[clug] Arguments on list + Linux H/W Question

Andrew Janke a.janke at gmail.com
Tue Apr 7 18:11:58 MDT 2015


On 8 April 2015 at 09:36, Bob Edwards <Robert.Edwards at anu.edu.au> wrote:
> My idea: seriously consider buying a ~$300 notebook and use a USB NIC
> for the 2nd port and USB serial convertors (I know you stated "not usb",
> but you gave no reason for that - the advantages of using a notebook
> may, or may not, out-weigh whatever reasons you have for the serial
> ports not being USB).
>
> Advantages: cheap, has built-in console, has built-in UPS, low-power
> (relatively), easy to replace if/when needed, ample storage/RAM etc.

This was also what I was going to suggest but the cost factor may be
an issue if going new. But then I saw the cost of the other small
options.... If you are prepared to go S/H you can get single port
PCMCIA serial cards for $20 on ebay.

I suspect the no USB serial thing is due to at times flaky performance
if you want it to work over long periods of time. For S/H laptops, I'd
be looking at a thinkpad X61 (small, light, small power) as they still
have the expresscard port that you need.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Lenovo-IBM-ThinkPad-X61s-1-6GHz-2GB-100GB-HDD-BT-WIFI-AGN-SD-WIN-XPP-/311329715442?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item487cb274f2

Then knock yourself out with serial ports.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Exsys-EX-1374-2-4x-Serial-RS-232-ExpressCard-/161641184269?pt=AU_Laptop_Accessories&hash=item25a290bc0d

The second "real ethernet port" can be handled either via a dock (very
cheap S/H) with an expansion card in it (T61 series) of via a second
PCMCIA card.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Lenovo-Port-Replicator-Media-Slice-Dock-for-Thinkpad-X60-X60s-X61-X61s-42W4321-/400583631113?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5d44a52109

Let's not forget that the X61 and T61 era thinkpads had a real serial
port on the port replicator...



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