fgz@lakart.UUCP (Fred Genoese-Zerbi) (12/02/88)
I am working on a system that would need several (more than two) serial
ports, and would like to base it on the macintosh. I seem to remember
some time ago hearing about a company that was selling Mac II serial
port cards. Are these out on the market? Does anybody know the name
of the company that makes them, or other companies that make similar
cards? Are there any cards like that for the SE? What is the general
price of these cards if they do exist, and is it difficult to
drive the ports in software?
Thanks for the help.
Federico
{mirror, xait, cfisun}!lakart!fgzphil@Apple.COM (Phil Ronzone) (12/03/88)
In article <362@lakart.UUCP> fgz@lakart.UUCP (Fred Genoese-Zerbi) writes: >I am working on a system that would need several (more than two) serial >ports, and would like to base it on the macintosh. I seem to remember >some time ago hearing about a company that was selling Mac II serial >port cards. Are these out on the market? Does anybody know the name >of the company that makes them, or other companies that make similar ... SuperMac in Mt. View CA makes a 4 port serial card. I believe they are selling it for around $500. +------------------------+-----------------------+----------------------------+ | Philip K. Ronzone | A/UX System Architect | APPLELINK: RONZONE1 | | Apple Computer MS 27AJ +-----------------------+----------------------------+ | 10500 N. DeAnza Blvd. | There's a million things we'd like to say, but we | | Cupertino CA 95014 | aren't supposed to piss anybody off. Oh well ... | +------------------------+----------------------------------------------------+ |{amdahl,decwrl,sun,voder,nsc,mtxinu,dual,unisoft}!apple!phil | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
paul@taniwha.UUCP (Paul Campbell) (12/04/88)
In article <362@lakart.UUCP> fgz@lakart.UUCP (Fred Genoese-Zerbi) writes: >I am working on a system that would need several (more than two) serial >ports, and would like to base it on the macintosh. I seem to remember >some time ago hearing about a company that was selling Mac II serial >port cards. Are these out on the market? Does anybody know the name >of the company that makes them, or other companies that make similar >cards? Are there any cards like that for the SE? What is the general >price of these cards if they do exist, and is it difficult to >drive the ports in software? SuperMac has a 4 port Serial card for the Mac II called 'CommCard'. It has drivers that have the same interface as the Mac's built in serial ports, you just open them with names other than ".Ain" etc. Everyone who has used one who already has application code for their serial ports has found the port to be close to trivial. The board has a processor built in to it and has 6k buffering on output, on input it has about 100 bytes, it knows about protocols like Xmodem/Kermit so it can be made to reduce its input interrupt rate way down. It has been shipping for A/UX for about 6 months (the A/UX version also acts as a serial board where it knows about the uucp G protocol, or as a LocalTalk board so you can print etc). The MacOS version (just software changes) is just coming out of Beta (no reported bugs for 2 months), people who want one now can however get hold of them (a number have already). If you want to obtain one contact Scott at SuperMac at (415)962-2491. WARNING: I designed the board so obviously I'm biased, however technical questions may be sent to me at ..!taniwha!paul Paul -- Paul Campbell ..!{unisoft|mtxinu}!taniwha!paul (415)420-8179 Taniwha Systems Design, Oakland CA "Read my lips .... no GNU taxes"