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From: bmarsh@cod.NOSC.MIL (William C. Marsh)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: MIDI
Message-ID: <2464@cod.NOSC.MIL>
Date: 14 Nov 90 20:48:39 GMT
References: <4840.tnews@basso.actrix.co.nz> <3341@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU> <1990Nov14.052315.988@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Reply-To: bmarsh@cod.nosc.mil.UUCP (William C. Marsh)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego
Lines: 25

In article <1990Nov14.052315.988@vax5.cit.cornell.edu> hd7x@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes:
>In article <3341@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU>,
>herbie@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU (Andrew Herbert) writes:
>> Isn't there a problem getting an ibm serial port to spit out 31.25kbps
>> as required by midi?
>
>No... serial ports on most IBM compatibles can communicate at up to 115.2kbps,
>despite IBM's claims to the contrary.  Certain IBM PS/2's have buggy UART
>chips, limiting them to 57.6kbps.  In either case, they would be able to handle
>the 31.25kbps.

However, the 8250's (and their offspring) have a built in baud rate generator,
which, unfortunatly, can not generate 31.25K 'baud'.  So, No, there isn't a
problem with the UARTS working faster (at least on faster machines) than
19.2K baud, but Yes, there is a problem generating 31.25K baud for MIDI.

Also, a different timer chip is really required to accuratly time musical
events.

Bill
-- 
Bill Marsh, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA
{arpa,mil}net: bmarsh@cod.nosc.mil
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