wlk@raider.MFEE.TN.US (Wolf Kozel) (12/07/89)
Greetings!
Serial Port cards speed is a big factor in choosing one along
with cpu usage. If you're using Unix/Xenix, there are some
factors that you should consider.
1) Speed improvements will come from software, not hardware.
According to an Infoworld article, there seemed to be a
bottleneck itself in Xenix with serial port cards. Testing
a board in DOS doesn't mean the same performance in SCO.
Computer Design had an article on some serial io chips that
can transfer data at tremendous speeds. The catch is the
cost. Three hundred dollars instead of $20 we're paying
now. Would anybody pay this? One engineer said a rule
of thumb was tripling material cost -- which means an
eight port board would cost around $2200.
2) Downloading the i/o portion of the kernel to the card, while
seductive, results in only a 5-10% increase in speed. This
is not a trivial task. There are probably bigger wins out
there.
3) By tweaking driver code you can optimize it. We've increased
the speed of our driver by almost 100% in benchmarks. But
when we ran the driver on a 'Real-World' system with users
and windows and stuff, there wasn't a noticeable difference.
There was a big difference when there was just one person on
it, however.
Co-workers at Arnet tell me that not too many people seem
to really care about benchmarks. They cite Fall Comdex where
only a couple came up to our booth to ask about them. It seems
to popular on the net, I wonder it that is indicative?
Thanks for reading this,
Wolf Kozel (Arnet System Administrator)
clyde@hitech.ht.oz (Clyde Smith-Stubbs) (12/18/89)
For a really smart, fast serial board, take a look at Anvil Designs Stallion board. I have an 8 port board (expandable to 16 ports and you can have four boards per system) and I am very happy with it. The only complaint is that because not all the modem control signals are supported you have to connect the CD line to the DSR pin on the port. Anvil Designs list a phone number in USA of 408 988 3622, or you could e-mail to anvil.oz.au. disclaimer: I don't work for Anvil, and I paid full price for my board. -- Clyde Smith-Stubbs HI-TECH Software, P.O. Box 103, ALDERLEY, QLD, 4051, AUSTRALIA. INTERNET: clyde@hitech.ht.oz.au PHONE: +61 7 300 5011 UUCP: uunet!hitech.ht.oz.au!clyde FAX: +61 7 300 5246
wlk@raider.MFEE.TN.US (Wolf Kozel) (12/22/89)
In article <421@hitech.ht.oz>, clyde@hitech.ht.oz (Clyde Smith-Stubbs) writes: > > For a really smart, fast serial board, take a look at Anvil Designs > Stallion board. I have an 8 port board (expandable to 16 ports and you can > have four boards per system) and I am very happy with it. The only complaint > is that because not all the modem control signals are supported you have > to connect the CD line to the DSR pin on the port. > I agree that the Stallion is smart, but it is not fast. On our in-house benchmarks which were the Anvil benchmarks as modified by Specialix, Anvil came in behind: 1)Equinox 1)Arnet 2)Computone 3)Digiboard. They finished behind our Multiport board at speeds less than 38.4 K baud as far as speed. Our Multi[port is a dumb board. Anvil does a much better job of off-loading the host cpu. They do real well in those tests. They also make some good software enhancements with crocodile and monitor. Wolf Kozel Arnet Corporation ps since know john of specialix reads this, we didn't have one of his boards to bench, but I suspect it would have done well...
karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) (12/22/89)
In article <421@hitech.ht.oz> clyde@hitech.ht.oz (Clyde Smith-Stubbs) writes: > >For a really smart, fast serial board, take a look at Anvil Designs >Stallion board. I have an 8 port board (expandable to 16 ports and you can >have four boards per system) and I am very happy with it. The only complaint >is that because not all the modem control signals are supported you have >to connect the CD line to the DSR pin on the port. > >Anvil Designs list a phone number in USA of 408 988 3622, or you could >e-mail to anvil.oz.au. > >disclaimer: I don't work for Anvil, and I paid full price for my board. We have one of these boards for sale. 8 ports. Driver versions 2.1.7, 2.4.2, 2.4.1, 2.5 beta. It works. Complete, with manual. About 8-9 months old. It is >not< perfect. We have noted some strangeness with modems (it has trouble supporting multiple Telebits). Works great with terminals though. First $750 takes it. I'll pay shipping. -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 708 566-8911], Voice: [+1 708 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"
jdw@hpfijdw.HP.COM (Jeff Wood) (12/23/89)
I have set up a Hewlett Packard Vectra using the serail board from Corollary. It has a RS-422 inerface with 4 external ports. Each port can be connected to a terminal concentrator with 8 RS-232 ports for a total of 32 RS-232 ports! The Corollary 8/tcfm has full modem support!! Software drivers are available for DOS, SCO Xenix, and SCO Unix. Hewlett Packard is so impressed with the product that they are going to be OEM's for it. It will be on the CPL the first of the year! <disclaimer> I work for HP and not Corollary. I also bought my Corollary board before it was an HP product. Jeff Wood
jdw@hpfijdw.HP.COM (Jeff Wood) (12/23/89)
BTW - Corollary, Inc.
17881 Cartwright Road
Irvine, California 92714
714/250-4040
FAX: 714/250-4043
Jeff bill@bilver.UUCP (Bill Vermillion) (12/24/89)
In article <1989Dec22.031406.3122@ddsw1.MCS.COM-> karl@mcs.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) writes: ->In article <421@hitech.ht.oz> clyde@hitech.ht.oz (Clyde Smith-Stubbs) writes: ->> ->>For a really smart, fast serial board, take a look at Anvil Designs ->>Stallion board. I have an 8 port board (expandable to 16 ports and you can ->We have one of these boards for sale. ->8 ports. Driver versions 2.1.7, 2.4.2, 2.4.1, 2.5 beta. ->It works. Complete, with manual. About 8-9 months old. ->It is >not< perfect. We have noted some strangeness with modems (it has ->trouble supporting multiple Telebits). Works great with terminals though. I have a site that has the Anvil Onboard. Got a hit and blew some ports so we got a new one for replacement. The old board was a 10Mhz design, the new one is 16Mhz. Don't have any modem experience on this one, but the terminals at 38k under the new board are "zippier" than the same terminals at 38k on the old board. Definately a faster board - and new drivers are due for it soon to improve performance. (Of course they HAVE to say that don't they?) With serial boards being a very competitive item right now all the board mfrs seem to be trying to outdo the competition. -- Bill Vermillion - UUCP: {uiucuxc,hoptoad,petsd}!peora!tarpit!bilver!bill : bill@bilver.UUCP