[OZAPRS] APRS Advice

Mon Apr 6 13:04:36 EST 2009

I guess I have this uncanny attraction for odd serial cards.

I have a COM4, 4 port ISA card with 16550 UARTS (Australian, circa 1992) 
that is now driving 4 TNC's in the BBS machine. I considered it to be an 
AST 4 port but with different IO ports. It runs a single IRQ and is 
quite happy under Linux.

The PC-COM 8 port ISA card has also been successfully configured under 
Linux and appeared to function in that I could see traffic addressed to 
each port in /proc/<whatever>. I don't have the breakout box with the 8 
x DB25 sockets so I took a punt and emailed the manufacturer in Hong 
Kong, and they sent me the pinouts for the DB78. I have a DB78/DB78 
cable so if I get desperate (real desperate) for more serial ports I can 
always make my own "box". I'll be in real strife if my three ISA slot 
motherboard dies.

I like the "neat" installaton of that gear, it makes me feel so much 
better about mine ;-)

Linux tvbbs 2.6.28.080309 #1 Sun Mar 8 16:46:35 EST 2009 i686

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
You have new mail.
Last login: Sun Apr  5 09:44:23 2009 from gizmo

vk2tv at tvbbs: ~vk2tv at tvbbs:~$ uptime
 12:55:46 up 23 days,  4:38,  2 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.02, 0.00

I once managed 60 days but Country Energy said enough is enough and 
dumped supply for maintenance purposes.

Ray vk2tv

Damien Gardner Jnr wrote:
> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ozaprs mailing list
> Ozaprs at aprs.net.au
> http://aprs.net.au/mailman/listinfo/ozaprs
>

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