erict@flatline.UUCP (eric townsend) (01/10/88)
...A friend of mine (not on the net) wants to hook up a DEC VT50 terminal to his CoCo-III (he's running OS9 w/30 meg HD). We opened up the box, this kind of console television washing machine thing, and instead of a semi-standard serial port, we find current loop terminals. We're not old enough to know how these ancient and arcane things work. :-) We do know, however, that they use current levels instead of voltage levels. At least that's the current fantasy, and since we can't test it... Anybody have any suggestions, or have a wiring scheme they could provide? -- J. Eric Townsend ->uunet!nuchat!flatline!erict smail:511Parker#2,Hstn,Tx,77007 'Girls play with toys. Real women skate.' --Powell Peralta ad.| 'Hey, watch I disclaim all responsibility for others' ignorances. | me ollie this <whump>'
eric@spock.UUCP (Eric Volpe) (01/11/88)
In article <163@flatline.UUCP> erict@flatline.UUCP (eric townsend) writes: >this kind of console television washing machine thing, and instead of >a semi-standard serial port, we find current loop terminals. Well, current loop used to *be* the standard! Well, at least it wasn't considered "Goofy"! Maybe the vt50 is a bit old, o.k. but don't knock the old stuff... CL is still used a lot even now... Anyway, you can get a converter for rs232 <--> CL from someplace like black box or one of those kinds of dealers. It's actually pretty simple to convert it yourself. I had to make a converter once myself to connect a vt52 to an rs232 port, but I've forgotten how I did it... Mail me if you want and I can try to dig up some clues... Eric Volpe ...decvax!yale!spock!eric ...attmail!hamdenns!3bee2!volpe
billb@amcad.UUCP (Bill Burton) (01/11/88)
In article <163@flatline.UUCP> erict@flatline.UUCP (eric townsend) writes: >...A friend of mine (not on the net) wants to hook up a DEC VT50 terminal >to his CoCo-III (he's running OS9 w/30 meg HD). We opened up the box, >this kind of console television washing machine thing, and instead of >a semi-standard serial port, we find current loop terminals. >We're not old enough to know how these ancient and arcane things >work. :-) We do know, however, that they use current levels instead of >voltage levels. At least that's the current fantasy, and since we can't >test it... > >Anybody have any suggestions, or have a wiring scheme they could >provide? >-- >J. Eric Townsend ->uunet!nuchat!flatline!erict smail:511Parker#2,Hstn,Tx,77007 >'Girls play with toys. Real women skate.' --Powell Peralta ad.| 'Hey, watch >I disclaim all responsibility for others' ignorances. | me ollie this <whump>' A device for converting from Current Loop to RS-232 is available from: Black Box P.O. Box 12800 Pittsburgh, PA 15241 (412) 746-5530 In their Winter '88 catalog, the device on p112 lists for $95. disclaimer: I am not related to Black Box in any way. This is not meant to be an endorsement of any of their products. I am not a satisfied or unsatisfied customer since I have never purchased anything from them :-) . Hope this helps, Bill