bmug@garnet.berkeley.edu (BMUG) (06/16/91)
Probably a FAQ by now (or should be), but who has decent prices on
hardware handshaking cables to connect a USR Courier V2bis modem
with a Macintosh (RS232 to DIN8)? Email or post here; I'll announce
the winner of the low price-good service contest in a summary, if
there's interest.
Thanks!
John Heckendorn
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BMUG ARPA: bmug@garnet.berkeley.EDU A__A
1442A Walnut St., #62 BITNET: bmug@ucbgarne |()|
Berkeley, CA 94709 Phone: (415) 549-2684 | |conrad@popvax.harvard.edu (Conrad C. Nobili) (06/21/91)
<1991Jun15.204709.4743@agate.berkeley.edu> bmug@garnet.berkeley.edu (BMUG): >Probably a FAQ by now (or should be), but who has decent prices on >hardware handshaking cables to connect a USR Courier V2bis modem >with a Macintosh (RS232 to DIN8)? Email or post here; ... >John Heckendorn >BMUG ARPA: bmug@garnet.berkeley.EDU A__A >1442A Walnut St., #62 BITNET: bmug@ucbgarne |()| >Berkeley, CA 94709 Phone: (415) 549-2684 | | Well, my personal experience leads me to recommend the Farallon Remote/WakeUp cable. I just checked the MacZone add in the July MacUser. It is listed for $31. I have bought about a half dozen of these cables. Not only do they do RTS/CTS flow control, but they also have an ADB connector which, when plugged into an ADB port on a Mac II series machine, will wake the Mac up when the modem answers a call. This can be very useful in some situations. Besides, it is a really cool feature to have even if you don't _need_ it, and why not have it since it doesn't appear to cost any more than a cable without it? A couple of additional comments. There are other cables that I know of or sus- pect exist. First, in one of the original reasonably good articles on high- speed modems in a Mac magazine, MacUser January 1990, there was a special little article on hardware handshaking cables for Macs. Read it for lots of useful information. In addition to the Farallon cable, that article mentions that Prometheus, Hayes, and Computer Friends have cables that do hardware handshaking properly. Of course these other cables don't do the extra neat stuff that the Farallon cable does.... One annoying thing about the Farallon cable is that the ADB connector wire is only a couple of inches long. It is too short to plug the Din 8 plug into the modem port and the Din 4 plug into the ADB port on an SE/30 (or SE or Classic). But, you (and Farallon) may protest, those machines cannot be turned on via the ADB port! No, but if you have a PowerKey from Sophisticated Circuits they can! I do and noticed the problem and told Farallon and Sophisticated Circuits about it over a year ago. I don't think Farallon has lengthened their ADB connector wire in that time. I _do_ think that Sophisticated Circuits may have come out with their own "WakeUp cable" in the meantime. I assume that they would have had it do hardware flow control properly (especially as I had pointed out the importance of this way back when).... So that may be another option.... Does anyone have a good reason for Apple's having decided to go with DIN 8 for the serial ports? Space savings, I guess, but it can be really annoying when you want to set up a really slick modem connection.... And does anyone have a source for these DIN connectors? So we wouldn't have to _buy_ these damn cables? If I could get my hands on crimpable (heck, or even solderable) versions of these connections, then I would make all my cables my- self. The right way. It is just not worth my time to ravage inferior cables and try to redesign and reassemble them just to save money.... I note that MISCO sells DIN 3 (AppleTalk) connectors, but I don't see either DIN 4 or DIN 8 ones. It just feels bad to spend hundreds of dollars on hundreds of pennies worth of wire.... I do in fact use these Farallon Remote/WakeUp cables with USRobotics Courier V.32bis modems. And AT&T ISDN 7500 and 7506 data modules and phones also. I refuse to connect my Macs to lesser equipment. (Ok, I did have one connected to a Telebit T2500 for a while (where did I put my Nomex unders?)....) Actually I am replacing ISDN connections with V.32bis as I can. ISDN is too expensive and too damn slow for now. (And I may become a rabid Telebit fan when they come out with V.32bis and DTE rates of 38,400 bps, although I must say that I find the USR modems and manuals to be much easier to deal with....) Well, I hope this is useful to some people. I await the summary.... +---- C o n r a d C . N o b i l i ----+ | | | Harvard University | Internet: conrad@harvarda.harvard.edu | | Office for Info. Tech. | conrad@popvax.harvard.edu | | Information Services | BITNET: CONRAD AT HARVARDA | | Technical & User Services | CONRAD AT HARVSPHB | | 1730 Cambridge Street | voice: (617) 495-8554 | +---- Cambridge, MA 02138 | fax: (617) 495-0715 ----+