BRAND NEW VTX 5000 MODEMS
I have for disposal a number of BRAND NEW BOXED PRISM VTX 5000 Modems
If tou would like to add one or more VTX 5000 modems to your Sinclair ZX Collection please contact me.
These units are BG Services Old Stock and are available now because the Blind ex-Proprieter needs to clear some space and his time is taken up with the Kingston-upon-Thames Talking Newspaper and the Kingston Association for the Blind
If tou would like to add one or more VTX 5000 modems to your Sinclair ZX Collection please contact me.
These units are BG Services Old Stock and are available now because the Blind ex-Proprieter needs to clear some space and his time is taken up with the Kingston-upon-Thames Talking Newspaper and the Kingston Association for the Blind
Post edited by thelasernut on
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And yes, what sort of price?
As some of you may know - Brian ran BG Services as a remedial project to keep himself occupied while he still had enough sight to be able to read with the help of magnifying video displays.
Unfortunately policies changed and it was no longer felt acceptable to "work" and still receive dissability benefit - so Brian had to stop selling his PC Emulator software - which also had the benefit that I could stop making the miniature Cassette Tape Adaptors for him.
Brians sight continued to deteriorate and He is now mostly occupied with organising the KAB Talking Newspaper and some other Blind Club Projects.
He needs to tidy up and clear some spaces occupied with the remnants of his earlier Spectrum endeavours. A lot of old bits snd pieces have gone to the Dump - but these New VTX units just seemed too good to chuck away so I thought I would make this offer on his behalf.
Brian doesn't think there can be much practical use for these modems and he doesn't think there is much inside that would be useful to anyone - so he intended to trash these as well - but I said I would try to see if any ZX Spectrum collectors might like to have a brand new VTX 5000.
I would be willing to supply anybody who would like one or more for a nominal handling fee plus any Postage at Cost - Personal Collection could be arranged if anyone wanted to visit Brian in Chessington or myself in Raynes Park.
The VTX 5000 units are all in original Packing and consist of the VTX5000 itself plus an adaptor card and an instruction book.
I'm open to offers - but I thought around ?5 a unit would probably be good and would help Brian recover a small amout of his original outlay and possibly contribute to some of his "Aids for the Blind" - you might not be aware for example that commercial "Speech Software" to read text on a PC can cost in excess of ?600..
Let me know what you think ????
Sounds good. What about setting the basic price as ?5 plus p&p, and anyone who wants to contribute extra can add a bit on top?
"Sounds good. What about setting the basic price as ?5 plus p&p, and anyone who wants to contribute extra can add a bit on top? "
I would be quite happy to do that - I can take a unit to the Post Office to get an idea of the UK Postage cost - although it seems that some people from outside of the UK could be interested - so they would have to be priced for postage at the individual cost - plus say ?1 towards extra packing and Customs forms etc.
I am getting a few Private Mails about VTX 5000's and I will do my best to reply individually as well as leave any general comments here.
I'm from England but I reside in the US, and even though I don't even have a real Speccy here maybe passing up an opportunity to have a piece of kit like this would be just stupid.
It's a piece of history.
If so I'll talk to the missus about it, she deals with all the international wheelings and dealings usually, and if you're gonna sell em' for a flag each plus P+P that'll hopefully wind up at about $25?
I can actually afford that :lol:
As I understand it - the USA is quite a big place - so I'm not sure if Postage varies to different locations.
Give me an idea of where you are and I will get a price for Postage from my local Post Office
if you wanted to post em all on the same day (as a multi drop) / can allow them to pick up..
www.parcel2go.com might be good.. I only use yodel or citylink as myhermes haven't been so great, from personal experience
also if there are ones that are duff, the casings would be good for projects :)
As it cannot be used as a standard modem and (I assume) Prestel has now retired (although I believe France's Minitel only retired a few months ago - although it was much more popular), you may want to all keep tabs on who buys them so you can get them talking to each other. According to the articles, they are pretty much "plug and play".
You do require one of those "new style" telephone sockets though :grin:
Oh this is cool! Would they work in a +2A?
We could all one day get online and exchange programs :)
Yes, you can 'chat' between each other (1 to 1) but you have to switch manually between TX and RX mode in order to communicate a la CB radio!
oh yes!
I wasn't far off about Minitel shutting down only recently - 30th June 2012 in fact.
Not saying that vbulletin isn't crap mind, it's horrible to navigate in text mode whether you're blind or not :)
The purpose of this UPDATE is to let any interested parties know EXACTLY what is on offer and what we are able to GUARANTEE about them.
