Re: IIGS/MAC sharing printer

[dempson@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

In article <3ijq0o$1e0@crl8.crl.com>, Matthew Pearce <mpearce@crl.com> wrote:
> Greg R. Achenbach (lacoss@cello.gina.calstate.edu) wrote:
> 
> : however, if the computers are in different rooms.  I've heard that about 
> : 25 feet is as long as you would want to go on a serial cable.

50 feet is the official maximum length of an RS-232 serial cable.

If you are using a balanced system such as RS-422 or RS-485, much
higher distances (up to a kilometre) can be achieved.

The IIgs, Mac and ImageWriter use RS-422 (balanced) or RS-423
(unbalanced) for data lines, and RS-423 for the flow control lines.
I'm not sure what the limit is for RS-423, but I expect it is similar
to RS-232 (or less, since the voltages involved are lower).

> Are you sure you don't mean a parallel cable?

A parallel cable shouldn't be much longer than 20 feet (this is the
limit of a SCSI bus, for example).
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand