Make phone calls with an Internal modem

[juanstdio]

Hello forum,

Does anyone know of any software to make calls using the Powerbook modem?

something similar to Windows "Phone Dialer" (dialer.exe) but that works on OS X Tiger and/or Panther

I've investigated the Garden but found nothing.

Thank you!

 

[eyoungren]

Hello forum,

Does anyone know of any software to make calls using the Powerbook modem?

something similar to Windows "Phone Dialer" (dialer.exe) but that works on OS X Tiger and/or Panther

I've investigated the Garden but found nothing.

Thank you!

I did a custom Google search from 1/1/2000 to 1/1/2005. Came up with this:

The MegaPhone Company: MegaPhone 9.0

If you click on Try It, you'll get a download for OS 8-9/OS X with Classic and Windows.

Your mileage may vary. Says it needs to be bought after 7 days.

 

[Nermal]

I love how it has a $199 introductory price for a "limited time only". It's probably been ~25 years at this point

Edit: Although the actual purchase link doesn't work. I wonder whether they'd give a discount if you emailed them today... or whether the message would just go into a black hole.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I love how it has a $199 introductory price for a "limited time only". It's probably been ~25 years at this point

Edit: Although the actual purchase link doesn't work. I wonder whether they'd give a discount if you emailed them today... or whether the message would just go into a black hole.

We're going to find out. I've contacted them...

 

[Amethyst1]

I did a custom Google search from 1/1/2000 to 1/1/2005. Came up with this:

I love that site’s pin-stripe background. Even better, MegaPhone’s manual has a 1997 copyright and some screenshots in it are from System 7. Those were the days.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I wonder whether they'd give a discount if you emailed them today... or whether the message would just go into a black hole.

Here's your answer:

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

sales@megaphoneco.com
LMTP error after RCPT TO:<sales@megaphoneco.com>:
550 5.1.1 <sales@megaphoneco.com> User doesn't exist:
sales@megaphoneco.com

They're still paying a company every month for the site to remain accessible though?

 

[eyoungren]

Here's your answer:



They're still paying a company every month for the site to remain accessible though?

Someone is paying the bills…

 

[Amethyst1]

http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/megaphone

 

[B S Magnet]

I’m surprised, frankly, no one in the post-OS X realm thought to develop a utility for hardwired voice telephony for modem-equipped Macs.

Granted, this was coincident with a time when everyone was looking to buy their first mobile phone and ditch their land lines. But not even an open-source project (that I’m aware of) thought to try this out as a proof-of-concept exercise.

 

[barracuda156]

http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/megaphone

But those are pre-historic versions.

 

[eyoungren]

But those are pre-historic versions.

OP is asking about using a prehistoric modem to make phone calls on a PowerPC Mac. Having used a modem to connect to and run a BBS from 1985 to 1991 and again from 1999 to 2001 to connect to the internet (before the meteors hit Earth and wiped out the rest of the dinosaurs), I can attest to this prehistoric context.

 

[headlessmike]

ABDialer sounds like it might work, and is a bit more modern than MegaPhone. Or perhaps it just dials the number before you pick up a handset on the same line?

 

[B S Magnet]

from 1999 to 2001 to connect to the internet (before the meteors hit Earth and wiped out the rest of the dinosaurs),

I hate the new normal.

 

[eyoungren]

I hate the new normal.

If the 'new normal' is in reference to the internet, my 14 year old self (in 1985) would have done quite a lot to get the always on 24/7 connectivity I have now. To be able to just 'go' versus waiting until 9pm to use the modem, telling everyone in the house I was using the phone, opening a terminal program, manually dialing the number, waiting for a tone, then putting the phone down and hoping the modem picked up the connection would have made me very happy.

And my dad picking up the phone to make a call then cursing when he heard the tone (and the inevitable yelling at me) would have been avoided. Also, $300 phone bills are avoided too.

If the 'new normal' is us dinosaurs are all dinosaurs - well, I'm okay with that.

