yost@esquire.UUCP (David A. Yost) (12/01/89)
1. Every program I've seen that uses a serial
port lets you choose only from the two icons
for the modem port and the printer port. If
I buy someone's NuBus multiport serial card,
will those programs let me select one of
those ports? Is there a standard mac way to
allow the selection of a serial port in an
extendable manner? Is it just that no
programs are using it, or will the usual two
icons magically disappear and be replaced by
a popup menu, or what?
2. Who makes a good cheap multiport serial card?
3. Is there a box you can get that expands the
modem port out to several serial ports and
lets you choose which one you want to talk to
from the mac, i.e. without flipping a switch?
This must be a pretty standard problem. It's pretty
easy to pile up serial devices. I have these already,
2400 baud modem
MacRecorder
X-10 Powerhouse light controller
and I'd like to get
Fax Modem
another MacRecorder, for stereo recording
--dave yost
yost@esquire.dpw.COMphssra@mathcs.emory.edu (Scott R. Anderson) (12/11/89)
In article <1643@esquire.UUCP> yost@esquire.UUCP (David A. Yost) writes: >1. Every program I've seen that uses a serial port lets you choose only from > the two icons for the modem port and the printer port. If I buy someone's > NuBus multiport serial card, will those programs let me select one of > those ports? Most programs, no. They have those two ports ("A" and "B") hard-wired in. One exception is VersaTerm; you are supposed to be able to modify a resource to change which port you want to use ("C", "D", etc). > Is there a standard mac way to allow the selection of a serial port in an > extendable manner? The new communications toolbox supposedly supplies a standard way of handling multiple ports, but I don't know of any programs which use it yet. >2. Who makes a good cheap multiport serial card? You can get a good one from Creative Solutions, Inc. (301-984-0262). They have two- and four-port boards available for $299 and $379, respectively. They also supply two FKEYs which will map calls to the "A" or "B" ports into calls to the other ports, so you can make use of the standard dual port selection. Note that you will only be able to use two of these programs in this manner at once, though. * * ** Scott Robert Anderson gatech!emoryu1!phssra * * * ** phssra@unix.cc.emory.edu phssra@emoryu1.bitnet * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *