*BSD News Article 33629


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From: aris@unisup1.mpd.co.za (Aris Stathakis)
Subject: Re: APC UPS owners or potential buyers, trying to show user base
Organization: Micro & Peripheral Distributors (Pty) Ltd.
Date: Mon, 01 Aug 1994 21:38:03 GMT
Message-ID: <1994Aug01.213803.22942@unisup1.mpd.co.za>
References: <316bjc$hlh@thor.tjhsst.edu> <317k55$kq3@news.halcyon.com> <JOHNSONM.94Jul28233853@calypso-2.oit.unc.edu> <CtpoIA.JJH@newsserver.aggregate.com>
Lines: 42

In <CtpoIA.JJH@newsserver.aggregate.com> rhealey@sirius.aggregate.com (Rob Healey) writes:

>In article <JOHNSONM.94Jul28233853@calypso-2.oit.unc.edu>,
>Michael K. Johnson <johnsonm@calypso-2.oit.unc.edu> wrote:
>>   Really now! Those boxes use an RS-232 interface, right? What do they tell 
>>   the computer? If they only communicate one thing (power fail) then it
>>   is probably something as simple as shorting the RD and SD lines. Get a
>>   technician to check it out for you while you pull the plug.

The Smart-UPS's do more than just tell about power fail.  It tells
about battery status (charge, load, time before battery fails), and
temperature of the UCS among other things.
	
>	The Smart-UPS's use some sort of dongle RS232 cable if I remember
>	correctly, i.e. it's not a normal RS232 cable since it has extra
>	components in it. Once you have one of those cables its some sort
>	of 1 or 2 letter commands sort of thing to get info out of the
>	UPS.

>	It's the cables that hurt since they cost more than a simple 232
>	cable.

Ahem.. Well. umm.. the Smart-ups cable is just a 3 wire cable with pins
2 4 and 7 (I think ... could be wrong).  The PC doesn't communicate
with the UPS - only the UPS sends data to the PC (thus no receive
pin on the UPS) and a pin for power-fail detection, and a ground :-)

>	The UNIXware software is SCO version too, I don't think they have
>	a specific version for any other OS.

They have for DOS/NT/Netware too.  I believe they also have for some of
the larger UNIXes i.e. HP/UX and AIX.   I don't see why you couldn't
use the SCO version on Linux if you were using the iBCS2 code which
allows you to run SCO (COFF) binaries.

Aris

-- 
Aris Stathakis            Tel: +27 11 887 1040       Snail Mail:  
SCO ACE / Novell CNE      Fax: +27 11 887 5158       P.O. Box 781228
M&PD (Pty) Ltd.           Fax: +27 11 887 5158       Sandton, 2146
E-Mail: aris@mpd.co.za    Cell:+27 83 601 0206       R.S.A.