hans@umd5.umd.edu (Hans Breitenlohner) (07/16/88)
I have been trying to set up annexes as port servers, and have run into
the following problems:
1. When establishing a connection, after the 'connected to port x'
message, there is a pause of approximately six seconds before the
annex raises DTR to signal to the attached equipment that the
connection is established. Since our users typically have short
sessions, and since the annex frequently is only one of many steps
in getting to their desired destination, this is fairly annoying.
2. In order to hang up the connection from the terminal side, DSR
(or CTS or CD, whichever you want to call it) needs to be dropped
for a full three seconds. Anything shorter will be ignored.
We need to connect to several types of equipment which provides
signals which drop from 1/4 to 1 second. That has been adequate
for anything else we have tried to connect, including several types
of modems, data switches, etc.
As a result of this, some very unsophisticated users would have to
learn to hang up connections from within telnet, something which would
probably doom this particular application.
3. One of these annexes is connected to its boot server through IP routers.
While it seems to be able to boot ok that way, it does not retrieve
the rotaries file.
I have worked around problem 2 with a temporary hardware solution, which
I would prefer not to duplicate for 6-8 lines. The other problems are
unresolved.
Does anybody have suggestions, workarounds, or related observations?