Date: Fri, 15 Mar 1996 10:11:05 -0600 (CST) From: Joe Greco <jgreco@brasil.moneng.mei.com> To: hm@altona.hamburg.com Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Microsoft "Get ISDN"? Message-ID: <199603151611.KAA23199@brasil.moneng.mei.com> In-Reply-To: <m0txVM1-00001eC@ernie.altona.hamburg.com> from "Hellmuth Michaelis" at Mar 15, 96 09:59:21 am
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> Terminal-adaptors, > ISDN "modems": You have neither direct access to _any_ native ISDN service > nor direct IP capabilities but have to go thru serial ports > with all their drawbacks. "direct IP capabilities" is a sayNOTHING. IP always goes through hardware, be it an Ethernet NIC, a sync serial connection and CSU/DSU, an async serial connection and a modem, or a terminal adapter. > No standardized access like a > standard set of Hayes commands, no standard access to > protocol configuration, etc, etc. IMHO the worst choice of > all three. All the terminal adaptors I've seen support AT-style commands. Admittedly, the configuration commands are generally non-portable, but that's a one-shot deal - you only set the TA up once - and all the relevant AT commands you're used to with modems work just fine after that. The ADvantage is that you don't have to go goofing with stupid halfass drivers that don't quite work right or do what you want. You have a well defined interface (i.e. serial link) that is not about to cause you endless grief because of weird things going on. > Good: change architecture, keep adaptor. There > are some ISDN adaptors which connect to the SCSI bus avail- > able, these seem to have not all of the drawbacks mentioned > above, i.e. they allow better configuration. > > IMHO, if one just needs IP connectivity, one should buy a ISDN-IP router. I > recently saw an ad for the new Cisco Pro line which starts with the Pro 750 > which contains all you need for IP connectivity for ~1000 USD. Jesus, I can get a Motorola Bitsurfer and Winsock AND a Hayes ESP card for $350 USD. Or, to put it another way, I can buy three complete ISDN solutions for the price of your one. THAT is a good deal. > If you want more than IP connectivity, get a ISDN card for your hardware, but > make shure you get the "right" software! Yeah, that's sort of the drawback with that idea. With a TA, you don't have to WORRY about the "right" software. It's transparent. Stuff to do IP over serial ports is well tested and widely developed. You don't have to WORK at the solution. > If you cannot afford an IP router and there is no hw/sw combination available > for your platform, try go afford an IP router or change your platform so you > can buy a suitable hw/sw combination for your platform. I would not even think > about buing a TA/ISDN-"modem" .... I have yet to see a good reason.. :-) > A friend tested a Zyxel, and the experience was desastrous. Well if your friend bought junk, which he did, don't blame all the TA's on the planet. The Motorola stuff is rock solid. > The CAPI did not > run, it only did X.75 (which noone uses here, IP is (for 99%) done transparently > in HDLC over here, so any equipment not capable to do this is useless here!) > and so on and so on. Same experience with terminal adaptors, they are simply > awful, interoperability seems to be a non-existing word for the manufacturers > of such devices. I haven't seen any such problems. We all happily speak V.120 here. ... Joe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Greco - Systems Administrator jgreco@ns.sol.net Solaria Public Access UNIX - Milwaukee, WI 414/546-7968
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