spyen@cup.portal.com (Shyh Pei Yen) (10/14/90)
[] I am going to set up a 386 PC based UNIX with dumb terminals connected. I really appreciate any information on the multiport board. My questions are 1. How many different types of board are available in the market right now? 2. Which company is in the leading position right now? 3. How hard it is to set these up? 4. Pricing? 5. Do you encounter any problem with your current board? 6. Whatever question you have in mind that I haven't thought about. :-) Any info will help. Thanks. Shyh-Pei Yen USENET: spyen@cup.portal.com
cpcahil@virtech.uucp (Conor P. Cahill) (10/14/90)
In article <34823@cup.portal.com> spyen@cup.portal.com (Shyh Pei Yen) writes: >I am going to set up a 386 PC based UNIX with dumb terminals connected. I >really appreciate any information on the multiport board. My questions are First off, RTFFAQ which is posted monthly. If you don't got it, let me know & I will send you a copy. >1. How many different types of board are available in the market right now? Zillions >2. Which company is in the leading position right now? Depends upon whose test you run. >3. How hard it is to set these up? Most set up pretty easily. I *think* the easiest is the megaport since it is totally software configured and uses no interrupts. However, this difference is not major. >4. Pricing? For 8 to 12 ports you can expect to pay anywhere from $600 (maxspeed-8) to $1,100 (megaport 12). -- Conor P. Cahill (703)430-9247 Virtual Technologies, Inc., uunet!virtech!cpcahil 46030 Manekin Plaza, Suite 160 Sterling, VA 22170
bruce@bmhalh.UUCP (Bruce M. Himebaugh) (10/20/90)
In article <1990Oct14.003841.24000@virtech.uucp> cpcahil@virtech.UUCP (Conor P. Cahill) writes: >In article <34823@cup.portal.com> spyen@cup.portal.com (Shyh Pei Yen) writes: >>I am going to set up a 386 PC based UNIX with dumb terminals connected. I >>really appreciate any information on the multiport board. My questions are > >>4. Pricing? > >For 8 to 12 ports you can expect to pay anywhere from $600 (maxspeed-8) >to $1,100 (megaport 12). BEWARE OF MAXPEED!!! The company I work for recently bought a 386 to be used as an Accounting Computer. We purchased SCO Unix as the operating system. We also had purchased an 8 port Maxpeed i/o card to hang terminals off of. The original recommendation was that we should buy a Digiboard (i.e. stick with something almost guaranteed to work), but in an effort to try and save money the Maxpeed was purchased. Well, guess what...by now it has cost us at least 5 times as much as if we had just bought a Digicard up front. After installing the Maxpeed card we had nothing but problems. The computer would crash any where from 1 to 5 times per day. Myself and our resident "hardware guru" spent many many hours switching cards in and out and changing the system configuration and even switching the entire machine, in an effort to find the offending piece of hardware. Well, after the process of elimination (logic seemed to quit working after X number of hours :-)) we found it to be the Maxpeed card. We called Maxpeed and they sent us more current drivers, which reduced the number of crashes per day from 1-5, to 1-2. But the machine was still very unreliable!!! So, we bought an 8 port Digiboard and installed it and have not had one single problem with the system crashing. As long as I'm dumping on Maxpeed, I'll mention one more thing... When we originally received the i/o card from them the documentation was very unprofessional. It gave a "fly by night" appearance. The documentation that showed the pinouts of the serial connector had been corrected in pen or pencil and then copied on a copying machine! Moral #1: Don't use Maxpeed 8 port i/o cards with SCO Unix. Moral #2: Don't always pick the cheapest route, you may find it's not so cheap. Bruce -- Bruce M. Himebaugh Voice: 216-484-3528 PATHS: uunet!{ncoast,aablue}!fmsystm!mrsmouse!bmhalh!bruce (NOTE: the system name "fmsystm" is with no "e", NOT "fmsystem") *NOTE*: Please do not use bruce@bmhalh.UUCP -- I'm not registered yet.
larry@nstar.uucp (Larry Snyder) (10/22/90)
bruce@bmhalh.UUCP (Bruce M. Himebaugh) writes: >BEWARE OF MAXPEED!!! The company I work for recently bought a 386 to be used >as an Accounting Computer. We purchased SCO Unix as the operating system. We I looked at maxspeed a couple of months ago - and at the time they didn't even support hardware flow control.. -- Larry Snyder, Northern Star Communications, Notre Dame, IN USA {larry@nstar, uunet!sco!romed!nstar!larry, nstar!larry@ndmath.math.nd.edu} backbone usenet newsfeeds available Public Access Unix Site (219) 289-0282 (5 high speed lines)
gary@mic.UUCP (Gary Lewin) (10/22/90)
In article <1990Oct21.225209.583@nstar.uucp> larry@nstar.uucp (Larry Snyder) writes: >bruce@bmhalh.UUCP (Bruce M. Himebaugh) writes: > >>BEWARE OF MAXPEED!!! The company I work for recently bought a 386 to be used >>as an Accounting Computer. We purchased SCO Unix as the operating system. We > >I looked at maxspeed a couple of months ago - and at the time they >didn't even support hardware flow control.. I have followed this conversation with some interest recently and finally MUST respond. First, Maxpeed has a number of different cards with a series of available drivers. I have been installing these in systems running ISC 2.02 and 2.2 for a little over a year. Both the series 1 and 2 work very well under most, if not all applications. Specifically, multiple cards work as described (4 cards with 24 ports are running in one system with some terminals placed up to 400 feet away). Transparent printing works correctly (using Wyse 150's). Multiple trailblazers on one card work well. And, even though I have seen postings to the contrary, VP/ix works great on the Maxpeed cards. The RTS/CTS problem is one that tends to plague many serial board manufacturers. Depending on which drivers are installed, Maxpeed does support RTS/CTS but on a shared port basis. In this configuration, ttyaa and ab become one modem port and one 3 wire terminal port (in other words, you do completely lose ttyab, just DCD and DTR, which become RTS/CTS for ttyaa). Most importantly, these cards install (series 2) in systems with 16 megs of memory (many do not allow the drivers to be placed in high memory). Lastly, I have found the people at Maxpeed to be wonderful to work with, from technical support to sales. They have always done what they said they would do and have bent over backwards to accomodate the customer. This is VERY important and cannot be stressed enough. To top it off, the price is good and they rapidly honor warranty repair even if it is not their fault (there are some lightning strike stories...). SO, what really bothers me the most about these several Maxpeed postings (including Conner's FAQ), is that after evaluating 4 other serial card manufacturers, the Maxpeed is SUBSTANTIALLY better. This is a separate subject area, though. Someday I will try to put together these various tests into something coherent and post a "Serial Board- Watch Out" posting. [ I have no affiliation with Maxpeed except to be a very satisfied customer. The systems tested with this card include Compaq as well as others with a variety of configurations: 4-16 Megs of memory, cacheing and non-cacheing, transparent printing used daily in several different business environments, up to 24 ports, all with VP/ix tested, up to 6 modems running on one card simultaneously, etc. ] Gary Lewin gary@mic.lonestar.org
larry@nstar.uucp (Larry Snyder) (10/23/90)
gary@mic.UUCP (Gary Lewin) writes: >The RTS/CTS problem is one that tends to plague many serial board >manufacturers. Depending on which drivers are installed, Maxpeed does >support RTS/CTS but on a shared port basis. In this configuration, ttyaa >and ab become one modem port and one 3 wire terminal port (in other words, >you do completely lose ttyab, just DCD and DTR, which become RTS/CTS for >ttyaa). So one port will have the hardware flow control using additional lines from another port - while the other port (the one who gave up the additional lines) becomes a 3 wire terminal port - so if I want to support 8 modems, I need 16 ports (if I go with maxspeed) and I am stuck with 8 terminal ports - even if I don't need them. Hmmm.. With my Computone (and from what I hear with the Comtrol Ultra and latest Digiboard) if I need to support 8 modems, I get 8 ports - not 16. The Computone works great with hardware flow control on multiple modems. I must be missing something here - I don't see why to buy twice as many ports as one needs to run hardware flow control.. -- Larry Snyder, Northern Star Communications, Notre Dame, IN USA {larry@nstar, uunet!sco!romed!nstar!larry, nstar%larry@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu} backbone usenet newsfeeds available Public Access Unix Site (219) 289-0282 (5 high speed lines)
johncore@compnect.UUCP (John Core ) (10/24/90)
In article <51@bmhalh.UUCP>, bruce@bmhalh.UUCP (Bruce M. Himebaugh) writes: > In article <1990Oct14.003841.24000@virtech.uucp> cpcahil@virtech.UUCP (Conor P. Cahill) writes: > >In article <34823@cup.portal.com> spyen@cup.portal.com (Shyh Pei Yen) writes: > >>I am going to set up a 386 PC based UNIX with dumb terminals connected. I > >>really appreciate any information on the multiport board. My questions are > > > >>4. Pricing? > > > >For 8 to 12 ports you can expect to pay anywhere from $600 (maxspeed-8) > >to $1,100 (megaport 12). > Pricing is not the best but from my experience Digiboard is the best. Good product Good manuals Great support 24 hour bbs for software upgrades or they will mail you the upgrade for FREE Wizard Systems | UUCP: uunet!wa3wbu!compnect!johncore P.O. Box 6269 |INTERNET: johncore@compnect.wa3wbu Harrisburg, Pa. 17112-6269 |a public bbs since 1978. Data(717)657-4992 & 4997 John Core, SYSOP |------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------| No matter where you go, there you are! a woman is just a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke. -R. Kipling
bill@unixland.uucp (Bill Heiser) (10/26/90)
Would someone be so kind as to post a source for that "generic" (MMU-xxx?)
