Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!uhccux!munnari.oz.au!comp.vuw.ac.nz!windy!gpwd!gpwrdcs
From: GPWRDCS@gp.govt.nz (Don Stokes, GPO)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: New "Alternate Connector For Use With ANSI/EIA-232-D"
Message-ID: <337@gp.govt.nz>
Date: 20 Sep 89 12:52:13 GMT
References: <870.251007A2@zswamp.fidonet.org> <328@gp.govt.nz> <8539@hoptoad.uucp>
Organization: Government Printing Office, Wellington, New Zealand
Lines: 38

In article <8539@hoptoad.uucp>, gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) writes:
> The standards bogons are at it again.
> 
[etc on a replacement for dear old RS-232C]
> Draft signal spec:
> 
> 	GND
> 	TX Data
> 	RX Data
> 	I'm Here (DTR)
> 	You're Here (DSR/CD)
> 	TX Clock (synchronous modems and flow control)
> 	RX Clock (synchronous modems and flow control)
> 	+5V, fused and current-limited

I'd like to add my tuppence worth here, and suggest that such a device 
use an already existing connector, eg a DB9 (I have reservations about 
that particular example, due to the IBM AT usage for serial - I still 
haven't forgiven them for using DB25s on parallel ports).  

My reasons for saying this stem from experiences with the so-called 
DEC-423 cabling system introduced by Digital a couple of years ago.  
Technically, the scheme is quite good - uses 6core cables, with a 
modular jack, in a the pattern 1=DTR, 2=TD, 3,4=GND, 5=RD, 6=DSR.  It 
works well - except that DEC seems to be the only place you can get 
connectors from.  (Fortunately, converter plugs are available, which 
helps a little, and they haven't completely abandoned the DB25, which 
helps a lot.)

One thing guaranteed to kill a standard dead is lack of availabilty of 
parts, particuarly something as mundane as cable connectors.  When/if the 
standard is published, it has to be possible for a manufacturer to go out 
and and say "I want a thousand of these" from day one.  

Don Stokes ZL2TNM   /  /                                  vuwcomp!windy!gpwd!don
Systems Programmer /GP/ Government Printing Office        PSI%0530147000028::DON
__________________/  /__Wellington, New Zealand___________don@gp.govt.nz________
Blessed is the user who expects nothing, for he or she will not be disappointed.