Sync serial bridging over Ethernet, was Re: [HECnet] Multi-floor household (DECnet) routing help needed

[John Wilson]

From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com>

I built a Z8530-based AX.25 PAD for ham packet radio...but that was 25
years ago!

Nice!

I remember being thoroughly impressed with the Z8530, and
I've used it in several projects since then...

I'm pretty !@*^% impressed too (except for the annoying two-step register
access, which I guess is fixed in other versions).   That DPLL is the perfect
thing for ham packet radio -- wish I'd known about that (I paid Real Money
for a used DUP11 about 20 years ago hoping to use it for hamming but never
got around to building the circuitry it would have taken to whip up a clock,
but it seems the Z8530 already has that and was commonly available at the
time -- dammit!).

So yes...if you're doing sync stuff with it, that might be very handy if
we do this and it goes this route.

Sync is the plan but I don't yet have anything to test against (waiting
for some trivial PCBs to come back that save me the trouble of piecing
together a Berg-to-DB25 cable for my DUV11, and I think they'll also work
for DMV11s and DUP11s, so I'll have plenty to test/debug with).   So that'll
change within the next week and I'm working to have code ready by then.

I would imagine it'd be offended. ;)   However if memory serves, HDLC
frames contain a few bits' worth of sequence numbers.

BTW is there any particular target in mind for this?   If it's for HECnet,
DDCMP would probably be more useful than the annoying bit-stuffing protocols.
But better yet would be to support everything ... no point in having to
build almost the same thing again later.

As for config:   is using the RS232 port (in async mode) too easy?

John Wilson
D Bit