> On Fri, 4 Aug 2000, Chuck McManis wrote:
> > Interesting ideas, I've got half a dozen LP11 interfaces (I think that is 
> > the version M7897?) that are just sitting here wasted.
> 
> I love this printer port on every platform for digital I/O. A Lantronix
> Printserver controls my coffee machine (alpha stadium :-), i wrote a little
> program for my notebook (FreeBSD) to program serial EEPROMs for SGI machines,
> if they lost the ethernet address, i have a little 8031-computer, which gets
> the software through some shift registers connected to a standard parallel
> port, you can at least OUTPUT anything you want through these ports. And if you
> really just want to output, you have to connect pin 1 and 10 of a standard
> parallel port, maybe some other pins to avoid PAPER_EMPTY signals or so, and
> then you can just output your bitmasks as byte to /dev/lpt0, it just appears
> on the connector as a nice 8 bit binary signal to control some drivers to
> switch some relays, and there you can connect 8 machines in your kitchen :-)

I was thinking of something rather simpler than that, to do the transmitter
keying.  The parallel ports might be good, but not all machines have them.
Most all have serial ports.

Anyway, I am currently using the RS-232 line 2-7 connection to key a
reed relay through a series diode.

Shifting the line high or low toggles the relay state.

The interface is in an RS232 hood.

I decode in my greymatters, so a decoder is not needed, only the sending
portion, plus what console niceties I want to include.

What I need to do in unix is to turn off all serial port control, and
get to the raw port to do the toggling.

Then from a C program, toggle the port line appropriately, and then
do the timing, appropriately.

The original program I put together is in compiler basic and runs
on anything from an old Kaypro II CP/M box to any PC.  Since I have
mostly given up on CP/M and PC boxes, and do a lot of play on unix
boxes, these days, I figured, what the heck... a unix is a better
platform, especially if anything multitasking develops out of it.
Compiler basic was good for its era, but it is now a bit dated.

I did manage to find several sorts of unix morse code programs here and
there, and will have a look at them over the weekend.

I would think, for my OT station, that a small VAX might be appropriate
to run the station.....(:+}}... A MVII, maybe, or an 11/725 maybe?
But, I have PC/Alpha/Sun/Mips/VAX hardware from which to work.
I would think something like an IPX would be good, too.  I could run
it from a 9 inch terminal, and use a separate keyboard for the actual
morse code keyboard/console keyboard.  During non-sending time, the
console terminal could be used as a typewriter mill, for logging.

The serial port toggle would be the most generic between the machines
I was thinking, so it might be worth sticking with that.

OK, I hope I have not opened a can of worms, but, anyone interested
in continuing this thread, do holler.  We could keep it offline with
a group email.

Thanks

Bob/NA4G