I need lots of serial ports on a PC

Post #2,922 by marlowe 7/27/01 8:54:53 AM Reply	I need lots of serial ports on a PC Preferably soon. I thought they could just go down to the local computer store and buy a PCI adapter card with COM3 and COM4 on it, but they say no dice. I'm on a project where all the hardware components of the product are lashed together with serial connections. I need to debug the protocols. For a development workstation, I've got a Win98 machine and Hyperterm. I'd like to use the PC as a proxy between two components, so I can do man-in-middle monitoring, and substitute the PC for a component to do unit testing. We've got some old Wyse terminals lying around, and that's adequate for debug printfs, although Hyperterm and extra comm ports would take up much less of my limited work space. The protocols I'm debugging are binary. No ASCII terminal will be of any use there. So I need extra COM ports on a PC. The more the merrier. Give me two more and I'll be more efficient. Give me eight total and I can find a use for every one of them. People will be happy if they can all be talked to under Win98. But I won't pass up an excuse to install Linux... Recommendations, anyone? Thanks. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html]
Post #2,927 by DonRichards 7/27/01 9:17:23 AM Reply	digi board How about a 8 port PCI card? [link\|http://www.digi.com/solutions/mportserialcards/classicboard.shtml\|[link\|http://www.digi.com/solutions/mportserialcards/classicboard.shtml\|http://www.digi.com...cboard.shtml]] "When it crosses my mind to do something, I don't ask why, I ask why not. And usually there's no reason not to, so I just go ahead. It's given me the strangest collection of hats"
Post #2,966 by tonytib 7/27/01 3:25:44 PM Reply	RocketPort I've had good experiences with them. And, they have Linux as well as Windows drivers for their ISA and PCI boards; IIRC they also have Linux drivers for their Ethernet serial hubs. The Si series (e.g. 4Si) serial hubs supposedly can be shared among multiple computers. Oh, the ISA/PCI boards don't require an IRQ, which is very nice. I currently own a 8-port PCI Rocketport with octopus cable, and a 16-port ISA Rocketport with breakout box. The box is more expensive, but nicer in many ways. I bought both on eBay. Provantage [link\|http://www.provantage.com\|http://www.provantage.com] has good prices on new Rocketports and typically ships quickly. I know Andrew G really likes another brand of serial hubs; IIRC they were Digi. Tony
Post #3,046 by Andrew Grygus 7/30/01 12:22:05 PM Reply	We use various devices. Digi EtherLite is great for putting serial ports out on a network cable (unless you have old IBM terminals). This is currently our favorite solution (on a cost / convenience basis) for 8 ports and up. Equinox makes a similar device at a slightly lower price but I haven't tried it yet. For 4 ports we have been using a Stallion 4-port Easy-IO board and it's reasonably priced ($295 list - less on the street). Cyclades makes an almost identical board using the same chip set which is more popular among Linux users, but it isn't carried by our usual distributors. Siig makes a 2-port PCI sold at Frys for around $75, but it doesn't support Linux at all. Frys carries another brand which claims it works with Linux, but it didn't when I tried it. [link\|www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #3,145 by boxley 7/30/01 9:54:46 PM Reply	do you still like digi terminal servers? hadnt touched one in few years but had a rack of equipment that I was tired of lugging laptops to. I am still thrilled with that product.(for what we use it for, serial console connections) thanx, bill Our bureaucracy and our laws have turned the world into a clean, safe work camp. We are raising a nation of slaves. Chuck Palahniuk
Post #3,168 by Andrew Grygus 7/31/01 3:05:40 AM Reply	We have a couple of sites with those. They're very flexible and can handle complex situations. The truth is, though, they're overkill for the kind of stuff our clients do. The Etherlites are more appropriate since they cost less and the ports behave more like regular serial ports. Our typical multiport client is a medical testing lab that runs either Hex or CIS software (and no other applications at all). These are LIS (Laboratory Information Systems) extended with results forms printing and electronic billing. The host/servers are all SCO Unix, though Hex is starting to deploy Linux. Typical usage of serial ports would be: 4 or 5 medical testing machines that download results to the LIS. 4 or 5 Wyse 60 terminals A barcode printer 4 or 5 dot matrix printers. 1 customer call-in modem. 3 call-out modems (fax, remote printing, billing) Configuration is rarely changed and user interaction is quite simplistic. The two principle requirements are: no downtime; no lost data, ever. [link\|www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]

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