Equinox multi port boards

[Gary Blumenstein]

In his article, asv at gaboon writes:
.................................................
. I've recently installed an Equinox Megaport 24 port board in my 386/25 
. box.  (It sounds like alot of ports but their 12 port board hasn't hit 
. the streets quite yet.) This board is GREAT!  I've been able to 
.................................................

I recently took the plunge and got one of these too.  I've heard good feedback 
about this board from other people.  I was also impressed after visiting 
Equinox at the recent UNIX Expo.  They had a demo showing all 24 ports sending 
continuous screenfuls of text to 24 terminals at 38,400 baud.  There was no 
visible delay between the terminal on the first and last ports and the whole 
thing took up hardly any CPU time.  

.......................................... 
. I used to have the Telebit and the mouse on the standard COM ports 
. along with the mx80 printer.  By using the Equinox board I was able to 
. get all my devices on one board and eliminate the COM board and free 
. up a slot.  
.......................................... 

Me too.  This was the deciding factor as I was able to remove 5 interrupt 
driven devices from my box (2 serial, 2 parallel, plus the old multiport 
board).  Now I finally have available slots and I can go ahead and add another 
hard disk controller, Ethernet board, and whatever other goodies I want (funds 
permitting :-)) So, after all is said and done, I wound up with 12 more ports 
than when I started.  I'd have to agree that if you're into saving real 
estate, the Equinox is the way to go.  

I was also able to get my Trailblazer to do UUCP on one of these ports.  I'm 
using SCO HoneyDanBer and their supplied dialer program.  I gave up a long 
time ago trying to get a Telebit to work on other smart i/o boards.  I 
struggled for years with them and could never get them to work right under 
"real world" conditions.  At best, I could only get them to work half assed, 
either uucp world work and getty would break, or it would be the other way 
around.  On an Equinox port I can have UUCP poll out and then use the same port 
for interactive dial ins at slower speeds or UUCP logins.  Modem control works 
like it should. 

In addition, I'm seeing the best transfer rates I've ever seen with these
boards.  I get 1MB compressed news batches coming in consitently at >1500
cps.  I'd like to know if anyone else is seeing the same thing?  Also,
I don't fully understand how this board can install without using an IRQ.
It is advertised as using "polling" and that this makes a faster setup
when used with a well written driver.  Can someone explain this?

One last question;  Will the mouse work under VP/ix on one of these ports and 
can you send me your cable configuration?  

** Discalimer **  I'm not affiliated with Equinox and all this is just my
humble opinion. 
-- 
Gary Blumenstein, UNIX Network Administrator // CIBA-GEIGY CORPORATION, USA
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