Instructions for Using the A. A. T. S. P. Electronic Bulletin Board

Abstract

In the March 1987 issue of Hispania, Christopher Davison reported the results of the first efforts to establish an electronic bulletin board for the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. Building upon these efforts, an electronic bulletin board now exists on the University of Toledo's VAX 11/785 mini-computer and is available for anyone to use twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You are cordially invited to do so. The following information will help you get started. In addition to your computer, you will need a modem (a device that translates the computer's electronic signals into sounds that can be transmitted over the telephone lines), and a communications program (software capable of generating and interpreting those sounds). Some of the more popular programs are ASCII Express, Softerm, Apple Access II (Apple IIe), CrossTalk, Hayes Smartcom, PC Talk, ProComm (IBM family), MacTerminal, Red Ryder Hayes Smartcom II, and Microphone (Macintosh). For additional information, you may wish to consult Howard Cohen's article Telecommunications and the Foreign Language Teacher in the May, 1986 issue of Hispania. The A.A.T.S.P. Electronic Bulletin Board is designed to allow several people access at the same time, so there should be no problems with busy signals when you dial in. You can use virtually any microcomputer, modem and communications program, provided you follow the appropriate protocols, e.g., the baud rate, the number of data and stop bits, the parity, and the duplex. Although these terms might seem complicated to the computer novice, their technical definitions are unnecessary: they are simply settings which determine the manner and speed with which information flows through the phone lines from one computer to another. In order to connect to the bulletin board, you should set your communications program as follows: * 300, 1200 or 2400 baud; * 7 data bits; * 1 stop bit; * space parity; * full duplex.