OPD Messaging

[KINGCHEF]

A bit redundant now with the coming of Full Fibre Broadband. I don't know if there are any clever people out there who can get the OPD to work on the fibre but you never know.
Any way this is the Messaging manual.

[stephen_usher]

Unfortunately, you not only need the ROM pack for the messaging application but also the ICL minicomputer with the correct software and modem bank.

[KINGCHEF]

Hi,

Could you expand a bit on that? I'm probably wrong, but I didn't think that the messages were transmitted quite the same as an email is. It was direct from OPD to OPD with only the phone system ( no servers etc ) in between. I was 'messaging' long before I could had a modem and could get on to the Net.

I think also that it could still be done today if your line is still copper.

[tofro]

The Tonto/OPD has its own in-built telephone modem and doesn't need any server back-end or "minicomputer" to communicate directly to another OPD. Messaging between OPDs should work without any other equipment in-between than a working analogue phone line (which you won't find anywhere in developed countries anymore) or a digital phone line capable of creating analogue modem connections (which you might find in developed countries - but rarely -, depending on your and your peer's telco)

[stephen_usher]

So, the information I read before about the ICL messaging sub-system being a store-and-forward system using a system on the ICL mini-computer was incorrect?

Any system which only used the OPD memory would be very unreliable as all pending messages would be lost in the case of an OPD crash or power cycle. I doubt that any company would allow that as critical business information could be lost.

[stephen_usher]

The Tonto/OPD has its own in-built telephone modem and doesn't need any server back-end or "minicomputer" to communicate directly to another OPD. Messaging between OPDs should work without any other equipment in-between than a working analogue phone line (which you won't find anywhere in developed countries anymore) or a digital phone line capable of creating analogue modem connections (which you might find in developed countries - but rarely -, depending on your and your peer's telco)

You can buy copper to VoIP gateway boxes cheaply on eBay (or less cheaply new) and hook them up to Asterisk virtual PBX with virtual 1200/75 modems easily enough.

https://glasstty.com/building-a-standal ... bled-pabx/

Here's my OPD connected up that way... With a Raspberry Pi 400 acting as the PBX, virtual modem and serving Viewdata pages.

And here's the copper-to-VoIP gateway which I picked up for less that £30 on eBay delivered.