 

[B S Magnet]

If the 'new normal' is in reference to the internet, my 14 year old self (in 1985) would have done quite a lot to get the always on 24/7 connectivity I have now.

On the latter, 24-hour connectivity would have been neat in the days of dial-up, but my parents would never have it.

On the former, I’m making a wry reference to 2001 and to a very specific reference found, briefly, in the short-lived, faux-children’s variety series, Wonder Showzen, from 2006–07.

The reference involves a brief scene with the number 11 (the episode’s “brought to you by” number) being “two better than the number 9” (the episode’s original “brought to you by” number) — until the foam talking puppet 11, after having this brief argument with the foam puppet 9, is struck by the airborne number 9. 11 crudely “burns down”. The main muppet-like character, witnessing the spectacle, says, “I hate the new normal.” The subtext runs way deeper.

Unfortunately, YT wiped all reference to it, but the episode — itself an intentional “bootleg” on the original, yay postmodernism — is still up, as a bootleg, on Dailymotion (just index to 1:45 and watch the next 30 seconds).

To be able to just 'go' versus waiting until 9pm to use the modem, telling everyone in the house I was using the phone, opening a terminal program, manually dialing the number, waiting for a tone, then putting the phone down and hoping the modem picked up the connection would have made me very happy.

Relatable content.

And my dad picking up the phone to make a call then cursing when he heard the tone (and the inevitable yelling at me) would have been avoided. Also, $300 phone bills are avoided too.

I dared never to dial a long distance number, because the repercussions would have been far, far more severe than a stern yelling-to and/or grounding, by a certain, violent alcoholic parent I ran away from at the ripe, old age of 16.

If the 'new normal' is us dinosaurs are all dinosaurs - well, I'm okay with that.

Just watch the clip. At this point, one sort of needs to have a certain lived memory — to be of a certain age, i.e., today’s dinosaurs — to appreciate the gallows humour of the mid-2000s moment in the clip.

 

[juanstdio]

Hello all,

I've downloaded abdialer and tried to call myself using the line provided by my internet company over the cablemodem (it has an rj45 next to the LAN ports).. it worked!! (I pay less than a cent per month for that line)
but the call hungs automatically, maybe because the trial version?

Long story short: I built a RAS server just to serve a DialUp connection to my old Macs into the workshop (also because why not).. so I was looking for a software to use a PowerBook as an telephone with Mic and ear for testing.. but can also be used to call someone

 

[juanstdio]

Technically if I connect the RAS server to my line and you call my number, you get a response to initialize the connection.. sound silly but I'm amazed since I always wanted a server of that class

 

[juanstdio]

When was the last time you saw a Powerbook connecting to the internet via Dial-Up connection?

 

[TheShortTimer]

When was the last time you saw a Powerbook connecting to the internet via Dial-Up connection?

View attachment 2361173

Today - thanks to you.

Hoy - gracias para ti.

 

[AdamBuker]

On the former, I’m making a wry reference to 2001 and to a very specific reference found, briefly, in the short-lived, faux-children’s variety series, Wonder Showzen, from 2006–07.

The reference involves a brief scene with the number 11 (the episode’s “brought to you by” number) being “two better than the number 9” (the episode’s original “brought to you by” number) — until the foam talking puppet 11, after having this brief argument with the foam puppet 9, is struck by the airborne number 9. 11 crudely “burns down”. The main muppet-like character, witnessing the spectacle, says, “I hate the new normal.” The subtext runs way deeper.

Unfortunately, YT wiped all reference to it, but the episode — itself an intentional “bootleg” on the original, yay postmodernism — is still up, as a bootleg, on Dailymotion (just index to 1:45 and watch the next 30 seconds).


Just watch the clip. At this point, one sort of needs to have a certain lived memory — to be of a certain age, i.e., today’s dinosaurs — to appreciate the gallows humour of the mid-2000s moment in the clip.

Wonder Showzen was low-budget, crude, crass, and devoid of any sense of moral decency. It's style of humor was a harbinger some of the strange and dark humor found in internet dumpster fires like 4chan and newgrounds.

So naturally it's a 10 out of 10.