Simple serial to ethernet question

From: Fred N. van Kempen <waltje_at_pdp11.nl>
Date: Fri Nov 21 18:37:59 2003

John,

> And my DAEQ is this: I gots a DEC PDP 11/44 sitting in my garage
> (heated) and I would like to have the Terminal Peripheral Devices (TPD) in
> my Office (O). I just want a couple-three VT-type thingies and an LA120,
> or 36 or whatever. So, if I understand Things: I hook N ports from the
> 11/44 serial farm via RS232 to the ports on the TS, thence by
> CAT5[some_networking_protocol] to the TS in the O, and from the
> corrresponding N ports ports on the O TS to the various TPDs in the
> aformentioned O. Right?
Right:



+-----+ +--------+ +--------+ +-------------+
|LA120+--------+ DS200 | | DS200 | | |
+-----+ | | ethernet | +----------+ PDP 11/44 |
               | +============+ | | |
+-----+ | | (LAT,TCPIP)| +-----------+ |
| VT +--------+ | | | | |
+-----+ | | | +-----------+ |
               +--------+ +--------+ | |
                                                          +-------------+

My drawing sucks, but you get the point. You plug serial ports from
the 11/44 (the console DL11, perhaps some ports of a DZ11 of DH11)
into the terminal server (e.g. DECserver 200) on top of the 11/44,
and configure that part.

Then, you run a network cable up stairs, and conect the DS200 to the
cable going up. If you can find a DEUNA or DELUA card, you could also
hook up the 11/44 itself.

Upstairs, you install a second terminal server, and connect it to the
network cable. COnfigure as needed (IP address, LAT service stuff,
etc). Connect terminals to the serial ports on this terminal server,
and voila.

> This saves running multiple RS232 lines from the 'Puter to the Toobz,
> among other things - like being able to play with one's Legacy Computing
> Device (LCD) whilst slaving away at the Workplace....
And: less problems with long serial cables, grounding, etc.

> And, if a pair of Terminal Servers is what I'm looking for - I assume
> 8-channel pairs are cheap?
Dirt cehap. I use a stack of DS200's because they're fun, some DS300's
because they are fun *and* do TCP/IP *and* LAT *and* have 16 ports, and
I use Cisco AS2511s for teh non-DEC consoles:

DS-VAXLAB: DS300 (16 ports MMJ; TCPIP+LAT); consoles of pdp11.nl servers
DS-VAXCON: DS200/MC (8 ports DB25; LAT); VAX systems consoles
DS-PDPCON: DS200/MC (8 ports DB25; LAT); PDP-11 systems consoles
DS-MISCS: DS200/MC (8 ports DB25; LAT): DEC MIPS and misc consoles
DS-LAB: DS200/DL (8 ports MMJ); LAT): lab (living room ;-) consoles

Since I also run a RoamAbout wireless access point, I can just flip
open my laptop, and "take" one of those consoles over the network,
using a LAT terminal program, or I can plug in the laptop to one
of the available TS ports and connect away...

Cheers,
        Fred
-- 
Fred N. van Kempen, DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) Collector/Archivist
Visit the VAXlab Project at                     http://www.pdp11.nl/VAXlab/
Visit the Archives at                                  http://www.pdp11.nl/
Email: waltje_at_pdp11.nl         BUSSUM, THE NETHERLANDS / Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Received on Fri Nov 21 2003 - 18:37:59 GMT

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