Novation CAT
Encyclopedia
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
manufacturer whose CAT series were popular in the early home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
market in the late 1970s and early 1980s, notably on the Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
. The Hayes Smartmodem 300
Hayes Microcomputer Products
Hayes Microcomputer Products was a U.S.-based manufacturer of modems. They are particularly well known for their Smartmodem, which is introduced the ability to control the modem through commands sent in the data stream itself. The "smart modem" approach dramatically simplified operation, making...
, introduced in 1981, helped kill off Novation and many other early modem companies over the next few years.
The Original CAT
Novation's first CAT was an external 300 bit/s Bell 103-standard modem that connected to the phone lines using an acoustic couplerAcoustic coupler
In telecommunications, the term acoustic coupler has the following meanings:# An interface device for coupling electrical signals by acoustical means—usually into and out of a telephone instrument....
. Like most other acoustically coupled modems, the CAT required the user to dial the desired number on a normal telephone, and then press the handset into rubber cups on the modem if a carrier could be heard. This was only possible because telephones were generally available only from Western Electric
Western Electric
Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. It was the scene of a number of technological innovations and also some seminal developments in industrial management...
, all of a standardized size and layout. There was no sort of automated operation available; even hanging up had to be done manually (by depressing the handset hook on the base of the telephone).
The Apple-CAT II
Novation also introduced an internal direct-connect modem, the APPLE-CAT II, which plugged in to an expansion slot in an Apple II computer. Due to the internal connection, the APPLE-CAT II was able to feature a full range of dialing commands, and could report a wide range of call progress tones (BUSY, REORDER, etc.) that many modems still lack today. These operations were handled directly by software on the host computer; the modem set certain registerHardware register
In digital electronics, especially computing, a hardware register stores bits of information, in a way that all the bits can be written to or read out simultaneously.The hardware registers inside a central processing unit are called processor registers....
s when tones were heard on the line, by timing when these registers were set or clear, the software could determine what was happening on the line.
The Apple-CAT II also supported the Bell 202 protocol, which allowed half-duplex 1200 bit/s operation when connecting to another Apple-CAT II modem. This was an exceptionally rare feature; modems with "full" 1200 bit/s operation were expensive devices intended to be used with minicomputer
Minicomputer
A minicomputer is a class of multi-user computers that lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems and the smallest single-user systems...
s and mainframes
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
, and typically cost thousands of dollars. Since the 1200 bit/s mode was half-duplex, or one-way only, the users would normally have to decide in advance which direction transmissions would proceed.
However, software was used to work around this limitation as well. File transfer programs written specifically for the Apple-CAT II's 202 mode, such as Catsend and the later CatFur, periodically paused and reversed transmission direction, so the receiving computer could acknowledge receipt of a stream of data, and, in the case of CatFur, could add a short chat message to the sender in the middle of the one-way file transfer. Many bulletin board system
Bulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
s (BBSs) running CatSend and then CatFur were set up to transfer warez
Warez
Warez refers primarily to copyrighted works distributed without fees or royalties, and may be traded, in general violation of copyright law. The term generally refers to unauthorized releases by organized groups, as opposed to file sharing between friends or large groups of people with similar...
. The 202 CatFur protocol could only be used by a user running another APPLE-CAT II.
In addition, the APPLE-CAT II had the ability to support CCITT v.21 and CCITT v.23. Though no known applications took advantage of this facility, it was possible to modify certain software such as ASCII Express
ASCII Express
ASCII Express is a telecommunications program, written for the Apple II series of computers. At a time when the use of the bulletin board system , or even telecommunications in general wasn't a common use of the Apple II, ASCII Express was the choice among telecommunication users throughout much...
by use of a hex editor to take advantage of this feature.
Novation also released a full-duplex Bell 212 (modem)-compatible expansion known as the Novation 212 Expansion Card, which plugged into the Apple II motherboard as well as an existing APPLE-CAT II via a ribbon cable
Ribbon cable
A ribbon cable is a cable with many conducting wires running parallel to each other on the same flat plane. As a result the cable is wide and flat. Its name comes from the resemblance of the cable to a piece of ribbon.Ribbon cables are usually seen for internal peripherals in computers, such as...
