Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!ctrsol!emory!phssra
From: phssra@mathcs.emory.edu (Scott R. Anderson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Need more serial ports
Message-ID: <4732@emory.mathcs.emory.edu>
Date: 10 Dec 89 17:04:06 GMT
References: <1643@esquire.UUCP>
Reply-To: phssra@emory.UUCP (Scott Robert Anderson)
Organization: Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta
Lines: 30

In article <1643@esquire.UUCP> yost@esquire.UUCP (David A. Yost) writes:
>1.  Every program I've seen that uses a serial port lets you choose only from
>    the two icons for the modem port and the printer port.  If I buy someone's
>    NuBus multiport serial card, will those programs let me select one of
>    those ports?

Most programs, no.  They have those two ports ("A" and "B") hard-wired in.  One
exception is VersaTerm; you are supposed to be able to modify a resource to
change which port you want to use ("C", "D", etc).

>    Is there a standard mac way to allow the selection of a serial port in an
>    extendable manner?

The new communications toolbox supposedly supplies a standard way of handling
multiple ports, but I don't know of any programs which use it yet.

>2.  Who makes a good cheap multiport serial card?

You can get a good one from Creative Solutions, Inc. (301-984-0262).  They have
two- and four-port boards available for $299 and $379, respectively.  They also
supply two FKEYs which will map calls to the "A" or "B" ports into calls to
the other ports, so you can make use of the standard dual port selection.  Note
that you will only be able to use two of these programs in this manner at once,
though.

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  *      **                  Scott Robert Anderson      gatech!emoryu1!phssra
   *   *    *    **          phssra@unix.cc.emory.edu   phssra@emoryu1.bitnet
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