cliff@cylink.COM (Clifton Shak) (05/22/91)
Can anyone recommend a good protocol analyzer for doing X.25 development with? The HP 4954A did well in a recent survey in Data Communications. The Tekelec Chameleon was recommended by a colleague. Any other opinions? The ability to generate X.25 packets as well as monitor behavior on an X.25 line is required. Are there any PC based solutions out there?
virchaux@elsti.Epfl.CH (Jacques Virchaux) (05/22/91)
One of the most interesting analyzer I have seen is the Digitech 5xx. Digitech Industries Inc. 66 Grove St., PO Box 547 Ridgefield, CT 06877 (203) 438-3731 -- Jacques Virchaux Swiss Federal Institute of Technology CH-1015 Lausanne <virchaux@sic.epfl.ch> Switzerland
csg@pyramid.pyramid.com (Carl S. Gutekunst) (05/29/91)
>Can anyone recommend a good protocol analyzer for doing X.25 development >with? The HP 4954A did well in a recent survey in Data Communications. >The Tekelec Chameleon was recommended by a colleague. Any other opinions? I've used almost every analyzer made. The only ones I'm spending my budget on are the box from Hard Engineering (for field work by non-technical staff), and the Atlantic Research Interview 7700 Turbo (for serious work). The HP4954 has its points, and I'd rank it second to the A.R., but a distant second. Third is the Tektronix built into the Compac PC; the T1000 I think is what they call it. You might like Digilog, but I don't. I used to struggle along with a Chameleon because it did a lot of things that nothing else would, despite the most archane user interface you could imagine. Now I wouldn't use it if it was free. I don't like Idacom, either: very clumsy to use. The big win on the A.R. 7700 is the conformance testing applications. Very well done. Makes the stuff on the H.P., Idacom, and Tekelek look really sad. A.R. does have some serious SQA problems that need work, and some bizarre design flaws, but at least they are doing something about it. The remote operation software in the 7700 is rediculous; it requires an OS/2 PC to use it. But even at its worst, the 7700 is nowhere near as quirky as the other units. Still, I do find myself periodically going back to my old A.R. Comm- state II and the Hard for some specific things; there is no perfect machine out there. <csg>
csg@pyramid.pyramid.com (Carl S. Gutekunst) (06/01/91)
In response to some queries: For information about the Interview 7700 Turbo bench analyzer: Atlantic Research 7401 Boston Boulevard Springfield, VA 22153 800/368-3261 Fax: 703/644-9011 For info about the Tektronix TC 1000 portable protocol analyzer: Tektronix 205 Ravendale Drive Mountain View, CA 94043 1-800-826-8675 (I think every unit I've seen is advertized as portable: they have handles. But all require line power. The practical difference is the TC 1000 weighs less than 10 pounds. The Interview 7700 weighs 27 pounds, and the HP 4954A, Tekelek Chameleon 8000, and last Idacom box I used were 40+ pounds. The Hard Engineering analyzer -- I don't have a contact, sorry -- is truly portable, at barely two pounds, but still needs line power. General Datacomm makes a very small blue-plastic battery-powered portable with an LCD display, but it is in a class by itself for limited functionality and bad price/performance. What makes the Hard Engineering analyzer so valuable for field work is that all you need for remote operations is a dumb terminal -- not even a VT-100.) <csg>