mitchell@cadovax.UUCP (04/02/87)
I want to get a 386 AT class box and run Xenix on it. It needs to
be a multi-user system (5 to 8 users) and it needs to have excellent
response time.
I know that I need a multi-port card and I think that it will need to
be intellegent (i.e. buffer characters and interrupt the CPU less often
that once per character).
Are there any boards out there that will work for me in this way?
I've heard about the AST 4-port card but it is not intellegent at all.
Wont that create a I/O bottle-neck in my system.
What intellegent multi-port I/O cards are out there for this type of
configuration???
Thanks.
--
Mitchell Lerner
# {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!mitchell
# cadovax!mitchell@ucla-locus.arpacaf@omen.UUCP (04/05/87)
A caveat for any intelligent serial interface is the issue of drivers for the particular flavor of *nix you wish to run. I'm running a very dumb 4 port card here, plus the serial port built into the Intel 386 motherboard. The board is directly supported by the stock 2.2 Xenix kernel, and can take input from Compuserve Information Service (using Pro-YAM, natch.) at 2400 bps without much load on the system. During one such session, I was also downloading a file to a PC at 19200 bps and got a throughput of about 18200 bps. How much of the machine was left with those two ports running I don't know, but I don't seem to notice much difference on most tasks. A large make takes longer, but then I usually run such things in the background anyway. The big hogs are netnews unbatching, ditroff, and cc. I don't even notice if uucp is running unless I try to access the phone line when it is busy. The one advantage of a dumb card is cost, less than $200 for the 4-port I'm using. They're all obsolete anyway, most won't handle ISDN, X.25, et al so why worry? Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX Author of Pro-YAM communications Tools for PCDOS and Unix ...!tektronix!reed!omen!caf Omen Technology Inc "The High Reliability Software" 17505-V Northwest Sauvie Island Road Portland OR 97231 Voice: 503-621-3406 TeleGodzilla BBS: 621-3746 2400/1200 CIS:70007,2304 Genie:CAF Source:TCE022 omen Any ACU 1200 1-503-621-3746 se:--se: link ord: Giznoid in:--in: uucp omen!/usr/spool/uucppublic/FILES lists all uucp-able files, updated hourly
miket@ncoast.UUCP (04/06/87)
Expires: References: <1459@cadovax.UUCP> Sender: Reply-To: miket@ncoast.UUCP (Michael Taht) Followup-To: Distribution: world Organization: Cleveland Public Access UN*X, Cleveland, Oh Keywords: > >I want to get a 386 AT class box and run Xenix on it. It needs to >be a multi-user system (5 to 8 users) and it needs to have excellent >response time. > >I know that I need a multi-port card and I think that it will need to >be intellegent (i.e. buffer characters and interrupt the CPU less often >that once per character). > >Are there any boards out there that will work for me in this way? > >I've heard about the AST 4-port card but it is not intellegent at all. >Wont that create a I/O bottle-neck in my system. > >What intellegent multi-port I/O cards are out there for this type of >configuration??? > >Thanks. > >-- >Mitchell Lerner ARNET has the best intellegent I/O board out there. For anything below 5 users, I use Digiboard's dumb 4 port. They're a b+tch to setup, cheap, and reliable. They come standard with a bunch of male RS-232 connectors which is nice for a bunch of modems. Digi has been good to me, and the Xenix version of their new smart board I'll be betaing in a few weeks. Whether or not it will be better than the ARNET board remains to be seen. And yes, you don't wanna use a dumb board with a 386. The thang responds to interrupts even slower than the 286 does. (8 bit polling in the code) Michael Taht, TCASS, 609-391-0037
cmi@dartvax.UUCP (04/06/87)
In article <1459@cadovax.UUCP> mitchell@cadovax.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE) writes: > >I want to get a 386 AT class box and run Xenix on it. It needs to >be a multi-user system (5 to 8 users) and it needs to have excellent >response time. > >What intellegent multi-port I/O cards are out there for this type of >configuration??? There is a company named DigiBoard which makes a line of multi-port boards which run under Xenix on AT machines. They have a dump 4 and 8 port boards, and they have recently come out with the COM/Xi, an intelligent 8-port board. It has an 80188 processor (10MHz), 16K of EPROM, and 256K of dual-ported RAM! The only drawback is that I'm not sure they or SCO are shipping device drivers yet, as it is a very new product. DigiBoard can be reached at: DigiBoard, Inc. 6751 Oxford St. St. Louis Park, MN 55426 (612) 922 9055 (or 8055?) Theo Pozzy, Corporate Microsystems, Inc. ...!decvax!dartvax!cmi (UUCP) cmi@dartmouth (CSNET) cmi@dartmouth.edu (ARPA) Box A-58, Hanover, NH, 03755 (USPS) -- Theo Pozzy, Corporate Microsystems, Inc. ...!decvax!dartvax!cmi (UUCP) cmi@dartmouth (CSNET) cmi@dartmouth.edu (ARPA) Box A-58, Hanover, NH, 03755 (USPS)
miket@ncoast.UUCP (04/13/87)
I'm on the Beta Test list for the SCO Drivers of the new, smart Digiboard. I haven't seen it yet, tho' digi is shipping the system for use under dos. When I see it, I'll post............... Michael taht @ TCASS @ NJ @ 609-391-0037
dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) (04/13/87)
How timely. I just brought up a Computone AT-X4P 4-line intelligent
serial board on my AT clone running SCO Xenix. Installation is fairly
straightforward, although I had to unscrew the mounting bracket on the card;
I believe my case might be a little out of spec. The software installs
itself--insert the distribution floppy and run /etc/install as root,
leaving the customer just to do a little editing of the card's configuration
file. The AT-X card is an 8-line card with full RS232 support. The AT-X4P
has 4 lines only, with 4 RJ45 jacks, i.e., 8 connector modular jacks. You
can purchase RS232 connectors with RJ45 modular outlets and 8-wire modular
phone cord at most electronics stores.
