Very Computer

Thanks - Chuck

PC/8em, ISA bus host adapter - with either DB25 or RJ45 connectors
      - 115.2K bps per port - about $700

PC/8e, ISA bus host adapter - with either DB25 or RJ45 connectors
      - 38.4K bps per port  - about $575

Anyone have any experience with these under Linux?

Roger

The Boca BB2016 supports 16 serial ports and works well with modems
(Wizvax price $235).

http://wizvax.com/

: > Path: ames!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!swiss.ans.net!potogold.rmii.com!usenet
: > I want to put a 8 port serial board in a 486 that will work
: > with Linux.  Any suggestion?
: >
: > Thanks - Chuck
: I am looking for the same thing.  DigiBoard makes 8 port serial cards.

[..]

: Anyone have any experience with these under Linux?

He's got some experience with 8 port serial cards made by BOCA.
They're well supported by linux, I think!

We've got one 486 here in our office equiped with such a card.

--
__  Dieter Thiel _____________________________________________________

   AllCon GmbH    Lise-Meitner-Strasse 2    24941 Flensburg  / Germany
______________________________________________________________________

Quote:> : > I want to put a 8 port serial board in a 486 that will work
> : > with Linux.  Any suggestion?

Regards -- Mardy Hutchinson
NetAxis -- Your Chauffeurs to the Internet

Quote:>>> I want to put a 8 port serial board in a 486 that will work
>>> with Linux.  Any suggestion?
>If you are not using modems, the the Boca BB1008 at $120 each (Wizvax
>price) works well.  The cyclades 8yS 8 port is $219 (Wizvax price).

Quote:> I want to put a 8 port serial board in a 486 that will work
> with Linux.  Any suggestion?

> Thanks - Chuck

I got the cards for $200 ea. (max. 2 at this price) with DB-25 and 8
octopus cables. (The $99 special is RJ-14 (if memory serves) and
lacks a couple of modem control lines that I couldn't live without)...

To install I rebuilt the kernel (1.1.84) to support Cyclades,
added devices to /dev via mknod, added those devices to inittab,
(you pick what you want - I used ttyC* adding them to inittab as e*,
and cub*, added to the UUCP Devices file for outdial stuff) added some
setserial commands to /etc/rc.d/rc.local, kicked the system with a
kill -HUP 1 and presto!  28.8 modems operating at 115.2 on the port,
in/out-dial.  The setserial parameters in /etc/rc.d/rc.local are:
/bin/setserial /dev/ttyC0 spd_vhi
  (etc.) and
/bin/setserial /dev/cub0 spd_vhi
  (etc.)

The machines that I've installed the Cyclades product on were
386-33's - they're now 486-66's...

Caviat:  Each Cyclades card sucks an interrupt.  Max. per
system is 4 cards.  I parked ours on IRQ 15 in each machine without
a hitch, default is IRQ 10.

I'm using it right now via PPP.  VERY nice!!!  File transfer
under PPP with 28.8's at each end is averaging around 5.66Kb/s.
The system sending the file is also our Usenet News server, our
WWW server, our anonymous FTP server and our firewall.  System load
tends to be rather heavy.  The modems go "solid LEDs" during transfers...

The Cyclades product (IMHO) doesn't hold a candle to the RocketPort
boards, but RocketPort isn't supported (either via the Linux kernel
distributions or by Comtrol themselves) so one must abandon better
solutions from time-to-time.  The RocketPort cards will run all
16 ports at a SUSTAINED 230.4Kb/s rate without degradation, and
they don't suck an interrupt.  The Cyclades product will degrade
on a pre-determined curve, and max. speed is 115.2Kb/s...  In most
instances this won't represent a problem.  In our case, where
we're using 28.8 modems that can, in fact, operate at 230.4Kb/s port
speeds (Hayes Optimas using 8:1 compression), we wanted the higher port
speed.  But when it came to a reality check, and a realization that Linux
was (by far) a better solution for us than SCO ($$$), we opted to settle
for the 4:1 ratio that the Cyclades can provide under Linux.  Oh well!!!

P.S.  If you're running something in the 1.1.7*+ range, don't
use the Linux driver disk that Cyclades provides - the goodies are already
present - just pick Cyclades support during kernel config.
options!  I wasted about 4 hours trying to figure out why everything
was blowing up, then the lightbulb came on!  ("Gosh!  I WONDER why this
script is asking me if I want Cyclades support" - duuhhhhhhh)

Dave Dunwoodie
Senior Systems Analyst
U.S. Bureau of Land Management

   I'm wondering if there are some parameters that are not being set
properly, or if some interrupt latency is just too long.

Regards -- Mardy Hutchinson
NetAxis -- an On-Ramp to the Internet