bennete@romana.cs.orst.edu (Erik J. Bennett) (12/13/88)
Is anyone making serial cards for the Amiga? I've seen none. Why is that? Is there something funny about the amiga that makes this difficult? How tough would it be for a guy (or girl) to make his own? I don't know squat about electrical engineering, so I hope it wouldn't be too tough. If people can design PD 68020 boards, why can there not be PD serial cards? If I am being silly, send a message via mail, so I don't look as stupid.:-) -Erik bennete@romana.cs.orst.edu
pnelson@antares.UUCP (Phil Nelson) (12/14/88)
In article <7858@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> bennete@romana.cs.orst.edu (Erik J. Bennett) writes: >Is anyone making serial cards for the Amiga? I've seen none. Why is >that? Is there something funny about the amiga that makes this difficult? > I have been waiting for a serial card for Amiga since 1985. I have heard talk, but no more. The lack of extra serial ports has been, for me, the greatest single disappointment with the Amiga, especially considering it's multi - tasking operating system. Commodore; I think you should be selling a comm card, 2 ports would be nice, with standard device drivers which allow the user to run multiple comm programs. Please note - I am not advocating multi-user here, even without considering multi user there are plenty of reasons for needing a 2nd (at least) port. For example: suppose I want to run a midi device while doing a download? I admit that the comm and music software will have to be improved also, but how can they even begin without standard serial devices to talk to? I suppose the market for comm cards is deemed to be too small. I want everyone to know, there is at least one customer out here (me) ready to put down hard cash at my local computer store for a serial card which I can use to run a 2nd comm program on. > >-Erik >bennete@romana.cs.orst.edu -- Phil Nelson at (but not speaking for) Tymnet, McDonnell Douglas Network Systems Company POTS:408-922-7508 UUCP:{ames|pyramid}oliveb!tymix!antares!pnelson LRV: Component Station
cg@myrias.UUCP (Chris Gray) (12/15/88)
Mark me down as someone who would be interested in a couple of extra serial
ports for my A2000. Over a year ago I was in contact with a retailer in
Rhode Island (hi!) who was playing around with trying to get Amiga Empire
to run over separate serial devices. He had an early version of a serial
line multiplexor that had Amiga software with it. I don't remember the name
of the manufacturer (it's been a while), but I think they were in Canada
somewhere.
Personally, I'm QUITE interested in multi-player games, and would love to
be able to do it on my Amiga, instead of having to port everything (Draco
compiler, game, etc.) to the Sun network here.
--
Chris Gray Myrias Research, Edmonton +1 403 428 1616
{uunet!mnetor,ubc-vision,watmath,vax135}!alberta!myrias!cgdhines@utastro.UUCP (Dean Hines) (12/15/88)
In article <304@antares.UUCP>, pnelson@antares.UUCP (Phil Nelson) writes: > In article <7858@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> bennete@romana.cs.orst.edu (Erik J. Bennett) writes: > >Is anyone making serial cards for the Amiga? I've seen none. Why is > >that? Is there something funny about the amiga that makes this difficult? > > [Many good comments deleted] > I want everyone to know, > there is at least one customer out here (me) ready to put down hard cash at > my local computer store for a serial card which I can use to run a 2nd comm > program on. > > > > >-Erik > >bennete@romana.cs.orst.edu > -- > Phil Nelson at (but not speaking for) > Tymnet, McDonnell Douglas Network Systems Company POTS:408-922-7508 > UUCP:{ames|pyramid}oliveb!tymix!antares!pnelson LRV: Component Station Well that makes three of us. It would be very nice to be able to use the existing serial port for a modem link and have an extra port for controlling some other device (CCD camera, stepping motors, etc). I've got a Bridgeboard and I had considered getting a serial card for it, but I'd rather have one on the Amiga side, or maybe both 8-) --------------------------------------------------------------------- | Dean Hines Disclaimer: What? disclaim? Me? | | Astronomy | | University of Texas "Always store beer in a dark | | dhines@astro.as.utexas.edu place." | | dhines@utastro.UUCP Lazarus Long | ---------------------------------------------------------------------
jms@antares.UUCP (joe smith) (12/15/88)
In article <304@antares.UUCP> pnelson@antares.UUCP (Phil Nelson) writes: > Commodore; I think you should be selling a comm >card, 2 ports would be nice, with standard device drivers which allow the >user to run multiple comm programs. > >Please note - I am not advocating multi-user here, even without considering >multi user there are plenty of reasons for needing a 2nd (at least) port. >For example: suppose I want to run a midi device while doing a download? My hardware wishes: an expansion card with 2 serial ports and a midi port, with FIFOs and on-board intelligence so that 31 kbaud midi and 38.4 baud RS232 won't loose data even when the 68K does Forbid(), Disble(), etc. My software wishes: The ability to drive all 3 of my printers, simultaneously, from different tasks. And something like: SetDev COM: = SER0:DNET/38400baud (modem to Unix server) SetDev PRT0: = PAR:Xerox-4020 (color printer) SetDev PRT1: = SER1:LA50/4800baud (dot matrix, draft qual) SetDev PRT2: = SER2:AJ830/300baud (daisy wheel, letter qual) SetDev MIDI: = SER3:MIDI/31250baud (music instrument) SetDev PRT: = PRT0: (default for older programs) SetDev SER: = SER1: (default for older programs) The last two lines are so that programs that don't know about multiple printers/serial-ports can go to other than device 0. -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | TYMNET:JMS@F29 CA:"POPJ P," UUCP:{ames|pyramid}oliveb!tymix!antares!jms | | INTERNET:(Real Soon Now) Amiga Hacker PHONE:Joe Smith @ (408)922-6220 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
ecphssrw@solaria.csun.edu (Stephen Walton) (12/16/88)
ASDG's Twin-X is out now. The Twin-X basically turns one A2000 slot into two IEEE-959 slots. ASDG sells at least two boards which can go into that slot, one of which is a two-serial-port board with associated software. (The other is an IEEE-488 interface.) I have no connection with ASDG other than as an owner of FaccII and VD0: -- Stephen Walton, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Cal State Univ. Northridge RCKG01M@CALSTATE.BITNET ecphssrw@afws.csun.edu swalton@solar.stanford.edu ...!csun!afws.csun.edu!bcphssrw
Doug_B_Erdely@cup.portal.com (12/16/88)
I too, would LOVE to see a serial card for the A1000! I would buy one in a
microsecond!! :> :> I have heard of a couple developers working on such
beasts, but only for the A2000! Please, guys... Don't forget about the
TRUE Amiga fans who were with ya from THE start!
- Doug -
Doug_B_Erdely@Portal.Cup.ComRon.Bean@circle.UUCP (Ron Bean) (12/26/88)
After all this time, I can't believe you guys still have to beg for extra serial ports. If you hadn't noticed, the hardware already exists-- just add software. A while back (maybe last year) Steve Ciarcia designed a printer buffer, which consists of a Hitachi Z80 with two built-in serial ports, plus couple of parallel ports, some RAM, and an EPROM. You can buy it from Micromint, either complete or as a kit. If you'd rather have an SCSI device, it has the same bus connector as his SB180 computer, so you can use his SCSI board. When the article appeared, I thought "aha, there's the extra serial ports for the ST and Amiga". But apparently nobody read my mind and took the hint. So all ya gotta do is, a couple of you get together and agree on a protocol, then one go off and write the device drivers for the Amiga, and the other go and write a new EPROM for the Z80. -- Ron Bean - via FidoNet node 1:121/1 UUCP: ...!uwvax!geowhiz!circle!Ron.Bean ARPA: Ron.Bean@circle.UUCP