5 Jan
2001
5 Jan
'01
5:59 a.m.
On Wed, 3 Jan 2001 23:44:57 +0000 (GMT) Tony Duell
<ard(a)p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
As an aside at this point : Everyone on this list
should go and get one
of those little RS232 quick testers -- the things with a DB25 plug on one
side, a DB25 socket on the other and 7 (or so) bi-colour LEDs that
monitor (at least) TxD, RxD, RTS, CTS, DSR, DTR, DCD. You'll find
(amongst other things) that it's useful for determining whether an
unknown serial port is a DTE or DCE simply by plugging it in and seeing
wether the TxD LED or RxD LED lights up.
I have a Tektronix 833 Serial Comms Tester. Rather a nice
bit of kit, with a tiny LED display (hex) and a serial
patch-panel built-in. I also have the manual, which gives
full repair information. It's a 6800 CPU in there, which I
suppose makes the tester a classic computer in its own
right.
Of course, it's limited to 9600 baud... but then, who's
ever seen anything faster than that? :-)
--
John Honniball
Email: John.Honniball(a)uwe.ac.uk
University of the West of England