1) The Modems are ALL BRAND NEW - BUT - are now in excess of 30 yrs old and we have NO WAY of checking that they have not electrically deteriorated in some way during that time - or STILL WORK OK.
2) The Modems were stored in an garage which has had leaks and is now in a poor state - because of this many of the Cardboard Sleeves / Outer Boxes have suffered from water damage and do NOT LOOK NEW - although the Contents are in Good Condition - Because we only intended to offer enthusiasts the chance to have a New Modem in the Best Condition - I have sorted the Perfect Boxes from any Water-Stained Boxes - so it will only be units with undamaged Outer Packaging being discussed here.
3) Brian NO LONGER has ANY MEANS of TESTING the MODEMS to ensure they work - He tells me that the ONLY WAY to check a VTX 5000 is to plug it into a Spectrum to see if the Modem produces the expected display and he no longer has a Spectrum for us to carry out this test - because of this we simply can NOT GUARANTEE the units still Work OK.
4) Brian NO LONGER has the SOFTWARE that allows COMMUNICATION over the Telphone Lines - between Spectrums equiped with a VTX 5000. He thinks this is available for Downloading - but he's not sure.
The BOTTOM LINE is that if you want a BRAND NEW VTX 5000 to DISPLAY we can certainly help out - BUT - we cannot guarantee that these Modems have not suffered from Old Age or Other form of Electrical or Mechanical Deterioration - such as ROM's loosing memory ?
As Brian's "Sighted Helper" in this matter - I don't feel able to offer any Technical Help regarding Sinclair Spectrums and these Modems - and as some contributors to this Thread have mentioned - Brian is simply not able to NAVIGATE this GROUP as his Screen Reader can't understand the format.
However if ANYONE has QUESTIONS - or Can OFFER HELP with TESTING Modems - I am sure that Brian would be more than happy to CHAT or to Discuss any related matters via Email in PLAIN TEXT or by Telephone.
Here is an email address for Brian. - briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
ALL LOWER CASE - BRIANG1 - AT - BLUEYONDER - DOT - CO - DOT - UK
I hope I have made it clear exactly what we can offer you if you are still interested after reading the bad news above.
Good Luck.
I bought a VTX modem from Brian around the time Your Sinclair was finishing. It included a PD tape which had terminal software on it. I used it at the time to connect to a few BBSs, so it did work.
I sold my VTX modem to ZXBruno, so he has the tape now. :)
I found a +D disk which has some or all of them on, but I can't remember what each does. I think FireView2 was for ViewData and SpecTerm was for normal text BBSs?
The built in ROM software was only good for connecting to a Viewdata service (the one that looks a bit like teletext).
On another matter, is there any chance that Brian has any SP-DOS / K-DOS disks? I think I've read in the past that he has loads of disks but no way of knowing what's on them.
I would appreciate it if you can look into the SP-DOS and K-DOS Disks request. I have a SP-DOS system, but lost the disks years ago. I have a post under Preservation requesting that, on which zxbruno replied. I also threw away my VTX MODEM during the middle 90's and am now sorry for that. Never thought that I would one day start collecting Spectrum stuff.
Pierre
We managed to find a copy of the "User to User" Cassette Tape as was included with later VTX 5000's - Again we have no way to check it as yet (until we find a working Spectrum) but in the meantime here is some text which Brian has scanned from the Tape Inlay Card.
Incidently - Brian is active on the "comp.sys.sinclair" Newsgroup and can be left messages there - He checks for relevant posts on most days and he tells me that a copy of the "Dialsoft" tape has been reported as found.
VTX 5000 Cassette Inlay Text -
Prizm VTX5000 User to User software operating instructions.
1. Introduction
1.1 This software is compatible for 16k or 48k Spectrums.
1.2 Messages can be compiled off-line for later transmission or entered while on line. The screen will display the transmitted message. Programs can also be sent in BASIC
or machine code, the latter being a specified block of
memory, so allowing for files etc, to be transferred if
required.
1.3 All these facilities are available via menu-driven routines which make the user to user software easy to use.
Border colour is used to indicate whether the terminal is in Transmit
or Receive mode, although a colour display is not essential
2. Setting up the software
2.1 You should set up your Spectrum, TV VTX 5000 and Program recorder
(if required) as if preparing to go online. The VTX 5000
Mode switch must be in its central position TX' and no
other software should be running.
2.2 Switch the VTX 5000 off-line. In addition, you must connect
a suitable cassette recorder, as detailed in the Spectrum manual, to your micro-computer EAR socket to be able to load the software from the cassette supplied. This should be done on each system wishing to communicate with
each other.