The only problems with this board are in the documentation, which is a
bit terse, although it tries to be explicit, and with its handling of
parity disparities. It's a lot more persnickety about strictly interpreting
EVEN and ODD parity (and messing up when the caller doesn't match) than,
say, your dumb ports. This may be an attribute of the "intelligence" on
the board combined with their device driver. The fact that SCO makes it
impossible to specify "no parity" for getty's initial terminal modes without
also laboriously mentioning every Sys V terminal mode known in the SCO
/etc/gettydefs file only exacerbates this. Nevertheless, with a little
experimentation, I've managed to get a 9600 baud leased line and two dialins
working, and I'm pretty happy with it.
There was some talk a few months ago about UUCP not working with the
Computone boards. This was undoubtably a problem with parity mismatches.
I've been running very happily with UUCP at 9600 baud over a leased
line (going to try for 19.2 next week) and at 1200 and 2400 baud on
my dialin.
--
---
Steve Dyer
dyer@harvard.harvard.edu
dyer@spdcc.COM aka {ihnp4,harvard,linus,ima,bbn,halleys}!spdccAAAfb.mitchell@cadovax.UUCP (04/15/87)
That is funny, (you say that the Xenix driver for the card are not available
yet) the salesman told me that Xenix drivers existed for the card.
hmmmmmmmmmmm.
--
Mitchell Lerner
# {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!mitchell
# cadovax!mitchell@ucla-locus.arpakdavies@dalcsug.UUCP (04/15/87)
Speaking of serial lines under Xenix, has anyone used the X25 protocol
for communications under SCO Xenix ??
I recall seeing some x25____ stuff in the kernel (nm /xenix) and wondered
if it can already handle X25 or whether special hardware is needed ?
I'd like to use X25 protocol with DataPac (in Canada) for use by UUCP and
normal logins.
Any ideas/comments on it ??
--
Kevin Davies ...{seismo|watmath|utai|garfield} !dalcs!dalcsug!kdavies
Kirk : "Spock, I do wish you'd stop using those colourful metaphors"
Spock: "The _hell_ I will, Captain"
---------------------------------------------------------------root@ozdaltx.UUCP (root) (04/17/87)
In article <13@spdcc.COM>, dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes: > How timely. I just brought up a Computone AT-X4P 4-line intelligent > serial board on my AT clone running SCO Xenix. ....... > > The only problems with this board are in the documentation, which is a > bit terse, although it tries to be explicit, and with its handling of > parity disparities. > ......., and I'm pretty happy with it. > I'm glad to hear Steve is happy with this piece of junk, I have spent the last 3 days trying to interface our phone system into the computer to track & time calls. (The same program has been compiled on at least 6 different *NIX versions with no changes, until now) 1. Computone does the adb number on /xenix when installing. That in itself makes me very uneasy when source isn't available. They have their own drivers intergrated into /xenix. We're running this on a Compaq 386 w/SCO XENIX. 2. Computone (AT-X) has it's own version of /etc/ttytype called attype. The file can back referenced to the system file. BUT be warned if you forget to set something, your terminal/port/printer probably won't work correctly. By Computones own admission, their termcap/hardwired terminal file tends to slow things down. Damn! *NIX has enough to keep tabs on without adding something flakey to slow things down. 3. Now for the goody.... The board ignores the settings at a given port. you are told NOT to set XON [as in ioctl()] as the AT-X will ignore it... also I found that certain other tty calls can send the ENTIRE system into never-never land, just from changing the stats on one port! After questioning some female person at their office in Georgia in reguards, I was told, "Well, that's the way UNIX works"! SAY WHAT! Also, I wasn't aware that *NIX had problems handling 8 bits correctly. 4. I am sooooo tired of seeing "getty keeps dying on tty?? - there may be a problem...", every time someone turns their terminal off. I could probably go on some more, but surfice to say, I'm not overly impressed with this add-on. All I can keep thinking is that some salesman must have had a good commission on this system. And this seems one hell of a way to run XENIX! -- Scotty {ihnp4|sys1|smu}!killer!ozdaltx!root ...sys1!ozdaltx!root "Et to, Brute?"... "Nah, I ain't et yet."
miket@ncoast.UUCP (04/19/87)
I am a beta tester. And My beta version of the board's SCO driver should arrive by wednesday. (Digi called me) They will start shipping the Driver with all boards as soon as possible. I'll post a full report in a week or so. Michael Taht.(If anyone wants to see how this thang works call 609-391-0033 and login as ubbs) Wup, that's 0037!!!! 0033 is voice.
dave@sds.UUCP (04/23/87)
In article <1383@ozdaltx.UUCP>, root@ozdaltx.UUCP (root) writes: > 3. Now for the goody.... The board ignores the settings at a > given port. you are told NOT to set XON [as in ioctl()] as the > AT-X will ignore it... also I found that certain other tty calls > can send the ENTIRE system into never-never land, just from > changing the stats on one port! This sounds like a problem I have with the AST-FourPort/XN card; in particular, I have a device hooked up to one port which uses XON/XOFF protocol. Sometimes, however, I don't get complete reads from the port -- just as though it had XOFF'ed, but I didn't see it. I've also had problems with enabling ports and then watching ALL i/o on ALL of the card's ports hang permanently until I reboot. Does this sound familiar to anyone else? Dave Schmidt (this space for sale)