BBS card, ISA8bit multi serial, 4 channels

[Fred Cisin]

>> 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.
>
On Thu, 1 Nov 2018, Grant Taylor via cctalk wrote:
> 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