Modem 1200 [Model 1670] [NOS]

Modem 1200 [Model 1670]

The Commodore 1670, also known as the “Modem/1200”, is Commodore’s first Hayes-compatible modem: It connects directly to the phone line and supports pulse and tone dialing for 1200 and 300 baud duplex connections. There were two revisions, the original 1670 and the “new” 1670, a.k.a. CR-1670. (The unit in this article is the later revision.)

 

Historical Context:

Year Name Model Description
1982 VICMODEM 1600 connected to phone’s handset connector; manual dialing through phone; Motorola MC14412
1982 AUTOMODEM 1650 connected to phone line, pulse dialing in software; Motorola MC14412
1985 MODEM/300 1660 added tone dialing support by feeding SID output into modem; Texas Instruments TMS99532A
1987 MODEM/1200 1670 Hayes command set; pulse and tone dialing in hardware; 300/1200 baud support; U.S. Robotics chipset

 

On the back, there are:

  • two phone line connectors. “LINE” is connected to the telephone network, and an existing telephone can be connected to the “PHONE” line.
  • four DIP switches (default to down):
DIP Description
1 Auto Answer Enable down: auto-answer on second ring disabled
2 Carrier Detect Enable down: carrier detect on pin H-K of edge connector (needed for Plus/4)
3 Speed Indicate Enable down: speed indicate on pin J of edge connector
4 Data Terminal Ready down: DTR always on (instead of computer controlled)

 

The 1670 is based on a U.S. Robotics (“USR”) chipset:

  • U2: © USR'85 U2J2 / OKI C49-387 / JAPAN 7X2033: This is an OKI MSM80C49-387RS, a 80C49 microcontroller with 2KB of mask ROM and 128 bytes of RAM. “387” indicates which ROM image it contains.
  • U3: © USR'85 U3J2 / OKI C49-388 / JAPAN 7Y2013: This is an OKI MSM80C49-388RS, another 80C49 microcontroller, with a different ROM image (“388”).
  • U4: © USR86 / USR101 16-249 / S8749 / 35561: This socketed IC is probably the ROM that holds the bulk of the modem’s firmware.

 

Software (click label to download .d64 disk image):

Side A:

Side B:

 

Modem 1200 manual
additional material

  • This item is unused NOS in its origimal shrink wrap