davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) (11/30/88)
Would someone care to comment on using a dumb serial card with
Xenix/386? I have a system which is down to 2 dumb ports because of
hardware failure. I can't afford to buy a smart card at this time, as
desirable as that might be (I just replaced the tape drive, controller,
and 1MB memory, and I have a flakey hard disk).
Projected use would be for four modems, no faster than 2400 baud. The
other serial port would be used for a single 9600 baud connection. Has
anyone done this? Since full load is very rare (I guess four uucp or
zmodem sessions do happen, but rarely), I can accept the idea of 20-40%
of the CPU being used in interrupt service at times. It's better than no
service...
Much appreciation for any info anyone has on actual experience with the
AST or other boards. Of course if someone has a real cheap used smart
board I would listen to you, too, but I really have to go low budget on
this.
Post or mail as you feel appropriate.
--
bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa)
{uunet | philabs}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -mejbayer@ispi.UUCP (Jonathan Bayer) (11/30/88)
In article <12693@steinmetz.ge.com>, davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) writes: > Would someone care to comment on using a dumb serial card with > Xenix/386? I have a system which is down to 2 dumb ports because of > hardware failure. I can't afford to buy a smart card at this time, as > desirable as that might be (I just replaced the tape drive, controller, > and 1MB memory, and I have a flakey hard disk). > > Projected use would be for four modems, no faster than 2400 baud. The > other serial port would be used for a single 9600 baud connection. Has > anyone done this? Since full load is very rare (I guess four uucp or > zmodem sessions do happen, but rarely), I can accept the idea of 20-40% > of the CPU being used in interrupt service at times. It's better than no > service... That kind of use will work fine with Xenix. We have several customers who have between 8 and 12 terminals running on Xenix/386 using Digiboard 8s cards. These cards are nothing more that 8 16450s working off the same interrupt, and it is supported by SCO. You will not notice a signifigent slowdown. Jonathan Bayer Intelligent Software Products, Inc.
dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) (11/30/88)
I have a Digiboard Com/4S, a 4-port dumb board. It's worked flawlessly
ever since it was installed 1.5 years ago. I'm running XENIX 386 on an
AT with an Inboard 386/AT with 3mb of memory. This is no world-beater
but it's quite acceptable, even with 3 Telebits (usually running at 19.2)
and 1 9600 baud leased line. I haven't felt the need to upgrade to a
"smarter" board.
--
Steve Dyer
dyer@harvard.harvard.edu
dyer@spdcc.COM aka {harvard,husc6,linus,ima,bbn,m2c,mipseast}!spdcc!dyertownsend@handel.mpr.ca (Paul Townsend) (12/03/88)
In article <12693@steinmetz.ge.com> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes: >Much appreciation for any info anyone has on actual experience with the >AST or other boards. Of course if someone has a real cheap used smart >board I would listen to you, too, but I really have to go low budget on >this. I have used the "AST FourPort/XN" card in a XENIX-286 system (actually 2 cards in one machine to supply 8 ports). I am very happy with their performance and reliability. I would not hesitate to use them again. I have not tried the AST card in a 386 system ... ----- Paul Townsend Microtel Pacific Research >> Part of the BC Tel Group <<
jlg@epsilon.UUCP (My account ) (12/05/88)
ANVIL has a cute card called the BRUMBY which we have used with SCO XENIX.
We had an AST 4 port which wasn't working to our expectations. The cost diff
between the AST and the ANVIL (which is intelligent) was less than $200.
as in $400 vs $600. A much better choice at not much more money.
-- John --
@ Omega Dynamics
47 Spring Street
Wallingford CT 06492.
Opinions expressed are mine and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
of any companies that employ my services.njs@scifi.UUCP (Nicholas J. Simicich) (12/06/88)
In article <103@epsilon.UUCP> jlg@epsilon.UUCP (My account ) writes: >ANVIL has a cute card called the BRUMBY which we have used with SCO XENIX. >We had an AST 4 port which wasn't working to our expectations. The cost diff >between the AST and the ANVIL (which is intelligent) was less than $200. >as in $400 vs $600. A much better choice at not much more money. It should be mentioned that the Anvil Stuff is far from a "dumb serial card". It requires a special device driver, and the driver communicates with the card at the read/write/ioctl level. If the card is in cooked mode, the card does all of the cooking. I use the AIX version of the device driver. -- Nick Simicich --- uunet!bywater!scifi!njs --- njs@ibm.com (Internet)