ngse18@castle.ed.ac.uk (J R Evans) (01/08/91)
A colleague without Usenet access has been having problems with his ST attached to a Camtec JNT-PAD, as widely used on the UK JANET network. It seems that on at least two occasions recently, the Atari RS232 port and its partner on the PAD have blown simultaneously. The network folks claim the fault lies in the Atari, and are considering insisting that all Atari users fit an isolator. My colleague and I are a little surprised by this. Has anyone else had similar problems, heard similar claims or is otherwise able to comment? Please respond by mail to e_pgr@uk.ac.nmh.va (JANET) e_pgr@va.nmh.ac.uk (Internet) or to myself. We will gladly summarize useful/interesting responses. Russ Evans British Geological Survey, Edinburgh e_gs18@va.nmh.ac.uk (Internet) My colleague's account follows: ===================================================================== Subject: Atari ST connection (via RS232) to PADs. Trouble has been experienced here, to the extent that both the PAD and the Atari comms port have failed more or less together. This has happened twice within the space of about four months, after a period of perhaps four years when no such trouble was encountered. At the moment we are not sure what the initiating failure is. One suggestion (from the computing service) is that when the Atari comms port driver chips fail (which, they say, is possible), they blow the driver chips in the PAD (by putting 24v down the PAD line). It is further suggested that Atari themselves know of this feature! The end result has been the replacement of the failed chips on both the Atari and the PAD, when everything resumes normal service. Can anyone cast any light on this perplexing problem? Peter Robson Edinburgh. [ e_pgr@va.nmh.ac.uk ] =======================================================================