. The card was very expensive, and rarely seen. Novation also created an 'Expansion Pack' or external breakout box that would connect to the large pin header on the top middle of the card. This item allowed easy external access to the built in serial port, phone line and hand set connections. Due to its cost at the time, the item is very rare.
The APPLE-CAT II was popular with phone phreakers
Phreaking
Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. As telephone networks have become computerized, phreaking has become closely...
for its high half-duplex 1200 bit/s speed and its ability to detect various tones. It also had the ability to generate tones directly into the phone line. Several specialized applications such as TSPS, The Cats Meow and Phantom Access
Phantom Access
Phantom Access was the name given to a series of hacking programs written by Patrick Kroupa of LOD. The programs were worked on during the early to mid 80s , and designed to run on the Apple II computer and Apple-Cat modem....
were used to mimic standard telephone sounds such as standard numeric DTMF dial tones as well as blue box tones, ringing (both American and International), dial tones, call waiting alerts, busy signals, 2600 Hz tones, and other effects such as payphone sounds. Due to these and other features, the APPLE CAT II could be used as a black box
Black box (phreaking)
The black box , was a small electronic circuit added to a telephone which provided the caller with a free call...
, red box, hacking tool, answering machine, war dialer, voice simulator, voice distorter, etc.
Despite the APPLE-CAT II's popularity, its early years were faced with incompatibility with most telecommunications programs, as its native API is considered proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
by today's standards. To increase compatibility without re-coding these programs, Novation released a firmware upgrade kit (an EPROM package) allowing the modem to emulate the Hayes Micromodem II
Hayes Microcomputer Products
Hayes Microcomputer Products was a U.S.-based manufacturer of modems. They are particularly well known for their Smartmodem, which is introduced the ability to control the modem through commands sent in the data stream itself. The "smart modem" approach dramatically simplified operation, making...
, including the MMII's IN#x control codes. At the APPLE-CAT II's peak, compatibility with its native API increased, and MMII emulation became less of a necessity.
The EPROM and SSI75T201 Tone Receiver Option is available via the Apple II Legacy dealer ReactiveMicro.com.
The D-CAT
A direct-connect version of the original 300 bit/s external modem was later released as the D-CAT (D for direct). To operate the D-CAT, an external telephone was still required to dial. Once the connection was made, a button was pressed on the modem which made it "pick up" the phone, at which point the handset could be hung up. A further improvement was the Auto-CAT, which allowed dialing the phone by entering the number when the modem was first started. Once the connection was made the modem switched to "data mode", and from then on had to be operated manually.The J-CAT
The J-CAT was Novation's first attempt to make a "smart modem", albeit in a rather non-standard fashion. Its most basic feature was that J-CAT could be placed in a mode where it would automatically pick up the phone if it was called, offering rudimentary auto-answer capability. In an era when it could be safely assumed that the remote user would hang up when they were finished their call, as they were likely using an acoustic coupler modem like the original CAT, the lack of a "hang up my phone" command was not a real problem. This made the J-CAT useful for BBS use; Novation ran a simple one to allow users to test their new modems.The J-CAT also supported another non-standard feature that allowed direct control of the phone line. Instead of using in-band signalling, like the Smartmodem, the J-CAT passed the on/off-hook control, carrier detect and phone status indication to the computer through otherwise unused pins in the RS-232C connector. The computer could pulse the hook line to simulate pulse dialing
Pulse dialing
Pulse dialing, dial pulse, or loop disconnect dialing, also called rotary or decadic dialling in the United Kingdom , is pulsing in which a direct-current pulse train is produced by interrupting a steady signal according to a fixed or formatted code for each digit and at a standard pulse repetition...
or hang up, and read the status pin to look for line signals like ringing or busy (any noise on the line was reported as "1"). Using these features required a computer able to signal on spare pins, often requiring a second connector and a custom cable to support it. Combined with proper software this made the J-CAT fairly "smart", although Novation was careful to state it was not a "smart modem". Operation was generally similar to the APPLE-CAT in concept. Interestingly, the J-CAT was released after the Smartmodem 300, so, unsurprisingly, it was never very popular even though it was fairly low-cost (for the era).