On Fri, 06 Dec 2002 21:02:24 -0700, Herb Peyerl <hpeyerl@beer.org> wrote:
> "James K. Lowden" <jklowden@schemamania.org>  wrote:
>  > I just bought a null modem at Radio Shack yesterday, $6.  My first
>  > one(still in use) I made myself for $70 in parts (that's not a typo).
>  >  There
>  > are things to like about the new good days.  
> 
> Especially since I've seen at least 6 different versions of "null
> modem cable/adapter". The one you bought at Rad Shack is probably
> wrong and the one you made yourself is probably still better.

It was in 1984, probably, and you're right, it's never-fail.

The $6 gizmo:

 DTR -- DSR & CD
  TD -- RD
SGND -- SGND
 RTS -- CTS

That might be the best one can do, given the widespread use of rts/cts
flow control these days.  Hardware flow control over a null modem is a
recipe for heartburn, though.   

In my case, I need to hook up cu or tip to a sparc console.  If I need
flow control, I'm going to step on ^S.  :-)

--jkl