Gary Jackson writes:

> Is this another Wirticism?

Unfortunately, yes. And I more or less promised to quit. Withdrawal is harder
than you might imagine.


>  Actually, I am trying to get away from DTCs, but there are a few spots
where
>  I can't yet.  I don't want to buy a DTC if I can just plug in a one or two
>  RS232 output terminal server.

All kidding aside, two events have occurred in the HP3000 world lately that
will allow you increasingly do precisely that. The first, of course, is the
arrival of TCP/IP-based network printing with MPE/iX 5.5. Non-LAN-capable
printers can now be connected to an Ethernet through printer servers such as
HP's JetDirect EX Print Servers. These little devices are really nothing more
than miniature DTCs (at least for printer ports) and will allow not only your
HP3000(s) to talk to these printers, but also your PCs and Macs as well, all
(more or less) simultaneously.

The second item is the arrival of inbound Telnet. For outbound packets
transmitted from the HP3000 to a serial terminal device, there is no
difference between Telnet and NS/VT. Both are equally effective means of
communication and both work at essentially the same levels of efficiency.

What makes NS/VT by far the preferred inbound communication methodology is
that the terminal port card that resides in the DTC is smart. Its design
precisely recapitulates the design of the ATP ports that existed on the last
of the classic HP3000s. It buffers up a complete line until it finds a
carriage return and then transmits the line, as a whole, all in one packet --
rather than the single-character-by-character packets characteristic of
Telnet. This is behavior that you're not going to find in any non-HP
"terminal server."

However, if you are willing to suffer the slings and arrows of the
(semi-)outrageously inefficient packetizations associated with Telnet, any
form of "hub"-like device that can be assigned an IP address, and which will
convert arriving and exiting serial character strings into TCP/IP packets,
should theoretically be capable of working with the HP3000 now. Such a device
can be rather small (and relatively inexpensive) nowadays. It should be
composed of not much more than a BNC connector on one side, one to several
RS-232 DB25 connectors on the other, and a power cable.

And, a real (and far more polite) answer to your original question is: No, I
haven't used such a device yet, so I can't provide any recommendations
concerning product numbers or assessments of their reliabilities.

Wirt Atmar