In article <199701242043.WAA18611@pyy.jmp.fi> you write:
> My Amiga 3000 (with an A2232 serial card) never had problems (although it's
> CPU runs at 1/25 of the speed of this pentium machine, according to some
> benchmarks).

Well, the A2232 is a _nice_ design. Because it has it's own CPU to
handle the ports, and lets the system CPU move data en masse every so
often, you can support high speeds on many ports even with a
not-very-fast system CPU. Essentially, you get 7 ports with 256 byte
FIFOs, and only have to deal with a 50 or 60Hz interrupt rate from the
thing for all 7 ports. Unfortunately it maxes out at 19.2 (or 38.4
with the doubled clock hack)

Are there any PC (PCI or ISA) boards of a similar design that don't cost
a fortune? Everything I've heard of seems to be either not as smart, or
far too smart and thus too expensive. The A2232 was really quite good
value for money.