ramaley@csli.Stanford.EDU (Alan Ramaley) (04/02/91)
Hi folks. I've got a question about how to connect a dumb terminal to a pc. Let me tell you what I'm doing. I'm the music director at KZSU, Stanford's radio station. Like any other radio station, we report charts to trade magazines, and we also mail out a monthly chart. Our charts are entirely based on airplay, so we need to keep track of what DJ's are playing. Our present system involves putting new records in a numbered "A-file". When DJ's do their shows, they write down the numbers of the A-file records they play, and put this list is a box. We come by, tally up all the records played, and do a ranking by number of plays. The only problem is, this takes a lot of time, and it needs people who know a lot to always be around to run the tallying, and it requires honesty, and there's always mistakes. So I want to computerize the process. I could put a pc in the studio with the DJ's; but I want the expensive hardware locked in a room, for security as well as maintenance reasons. The solution? Put a pc in my office, but connect a dumb terminal in the DJ studio to it, so DJ's can input the A-file numbers, but can't do anything else. So how should I do this? (1) I could try to split the video signal, and put a keypad and a monitor in with the DJ's; but I'm concerned about issues of signal degradation over the 40 feet the signal would need to travel, and how I would go about splitting the video from a pc anyway. (2) I could hook up a dumb terminal to a serial port, and write a program to manage it; however, I don't have the faintest idea how to do this. If you can email me pointers to the right technical books on these matters, or if you've dealt with similar problems yourself, I'd be very grateful. -- Alan Aitken Ramaley (415) 497-5265, P. O. Box 9217, Stanford, CA 94309 Senior, Symbolic Systems Aquarius -- Alan Aitken Ramaley (415) 497-5265, P. O. Box 9217, Stanford, CA 94309 Senior, Symbolic Systems Aquarius
vancleef@iastate.edu (Van Cleef Henry H) (04/03/91)
In article <18486@csli.Stanford.EDU> ramaley@csli.Stanford.EDU (Alan Ramaley) writes: >Hi folks. I've got a question about how to connect a dumb terminal to >a pc. Let me tell you what I'm doing. > >I'm the music director at KZSU, Stanford's radio station. Like any >other radio station, we report charts to trade magazines, and we also >mail out a monthly chart. Our charts are entirely based on airplay, >so we need to keep track of what DJ's are playing. > >Our present system involves putting new records in a numbered >"A-file". When DJ's do their shows, they write down the numbers of >the A-file records they play, and put this list is a box. We come by, >tally up all the records played, and do a ranking by number of plays. > >The only problem is, this takes a lot of time, and it needs people who >know a lot to always be around to run the tallying, and it requires >honesty, and there's always mistakes. So I want to computerize the >process. >I could put a pc in the studio with the DJ's; but I want the >expensive hardware locked in a room, for security as well as >maintenance reasons. > >The solution? Put a pc in my office, but connect a dumb >terminal in the DJ studio to it, so DJ's can input the A-file numbers, >but can't do anything else. So how should I do this? > >(1) I could try to split the video signal, and put a keypad and a >monitor in with the DJ's; but I'm concerned about issues of signal >degradation over the 40 feet the signal would need to travel, and how >I would go about splitting the video from a pc anyway. > >(2) I could hook up a dumb terminal to a serial port, and write a >program to manage it; however, I don't have the faintest idea how to >do this. > >If you can email me pointers to the right technical books on these >matters, or if you've dealt with similar problems yourself, I'd be >very grateful. > >-- >Alan Aitken Ramaley >(415) 497-5265, P. O. Box 9217, Stanford, CA 94309 >Senior, Symbolic Systems >Aquarius >-- >Alan Aitken Ramaley >(415) 497-5265, P. O. Box 9217, Stanford, CA 94309 >Senior, Symbolic Systems >Aquarius I don't know whether it is true of all PC's, but some will boot up through the serial port if no video card is installed. I know that this is true of NEC machines. This would give you one console located on COM 1. Alternative is to install on of the Unix systems---you can have as many terminals as you can supply ports for (multiport I/O cards available for this). Also gives login/password security. --
phys169@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (04/05/91)
In article <18486@csli.Stanford.EDU>, ramaley@csli.Stanford.EDU (Alan Ramaley) writes: > Hi folks. I've got a question about how to connect a dumb terminal to > a pc. > > (1) I could try to split the video signal, and put a keypad and a > monitor in with the DJ's; but I'm concerned about issues of signal > degradation over the 40 feet the signal would need to travel, and how > I would go about splitting the video from a pc anyway. > 40ft is a bit far for video, but it could be worth trying if you're running a monochrome monitor, just make up an extension cable, connecting all pins (don't make a mistake, you can fry the line output circuit in the screen). The keyboard is much easier, and should almost certainly manage the distance (you need a pair of DIN 5pin connectors (male & female) - be careful to get the pin spacing right as there are TWO types of 5pin DIN connector (180 & 240 degress). > (2) I could hook up a dumb terminal to a serial port, and write a > program to manage it; however, I don't have the faintest idea how to > do this. > A much better idea, but a restricted range of software works with the coms port comapred with the screen. Start by looking up the CTTY command in the DOS manual. Remember to get all the modem signals right for the PC (4,5,6,8 & 20 should all be high, i.e. connected to either their corresponding pins on the terminal, or swap 2&3, 4&5 and connect 6+8 together and then connect to 20 on the terminal and vica versa). (Feel free to e-mail me if you pursue this option, you'll need help if you do). If you have enough money, consider buying Unix (there are some reasonably cheap ones around now), which will save some hassles (and create some new ones!). Mark Aitchison, Physics, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
jamaass@bluemoon.uucp (Jeffrey A. Maass) (04/06/91)
ramaley@csli.Stanford.EDU (Alan Ramaley) writes: > > (1) I could try to split the video signal, and put a keypad and a > monitor in with the DJ's; but I'm concerned about issues of signal > degradation over the 40 feet the signal would need to travel, and how > I would go about splitting the video from a pc anyway. > Alan: Get a Black Box catalog (sorry, don't have the address/phone here at home). They have a video/keyboard/mouse splitter available at a reasonable cost which will run out to 100 feet for EGA video (longer for monochrome). Oryou could do it right and look into the QNX operating system, which supports multiple terminals with access control for tasks and resources (it's multi-tasking and multiuser, and UNIX-like, made to advantage in applications like yours). This solution is more expensive and has learning-curve disadvantages to the Black Box solutions. Jeff Jeff Maass Amateur Radio: K8ND (@ W8CQK) Powell OH (NW of Columbus) Netmail: jamaass@bluemoon.uucp Ma Bell: (614) 873-3234