Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site omen.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!reed!omen!caf From: caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX) Newsgroups: net.micro.pc Subject: Re: More dongles Message-ID: <225@omen.UUCP> Date: Thu, 22-Aug-85 16:22:15 EDT Article-I.D.: omen.225 Posted: Thu Aug 22 16:22:15 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 25-Aug-85 04:56:59 EDT References: <53500017@trsvax> Reply-To: @.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX) Organization: Omen Technology, Portland Lines: 34 Summary: In article <53500017@trsvax> gordon@trsvax writes: >The dongles should be designed so it is possible to cascade a reasonable >number of them on one serial channel. If the standard really catches on, >and most software packages use it, then I guess a "reasonable" limit is >between 500 and 5,000 dongles on one serial channel. Dongles should NOT >try to derive power from the RS-232 signals: there won't be enough power >for lots of dongles. With the current paranoia on the part of software >vendors, and lots of unbundling, I fully expect that every UN*X * command >will need its own unique dongle, and ls, ls -s, ls -i, ls -l, ls -si, >ls -il, ls -sl, and ls -sil will require 8 different ones. If each dongle delays the serial data several character times, cascading enough of the buggers will make a good serial memory! At 1200 bps, 500 dongles with 4 characters of storage each (2000 total) would cause a delay greater than 16 seonds. This would make the serial port virtually useless for communications. And, just think of how much grief a nearby lightning strike (such as the one that blew out most of the RS232 chips at a campus in Hawaii) will cause. A better solution would be for ADAPSO to develop a version of the 8088 with a serial number burned in to it. The software would then be installed for that particular CPU serial number, with a certain number of invocations allowed on other machines for emergencies. Serialized CPU's might also be useful in tracking stolen equipment. -- Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX ...!tektronix!reed!omen!caf CIS:70715,131 Omen Technology Inc 17505-V NW Sauvie Island Road Portland OR 97231 Voice: 503-621-3406 Modem: 503-621-3746 (Hit CR's for speed detect) Home of Professional-YAM, the most powerful COMM program for the IBM PC