jjk@jupiter.astro.umd.edu (Jim Klavetter) (01/13/91)
At our site, we have a system of suns ethernetted as well as an appletalk network. Until now, we have been swithing between the rs-232 serial port and appletalk manually. Someone gave me a brief description of a box which switches between these ports automatically, depending on the input. Specifically, this is what I was told: they are now using a smart box to switch between AppleTalk and SunSerial talking to the laserprinters. The box is a model 2679A BridgePort manufactured by Extended Systems and sold through chain wholesalers like MicroAge. They paid less than $500. To use it we would also need an adapter that converts the SunSerial connector to an 8-pin telephone-type connector (also available from Extended Systems). The box provides 56kb output to the printer and automatically scans the three input queues (AppleTalk, Serial, and Centronics Parallel). It does stay on a single queue until it is idle for about 20 seconds and then it resumes scanning all three queues Does anyone know about this product? Does anyone have any comments concerning this product or a similar one? Thanks for any info. Followup to comp.sys.mac.hardware or e-mail to me. jjk@astro.umd.edu also for Athabasca and Reudi Jim Klavetter Astronomy UMD College Park, MD 20742