I'm trying to get a modem to work with my sister's PC, which is a Mac IIci.
The trouble is, I'm pretty darn ignorant about Macs.  Is there a built-in
communications program that ship with the Mac System, like the Terminal
program that ships with Windows?  If not, can anyone recommend a cheap/free
package I could use?  Also, is this sort of upgrade plug 'n play with Macs?
can I just unplug the printer from the "phone" port (where it is now), plug
the printer into the "printer" port, and plug the modem into the "phone"
port, and have everything be hunky-dory?
   Any and all help will be appreciated.

10 responses total.

If you are not using appletalk (which must go on the printer port),
then the printer probably should be set up to use the printer port
as you propose, rather than the phone port as you have it now.
You make it sound like you are not using the printer port now.
Make sure appletalk is turned off (inactive) in the Chooser.

If you actually want to use appletalk, then you should re-ask the question,
because this answer is off-base.

You just plug the modem (via a Mac-Modem cable, which is not the same as a 
PC modem cable) into the phone port.

Now the question is what software should you run. There is a lot of software
for the Mac, but none of it is built in. This is a shame, in my opinion.
My favorite is MacKermit, which is free. Thank goodness, it is a much better 
program than the terminal program that ships with windows.
There is a bootstrap problem getting the program to her Mac, though.
You need someone to put it on a floppy disk. I can do that if you want.

I'm using MacLayers, courtesy of srw, which allows you to have several
simultaneous sessions on one connection.

Any of these programs will work just by loading them and running them and just
plugging the modem into the phone port.

 I like Zterm which is a shareware program, and darned decent.

Depending on the modem speed, either of two mac-to-modem cables
should work off the  telephone-icon port. There is no built-in
communications program that i know of.
  
Z-term is pretty nifty, as is the mac-to-mac-only telefinder 3.2.2
which is public domain, and downloadable from Mac-Technics as
a guest user from 663-6991. It will download with z-term (preferred)
or x/y modem, or kermit.
  
srw, i'd like to try out that Maclayers program myself.

Right now AppleTalk is turned on, and the printer is plugged in to the
phone port.  But, AppleTalk is a network thing, right?  And this is a
stand-alone PC, that used to be on a network in a former life.  So can
I turn AppleTalk off?  I tried just moving the printer cable over to the
printer port, but then nothing would print.  I have a cable for the modem,
that's not a problem.
   I'd like to accept your offer of MacKermit, Steve, but the trouble is
I'm in New Jersey, and will be heading back to A^2 on Friday, so I don't
think it could get here in time.  I could probably download MacKermit to
a 3.5" DOS floppy - and some Macs can read DOS floppies, right?  How do
I find out if this one can?  I'm a stranger in a strange land, here ...

        Go to the chooser (under the apple menu) then select the printer
icon for the printer you are using.  Then choose a port will come up,
choose the printer icon for the printer port (easier to do then
descibe :-)).  You should be set, unless the printer driver isn't
installed in which case you just drive to the system folder
(system 7) or into the extensions folder inside the system folder
(system 6).

One question I would ask is why you have appletalk turned on.
Is anything plugged into the printer port? If so it should be an appletalk
network. If not, turn off appletalk in the chooser and do what raven said
to switch the non-appletalk printer to the printer port.

If you have a network connection through your printer port, then you are
1 port shy of being able to run a printer and a modem. If the printer can
run as an appletalk printer, you can put it on the network, and you'll probably
have to use different printer drivers in that case.

Any Mac with a superdrive can read PC floppies, but in the absence of any
fancy 3rd party software, you'll probably have to run "Apple File Exchange"
which comes with the OS. Check out what kind of translation it can do.
I am pretty sure it can do MacBinary, but I dunno if it can do binhex (.hqx)
which is what you'll get from most archives.

Compact pro, stuffit, stuffit expander, and as a last resort binhex4 can all
convert  .hqx binhex files to Mac format. If you have a way, d/l the .hqx
file on your pc in text mode, then move it to the mac with Apple File exchange.
If it can do binhex you're set, otherwise you still need to convert from 
binhex to Mac format.

        err that should be install the driver in the system folder
(system 7). I really need to proofread before I enter these responses.

Well, I'm back in Ann Arbor now.  I found a communications program on the
Mac with the unlikely (it seemed to me) name of "Microphone" (I figured it
was some kind of Kareoke software, till I ran it), and used that to download
MacKermit, since I am more familiar with Kermit.  Unfortunately neither of
the versions of Kermit I downloaded (although they un-binhexed ok) seemed to
be able to talk to the modem - I'd type "AT" in the comms window, but
couldn't get the modem to respond with "Ok" as all happy Hayes compatible
modems should.  Microphone seemed to work ok, though, and I was later assured
that it was legal for my sister to have it (she was given the whole computer,
lock, stock, and barrel, and doesn't really know what's on it, which is why
I had to hunt around for the comms software).
   Matthew:  Thanks, I'll refer back to this item when I connect the modem
up again.  Steve:  Nothing was plugged in to the printer port, but the printer
was plugged in to the "phone" port.  I don't know why, but this PC was
undoubtably on a LAN in its previous existence.
   Thanks for all your help, everyone!  Now if I could just find a Freenet
in Central Jersey for them to log on to ...

        Microphone is a decent terminal emulator, it's the one I use all the
time.

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