Dan Gookin, the well-known computer book author, once jokingly called me “Modem Davis” due to my deep involvement in telecommunications. At the heart of my work was ProLine, a bulletin board system (BBS) that relied heavily on efficient modem communication. To make programming modems more accessible and streamline ProLine’s development, I created a communications toolbox—ModemWorks.
The Problem ModemWorks Solved
If you were fluent in 6502 or 65816 assembly and had endless patience, you could write your own serial port and modem drivers from scratch. However, most Apple II users wanted something far simpler—a way to integrate modem communication into their BASIC programs without getting lost in the technical weeds. ModemWorks provided exactly that: an easy-to-use solution that handled the complexities of modem-based programming, allowing developers to transform BASIC applications into powerful online tools with minimal effort.
In 1984, the Hayes Smartmodem 1200 let you download text faster than you could read it.
A Modular Design Ahead of Its Time
Since Apple II users had various hardware setups, ModemWorks needed to be flexible. I designed it with a modular architecture, allowing users to swap components as needed. This led to the creation of my Object Module Manager (OMM), which enabled seamless integration of third-party modules. Advanced developers could leverage the ModemWorks Technical Reference (MWTR) to create custom extensions, further enhancing the toolbox’s capabilities.
A Best-Seller Born from Experimentation
According to the sales database I built in FoxBASE, ModemWorks became my best-selling product. This success stemmed in part from an early experiment in shareware distribution. Before ModemWorks became a commercial success, I partnered with Jerry Hewett in the early ’80s to launch Living Legends Software, a cooperative shareware initiative. This early exposure helped propel ModemWorks into the hands of Apple II enthusiasts who needed a reliable, user-friendly modem programming solution.
Prophetic Excerpt
“Let us not believe that even with this new architecture that we will enjoy the cutting edge forever. We may not be communicating using modems in the next eight years. Undoubtedly, new technology will make modems obsolete. Perhaps we’ll connect via high-speed links over direct connections handled for us by the phone (or cable TV?) company. No more Hayes-style AT commands. No more voice-grade lines. We’ll all just network like so many computerized television sets.”
That was written in 1992—long before ISDN, DSL, and high-speed cable became standard for Internet access.
Download ModemWorks
Disk
Download ModemWorks-3.1.2mg (800K Apple ][ 2IMG Disk Image)
Manuals
Download ModemWorks-3.1.pdf (319K PDF - 72 pages)
Download MWTR-3.1.pdf (135K PDF - 40 pages)
Other Formats
Download ModemWorks-3.1.img (800K DiskCopy image)