30 Oct
2018
30 Oct
'18
4:27 p.m.
From: Ken Seefried <seefriek at gmail.com>
Subject: i860: Re: modern stuff
I have a Quad-i860 VME board in one of my Sun systems.
Michael Thompson
the i860 found at least a little niche on graphics
boards, so somehow
not a complete failure ;-)
12:37 p.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
hi guys
I have an ISA8bit card with four UART chip on it, and the special cable.
it comes with the original manual and a floppy (5.25") with drivers
for XENIX and DOS, etc
it was used for BBS, and I am willing to sell since it's not in use
it's located in Italy (where my parents live), I can ship worldwide
regards
Carlo
3:25 p.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
I have a couple of these as well. The one to have way back when was made by
AST. It had 4 16550 UARTS and could run them all at whatever speed you
wanted.
There was even a public domain program/device driver for it, for UNIX on
x86 called FAS (Final Async Solution) that worked very well. I still have a
copy of it if anyone is running real serial on period hardware and SVR2/3
and maybe others.
I ran these boards for a couple years on my public access UNIX system.
Tom
------
Tom Manos, CTO
Concursive Corporation
222 W 21st, Suite 213
Norfolk, VA. 23517
(757) 627-2760 (office)
On Wed, Oct 31, 2018 at 6:11 PM Carlo Pisani via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
hi guys
I have an ISA8bit card with four UART chip on it, and the special cable.
it comes with the original manual and a floppy (5.25") with drivers
for XENIX and DOS, etc
it was used for BBS, and I am willing to sell since it's not in use
it's located in Italy (where my parents live), I can ship worldwide
regards
Carlo
1 Nov
1 Nov
5:09 a.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
On 2018-10-31 18:25, Tom Manos via cctalk wrote:
I have a couple of these as well. The one to have way
back when was made by
AST. It had 4 16550 UARTS and could run them all at whatever speed you
wanted.
There was even a public domain program/device driver for it, for UNIX on
x86 called FAS (Final Async Solution) that worked very well. I still have a
copy of it if anyone is running real serial on period hardware and SVR2/3
and maybe others.
I ran these boards for a couple years on my public access UNIX system.
We had those in every PC in the office. There were versions with 4 or 8
UARTs, IIRC, four UARTs had to share one interrupt, but the
Linux/ESIX/Interactive driver for them was working pretty well ...
Made PCs suddenly useful ;-)
9:14 a.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
On 11/01/2018 06:09 AM, emanuel stiebler via cctalk wrote:
We had those in every PC in the office.
Made PCs suddenly useful ;-)
Can I ask what you were doing that needed more than two serial ports?
Especially "every PC in the office".
I can see a few special purpose computers. But I can't imagine a use
case for having them in every PC.
#curious
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
10:29 a.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
> We had those in every PC in the office.
> Made PCs suddenly useful ;-)
On Thu, 1 Nov 2018, Grant Taylor via cctalk wrote:
Can I ask what you were doing that needed more than
two serial ports?
Especially "every PC in the office".
I can see a few special purpose computers. But I can't imagine a use case
for having them in every PC.
You put one into each of five computers, then you arrange them in a
pentagram, with ten null-modem cables.
Then you write software to make your net work.
Or summon the dark overlord.
10:44 a.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
A company i worked for bought a small healthcare "utilization review" company in
the @1983 and they had 5 pc's with just that configuration with contractor written
software. We replaced it with a Microvax II.
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 1, 2018, at 10:29, Fred Cisin via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> We had
those in every PC in the office.
> Made PCs suddenly useful ;-)
On Thu, 1 Nov 2018, Grant Taylor via cctalk
wrote:
Can I ask what you were doing that needed more than two serial ports? Especially
"every PC in the office".
I can see a few special purpose computers. But I can't imagine a use case for having
them in every PC.
You put one into each of five computers, then you arrange them in a pentagram, with ten
null-modem cables.
Then you write software to make your net work.
Or summon the dark overlord.
