Why would you want to spend the money of encoding packets at 10mb to
control a simple radio or rotor. It is like putting a 500hp pump and a
fire hose into you glass of milk?? RS232 and USB among others are great
for what they are doing, and cost .033 or less.
At 09:12 PM 01/06/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>Well, I agree about Ethernet for networked computers. My sales and order
>fulfillment system at work has 21 workstations, and two servers. The
>inventory
>system has its own server and five workstations. And as CEO,CFO, and tech
>wonk I
>have to keep all that up. Even when the pickers insist on deleting inventory!
> But.....
>
>Sooner rather than later someone is going to cut costs and put a <$5.00 USB
>interface in place of the RS232 port on rotor controllers. And the next
>generation of auto-tune amps. And the next generation of all the other
>computer
>controlled shack accessories. Because the USB port is cheaper to build in
>than the
>legacy serial port; because it will take less effort to convert programs to
>use USB or Firewire than Ethernet; and because nearly every computer
>built in
>the last three years has either or both USB and Firewire. While an increasing
>percentage have no "legacy" serial or printer ports at all.
>
>To further complicate life many if not most modems already have a singe
>ethernet port built in. But most of us want to use the shack computer for
>internet
>access. Meaning at least one more card - or a separate router. Meaning one
>more piece of equipment taking up space I have dedicated to something else,
>and a whole bunch more cables to try to keep sorted in the restricted
>space in
>back of the equipment. Or give it up and go to thin Ethernet - I don't
>think!
>
>
>A single daisy chained USB line could serve the rig, amp, antenna tuner,
>keyer, and whatever else you might have hooked to your computer. And do it
>with
>short branch cableing. So a USB port would currently be more useful to "Joe
>Average Hamm" than an RS232 port if the rig and accessory manufacturers
>modernized their equipment. Something that's going to happen fairly
>quickly the way
>'232 driver chips are disappearing from the catalogs.
>
>Since USB/RS232 adapters are still fairly common and fairly cheap the
>transition to the newer mode would be much easier, allowing a mix
>of USB, or
>Firewire, and "Legacy" RS232 equipment. Without obsoleting the equipment
>we already
>have, or requiring a major upgrade of most late model computers.
>
>On the rig side - RS232 seems to do an adequate job of doing what needs to be
>done. The alternatives might do it faster - but how much faster do you need
>to update the frequency on your rig? Or change bands remotely? '232
>works at
>57 kbytes or some such - and I saw a demonstration of Firewire carrying
>streaming video.
>
>I did some looking and I don't find RS232 to Ethernet adapters. I suppose
>someone makes an adapter of some sort, as there are plenty of stand alone
>print
>servers. I failed to locate any - but I didn't have time to look through all
>33,000 odd hits, either. But they must be fairly rare if even a casual scan
>failed to turn up any.
>
>That means converting the shack from what I have to Ethernet would be an
>expensive proposition. I would have to consider the situation very carefully
>before I placed an order for an Ethernet enabled rig - and not much
>thought at all
>to placing an order for a Firewire or USB ported rig.
>
>Of course, it appears the ideal solution would be to do both. Spend the extra
>three bucks or whatever and add both USB and Ethernet to the next generation
>high end rigs. You can have your cake and eat it too.
>
>73 Pete Allen aC5E
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