Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bbn!oberon!sdcrdcf!trwrb!cadovax!gryphon!richard
From: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: ports
Keywords: serial parallel
Message-ID: <3963@gryphon.CTS.COM>
Date: 12 May 88 05:19:53 GMT
Organization: Trailing Edge Technology, Redondo Beach, Ca.
Lines: 117
Posted: Wed May 11 22:19:53 1988




In article <1959@sugar.UUCP> peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes:
>I wrote:
>> 
>> Buy a printer buffer. $49.95 ?
>
>First, a quick flame about printer buffers:
>
>So for the first Xk of the dump, the computer thinks the printer is
>faster. After that, the computer has to slow down, And *I* still have to
>wait for it, no matter how long it takes. Wrong answer. The correct answer
>to the "my printer is too slow and it's holding up my computer" is a spooler.

Get bigger printer buffer. Perhaps you and I print different things.
I print mostly graphics, and the printer is always waiting on the Amiga
to rasterize the image. Listings i do on a laser printer at 9600 baud
and I dont wait.

>And you're not even dealing with the right question. Let's look at this
>exchange:
>
>A: You need a parallel port.

I never said you needed a parallel port. I said: "don't dictate your
views on the rest of us an tell us we should all have two serial
ports because you perceive there is no need for parallel ports."

Dont they make those little serial-->parallel and parallel-->serial
jobbers ?

[...]

>That is... speed isn't an issue. Capiche?

RIGHT! Speed is a non-issue. Being able to come across any peripheral
and being able to plug it in because you have both a SER and a PAR port
is an issue.

And the cables! ARRRG! Sometimes I think I'd like to go back in time
and slay the guy who invented RS-232C.

Lesse I need a male to female, swapped, with DTR pulled high. Wait
I've got one but its female to female, hmm, well what about this
one, no it's not swapped, etc. I have a dresser drawer full of 
different SER cables. One for everytime I had to make one!

I have one or two parallel cables.

What, besides printers uses parallel ports ? Well, I have to agree
printers account for the large part of it, but I've used a speech
synthesizer and a hard disk drive over a parallel port.

>> There are more fords than ferarris too. Whatever the hell all this proves.
>
>Fords are more versatile than ferraris, because the whole world isn't
>a racetrack. It's also not a print shop.

Agreed. But please don't disallow it.

>
>> No no. Ludicrous, rediculous off the wall flame that even talk.bizarre
>> would reject.
>
>Talk.bizzarre is moderated now?

Brian Reid. You hav'nt been keeping up on these things ?

>> Now Peter, if you want more serial ports, great, knock yourself out
>> go buy a IBM-PC multiport card with 4 ot 8 ports on it, plug it
>> in and you'll be one happy puppy.
>
>Plug it in *where*?

In an AT slot.

Ie a 2000 or one of those silly card cages. Yes, it's real money
but the 8 port card is not cheap either. How badly do you want it ?

I saw an ad in BYTE that had 8 MODEMS on an AT card, if you really
want to run a packet switch network off your Amiga, that would seem
to be the way to go.

>Probably in the PC/AT clone running Microport UNIX that I'm going to
>buy instead of an Amiga 2000.

Knock yourself out. Good luck with Microport. Snicker.

>Hey, folks. Before you do Yet Another Memory Board Addon or Yet Another
>Hard Drive or Yet Another Genlock... how about a multiport serial card???

1) Nobody is builing much for anything but 2000's; putting a $1500 
multiport serial card on a $500 A500 seems a little strange; of you
have the money for the card, you have the money to blow on a 2000.
You can only extend a A500 so far.


2) THATS WHY THE AT SLOTS ARE THERE ON THE A2000 !  So you can add any
peripheral you want. This is the prototype argument for the
At slots - the AT cards exist, you just plug 'em in.

Yes I know you have an A1000, you're stuck, as
am I. *I'd* like two serial ports too, one for the laser and one
for the modem. But I can probably get away with a switch box, and
I certainly am not willing to give up my parallel port for a second serial
port, and I'm sure as hell not going to try to dictate what other peoples
computers should be like.

>-- Disclaimer: These aren't mere opinions, these are *values*.

Some are good. Some arn't.


-- 
               noalias went. it really wasn't negotiable
richard@gryphon.CTS.COM                          rutgers!marque!gryphon!richard