11:14 a.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
On 11/01/2018 11:29 AM, Fred Cisin wrote:
You put one into each of five computers, then you
arrange them in a
pentagram, with ten null-modem cables.
I wondered if you were going to make a (full) mesh of the computers.
Where full is dependent on the number of computers.
Then you write software to make your net work.
Dare I ask?
Or summon the dark overlord.
It depends if it's point up or point down. ;-)
That is also predicated on a physical pentagram arrangement instead of a
logical mesh of five machines in a row. ():-)
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
11:04 a.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
On 2018-11-01 12:14, Grant Taylor via cctalk wrote:
On 11/01/2018 06:09 AM, emanuel stiebler via cctalk
wrote:
We developed embedded systems, multiprocessor, and wrote software for them.
None of them had ethernet, so plenty of serial lines were good to have
for debugging, monitoring etc.
We had those in every PC in the office.
Made PCs suddenly useful ;-)
Can I ask what you were doing that needed more than two serial ports?
Especially "every PC in the office".
11:22 a.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
We had those
in every PC in the office.
Made PCs suddenly useful ;-)
Can I ask what you were doing that needed more than
two serial ports?
Especially "every PC in the office".
11:28 a.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
On 11/01/2018 12:22 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
A modem,
serial mouse,
serial printer,
serial "RS232" scanner, external drive (yes, they existed), serial
control of CD cchanger (consider Kubik 240 disc carousel (SCSI, but
serial disc change control)), serial EPROM programmer, serial drawing
tablet, serial X10 controller, serial VOTRAX, logging of UPS, etc.
I absolutely agree that such bests of peripherally connected systems
exist. I would be shocked to hear that "every PC in the office" was
equipped as such.
I do wonder how well software that used said peripherals dealt with COM
ports above 4.
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
11:38 a.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
On 11/1/18 11:28 AM, Grant Taylor via cctalk wrote:
On 11/01/2018 12:22 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
Generally, the software that dealt with that used its own configuration
mechanism, as there's only room for 4 COM ports in the BIOS RAM area.
--Chuck
A modem,
serial mouse,
serial printer,
serial "RS232" scanner, external drive (yes, they existed), serial
control of CD cchanger (consider Kubik 240 disc carousel (SCSI, but
serial disc change control)), serial EPROM programmer, serial drawing
tablet, serial X10 controller, serial VOTRAX, logging of UPS, etc.
I absolutely agree that such bests of peripherally connected systems
exist.? I would be shocked to hear that "every PC in the office" was
equipped as such.
I do wonder how well software that used said peripherals dealt with COM
ports above 4.
11:51 a.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
On 11/01/2018 12:38 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
Generally, the software that dealt with that used its
own configuration
mechanism, as there's only room for 4 COM ports in the BIOS RAM area.
That's what I suspected.
I'm referring to the client applications (not) knowing how to access COM5.
I assume that they access a device managed by DOS / driver. Maybe I'm
wrong.
I'm also assuming that some software is written with a UI for choosing
the COM port and only giving four options.
--
Grant. . . .
unix || die
11:52 a.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
A modem,
serial mouse,
serial printer,
serial "RS232" scanner, external drive (yes, they existed), serial control
of CD changer (consider Kubik 240 disc carousel (SCSI, but serial disc
change control)), serial EPROM programmer, serial drawing tablet, serial
X10 controller, serial VOTRAX, logging of UPS, etc.
I absolutely agree that such bests of peripherally
connected systems exist.
I would be shocked to hear that "every PC in the office" was equipped as
such.
OK, only one of the machines needs to do the UPS logging.
Although etiquette calls for only one VOTRAX operating at a time, they all
need to be connected.
OR,
the KUBIK was stackable! With four of them, and 4 serial ports, and 16
[wide] SCSI IDs (which poses a limitation), you could have 15 drives
accessing from 960 discs. (including the entire Walnut Creek collection?)
I do wonder how well software that used said
peripherals dealt with COM ports
above 4.
SOME of those devices didn't need the full set of COM port
capabilities.
Similarly, connecting more than 4 floppy drives posed some minor software
complications, particularly if accessing at BIOS (Int13h) level.
