PhoneBase for the Macintosh

Since PCS has completely abandoned the Mac, I’ve decided to step in on the behalf of Mac users everywhere. Here’s my story:

I convinced our church to give up the WinDOS machine that was giving us nothing but trouble and replace it with an awesome Mac network. Problem: we have this PhoneTree and the accompanying software! Emulators and DOS cards are iffy at best, so we needed an alternative. I noticed in the manual that there was a Mac version of the software! Problem solved, right? Wrong! Not only did they not have it available, they didn’t even have an old copy sitting around the office!

I did FTP searches, etc. and came up with absolutely nothing. I put feelers out on several e-mail lists. No response. I despaired and started looking for DOS cards. Ug! Then, I get this note:

>We use PhoneBase on an SE and I believe it has System 7.5 or 6. Works
>fine. Too bad the company trashed it. Want a copy?
>
>Ron Donhardt
>@ North Wake Baptist Church

Ron sent me a copy, and now we’re in the process of getting it going. The import won’t work on my Quadra 800 with 7.6.1, but there are alternatives. Here’s what you need:

1. An old Mac that will run System 7 or earlier. PCS only supports it through System 6.x, I believe, and don’t count on them to support this copy. SE’s and other old Macs can be found extremely cheap, often free. A 512K is ideal.

2. A connection cord. Note the shape of the 9-pin serial cord (DB-9). These should be available from Mac parts places. Just describe it to them (DB-9 Male to DIN-8 Male). It should plug into your DIN-8 modem port. It is a straight through connection. 512K’s are DB-9 on both ends.

3. A PhoneTree box (duh!)

Another option is using a previous system on an emulator. Check out www.emulation.net for old Mac emulators.

Questions? Leave a comment. Please don’t contact PCS, as they’ll probably make me get rid of this software so people stop bugging them.

Download PhoneBase for the Macintosh