zdb1526@dsachg1.UUCP (kelly pearce) (06/01/88)
We are considering using IBM's ARTIC card, which is a realtime interface co-processor providing multiple RS-232/RS-422 ports, in a warehousing application. This application will require simultaneous serial I/O between an IBM 4341 mainframe, Barcode Scanners, printers, etc. The ARTIC card will reside in an IBM 7552 industrial computer, IBM-AT or Zenith Z-248, (IBM-AT compatible) if possible. Trouble is, IBM isn't at all sure if the card will work in any other machine other than an true-blue IBM :-(. If anyone out there has had some experience with this card (regardless of the machine it is installed in) I would appreciate any useful info, pro or con. Especially if it is functional in a Zenith Z-248 MicroComputer. This is my first posting to the Net, so if I did it all wrong please don't burn me too bad with your flame throwers :-) Thanks in advance. KELLY PEARCE DLA SYSTEMS AUTOMATION CENTER DEFENSE DEPOT OGDEN OGDEN, UTAH
pfh@pai.UUCP (Peter Hill) (06/07/88)
In article <561@dsachg1.UUCP>, zdb1526@dsachg1.UUCP (kelly pearce) writes: > We are considering using IBM's ARTIC card.... > Trouble is, IBM isn't at all sure if the > card will work in any other machine other than an true-blue IBM :-(.... You should be able to use a clone. I would try out a specific configuration before committing to it. I'm working on a project that uses two Artics per PC-AT "subsystem controller." The target machine is an IBM 7532 industrial PC, but we do all our development on a Hewlett-Packard Vectra AT-clone. We also tried (briefly) AT-clones by AST and Acer, and the Artics seemed happy enough in those machines. By the way, one of our Artics came from Allen-Bradley, which OEMs it under their own name. A-B happened to have 'em in stock. We don't use much IBM-supplied software on the Artic. Quadron Service Corp. (Santa Barbara, CA; 805-966-6424) sells packages called QCF and QMON that provide a C language interface to a multitasking monitor. We used their low-level I/O functions and our own protocol handlers to talk to the various devices in our subsystem (IBM robot, G&L programmable controller, IRI vision system, and a barcode reader). Hope this helps. -- ______________________________________________________________________________ Peter Hill +1 612 894 0313 Prime Automation, Inc. ...{sun!tundra,ihnp4!umn-cs!hall,bungia}!pai!pfh