A pentagram physical arrangement on a round or 5 sided table needs
shortest cables.
As to the dark overlord, . . .
when Novell bought DRI, it was not because they wanted the content. They
wanted the IP rights as a shield. Imagine, if Adam Osborne had been a
little quicker in running out and buying a piece of the rubble of
VisiCorp, it would have shielded Paperback software from Lotus.
There is no better defense in an infringement lawsuit than owning rights
to the code that the plaintiff's system infringed on.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
1:30 p.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
On 2018-11-01 14:28, Grant Taylor via cctalk wrote:
On 11/01/2018 12:22 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
This machines were running Esix and Interactive Unix (and linux?) ...
So no problems at all
A modem,
serial mouse,
serial printer,
serial "RS232" scanner, external drive (yes, they existed), serial
control of CD cchanger (consider Kubik 240 disc carousel (SCSI, but
serial disc change control)), serial EPROM programmer, serial drawing
tablet, serial X10 controller, serial VOTRAX, logging of UPS, etc.
I absolutely agree that such bests of peripherally connected systems
exist.? I would be shocked to hear that "every PC in the office" was
equipped as such.
I do wonder how well software that used said peripherals dealt with COM
ports above 4. 
5:40 p.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
somewhere we? have a? bunch? of? ISA? cards? that? are? like the? ? ports on my hp? time
share? system? just? not? 16 ports...I seem? to remember? ?between? 4 and? 8...? and?they?
were? ?for a? ?PC? type? machine? of? course? with the? ISA ports.? ? Although? seen?
years? ago? I? think I? remember? which? ?shelf? rack they? got? ?crammed into.? - Anyone?
remember? something? like? this? as? i? remember? there? are? enough? of? them? to? let?
?some? ?go.
? Ed#? at? SMECC
?
? wish I? remembered? more
In a message dated 11/1/2018 1:30:22 PM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at
classiccmp.org writes:
?
On 2018-11-01 14:28, Grant Taylor via cctalk wrote:
On 11/01/2018 12:22 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
This machines were running Esix and Interactive Unix (and linux?) ...
So no problems at all
A modem,
serial mouse,
serial printer,
serial "RS232" scanner, external drive (yes, they existed), serial
control of CD cchanger (consider Kubik 240 disc carousel (SCSI, but
serial disc change control)), serial EPROM programmer, serial drawing
tablet, serial X10 controller, serial VOTRAX, logging of UPS, etc.
I absolutely agree that such bests of peripherally connected systems
exist.? I would be shocked to hear that "every PC in the office" was
equipped as such.
I do wonder how well software that used said peripherals dealt with COM
ports above 4.
8:19 p.m.
New subject: BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels
On 11/1/18 5:40 PM, ED SHARPE via cctalk wrote:
somewhere we have a bunch of ISA cards that are
like the
ports on my hp time share system just not 16 ports...I seem to
remember between 4 and 8... and they were for a PC type
machine of course with the ISA ports. Although seen years
ago I think I remember which shelf rack they got crammed
into. - Anyone remember something like this? as i remember
there are enough of them to let some go. Ed# at SMECC
While trying to
clean out a bookcase today, I ran across an ALMAC/ARROW
catalog--commercial supplier of everything from HP9000 systems, Sun
Workstations, etc. At any rate, Digiboard was the big supplier of PC
serial add-in boards. The PC/Xem supported up to 32 serial channels.
Just leafing through the catalog, I ran across one item I'd never heard
of--the NCR 3125 Notepad compauter 8.5x11 480x640 VGA-compatible LCD
screen. I guess it might be called a "tablet" today.
--Chuck
2202
days inactive
2205
days old
17 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
aek＠bitsavers.org -
carlojpisani＠gmail.com -
cclist＠sydex.com -
cctalk＠gtaylor.tnetconsulting.net -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
couryhouse＠aol.com -
emu＠e-bbes.com -
michael.99.thompson＠gmail.com -
tmanos＠concursive.com -
wayne.sudol＠hotmail.com