Rodolfo Lopez <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
>Somewhere in a remote brain cell I recall that there was a vendor selling
>HP-IB converters but I do not remember what was the payoff in speed loss
(if
>any).
>
>Maybe someone's brain cells are working better than mine and can tell who
>this vendor is.
 
I think the vendor is National Instruments -- as I recall they carried a lot
of stuff for interfacing instruments to computers -- so the converters
Rodolfo mentioned are *not* HP-IB converters: they're IEEE 488 converters.
 
You might be able to get away using these things with printers, but you do
NOT want to use them with discs or tapes!
 
And how do I know this?  Well...at a company I worked for some years ago we
were adding a 7933 every month, eventually the computer room filled up.  The
MIS manager knew about these IEEE488 converters/extenders and had me
investigate using them to add additional HP-IB disc drives about 100 feet
away from the system (just a tab beyond the 16 meter limit).  That was a
lunatic idea, nevertheless I called National Instruments; I'm eternally
grateful to whomever I spoke with there that said, "You really don't want to
do this with disc drives".
 
 -- Evan
(Charter member of the Disc Drive of the Month club)