4-port serial card that was discussed recently? I know a source was posted,
but that article has been expired, so I am out of luck. I believe it sells
for around $115.
Thanks!
bill
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other: heiser@world.std.com Public Access Unix (617) 739-9753jeff@marichal.austin.ibm.com (Jeffrey K. Johnson/65536) (10/26/90)
In <1990Oct25.220311.12196@unixland.uucp> bill@unixland.uucp (Bill Heiser) writes: > Would someone be so kind as to post a source for that "generic" (MMU-xxx?) > 4-port serial card that was discussed recently? I know a source was posted, > but that article has been expired, so I am out of luck. I believe it sells > for around $115. I bought my AST-Four Port/DOS from ACP (Advanced Computer Products) for $99 + $7.50 S/H. ACP 1310 E. Edinger Santa Ana, CA 92705 800 FONE-ACP 800 366-3227 714 558-8813 714 558-1603 24 Hr Fax It works great and is the real thing, not a clone. Jeff -- Jeff Johnson 10926 Jollyville Rd #1420 Computer Consultant Austin, TX 78759 (512) 343 0675 Email -> uunet!cs.utexas.edu!ibmchs!auschs!marichal.austin.ibm.com!jeff Disclaimer: "My views and opinions do not reflect those of IBM"
sleepy@wybbs.mi.org (Mike Faber) (10/27/90)
In article <51@bmhalh.UUCP> bruce@bmhalh.UUCP (Bruce M. Himebaugh) writes: >In article <1990Oct14.003841.24000@virtech.uucp> cpcahil@virtech.UUCP (Conor P. Cahill) writes: >>In article <34823@cup.portal.com> spyen@cup.portal.com (Shyh Pei Yen) writes: >>>I am going to set up a 386 PC based UNIX with dumb terminals connected. I >>>really appreciate any information on the multiport board. My questions are >> >>>4. Pricing? Try Arnet smartports. I've used those, without any problems. I don't know the current price, but you usually get what you pay for. -- Michael Faber sleepy@wybbs.UUCP
richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) (10/31/90)
>Pricing is not the best but from my experience Digiboard is the best. >Good product >Good manuals >Great support >24 hour bbs for software upgrades or they will mail you the upgrade for >FREE When you say "best" does this mean you've put two or three others to the test? Which boards didn't measure up? -- Richard Foulk richard@pegasus.com
larry@nstar.uucp (Larry Snyder) (11/02/90)
richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) writes: >>Pricing is not the best but from my experience Digiboard is the best. >>Good product >>Good manuals >>Great support >>24 hour bbs for software upgrades or they will mail you the upgrade for >>FREE >When you say "best" does this mean you've put two or three others to >the test? Which boards didn't measure up? BTW - Computone has started charging for drivers (if you want them on floppy) - but you can call into their new support BBS and download them for FREE! -- Larry Snyder, Northern Star Communications, Notre Dame, IN USA {larry@nstar, uunet!sco!romed!nstar!larry, nstar%larry@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu} backbone usenet newsfeeds available Public Access Unix Site (219) 289-0282 (5 high speed lines)
richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) (11/07/90)
> >BTW - Computone has started charging for drivers (if you want >them on floppy) - but you can call >into their new support BBS and download them for FREE! > Source code? -- Richard Foulk richard@pegasus.com
jdeitch@jadpc.cts.com (Jim Deitch) (11/09/90)
In article <1990Nov7.145613.20479@pegasus.com> richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) writes: >> >>BTW - Computone has started charging for drivers (if you want >>them on floppy) - but you can call >>into their new support BBS and download them for FREE! >> > >Source code? > HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA! Joke right? :-) -- UUCP: nosc!jadpc!jdeitch ARPA: jadpc!jdeitch@nosc.mil INET: jdeitch@jadpc.cts.com