[98974] in RedHat Linux List
Re: hardware question for gurus
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael Jinks)
Wed Nov 11 13:24:05 1998
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 18:12:32 +0000
From: Michael Jinks <michael@twopoint.com>
To: redhat-list@redhat.com
Resent-From: redhat-list@redhat.com
Reply-To: redhat-list@redhat.com
Charles Galpin wrote:
>
> Guys
>
> I friend is trying to do something with a custom solution that I'm sure is
> available as COTS product.
>
> Simply put, he needs something that can control two serial (DB9) ports with
> one input. the input can be anything widely available like an ethernet
> (RJ45) port, another serial port (or parallel).
>
> I imagine it would be very similar to a multi printer port, but w/ serial
> ports.
If I understand your meaning, there are lots of "multiport" cards that
you can drop into a PC expansion slot. They range in size from 2 or 4
serial ports up to very many, I think I've seen some that were
expandable up to 256 ports. The cards can be "smart" (needs a driver,
does some funny on-board switching that the main system doesn't have to
deal with) or "dumb" (just shows up as more tty's on the system, use
"setserial" to initialize). Most of them have the option of using a
single IRQ for all of the ports, which is handy on AT style systems.
In the "smart" multiport category, I like Cyclades cards for ease of use
and long-standing Linux cooperation. We use an 8-port one on our PPP
dialup system and I've never had a complaint about it.
If your friend needs a free-standing unit that's nothing more than a
couple serial ports and a control line, then I'm useless. He might be
best off with a little overkill, like a 386 with a netcard and some
serial ports running a minimal Linux, rather than trying to build a
strictly adequate solution from scratch for more money and trouble.
--
Michael Jinks
mailto:michael@twopoint.com http://www.twopoint.com
Systems Administrator, Two Point Conversions, Inc.
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