Date: Mon, 12 Dec 94 06:24:38 GMT From: Dwight McKay (The Moderator) Reply-To: Suns-at-Home@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Suns-at-Home Digest V7 #41 To: Suns-at-Home-List Suns-at-Home Digest Mon, 12 Dec 94 Volume 7 : Issue 41 Today's Topics: Connecting Sparc ELC to Mac Powerbook Sbus serial expansion card Sbus serial expansion card (was: Suns-at-Home Digest V7 #40) SUMMARY: Sbus serial expansion card Suns-at-Home Digest V7 #40 +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Submissions: suns-at-home \ @harbor.ecn.purdue.edu | | Requests: suns-at-home-request > -- or -- | | Archives: suns-at-home-archives / ...rutgers!pur-ee!... | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 09:58:54 -0500 From: Paul Graham Subject: Connecting Sparc ELC to Mac Powerbook To: Suns-at-Home@ecn.purdue.edu Is there a simple way to connect a Mac Powerbook to a Sparc ELC? I'm just interested in using the Mac as a terminal and copying files back and forth. Is there kermit for the mac? Paul - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Dec 94 19:51:07 PST From: perryh@pluto.rain.com (Perry Hutchison) Subject: Sbus serial expansion card To: boyter@pentagon-gw.army.mil > Date: Fri, 2 Dec 1994 22:18:57 +0500 > From: bimbo!boyter (Brian Boyter) > > Magma sells a 2 serial + 1 parallel Sbus expansion card for $275.... > Artecon sells a 3 serial + 1 parallel Sbus expansion card for $495.... > > Does anyone have any experiences (ggod or bad) with either of these > products??? Is there a better serial expansion option??? > > I'm running Solaris 2.3 on a Sparc 1 if that's an issue... No experience with either of those, but a few years ago we needed a parallel port for an SS1 or SS2 (not sure which -- we had both) and settled on one from Aurora which worked well. It was a parallel-only, but they also had a 2 serial + 1 parallel. Other suppliers to look at would be CoSystems and Antares. As I recall, CoSystems was the lowest priced of those we looked at; we settled on the Aurora despite its being the most expensive because of a larger buffer which should result in less interrupt overhead. Other approaches to consider would be Ethernet- or SCSI-based terminal servers. For any of these you'll need to inquire about Solaris 2.x drivers. - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Dec 94 14:42:06 -0500 From: Bob Sutterfield Subject: Sbus serial expansion card (was: Suns-at-Home Digest V7 #40) To: Suns-at-Home@ecn.purdue.edu Date: Fri, 2 Dec 1994 22:18:57 +0500 From: bimbo!boyter (Brian Boyter) Subject: Sbus serial expansion card Magma sells a 2 serial + 1 parallel Sbus expansion card for $275.... Artecon sells a 3 serial + 1 parallel Sbus expansion card for $495.... Does anyone have any experiences (ggod or bad) with either of these products??? Is there a better serial expansion option??? I'm running Solaris 2.3 on a Sparc 1 if that's an issue... Thanks, Brian boyter@pentagon-gw.army.mil We use Magma's 16-port async serial card in the SPARCstation-1 that serves our office modem pool, and I have used their 2S1P in my home SPARCstation. They work just great under SunOS 4.1.[123], but I haven't tried them under Solaris 2. They provide a solid 115200 DTE speed with low latency and little system burden, real bidirectional RTS/CTS flow control, and modem control. -- Bob Sutterfield, Morning Star Technologies +1 614 451 1883 3518 Riverside Dr, Suite 101, Columbus Ohio USA, 43221-1754 +1 800 558 7827 bob@MorningStar.Com http://www.MorningStar.Com/bob.html Fax: +1 614 459 5054 Pray Globally - Serve Locally - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Dec 1994 17:21:54 +0500 From: bimbo!boyter (Brian Boyter) Subject: SUMMARY: Sbus serial expansion card To: hqda-ai!ecn.purdue.edu!suns-at-home This is a summary of my Dec 2 1994 query... I was looking for experiences others had with Sbus serial expansion cards... There were three replies: >From: Tramm "Foo" Hudson > > I purchased a used Sun serial expansion card. It has eight > serial ports and one parallel port on an external box. The > box and card cost me $200, but did not include the cable. > I shopped around and found the cable for $150 (ouch!). All > in all, nine ports for $350 -> about $40 per port is -very- > good. > > Solaris 2.3 included drivers, so I was set. The entire > install was plug and play -- under ten minutes, tops. > > Shop the used market on misc.forsale.computers.workstation > for deals. I found mine there after a week or so of > reading. >From: Nick Sayer > > I have the Magma 16 serial Sbus card. It seems to work OK. A couple > nitpicks: > > Under SunOS minor device 0 is not port 0 (repeat for 1 through 15). > There is a mapping from minor devices to port numbers. It's basically > because of PCB routing issues that the driver writer didn't obscure with > a simple lookup table. I don't believe this is the case with the Solaris > driver. >From: hqda-ai!pluto.rain.com!perryh (Perry Hutchison) > No experience with either of those, but a few years ago we needed a > parallel port for an SS1 or SS2 (not sure which -- we had both) and > settled on one from Aurora which worked well. It was a parallel-only, > but they also had a 2 serial + 1 parallel. Other suppliers to look at > would be CoSystems and Antares. As I recall, CoSystems was the lowest > priced of those we looked at; we settled on the Aurora despite its > being the most expensive because of a larger buffer which should result > in less interrupt overhead. > > Other approaches to consider would be Ethernet- or SCSI-based terminal > servers. > > For any of these you'll need to inquire about Solaris 2.x drivers. > > ------ boyter@pentagon-gw.army.mil - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Dec 1994 19:27:21 -0800 From: mikep@Polo.NET (Michael Polo) Subject: Suns-at-Home Digest V7 #40 To: Suns-at-Home@ecn.purdue.edu > I have a Sparc-2 at home, and I'm looking to buy a printer for it. > I'm pretty well sold on the HP DeskJet-540, because it seems to match > my needs well. I print mainly black and white, with occasional color, > all in low (< 300pg/mo) volume. > > The question is: how would I connect it? The Sparc doesn't have a > parallel port, and I don't want to spring for a JetDirect card to give > the 540 and ethernet port. Does the 540 have a serial interface > option? The OfficeMax salesman I spoke to said no, but that seems > unlikely to me. I remember that sunexpress was closing out a SCSI laser printer for $495 That's a GREAT deal, it included newsprint too. > Magma sells a 2 serial + 1 parallel Sbus expansion card for $275.... > Artecon sells a 3 serial + 1 parallel Sbus expansion card for $495.... I have a friend who used a magma card with Solaris 2.4. His system was getting very regular panics and it was tracked down to the Magma card driver. Magma wasn't very helpful, saying that 2.4 wasn't supported. It'll probably work fine for 2.3, but don't upgrade. I have no experience with artecon. HTH, Mike - ------------------------------ End of Suns-at-Home Digest ******************************