[OZAPRS] APRS Advice

[Damien Gardner Jnr]

On 05/04/2009, at 8:14 PM, Ray Wells wrote:
> My system usually only reboots when I do something to it or the  
> energy authority wants their employees to have lunch in the bush!  
> Current uptime is 22 days.
>
*grin* that's what I mean..  The old igate box:
damien at echelon:~$ w
  20:19:28 up 117 days, 12:57,  2 users,  load average: 0.02, 0.03, 0.00

Only reason for the low uptime is moving it between racks :)

Windows boxes seem to need to reboot at least once a month for window  
updates, etc..

> Only 50 pins? I have a full length 8 port ISA card (who remember  
> when RAM came on one of those) with a DB 76 (or 78, who's counting)  
> I'd kill for the octopus cable to db25. Actually, it came with a  
> breakout box of 8 DB25 sockets.


Hrrm you're right, it was more than 50 pins - it's four, maybe five  
rows, in a 1cmx7cm-ish DB connector?  If you have a squiz at http://echelon.pinegap.net/~damien/stuff/colo_servers.jpg 
, you can see it coming out the back of the box at the top back of the  
shelves..
Actually yep, www.esis.com.au still sell them (at $800/card, and (are  
you sitting down?) $170 a cable!!
610050 EasyIO cable, DB78M to 8-DB25F  connectors, beige, 1m  
(3.28ft.): $172
so DB78!
Oh dear lord, I'm looking on that same page at their 'EasyServer II,  
16-port' boxes..  $2600?!?!?   An ex-coworker moved onto a new company  
about four years ago, and was showing me around his new work one day,  
and I saw a bunch of them sitting on his desk, and just about wet  
myself.. (c'mon, a TCP-connected device that gives you 16 serial ports  
connectable via plain telnet? niice things)  Asked him what they were  
doing with them.. 'what, these weird things? we didn't know what they  
were, so we just popped em open and levered all the crystals and chips  
and stuff off for fun...'  After I got over my coughing fit, and  
explained what they were, he turned the deepest shade of red I've ever  
seen someone turn!

And I'm off topic ;)

If you look *really* hard at that pic, you can see the bottom of the  
TH-D7AG from the Vk1 igate sitting on top of the left-most box on the  
floor in the pic.. - with its serial cable plugged into the middle  
box :)  Good lord that's an old pic! (circa 2002, judging by the  
incarnation of 'terra' - the huge box on the right on the floor...)

My newer EasyIO card is PCI, and just has 4xRJ45 connectors which is  
so much nicer, as I can just run normal cat5 cables out to the RJ45- 
DB25 adapters.. We used to use that at work to run serial cables  
across the DC to the console ports of switches and routers for OOB  
management..  Though these days they're both sitting in a box because  
it's easier to just use USB-Serial adapters when I need multiple  
ports :)  (that and my 'newest' PC with an ISA slot is my old  
K6-2-450, and my current workbench machine doesn't even have a bloody  
PCI slot! (though there is an old PIII-800 under the workbench incase  
I need IDE or PCI :))

Cheers,

Damien

Damien Gardner Jnr
VK2TDG. Dip EE. GradIEAust
rendrag at rendrag.net -  http://www.rendrag.net/
--
We rode on the winds of the rising storm,
  We ran to the sounds of thunder.
We danced among the lightning bolts,
  and tore the world asunder

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