Steve ][ wrote:
Kind of a ramble, hopefully you will get what I'm trying to "say". I was thinking about using a IIGS to do some data capture (like outdoor temperature, etc like the stuff from http://www.vernier.com/legacy/apple/mon.html). But I want the IIGS to sit in the attic and do it qiuetly, putting the data "somewhere else" where I can get to it from one of the PCs or Macs in the house. That would take some hardware as well as software... Since I'd use the 16-pin joystick port to read the data, what would be the smart/cool way to do 1-way, write-only data output to another computer? Ideally I'd like to blast it over ethernet so one of the alreadyLAN-connected computers can get it.I wouldn't mind sending the data out of the modem or printer port using any protocol to one of the LAN computers. I wouldn't mind using some kind of Gatorbox-ish thing either. Anything.
Since the IIgs can easily "talk" over a serial link, and any computer can be easily adapted to interface with a serial link, that would be my choice. You can go 1-way "blind" transmission if it's OK to miss data when the logging computer is down--or as suggested you can use 2-way acknowledged transmissions and buffer unACKed data until a transmission is ACKed. 1-way is certainly simpler--in fact, if I were doing this, I'd probably use a BASIC Stamp to read the transducer and send the data so the whole thing would be smaller than a piece of toast and run on under a watt. If you were doing it Apple II-to-Apple II, I'd recommend NadaNet for simple 2-wire, fully error-checked data transfers. NadaNet also uses the 16-pin game port, but would not conflict with your sensor(s). -michael NadaNet: Simple networking for Apple II computers! Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/ "The wastebasket is our most important design tool--and it's seriously underused."