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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!spcvxb!terry From: terry@spcvxb.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr.) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc Subject: Re: Not 16550 compatible: MCT-IDEIO+ ? Message-ID: <1993Jul27.051649.6645@spcvxb.spc.edu> Date: 27 Jul 93 05:16:49 EDT References: <230pct$obf@umd5.umd.edu> Organization: St. Peter's College, US Lines: 30 In article <230pct$obf@umd5.umd.edu>, mark@roissy.umd.edu (Mark Sienkiewicz) writes: > I bought a board called "MCT-IDEIO+" from JDR Microdevices. It has two > "NS16550 compatible" serial ports on it. (It also has an IDE controller, > floppy controller, game, printer) MCT is JDR's house brand, and covers everything from in-house stuff through known US manufacturers (STB, Vega, etc.) through various Asian import prod- ucts. JDR is generally very good about supporting (or at least exchanging/refund- ing) their products. In the years I've been dealing with them (during which I've spent > $100K), I've only had two problems, both of which were resolved to my satisfaction. Now that that's out of the way, I'd suggest avoiding any card that has non- National Semiconductor "16550" parts. I'm told that some of the clones may actually work, but the "do-everything blob" parts on Asian boards aren't like- ly to be among the clones that work. The parts you want are the NS16550AFN or the newer (renamed) version which I believe is NS16550PC. Beware of parts that don't have either variant - there are some parts with semi-broken FIFOs out there. There's a dual part that I'm told works, but I don't have the num- ber for it. The last time I looked, the Western Digital clone didn't do FIFO mode properly. I generally buy boards with socketed parts and stick in my own NS16550AFN's (I have a few hundred in original packaging in my storeroom). Terry Kennedy Operations Manager, Academic Computing terry@spcvxa.bitnet St. Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ USA terry@spcvxa.spc.edu +1 201 915 9381