mmm@weitek.UUCP (Mark Thorson) (11/05/85)
Here's an idea I wish everybody would adopt. Very often at Weitek we get in the situation of needing to swap lines 2 and 3 on the D-25 connectors used with RS-232. This happens often enough that many of our cables have been modified to do this swap. As a result we also get in the position of having strung a cable that swaps to a terminal that needs 2 and 3 unswapped. What I want is a reversing switch. Just one simple cheap switch on the back of the terminal that would swap pins 2 and 3. Some of you out in net-land actually MAKE terminals. Could you please consider this on your next design? Mark Thorson (...!cae780!weitek!mmm)
gwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn <gwyn>) (11/08/85)
> What I want is a reversing switch. Just one simple cheap switch on the back > of the terminal that would swap pins 2 and 3. Some of you out in net-land > actually MAKE terminals. Could you please consider this on your next design? Terminals should conform to the specs for DTE. Why are some of your terminals messed up?
john@birtch.UUCP (John Pipkins x257) (11/09/85)
> Here's an idea I wish everybody would adopt. Very often at Weitek > we get in the situation of needing to swap lines 2 and 3 on the D-25 connectors > ...etc... > > Mark Thorson (...!cae780!weitek!mmm) I got tired of changing pins every time we had to move a terminal or got a new one. Our solution was to use modular connectors. We have DB25 to RJ45 (or is that 11) converters screwed to each terminal. Any pin rearrangements are done in that connector. That is connected to RJ45 cable (4 twisted pair). On the other end of the cable is a "standard" (i.e. all lines the same) connection to the computer via another DB25/RJ45 converter. Makes it easy to move terminals and equipment around. John Pipkins (...!trwrb!scgvaxd!felix!birtch!john)
pz@emacs.UUCP (Paul Czarnecki) (11/14/85)
In article <3003@brl-tgr.ARPA> gwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn <gwyn>) writes: >> What I want is a reversing switch. Just one simple cheap switch on the back >> of the terminal that would swap pins 2 and 3. > >Terminals should conform to the specs for DTE. >Why are some of your terminals messed up? Doug, After having maintained a large number (> 150) of RS232 links that were all haphazardly installed and mis- or un-labeled, you could better appreciate the simple request that the original poster made. If you have to install a new terminal or relocate an old one, you quite often have no idea what is up there in the ceiling. You just don't know if 2&3 are switched or not. The could be switched many times. The signal might pass though home brew adaptors and patch panels that simply weren't built correctly. And you have to live with this situation. The bean counters don't want you to spend lots of money to fix it plus the users dont want the n weeks of downtime. I little switch like this, although unessessary in the perfect world, would be a great boon in the imperfect world. Thank God for break-out boxes. Solution? Move to a new site. Really! That's what my old company did! pZ -- -- Flushed from the bathroom of your heart. Paul Czarnecki Uniworks, Inc. decvax!{cca,wanginst!infinet}!emacs!pz 20 William Street emacs!pz@cca-unix.ARPA Wellesley, MA 02181 (617) 235-2600
tj@alliant.UUCP (Tom Jaskiewicz) (11/21/85)
In article <117@emacs.UUCP> pz@emacs.UUCP (Paul Czarnecki) writes: >>> What I want is a reversing switch. Just one simple cheap switch on the >>> back of the terminal that would swap pins 2 and 3. >>Why are some of your terminals messed up? >After having maintained a large number (> 150) of RS232 links that were >all haphazardly installed and mis- or un-labeled, you could better >appreciate the simple request that the original poster made. >I little switch like this, although unessessary in the perfect world, >would be a great boon in the imperfect world. Thank God for break-out >boxes. It's all too true. And one of our problems was locating the break-out box. I finally hit upon the solution and had 5 sets of cables made. Each set included 3 cables, 1 each of the following: 1. Male-to-male, 25 pins, straight thru. 2. Female-to-female, 25 pins, straight thru. 3. Male-to-female, 25 pins, pins 2 & 3 reversed. The first 2 cables solve the sex problem. The last cable solves the crossover problem. It makes it easy to install a new terminal. -- +--------------------------------+ | uucp: decvax!linus!alliant!tj | +--------------------------------+ Bernese are mountains of love.