On Wed, 14 May 2008 19:56:55 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

>>> Is this a valid solution to a design problem?
>> 
>> Yes.  I see this occasionally with KVM switches (Avocent does this, for
>> example) as a way of "extending" a connection.
> 
> Heh. A KVM switch would be a *horrible* solution for this particular
> problem. I mean, tunneling arbitrary serial data over IP isn't great.
> But then, I guess serial is pretty speed limited anyway, so it shouldn't
> use too much network bandwidth...

Well, I wasn't saying a KVM would be a solution (I don't even know the 
circumstances really), just that I've seen Avocent/Cybex switches that 
use serial-to-ethernet adapters in order to extend the range.  Range 
extenders have been around for quite a while, though - both for serial 
and parallel devices (can't remember the name of the company that did the 
parallel extenders I used years ago).

Jim

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