All my content and ptohos
Magis Club Rev. 2
In 1980s in many European countries telephone
companies tried to introduce telephone-based text information systems.
In Germany it was Bildschirmtext. In France, it was Teletel/Minitel (first
with device connected to home TV set, then CRT terminals). In France
Minitel network has been operating until 2012 and it was still popular
when shut off. Why? It allowed to use many services, had simple catalogs
(without excessive spam, like in today's Internet) and had boards to
communicate easily. Since 1980s Minitel terminals became better and had
additional capabilities.
This unit is a Minitel terminal from late 1990s. It can connect to
Minitel, act as telephone book and even decode JPG files to its
greyscale CRT. Services can be authenticated using chip card, so only
card's holder may use services he paid for. Earlier it was password
authentication of authentication based on phone number (temrinal was
connected to home line).
This unit is Revision 2 of Magis Club terminal. The first one, released in 1996, had simpler software. Last units have been manufactured probably in mid-2000s.
| Manufacturer: | Magis/Alcatel |
|
| Model | Magis Club (Revision 2) |
|
| Year: | 1999 | |
| CPU: | National Semiconductor NS32HT160 | |
| Memory: | 256K+32K | |
| Display: | CRT (grayscale) |
|
| Keyboard: | Built-in, membrane with cursors and numeric keypad. | |
| Main port: | Telephone line (French Minitel system) | |
| Additional ports: | Serial port (RS232 TTL) (8-pin DIN socket)
|
|
|
See also: |
||
|
Peripherals in collection: |
||
My unit is in a good condition. It works, it can emit
sound and beep telephone numbers. It was manufactured in 1999, plastic
cover in 1998. Contrary to earlier Minitel or German Bildschirmtext
units it is made to be cheap and efficient - it has a very small amount
of electronics and a whole logic part is made in a PCB smaller than
palm. It is based on National Semiconductor 32-bit microcontroller,
256kB and 32kB of RAM, I don't know which one is the video memory. Its
card reader also seems to work.
Looking inside, it can be seen that manufacturer (boards are marked
"Alcatel") saved as much as possible. There is no thick insulation
between power supply/CRT PCB and bottom of casing - only layer of paper.
Speaker is held in casing by a rubber band. All components are soldered
in - even card reader ribbon cable. The only thing which can be removed
is logic PCB.
Manual in French. If you can understand (or Google translate) French you should peek a bit there, it's a forum which still has the atmosphere of old Minitel forums. (Non-French IPs seem to become blocked, unfortunately, Local mirror).
Connecting to PC using serial port
Images of Minitel chip cards: 1 2
Power on:
After powering on it should beep, then green LED stays on and nothing happens. Press the power button or blue handset key. It should jump to dialing mode and CRT should light up with number entering window.
In terminal mode, CR is Shift+Return.
Disassembly:
1. Using flat screwdriver pry both bottom hooks by
pressing them.
2. Do the same thing with two hooks on the top side.
3. When the rear part comes off a bit, use needle-like screwdriver to
pry upwards another hook in the middle of top casing, hidden in vent
aperture.
4. After unlocking, slide the cover a bit more. Now pry the speaker part
from the rear and remove it by moving inside through its hole (rotate it
properly). The speaker cable is soldered to mainboard and there is no
way to disconnect it.
Serial port pinout:
WARNINGS:
1. TTL 5V RS232, 1200bps 7bits or 9600bps 8bits, configurable
in software (key icon -> Regle... -> Prix peripherique or something like
this). In the manual it is written that it can also go with 4800bps, but
I haven't found this setting in my unit.
2. In the manual, the connector shown (probably male
connector) has different numbering than connector in the "Connecting to
PC using serial port" site. So I've just measured my unit to check where
I have this 8.5V auxiliary power (it's unregulated).
1 - Rx
2 - GND
3 - Tx
4 - Transmission indicator?
5 - 8.5V/1A power for device (unregulated, unloaded is about 12,1V)
6 - Rx audio
7 - Tx audio
8 - GND Audio