Re: Computone Multiport Board

["Michael H. Warfield" <mhw wittsend com>]

Yurais Fernandez Leal enscribed thusly:
> Hi !

> I was wondering if in this list anyone uses a Computone Multiport
> Board  ??

	Yes...  And no (at the moment)...

	Both of my Computone II boards are currently in the shop back at
Computone for repairs.  Both of my Computone I boards are retired (and are
going to stay that way).

> If so..

> I use Kernel 2.2.4, and have a Multiport Board like this but I'm
> unable to use it, I have contacted support computone com, and they sys
> the dribvers are on their FTP site, I've already go to that site and
> downloaded all the drivers they have there, but all those drivers are
> for Kernel 2.0 and the patches they have doesn't works on 2.2
> Kernels...

	The drivers are going to need to be updated for the new kernels.
I'm seeing enough requests for information on these boards that, sooner
or later, support will probably need to be integrated into the kernel
to avoid these kinds of integration jumps.

> The Source files they patches, are very different to the files
> existing in the 2.2 Kernel. the different is very high between the 2.0
> and 2.2 files, so..

> Does someone has this board installed with this kernel, someone please
> could point me in where to get amn updated driver for this board ?

	You might check with the author of the original drivers on the
Computone site (no it was not me).  I believe his E-Mail address is in
there somewhere (at least I thought I saw it in there).

> I really need to use this Board, you see, I live in Cuba and here we
> have to approach the things we have, because is very difficult to get
> new ones, because the embargo and so on. Maybe someone that knows
> about Cuba, knows what I mean....

	Quick question...  The board you have...  Is it a Computone II
board or one of the earlier Computone ATvantage or Computone Multiport
boards?  If you have the earlier boards, you lose.  They are not supported
by the drivers on the Computone site and Computone is not interested
in supporting them.  In this, I agree with them.  The older boards are
VERY OLD and quite unreliable.  I know of more than one firmware problem
that is not going to ever get fixed (it broke taylor UUCP running on a
SCO unix system).

	This is taken from some information I have on my web server
at http://www.wittsend.com/computone.html

] How do I tell what kind of board I have?

] RTFM? No? I know, I know, it's not that simple.

] First order guess (if you have your manuals even if you don't READ your
] manuals). If you have a REALLY SLICK set of manuals with green covers,
] you probably have a Computone II product. If you have a single manual
] with a white cover, you probably have a Computone I product, oh well.

] If you have a board with four RJ-11 jacks on the edge - Good News! You
] have a Computone II 4 port board, the board I'm using for development.
] Stay tuned for future developments (pun intended).

] If you have a board connected to a squarish "brick" with RJ-11 jacks on
] two sides - you probably have a Computone 16 port and are out of luck.

] If you have a board connected to a flat "cow pad" (sorry guys, but look
] at it!) with 8 RS-232 jacks - you probably have a Computone 8 port and
] are out of luck.

] From here it gets more complicated.

] If the thick cable running from the board runs to a cabinet full of
] RS-232 jacks or one or more "panels" which say "Computone
] Intelliport ] II Ex" - what can I say...
] 
] If the board has a couple of "ROMS" (large chips with version numbers)
] the news is not good. The newer products user downloadable microcode
] (BIG ADVANTAGE) while the older beasts had firmware.

> Any help will be greatly appreciated.
> And please forghive my bad english, We are not used to speak in
> english...

> Regards and thanks in advance
> 
> -- 
> Yurais Fernandez Leal
> MediRED Network Admin.
> ISCM Santiago de Cuba.
> yurais medired scu sld cu
> Phone: (226) 54204
> ICQ: 33792610 ICQ-GW: 1031

	Mike
-- 
 Michael H. Warfield    |  (770) 985-6132   |  mhw WittsEnd com
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