx0x) garbage across the screen followed by: NO CARRIER, (AAAArrrrrrgggghhh!!!!). Well it was a challenging and fun first try at telecommunicating. Boy many users couldn't wait to get their hands on an Atari 835 or Hayes Smartmodem 300!!! Note: In the movie SNEAKERS starring Robert Redford, several technical wizards with rather shady pasts stumble onto a chip that can un-encrypt anything. During the scene where they are being traced by the NSA look at the modem they are using and.... yup! You guessed it, its an Atari 830 modem.
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
