Path: rcfnews.cs.umass.edu!barrett From: year0183@mailhost.innet.lu (Christian Kemp) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: TKR TriStar 28.8K modem Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.datacomm Date: 27 Dec 1995 15:05:36 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 239 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <4brnc0$h05@kernighan.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: year0183@mailhost.innet.lu (Christian Kemp) NNTP-Posting-Host: maya.cs.umass.edu Keywords: hardware, datacomm, telecommunications, modem, commercial Originator: barrett@maya PRODUCT NAME TKR TriStar (Firmware version 1.09) (This seems to be the same as the ELSA Microlink 28.8 TQV, but the manual and software are, as far as I know, different) BRIEF DESCRIPTION V.34 (28.800 Bit/Sek) Fax-Data-Voice Modem AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: TKR GmbH Ges. f|r Telekommunikation & Co. KG Address: Stadtparkweg 2 D-24106 Kiel Germany Telephone: ++49 (0431) 33 78 81 FAX: ++49 (0431) 3 59 84 Mailbox: ++49 (0431) 33 61 99 Btx: *TKR# CompuServe: 74431,562 E-mail: tkr@tkr.netzservice.de World Wide Web: www.tkr.de LIST PRICE 498 DM (German Marks) (which equals to 1 $350 USD or #220 GBP) Available for 470 DM at other dealers. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE A free serial port is required, an I/O card with faster ports is optional, but transfer speed may benefit a little. To use a high-speed modem like the TriStar at full speed I suggest you use a fast Amiga (with a 68020 CPU or better), as an Amiga with 68000 cannot cope with such high transfer speeds. A lot of the communication software available may require additional hardware, such as additional Fast RAM. SOFTWARE No special Kickstart version is required for the modem, though of the communication software available may require Kickstart 2.04 or higher. You don't need any additional software to send faxes, use your Amiga as answering machine, or connect to a BBS. There is a program for connecting to Compu$erve, but there is no Internet software. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING A1200 with AmigaDos 3.0 (Kickstart 39.106, Workbench 39.29) 2 MB Chip RAM and 4 MB Fast RAM, DKB 1240 accelerator, 680EC030/40MHz and 68882/50MHz, 250 MB internal 2.5" hard drive, BSC CD1200 PCMCIA controller with Mitsumi Double speed CD-ROM. Microvitec 1438 monitor. INSTALLATION Installation is very easy. All cables are included with the modem, they only need to be connected to the correct places. This is straightforward, as the process is described in the manual. There are some references to usage on the PC, which should be ignored. If you purchase the modem in Germany, but live in another country, you may have to buy an adapter to be able to connect the modem to the telephone line. The modem comes with a CD with 250 MB of programs and archives. Sadly only one tenth is dedicated to the Amiga. All programs are included as normal LhA and as self-extracting archives. LhA 1.52 is included to unpack the LhA archives. There is a readme in the Amiga drawer on the CD, but you will need to have some basic Amiga knowledge to find it, as the CD hasn't got icons. This shouldn't be a problem though... I rate the installation 4 stars out of 5. REVIEW The good thing about modems is that you connect them and don't need to worry about them afterwards anymore. They are simply there, transmitting files, E-Mails, faxes and acting as intelligent fax and answering machine. However, in my opinion, the TriStar is one of the better available models. This begins with the good look of the casing and ends with the high reliability during transmissions. I have been using the modem for over one month now and there has never been a dropped carrier while I was online. No file that I sent or received was corrupt. One slight annoyance is the speed of the transmission. If a modem claims to be a 28k8 modem, it should also connect with the maximum speed of 28800 bit per second. However, this is not the case. Only 50% of the calls are at 28k8 baud, the others were at 26k4. This may not seem like a lot, but that's nearly ten percent! DOCUMENTATION The TriStar comes with a 84 page manual, but it's missing an introduction to Comms. Most of the pages are "wasted" for AT commands, which are pretty useless for me as I expect my software to cope with these. A dedicated Amiga manual would also be nice, but I guess the amount of Amiga users is not that high to justify the cost. The quality of the documentation is fairly high, it is in German and the layout is nice. As far as I could see there are no grammatical mistakes. The documentation was not written for beginners and, in my opinion, this isn't necessary. Using a terminal program to access a BBS is easy and doesn't require you to know every command of your modem by heart. I rate the documentation 4 stars out of 5. LIKES I like the CD that comes with the modem. TKR were the only ones I know who bundle Amiga software with their modem. (Although most of the software can be found on Aminet (CD's) too. The casing is of a good quality and the built-in speaker and micro- phone are of a relatively high quality too, unless some other modems I have seen. In addition to "normal" use the modem can be used as fax and it acts as answering machine (along with AVMSuite or similar programs). DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS The manual could include some "beginner-only" pages, explaining what a BBS is, what the Internet is and where to get more information on these subjects (maybe as text file on CD, one example that comes to my mind is the "Big Dummies Guide to the Internet"). Readily installed Internet software, or at least in archived form would make life much easier for people who haven't already got access to the Aminet (CD's). I dislike the idea of having to register the voice program (AVMSuite). I am sure its author and TKR could agree on a license, where for each modem sold a small amount of money is sent to him. I'm sure it would be better to receive a small amount from every purchaser than the regulate registration fee from (for example) ten people. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS This is the first time I used a modem on the Amiga. The only thing I can say is that the speaker is of a much better quality than the one of a modem I used on a PC some time ago. BUGS I already mentioned the 26k4/28k8 bug, which is really annoying. The Luxembourgish phone line system is 100% digital, therefore the quality of the telephone line cannot be blamed, I suppose. VENDOR SUPPORT I have only contacted them once, to order the modem. They were as helpful and friendly as they could be. I have not yet visited the support mailbox, as telephone calls to Germany are rather expensive. One note, if you want to visit their home page on the WWW. Amosaic v2.0 seems to have problems and won't display anything, but IBrowse works. WARRANTY I'm sorry, but I can't find the warranty sheet! Probably six months, possibly more (but don't quote me). CONCLUSIONS RATING: "3.5 stars out of 5" ***+ The TriStar would have earned a "5 out of 5", but the missing Internet software, the annoying 26k4 "bug" and the relatively high price cost 0.5 points each. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1995 Christian Kemp (ckemp@innet.lu). You can distribute and/or include this review in online mags, as long ________________________________________________________________ (***** Christian Kemp ** ckemp@innet.lu ** USELESS software *****) //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// --- Accepted and posted by Daniel Barrett, comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews