IBM Computer, Laptops and Servers

Still, I say: If Jane Q. Public can get her SMTP right and send emails to her tea-tasting friends, then wireless is surely practical too. Even in a world where your electricians distrust anything their voltmeter can t understand. laptop battery

So we re full steam ahead with a whole suite of wireless solutions. Wires are a big pain in the butt anyway. I m happy to report they re mostly unnecessary. If you re gonna replace wires with air, I ve got some things you ll want to know. thinkpad

First, there s always a series of tradeoffs - between speed, redundancy, power consumption, complexity, distance. On this page you ll find a chart that helps you quickly determine which networks fit your requirements: microsoft

http://www.bb-elec.com/ .asp

You see here that Wireless USB and Bluetooth are great for short distance, high speed communication but would never work for a long distance app at a wastewater treatment plant. And there are very few industrial USB / Bluetooth products. 802.11 is the reliable standby these days. But if you re doing simple I/O it s got a lot of overhead and isn t going to be nearly as fast as it sounds. Not to mention, 802.11 will catch the interest of your IT department, I ll let you be the judge of whether that s good or bad laptop computers

ZigBee (more correctly, 802.15.4, but that s not nearly as fun to say) is great for sending short packets of data at low speed, but you wouldn t use it to transmit video. If you re using ZigBee here s what our Zlinx approach looks like: laptop computer

http://www.bb-elec.com/ .asp MultiFamilyId=67

1. First, you decide whether you re doing simple Wire Replacement, or Modbus data communication between sensor and controller. 2. You choose a wireless base module. Based on your distance and I/O needs, you pick. Transmission range is 300 feet to 14 miles (20km). Hang our Wireless Base Module on a DIN rail next to your PLC. 3. You pick the wireless I/O modules you want. Various combinations of 2, 4 or 8 inputs / outputs available. Analog / digital. Snap them together with the base module. desktop computer

4. If you re using a Modbus system, choose a Radio Modem. There s a table that tells you which base module works with which radio modem. Communicates to your PLC or HMI via Modbus protocol. Connects to Wonderware, Labview or any other Modbus compatible software. Or, if you re just doing wire replacement (like remote sensors into PLC inputs), buy a pair of systems and set them to peer-to-peer mode. notebooks

5. Configuration software is free download. No registration fees. This is laid out in detail online, here: Next week I ll cover serial ports and how to make them transparently accessible to your Wireless World. Meanwhile you can get all the help you need from our tech support crew at (815)433-5100. Happy Wireless, Mike Fahrion support@bb-elec.com (815)433-5100 lenovo

Home Products Partners Support Tech Notes News About Contact Site Map Privacy Policy hard drive

Deep Throat, Flower Pots and Mighty Deeds of Valor

Mike - I think you need to start a how to write a cheese free newsletter course I can think of many companies that need your help! Signed, Disgruntled Dish Manage Your Subscription Home News eConnections Archive June 8, 2005 - Deep Throat, Flower Pots and Mighty Deeds of Valor travelstar

Deep Throat, Flower Pots and Mighty Deeds of Valor

Dearest Friend Subscriber, gateway

Ol Deep Throat finally came forward with his real identity. laptop parts

Dang, I was hoping for... well, someone more mysterious and intriguing than a 91 year old grandpa. Perhaps a vast conspiracy from the Trilateral Commission or a deep dark plot from the mind of Jimmy Hoffa. You know, something worthy of a Watergate scandal. software

But after reading about Deep Throat and his clandestine meetings with the young reporter Mr. Woodward, I did get some new ideas that we re going to implement right away here at B B. This is gonna keep competitors from finding out about our new products. hard drives

Me and my engineers are going to start giving each other secret signals involving a flower pot and a red flag. electronics

And if there s a message I need to get to Mario, email is strictly forbidden. From now on, I circle page 20 of his copy of the New York Times, delivered to his apartment, and draw the hands of a clock indicating the time we re to meet that night. The first meeting will be at 2am in barn outside Ottawa, Illinois. canon

Speaking of clandestine meetings and secret signals, let s talk about System Integrators for a minute. desktop pc

Got a call on a Thursday afternoon from one in Montana. Needed some RS-485 USB isolated converters pronto, was wondering if we could drive some of these over to Milwaukee for a Substation job that had to be finished by Friday. Plus, this was just before Memorial Day weekend. desktop computers

I said, Take this job and shove it, pal. think pad

OK, so I didn t say that. I actually called my competitors local distributors (the ones we keep in the dark with those flower pots, flags and 2am product planning meetings in a barn). repair

Naturally the competitors distributors had nothing in stock - not even anything similar. data recovery

Zip. Zero. Nada. cisco

But the heroic person inside of me - the one that admires a #2 FBI guy for blowing the whistle on El Presidente - that heroic part of me rose up with a mighty shout. Man, if I had to carve those USB converters out of a bar of soap, so help me I was gonna help this guy. I marshaled my forces late that Thursday afternoon to produce the desperately needed, life-saving parts he needed. We shipped them overnight and the man s bacon and certainly his weekend) was saved. keyboard

The moral of the story is, while our competitors distributors are out having barbeques and bar mitzvahs, we toil through the long dark night of a System Integrator s soul, ceaselessly delivering the goods so that You, our Customer, can be the hero. Cuz I know that your raise, your promotion and your children s future therapy bills can hinge on monitor

our performance. Yessiree Bob, at B B we look out for our customers, and especially our System Integrators. desktop

So how does one become a member of our elite System Integrator s Club infosys

First you fill out this application: refurbished laptops

http://www.bb-elec.com/partners/welcome.asp s=e060805

Then, before you can be accepted you are put through a hazing process not terribly different from your fraternity back in college days --- we put you on a Merry-Go-Round after you ve downed a pint of Vodka, then make you sprint across the B B campus in your birthday suit. And after you chew concrete and nails, if you re really Good Enough, and Smart Enough, and People Like You... wipro

Well, then it gets good. Really good. lap top

Wine... Cheese... Hors d Oeuvres... the red carpet club all the way around. We ll castrate crocodiles for you, if that s what it takes to deliver the goods so you can finish your job and be a hero. refurbished

See, all those big companies (can t name em, they might sue me) they re so high and mighty that you re basically forced to be in their system integrator club, just so you can get the same lousy discount as the other nine guys in town. memory

Well other than Mario, I don t have that kind of leverage. At B B we operate on our merits, not our muscle or big brand. We actually have to come through when there s a crisis. intel

So that s what we do. Performing mighty deeds of courage and valor at a moments notice. Be it a simple act like stocking the parts you need for early morning delivery, or something a bit more valiant. Like engineering the data communications for your system so you can spend your time on things that you re great at. as400

Got a crisis Need that stuff yesterday Go to our website averatec

http:/www.bb-elec.com/welcome.asp s=e060805

, find what you want - Then pick up the phone and call us right now. Number is (815)433-5100. hardware

Tell em Mike sent you. We ll get it out the door ASAP. dual xeon

But don t tell them about my meeting in the barn with Mario. That s top secret. storage

Happy Clandestine Connections, seagate

Mike Fahrion support@bb-elec.com computer sales

Harry Potter Things That Go Bump in the Night

Dearest Friend Subscriber: computer hardware

All around the world, Harry Potter fans anxiously await Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince which gets released at Midnight on Friday. The frenzy over this book is so intense, they ve got security teams watching the books 24/7, just to make sure nobody spills the beans. Infrared cameras, monster padlocks, and, according to some, vicious attack dogs. printers

But something always goes wrong, doesn t it Alas, in Vancouver a store briefly put the book on sale last week. A few fiction lovers took the embargoed book home with them. technology

Shunt Capacitance (pF/ft): The amount of equivalent capacitive load of the cable, typically listed in a per foot basis. One of the factors limiting total cable length is the capacitive load. Systems with long lengths benefit from using low capacitance cable. mainframe

Propagation velocity (% of c): The speed at which an electrical signal travels in the cable. The value given typically must be multiplied by the speed of light (c) to obtain units of meters per second. For example, a cable that lists a propagation velocity of 78% gives a velocity of 0.78 x 300 x 10⁶ = 234 x 10⁶ meters per second. samsung

Plenum cable

Plenum rated cable is fire resistant and less toxic when burning than non-plenum rated cable. Check building and fire codes for requirements. Plenum cable is generally more expensive due to the sheathing material used. computer repair

The RS-422 specification recommends 24AWG twisted pair cable with a shunt capacitance of 16 pF per foot and 100 ohm characteristic impedance. While the RS-485 specification does not specify cabling, these recommendations should be used for RS-485 systems as well. used computers

It can be difficult to quantify whether shielding is required in a particular system or not, until problems arise. We recommend erring on the safe side and using shielded cable. Shielded cable is only slightly more expensive than unshielded. network

