aaronrp@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Aaron Priven) (03/30/89)
Hi. I work for a nonprofit agency (when I'm not studenting) that owns
two Mac Pluses and an Imagewriter II, separated by a bunch of walls
and a mess of halls. For obvious monetary reasons, we'd rather not
spend the money on another printer, but I'm afraid that if we try
to run a cable through the building or even under the floor that
it will be too long and we'll get errors from RF interference and
electrical resistance. What is the length limit of:
1) standard Imagewriter serial cable
2) special zippy shielded Imagewriter or other serial cable
3) amplifier gizmos to increase length (probably out of the question,
but what the heck, I'll ask)
4) anything else that might work?
Also, what would the costs be of 2-4? We're a small child- and
parent- counseling centers and we're still hurting over the Macintosh
purchases (sigh).
=Aaron=
====================================================================
Aaron Priven. Internet: aaronrp@ucscb.ucsc.edu
UUCP: {world}!ucbvax!ucscc!ucscb!aaronrp
USNail: 78 Merrill/UCSC, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz CA 95064-1015rickk@hpvcfs1.HP.COM (Rick Klaus) (04/01/89)
The Mac / Imagewriter II interface is RS422 rather than RS232. As such you should be able to run a cable (at the 9600 baud IW speed) nearly a mile long. The differential nature of the data lines should help cancel the RF effects which you are worried about. The handshake line is not differential, but due to the low speed of signals on this line, you should be able to run several thousand feet without any problems. Rick Klaus HP Vancouver rickk@hpvcfs1.hp.com