Xref: utzoo comp.dcom.modems:2030 comp.unix.microport:888 comp.unix.xenix:2514 Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!cornell!rochester!ritcv!cci632!ccicpg!turnkey!jack From: jack@turnkey.TCC.COM (Jack F. Vogel) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems,comp.unix.microport,comp.unix.xenix Subject: Re: "Smart" serial boards for the 80386 Message-ID: <218@turnkey.TCC.COM> Date: 21 Jun 88 17:36:32 GMT References: <628@wb3ffv.UUCP> <510@cimcor.UUCP> Reply-To: jack@turnkey.TCC.COM (Jack F. Vogel) Organization: Turnkey Computer Consultants, Costa Mesa, CA Lines: 55 In article <510@cimcor.UUCP> mike@cimcor.UUCP (Michael Grenier) writes: >From article <628@wb3ffv.UUCP>, by howardl@wb3ffv.UUCP (Howard Leadmon ): >> [...misc. flames omitted...] > >For whatever its worth, I've used the Bell board in both Microport 286 >and 386 UNIX as well as the Digiboard. I had the same problems with the >modem as you did but there was a fix posted to the net awhile back for >this problem. It seems that the wiring diagrams in their manual are screwed >up and the suggested wiring for the modem was wrong. (Not to mention that >they use the wrong sex RS-232 connectors off their cables considering ??^^^^^^^^^?? >the Bell board works as a DCE). Some of the modem lines are wired wrong. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I have been watching the Bell ICC reports with much interest since we are using one on turnkey. I think that much of the flames are deserved and I will add a couple of my own, but this talk of not working with a modem is not true. I had 2 Multitechs running on the card and they worked fine ( that is as well as the card worked overall ). This talk of the wrong sex connector makes no sense. You must realize that Bell sells a number of different RJ45-DB25 style adapters. When we took delivery on the card it had only one such adapter, and it was for terminals, which means it is effectively a NULL MODEM. Now if someone tried to use this with a modem it certainly would not work!!! It was not the wrong "sex" however, it was male. What we did was make our own modem adapters so that the signals would be "straight through", and it worked fine as I said. The previous posters might give the mistaken impression that the ICC does not support the necessary signals to control a modem (such as at least some cards from, say, Arnet). This is false, it supports the standard 8 lines and provides for real hardware flow control. One must just make sure that the proper adapter is installed. Now on to the flames...the card has been causing us considerable grief. It has been run in two different systems. In the first it would cause huge memory fault core dumps under considerable system load. In the present system it doesn't core dump, instead it causes general protection panics and brings the system down altogether, wonderful :-} :-{. At this point we have it out of the system. Now a bit of good news comes from Paul Vixie who says there is a new release that has solved the problems. I have corresponded with him and he says it has shipped since 2/88. Now the question is will Bell make good and allow those of us who bought the earlier lemon exchange for a product that works?? Are you listening Bell????? >Personally, I'd buy something other than a Bell Technologies board. At this point I would agree with this conclusion, unless Bell can prove themselves with their new release. And I might add, they should do so in a hurry if they are to stem the proverbial tide of this bad press. -- Jack F. Vogel Turnkey Computer Consultants, Costa Mesa, CA UUCP: ...{nosc|uunet}!turnkey!jack Internet: jack@turnkey.TCC.COM