[Coco] Drivewire cable lengths

[Gene Heskett]

On Thursday 19 July 2018 10:37:39 Gene Heskett wrote:

> On Thursday 19 July 2018 09:44:43 Nathan Byrd wrote:
> > I haven't tried it yet (planning to play around with it soon) - but
> > another idea could be to use a RS-232 to Bluetooth converter, as
> > long as the PC supports the Serial Port Profile it might be another
> > option without running a long wire? I know with config changes the
> > Raspberry Pi supports Serial Port Profile for instance, depending on
> > your PC might just work as well or work with a Bluetooth adapter.
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 19, 2018, 7:13 AM Bill Pierce via Coco
> > <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> >
> > wrote:
> > > I don't know the maximum length, but I know Gene had his server in
> > > his house and his Coco in his workshop in his back yard. I'm
> > > pretty sure he said it was better than 50 feet. So, across the
> > > room should be no problem.
> > >
No Bill, the machines in that shop building are all linux boxes, running 
a small lathe and an equally small mill with linuxcnc. So that cable 
strung from the house to the shed/shop is a piece of cat5, probably 125 
feet long as its plugged into a switch about 6 feet from where I a 
sitting. Been blowing in the winds, up to 112 mph, for at least 15 years 
now. That cable survived a blow that took down all 4, 40+ foot pines 
along the lower edge of my property and a large section of my roof, and 
around 90 feet of privacy fencing.

The coco3 has never moved once I took it to the basement to make room for 
my first linux box, a huge tower, in 1998. Until drivewire, I used a 
terminal program to log into it from here. Bluetooth, with Rogers T.'s 
kit could not make the distance, so it was hardwired to a deluxe, piggy 
backed rs-232 cartridge whose 2nd port still serves a serial mouse.

> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Bill Pierce
> > > "Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no
> > > way to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull
> > >
> > > My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
> > > https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
> > > Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
> > > http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
> > >
> > > E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: rietveld rietveld <rietveldh at hotmail.com>
> > > To: Coco mailing list <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> > > Sent: Wed, Jul 18, 2018 8:39 am
> > > Subject: [Coco] Drivewire cable lengths
> > >
> > > Hi.
> > >  What is the longest drivewire cable that someone is/was running.
> > > I want to use a single PC to connect to cocos. One is beside my PC
> > > but the other is across the room
>
> I have a 10 meter usb cable with a hub driver in each end, plugged
> into a ttyusb port on this linux box, and into a 7 port hub on the
> coco3's desk, with a 3 foot drivewire cable plugged into a serial to
> usb adapter about 3 feet long, plugged into that hub. When I have the
> coco3 running, and am working on code, I take a $110 brother B&W laser
> printer down and park it on the top shelf of the coco3's desk, plugged
> into that same 7 port hub. cups finds it instantly. That printer is
> available for the coco3's use by way of the /p channel driver in
> drivewire, drivewire dumps that output to /p, in a separate directory
> here, inotifywait then tells a bash script I wrote to feed that file
> back to that printer thru cups. And it all just works. Takes about 10
> seconds after getting the shell prompt back on the coco3, to start
> printing because of the drum warmup, but an assembly listing then
> almost flies out of the printer as its a 19 pages per minute printer.
>
> Conclusion is that with a well built usb-2 cable, maximum cable length
> is whatever it takes to reach.
>
> But the last time I turned on the coco3, it sat and waited for the 2
> 1G scsi drives to come online, which they did not. I suspect stiction
> but a whack on the cage they are in did not break them loose. I had
> other things to do so did not attempt to put them in my hand to start
> them. They have had a history of being stuck if turned off for a
> couple weeks for at least 5 years, but ran just fine once started.
> Those drives are from an old Amiga, so probably have in excess of
> 100,000 head flying hours on them.
>
> Drives can last a long time. The Terabyte drive I use with amanda on
> this machine for backups, has in excess of 70,000 head flying hours on
> it now. And no sign of an upcoming failure yet, the 25 reallocated
> sectors it had the first time I had smartctl ask it at about 3000
> hours, have not been added to in all that time.
>
> > > I am using an old DB25 A/B switcher with DB9 to D25 adapters
> > >
> > >
> > > -- Coco mailing listCoco at maltedmedia.comhttps://
> > > pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
> > >
> > > --
> > > Coco mailing list
> > > Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > > https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
> --
> Cheers, Gene Heskett
> --
> "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
>  soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
> -Ed Howdershelt (Author)
> Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>



-- 
Cheers, Gene Heskett
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>