Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!purdue!ames!sun-barr!texsun!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway
From: jst@cca.ucsf.edu (Joe Stong)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Answering Device With Continuous Play and Hangup Features
Message-ID: 
Date: 24 Sep 89 11:41:22 GMT
Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US
Lines: 23
Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us

The Computerfone(TM) from Suncoast Systems, Inc. Pennsacola FL
will report ringing, sieze a line, dial, listen to touchtones,
and play and record segments of sound on a phone line.  You
can also queue up the sound segments, and upload/download them.
I think the selling price is around 00.  It has a rom with
some prerecorded letters and numbers (sounds) in it.

It doesn't do any waveform compression like the PC Answering
machine boards with the DSP's or CPU's do.

Warning: even at 38,400 Baud, you can't keep up with sampling at
its highest data rate (8K 4 bit (delta?) samples/sec), and the
protocol seems to have no error checking.  It can barely keep
up at 6K with binary transfers.  Unix tty drivers usually
have trouble with high baud rates...

I currently can't figure out how to keep the thing offhook after
a successful dial, but I haven't been spending much time with
it.

What I really want is a box like this that works with a bidirectional
parallel port, or a SCSI interface; or ethernet/tcpip/telnet so
it can transfer data fast enough.  Anyone got any ideas?