wtm@uhura.neoucom.EDU (Bill Mayhew) (05/28/91)
(By the time I could reply the orginal article expired; apologies) We have eight rack-mount Digicoms in a Digicom rack in our computer room. The modems themselves work pretty well; about as well as could be exptected. The basic functional block, not surprisingly, is the Rockwell V.32 chip set daughter board. The rack models respond to "AT" commands over the serial interface, or may be programmed from the front panel of the rack. The rack sports four arrow cursor keys and an enter key. Choices are displayed on a 16 character non-backlit LCD display. There are a lot of nice creature features on the modems. The modems have a modular data access arrangement. When the modems are pulled out of the rack or fail, the DAA automatically busies out the line; this prevents callers from droppeing into a black hole caused by an out-of-service modem on an incoming telco rotary. There is also a programable inactivity timer that can cut off idle users and the "AT" command set may be disabled from the front panel so that users can not alter the set-ups. The modems are supposed to be hot-swappable so that you don't have to shut down the entire rack just to service one modem -- I have my doubts about the hot swappablility; I wouldn't do it. What I don't like about Digicom is that the rack is pretty sleezy. They just used a basic Bud brand or similar open-rail rack with just left and right side panels. As such, the rack is much too flimsy. When our rack arrived, the slightest vibration would cause the modem DAAs to lose connection with the modems and cut off users. I adjusted the rails a little and got the rack to where it is fairly stable, but finally had to bolt the rack down to a separate modular shelf for mounting in out 19" cabinet. There is no excuse for such a flimsy design. Other racks such as Ven-tel or Telebit are much more rugged. Overall, the modems look good, but the rack looks pretty lousy. Based on performance, the external stand-alone modem would probably be a good choice. We've got some on order; time will tell. Bill -- Bill Mayhew NEOUCOM Computer Services Department Rootstown, OH 44272-9995 USA phone: 216-325-2511 wtm@uhura.neoucom.edu ....!uunet!aablue!neoucom!wtm via internet: (140.220.001.001)