There are many cables available meeting the recommendations of RS-422 and RS-485, made specifically for that application. Another choice is the same cable commonly used in the twisted pair Ethernet cabling. This cable, commonly referred to as Category 5 cable, is defined by the EIA/TIA/ANSI 568 specification. The extremely high volume of Category 5 cable used makes it widely available and very inexpensive, often less than half the price of specialty RS-422/485 cabling. The cable has a maximum capacitance of 17 pF/ft (14.5 pF typical) and characteristic impedance of 100 ohms. digital cameras

Category 5 cable is available as shielded twisted pair (STP) as well as unshielded twisted pair (UTP) and generally exceeds the recommendations for RS-422 making it an excellent choice for RS-422 and RS-485 systems. desktops

Owners of newer laptops have already discovered that many of the computers are being shipped without standard 9 pin RS-232 Serial Ports. This was not an oversight, but part of an overall strategy to simplify the operation and improve information throughput in and out of a PC. cognos

The absence of the standard serial port on laptops will soon be evident on new desktop PCs. This will be gradually phased as part of a program called Legacy Removal . Legacy Technology is a term that was given to long used technologies that are being used for the most part because that is the way it has always been, but newer platform technology exists that outperforms the older equipment. A Legacy feature is defined by the industry, as one for which there is a faster, superior, easier and/or less expensive alternative available. hosting

Major PC manufacturers and industry heavy weights like Intel and Microsoft have gotten together since 1999 to create what they term the Ease of Use Initiative , or the Easy PC Initiative . It is an industry initiative to make PCs more Consumer friendly and remove what they see is stumbling blocks to an even more widespread use of Personal Computers. netfinity

The Initiative sets out to identify these stumbling blocks and what it is about PCs that create frustration for first time users in particular as well as long time users of PCs. The effort is geared around changing these stumbling blocks into building blocks for a new generation of PCs. Some of these building blocks have been identified as, Instantly Available/ON NOW PC Technology , Small Form Factor , Universal Serial Bus (USB) , Legacy Removal , and Slotless Design Technologies . The coming generations of PC technology will be developed around the Four S s of Design: Speed, Security, Simplicity and Style. internet

The Legacy Bottleneck

The elements of Speed and Simplicity are what bump the new design philosophy up against the Legacy Technology of the Standard RS-232 Serial Port. The effort of Legacy Removal has placed the Serial Port on a dead end track with standard PC development. The ease of external Plug-and-Play, as well as the data speeds needed for digital imaging, video conferencing, and other digital audio and video interfacing, has pushed the use of USB as the standard interconnect technology. cheap computer

The existing PCs have separate external ports for the connection of a mouse, keyboard, and monitor, as well as ports for other peripheral devices. To connect each device, you must first locate the appropriate port for that particular device. With the implementation of an array of USB ports that automatically recognize the device that is connected, any port can be used for any device. The goal is to simplify connectivity and reduce the Out of Box time. This is to eliminate the intimidating idea of having to decipher a spaghetti full of wires before a PC can be unpacked and up and running. digital camera

A Legacy Removal Roadmap has been established at the Intel Developers Forum in 1999 for the phasing out of Legacy Technologies in PCs. The first to go in this timeline was the ISA slot, used for adding special function cards to the available PC slots. Intel s Legacy Removal Roadmap calls for the gradual phase out of other technologies. On the list for removal are the following: Gameport/MIDI, PS2, Serial, Parallel, IDE, Floppy, VGA, and eventually all user-accessible slots. printer

USB Firewire Connectivity

The concept among developers is that there are a sufficient number of manufacturers making cross over technologies such as USB and PCMCIA to serial devices to provide for the continued use of existing serial technology devices. Like USB, Firewire or 1394 is a high-speed serial bus connection designed to interconnect PCs with Consumer Electronics. The targets are the high-bandwidth devices such as camcorders, digital videodisk players, and other high-speed peer-to-peer applications. Newer technologies that provide more reliable and less expensive alternatives will gradually lead to the elimination of the older technologies. As the communication speeds of peripheral devices increase, the use of USB or Firewire as the preferred interface will increase. xseries

Conclusion

Devices with standard DB9 RS-232 connections will gradually diminish, to be replaced with higher speed connections. This will reduce the need to include them on standard PC designs. Referenced from Intel s Easy PC Initiative Home Products Partners Support Tech Notes News About Contact Site Map Privacy Policy Questions or Comments Copyright 2007 B B Electronics Mfg maxtor

FAQ - I Want to use RS-422 Converters to Extend RS-232. How do I Connect them - B B Electronics rs422 converters, extend rs232, dce, dte, null modem A:

It depends on the two devices being connected, whether they are DTE or DCE devices, how they are connected together before adding a RS-232/RS-422 Converter, how many signal lines are required. This information is for devices requiring only Receive (Rx) and Transmit (Tx) signal only, other devices require more connection pairs. data storage

A1:

CASE #1: The Device connects directly to the serial port on the Computer. The computer serial port is configured as a DTE port, the device cabling is configured as DCE to connect directly. With this connection, the first RS-422 converter connects with a Standard serial cable wired pin #1 to #1, #2 to #2, etc. The second converter requires a null modem connection between it and the device, since our converter is configured as DCE on the RS-232 side, and the device cabling is also DCE. See the connection diagram for CASE #1. hitachi

Using RS-422 to Extend RS-232 Connections - Case 1 Diagram A2:

CASE #2: The Device connects through a Null Modem (Crossover) Cable to the serial port on the Computer. This original connection requires a Null Modem cable because both Computer and Device are configured as DTE. In this case, the first RS-422 Converter connects to the Computer with a Standard serial cable wired pin #1 to #1, #2 to #2, etc. The original Null Modem Cable is set aside, not used. A new Standard serial Cable is connected to the device and the second converter. See the connection diagram for CASE #2. rational

- A type of LAN invented by the Xerox Corporation and developed in cooperation with DEC and Intel. The original Ethernet specification served as the basis for the IEEE 802.3 standard, which specifies the physical and lower software layers. Originally Ethernet was specified to transfer data over thick coaxial cable at a speed of 10 Mbps. Now the term Ethernet typically encompasses all of the versions of the IEEE standard, which has adapted to include higher data rates and different media, including thin coaxial, twisted-pair, and fiber optic systems. websphere

The most common types of Ethernet in use today are 10BaseT, which uses twisted pair cable at 10 Mbps, 100BaseT (or Fast Ethernet), which uses twisted pair cable at 100 Mbps, and 1000BaseT (or Gigabit Ethernet) which uses twisted pair cable at 1 Gbps. Fiber optic cable is also a popular medium for each of the connection speeds. battery

Ethernet Port Server

- A device that connects to the LAN with Ethernet connections. It may provide serial services to the network, printer services, CD-ROM services, Facsimile or other services. Externally Powered - it support

1. Requires connection of a power source such as AC or DC. The required power source is rated for the type of voltage in volts (VAC or VDC), and the required current in mA (milli-Amps), A (Amps) or VA (Volt-Amps)/Watts. western digital

2. A externally powered converter which doesn t support Port Power must obtain power though connection terminals, a DC Jack or Connector pins. Isolated converters may require port power for the RS-232 side, a power supply for the RS-422/485 side. music

Fallback Switch

- A switch that normally selects a primary data path for serial connections, the selects a secondary data path if the primary data path is lost. The B B fallback switch supports this mode, or can select the primary data path until the alternate data path is activated, it then selects the alternate path until the alternate device is finished, then the primary data path is reselected. The B B fallback switch can also be used as a port combiner that selects the primary or alternate when data is ready for transfer, locks out the other path until transfer is completed. networks

Fax Class 1 Commands

- A standard set of Facsimile (FAX) machine commands supported by some FAX/Modems. Fax Class 2 Commands - An extended set of Facsimile (FAX) machine commands supported by some FAX/Modems. Female (Connector) - Connector which has a receptacle socket (holes) for pins. When F follows the connector type, the connector is a female connector. toner

Fiber Optic

- Light transmission through flexible transmissive fibers for communications, imaging, or lighting. Offers significant distance, bandwidth, isolation, and EMI/RFI immunity over traditional copper installations. Fiber Optic Converters - A signal converter with fiber optic transmitter and fiber optic receiver for the optical signals and electrical inputs outputs for another signal format such as RS-232, RS-422 or 2-wire or 4-wire RS-485. cheap laptops

FIFO (buffer)

- First In, First Out - FIFO implies a queue and buffer to hold it. The oldest data item in the buffer is the first item retrieved. Contrast with LIFO (Last In, First Out) which operates like a data stack, items placed on the stack are retrieved first in the order of last first. Full Duplex - A full duplex communications system is able to transmit and receive at the same time. Two communications paths are provided, one for each direction. Examples are RS-232, RS-422 and 4-wire RS-485. (2-wire RS-485 is half duplex) wholesale

Gender Reverser

- A connector with dual male or dual female connectors wired pin for pin. Used to change or connect two female devices together (using dual male) or two male devices together (using dual female). GHz - Giga Hertz (Hz x 10 to the 9th power) - 1 GHz=1000 MHz GPS - Global Positioning System - A device which uses 3 or more of at least 24 satellites in orbit to determine the local position on earth of the receiver. 3 satellites are needed for a 2D fix, 4 for a 3D fix which includes altitude. Accuracy of position can vary depending on the location of the satellites used, altitude accuracy for civilian uses can vary by +/- 500 ft. Two frequencies are used, L1 (1575.42MHz) for civilian, L2 for military. The date and time are broadcast for positioning references to downloaded tables used to calculate the position. GPS receiver outputs are used in marine and land based navigation systems which interface to a computer through RS-232 or RS-422/485 serial connections. brother

Ground Loops

- When two or more devices are connected to a common ground through different paths, a ground loop occurs. Currents flow through these multiple paths and develop voltages which can cause damage, noise or 50Hz/60Hz hum in audio or video equipment. To prevent ground loops, all signal grounds need to go to one common point and when two grounding points cannot be avoided, one side must isolate the signal and grounds from the other. netvista

Grounding Strap

- camera

1. A heavy solid or braided wire cable used to provide a low resistance path from a device to a earth ground. Used with surge suppressors. networking

2. A conductive wrist strap and grounding cord used to discharge static voltages to ground when handling ESD (Electro Static Discharge) sensitive devices such as interface cards. sharp

Half Duplex

- In a half duplex communications system a device can either receive or transmit, but not both at the same time. Many radio transmission systems are half duplex because the transmitter and receiver use the same frequency, and while transmitting mute the receiver. A RS-485 2-wire system is also Half Duplex because it uses the same pair of wires to transmit and receive. Handshake Lines - cheap

1. In a RS-232 serial system, data flow control is performed using the CTS (Clear To Send) and RTS (Request To Send) control lines. The DSR (Data Set Ready) and DTR (Data Terminal) control lines are used to determine if a device is connected and active. Additional lines for DCD/CD (Carrier Detector) and RI (Ring Indicator) are used with modems. windows

2. In a parallel printer interface, the primary printer handshake lines are Strobe (to printer) and Busy (from printer) and Acknowledge (from Printer). Additional lines are used to indicate Printer Select (printer ready), Printer Error, Paper Error, Reset. monitors

3. Other types of devices may have other handshaking signals, at least one signal is needed to indicate that data is ready to be read, and one signal returned to indicate that data can be received or not received. Some devices have a handshaking mode and a burst mode, data transfer is setup with handshaking, then transferred with a Acknowledge for each byte, which tells the sender to change the data byte. If Acknowledge is not received soon enough, burst mode times out. linux

Handshaking

- The process of using handshaking lines or software data flow control such as X-On/X-Off to transfer each byte of data. Hardware Flow Control - computer support

1. Serial Port transfer using the RTS and CTS control lines to control data flow instead of using software flow control using X-On/X-Off control with a full duplex serial link. used laptops

2. Parallel data transfer in which handshaking for each data byte is handled automatically by the hardware rather than by computer instructions that alter each of the 4 hardware states cameras

Hardware Handshaking

- Serial Port transfer using the RTS and CTS control lines to control data flow instead of using software flow control using X-On/X-Off control with a full duplex serial link. Hayes AT Commands - Modem commands that were popularized by Hayes in their telephone modems, the modem command started with AT for Attention modem. For compatibility with existing software applications, many other modem manufacturers copied all or part of the command set. scanners

HD15

- (VGA type) - computer video High Density 15 pin D type connector sized the same as DB9 except more pins Hub - A central connection point for multiple LAN devices in a Local Area Network, a central connection point for multiple USB devices in a USB network. For a USB network, expands the number of USB connections that can be made to one of the host USB ports. Provides one connection upstream, and usually 4 or more downstream connections. Upstream connections go to the host, downstream to additional devices. For a Ethernet Serial hub, provides network connection for multiple serial devices using RS-232, RS-422 or RS-485 signal formats. panasonic

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