Conference hydra::amiga_v1

2205.0. "TWIN_X from ASDS - What does it mean?" by CSSE::WARD () Mon Feb 06 1989 11:30

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Path: decwrl!labrea!eos!ames!ncar!tank!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!perry
Subject: Re: Serial Ports
Posted: 2 Feb 89 12:13:01 GMT
Organization: ASDG Incorporated
 
Kim,
 
Your facts are all basically correct concerning the serial port solution
provided by the Twin-X General Purpose I/O board. Let me clarify a few
points:
 
The list prices are:
 
Twin-X board (supports 2 modules): $329
SBX-Serial/2 (dual serial ports):  $199
SBX-Serial/4 (quad serial ports):  $299 * you might have missed this one.
 
There's also
 
SBX-GPIB     (ieee-488 interface): $199
 
You might have missed the information on the SBX-Serial/4 which will
allow up to eight serial ports on one Twin-X card. 
 
I agree with you that the general approach of the Twin-X concept comes
with some added cost. Our goal was to be able to make the Amiga available
to many hundreds of different input/output modules with one broad stroke.
It is true that while providing the capability for adding rather esoteric
i/o functions, we've caused the price of basic i/o functions to be a little
higher (do keep in mind the average discount a dealer gives so the prices
are actually a little lower).
 
Wouldn't it be nice though to be able to combine an esoteric function like
a VPI interface (Versatec Plotter Interface) with a 16 bit a to d converter
for that otherwise impossible application your boss may have just handed 
you? Or maybe you need a stepper motor controller and a 32K static battery
backed up ram module. Or......
 
It is no secret that ASDG has always provided industrial grade equipment (as
opposed to consumer grade). And, we've never pretended our hardware products
were the cheapest, either.
 
It is also no secret that we aren't consumer oriented when it comes to hardware
(software is a different side of our business altogether). We 
certainly don't entertain any false hopes of going one on one with consumer
oriented producers competing solely on a basis of price. Especially with a white
bread type function as serial ports.
 
But then... we do have the advantage of being first you see. And another
advantage of high reliability and performance. So there'll be a large
amount of consumer sales of even this product. When these advantages are
gone (perhaps in 6 to 12 months) we still have our primary customer who
requires some extra serial ports AND an i/o function that only Twin-X
can provide.
 
So, in summary...sure our serial port solution might be higher in cost
than some. But then again...its available now...and it works.
 
See ya.
 
Perry
 
-- 
Perry Kivolowitz, ASDG Inc.
                          
ARPA: [email protected]   {uunet|ncoast}!marque!
UUCP:   {harvard|rutgers|ucbvax}!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!perry

    
    One tidbit of info on this board:
    
    	The twin-x (and the serial module) DOES NOT have an onboard processor.
    The Amiga handles ALL of the board's interrupts and is responsible
    for keeping up with the data coming in over the serial port.  
    
    Aaron Avery, an ASDG employee, told me that with a "tightly coded"
    assembly loop they were able to see about 150KB/S with the 
    SBX-GPIB (ieee 488).  
    
    I doubt very much that the amiga doing this was able to do anything else.
    
    I believe that the serial board uses the zilog 8350 SCC. (Each SCC
    can handle two serial lines, sync or async, though I don't know
    if their board supports sync and async.)
    
    brad