Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!agate!ucbvax!hoptoad!gnu From: gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems Subject: Re: Request for information (again) Message-ID: <8591@hoptoad.uucp> Date: 25 Sep 89 00:24:25 GMT References: <31194@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <2608@gandalf.UUCP> Organization: Grasshopper Group in San Francisco Lines: 17 carr@gandalf.UUCP (Dave Carr) wrote: > I'll bet the Telebit uses ACT CommPressor software. Not true; Telebit uses Unix compress. The modem contains a 68000 and much of it is written in C; they probably just changed the interfaces a bit so it would compress blocks on demand, compiled it, and installed it. Personally I don't see too much point to compression-in-the-modem; hosts are usually faster than 68000's, and it's more expensive for many hosts to handle the doubled serial port traffic caused by sending the uncompressed data over the port to the modem. Better for the host to just compress it before sending. I suppose it's useful when on a dumb terminal. John -- John Gilmore {sun,pacbell,uunet,pyramid}!hoptoad!gnu gnu@toad.com "Watch me change my world..." -- Liquid Theatre