2.3 When the 'Micronet 800' display appears at switch-on,
press a key to get the 'Main Micronet Menu' page, then
press 7 to enter BASIC. Type LOAD"" then Enter. When the
software has loaded successfully, the USER TO USER
TERMINAL main menu page will be displayed, and you are ready to call your contact
3. Establishing a call
3.1 Dial your contact in the normal way and make sure thereis a good line established between both parties and that you can hear each other talking satisfactorily
3.2 Once the connection appears satisfactory, you must
decide who is to tramsmit first Whoever decides to transmit first must press key 1 on the menu after going on-line and
the other contact must press key 2 on the menu. To go
on-line. both parties switch their VTX 5000 to the down
position (silver switch) and replace their telephone
handsets. From this point on all communications can be
performed through the user to user software. If there are
any problems whereby you think that you are not contacting the other party lift the telephone handset up, switch the VTX
5000 switch off line (up position) and talk to your contact to
decide what problems you might be having and then
restart the procedure again.
3.3 When clearing a call at the end of the session, it is
recommended that you switch the VTX 5000 off line.
4. Available Functions
4.1 Transmit (Key 1). Border colour is Red. Messages typed
on the screen by one person will appear on the other
screen at the same time for the other person.
When you have completed sending your message press the Symbol Shift E key and that will send an "end of
message" statement to your contact. This will let your
contact know that you have finished sending a message
and it will automatically turn your screen to receive mode.
At the same time, when your contact receives the "end of
message" statement on the screen it will let them know that
you are finished sending and it is their turn to send a
message back to you. It will turn your contacts screen into transmit mode automatically and your contact is now ready
to send a message to you. This is why it is very important to
press the Symbol Shift E key every time either contact is
finished sending their message.
4.2 Receive (Key 2). Border colour is Green. Messages typed
on the screen by your contact will be received on your
screen at the same time as your contact is typing. When
your contact is finished typing the message, your contact
will send an "end of message" statement and your screen
will automatically be turned into transmit mode. (Border
colour is red). You are now ready to send a message to them
(Don't forget your "end of message" statement when
finished.)
4.3 Compile message (Key 3). To compile a message on your
screen before sending the message to your contact, return
to the main menu by pressing Symbol Shift A. Select
number 3 on your menu (Compile Message) and then typ<
your message. After you type your message, pressSymbol Shift A to return to the main menu, Select 1 on the menu, (Transmit Message) then press Symbol Shift S (To
Send A Compiled Message) and your message is then
transmitted to your contact. You can see on the screen that
the message is being sent and when the message is
finished, press Symbol Shift E to send the "end of
message" statement.
This feature in the software is used when you want to compile a message to a contact prior to
contacting the other party by telephone. (Whoever uses
this feature must be in transmit mode (border colour red) and your contact must be in the receive mode
(border colour green).
4.4 Send BASIC Program (Key 4). Border colour is red. The message CONTINUE Y/N is displayed at the top of the
screen.
Pressing Y causes the transmission sequence to begin
When the sequence is completed correctly, the display
reverts to the receive mode. If the border colour changes
green and stays so for more than 15 seconds,
transferrence has failed for some reason and the sequence
should be repeated (Press SPACE to return to menu).
4.5 Send Machine Code Program (Key 5). Border colour is red. Start address/end address are in decimal; you must
enter 5 digits in each case
Forbidden areas are 28000 - 32000 on 16k version and
60000 - 64000 on 48k version
Since the terminal software itself resides here.
4.6 Return to BASIC (Key 6).
Programs may be listed or run in the usual way. To return to
the menu page key:
RANDOMIZE USR 28000 on 16k version
RANDOMIZE USR 60000 on 48k version
5. Technical format
5.1 Data transmission: 8 bit data (even parity)
Data rate: 1200 Baud (Half Duplex CCITT V23)
Turn around code: Two consecutive 1B hex (ESC)
characters
5.2 Program code: Incoming programs prefixed by 7,7,7then F7 H for machine code
7F Hex for Basic program
Error Detection: Data is transferred in 256 Byte blocks.
EXOR checksum is transmitted and verified at the receive
end, which in turn sends back a status byte either
re-transmit or continue with the next block
Retrys: 3
6. Special messages that can be sent to your contact:Symbol Shift D: Transmit "Please pick up your phone"Symbol Shift E: Transmit "End of message"
Symbol Shift F: Transmit "Please repeat"
Note this was scanned in from the cassette inlay card and OCRed using Cicero.
Some obvious errors have been corrected, but no attempt has been made to format the file.
28/09/2012
Brian Gaff
Enjoy.