lisbon@vpnet.chi.il.us (Gerry Swetsky) (10/05/90)
Perhaps my first posting didn't make it to the net..... Is anyone familiar with the POWERPORTS serial I/O card from Consensys Corporation? The company says they've sold 10,000 of these. Surely SOMEONE must have seen one! They allegedly use a 32 bit processor on board and use NO interrupts. Also their price is $395 per board to resellers. Help! -- ============================================================================ | Help stamp out stupid .signature files! Gerry Swetsky | | vpnet offers callers free access to selected Usenet conferences | | Home (708)833-8122 vpnet (708)833-8126 lisbon@vpnet.chi.il.us | ============================================================================
kew@cims2.uucp (Keith Walker) (10/09/90)
lisbon@vpnet.chi.il.us (Gerry Swetsky) writes: >Perhaps my first posting didn't make it to the net..... Don't remember... >Is anyone familiar with the POWERPORTS serial I/O card from Consensys >Corporation? The company says they've sold 10,000 of these. Surely >SOMEONE must have seen one! They allegedly use a 32 bit processor on >board and use NO interrupts. Also their price is $395 per board to >resellers. I had an evaluation copy once. Real neat until you plugged in a modem. It just doesn't work with modems (temper that comment with the fact that I had the board about a year ago). About 6-8 months ago, Consensys came under heavy net flame for producing a product that didn't work with modems properly; last I heard they (Consensys) had sent their driver writers to SCO to get some lessons on how it's done. BTW, when I reported the modem problem to their tech support, they instantly found fault with my hardware. After all, they had zillions of them in the field working just ducky. So I tried it on a different machine: same thing. They weren't the most helpful people in the world, but I imagine it's hard working tech support for a buggy product. >Help! Can't offer any more help than that. -- Keith Walker Domain: kew@cims.com UUCP: uunet!proto!cims2!kew Voice: +1 509/466-9384
aland@informix.com (alan denney) (10/17/90)
In article <270b459e-74comp.unix.sysv386@vpnet.chi.il.us> lisbon@vpnet.chi.il.us (Gerry Swetsky) writes: > >Perhaps my first posting didn't make it to the net..... > >Is anyone familiar with the POWERPORTS serial I/O card from Consensys >Corporation? The company says they've sold 10,000 of these. Surely >SOMEONE must have seen one! They allegedly use a 32 bit processor on >board and use NO interrupts. Also their price is $395 per board to >resellers. > >Help! I'm using what is now the older generation POWERPORTS, which supports 8 ports on each main board, plus each main board can attach an optional 8-port daughtercard. They now have 32- and 48-port boards. These are intelligent boards using NSC processors, and they have some really nice features (any terminal can support up to 8 distinct sessions). Anyway, I've been using the 16-port version in 6 different machines for about 8 months. I had one fail after a couple of months, and they shipped a replacement the day I called (without waiting for the bad one to come back). They are based in Canada with a sales office in Texas. Good stuff, but $395 sounds awfully cheap... are you buying large quantities? List is $1395 for 8 ports and $1995 for 16 ports for the card with 512K and full POWERVIEW/POWERPRINT support. -- Alan Denney aland@informix.com {pyramid|uunet}!infmx!aland I'm Pro-Anarchy... and I Vote!
aland@informix.com (alan denney) (10/17/90)
In article <1990Oct9.034535.11153@cims2.uucp> kew@cims2.uucp (Keith Walker) writes: > >>Is anyone familiar with the POWERPORTS serial I/O card from Consensys >>Corporation? The company says they've sold 10,000 of these. Surely > >I had an evaluation copy once. Real neat until you plugged in a modem. >It just doesn't work with modems (temper that comment with the fact that >I had the board about a year ago). About 6-8 months ago, Consensys came >under heavy net flame for producing a product that didn't work with modems >properly; last I heard they (Consensys) had sent their driver writers >to SCO to get some lessons on how it's done. Now, I'm *really* scared... [-: >Keith Walker What exact problem/symptoms did you run into? I haven't seen any trouble yet. They told me up front when I ordered that they had trouble in some cases driving Telebits from daughtercard ports, but that mainboard ports were OK. What problems did you have? -- Alan Denney # aland@informix.com # {pyramid|uunet}!infmx!aland "These tests will have no effect on your grades. They will merely determine your future social status and financial success, if any." - Matt Groening