Wayne...Eric...K2 with USB anytime soon??

[Fred (FL)]

Back in 78, making an "QYX Intelligent"
communicating Typewriter - perform TTY over an
RS-232 port, was a big comms deal.  The PC quickly
overtook these early "PC" devices.  Whether
"President Carter's daughter" really had one -
was a rumor I had heard at a software conference then.
Probably not true.   I do know - the Wall Street
Journal, ran an ad for our product, full page - when
we completed the product for Exxon.

Being able to transmit or receive a document,
from your desktop typewriter - was a big deal,
in 1978. Messages, documents, etc.  All based on TTY
and RS-232. Of course, all over phone or data lines.  
TTY and RS-232 standards, at that time, had been
around for eons then.  Early 80's PC's did the same
thing.  I also think doing it via HF radio,
is also a neat ham activity.

Anyhoo - USB would be nice on a K2.  I'm too
long winded.

Fred, N3CSY


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com 
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Kevin Shaw]

Actually, I'm working on a USB interface for the K2. My prototype worked
quite well. It only received but what I saw on the waterfall looked good.
The part of the design I was most concerned about (USB) worked well. It's a
compound USB device - hub with soundcard and serial port. I'm in the process
of designing the first PCB that contains all the circuitry. The prototype I
mentioned was bits and pieces of hardware strung across my workbench. No
drivers other than what comes with Windows XP are required.

Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to work on it lately. I have a
consulting business (FPGA design) in addition to my normal day job and I'm
deep into a Gigabit Ethernet design at the moment. Not enough hours in the
day.

Kevin
N8IQ


-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Fred (FL)
Sent: Sunday, June 18, 2006 10:05 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] Wayne...Eric...K2 with USB anytime soon??

Back in 78, making an "QYX Intelligent"
communicating Typewriter - perform TTY over an
RS-232 port, was a big comms deal.  The PC quickly
overtook these early "PC" devices.  Whether
"President Carter's daughter" really had one -
was a rumor I had heard at a software conference then.
Probably not true.   I do know - the Wall Street
Journal, ran an ad for our product, full page - when
we completed the product for Exxon.

Being able to transmit or receive a document,
from your desktop typewriter - was a big deal,
in 1978. Messages, documents, etc.  All based on TTY
and RS-232. Of course, all over phone or data lines.  
TTY and RS-232 standards, at that time, had been
around for eons then.  Early 80's PC's did the same
thing.  I also think doing it via HF radio,
is also a neat ham activity.

Anyhoo - USB would be nice on a K2.  I'm too
long winded.

Fred, N3CSY


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com 
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com


_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Phil Kane-2]

On Sun, 18 Jun 2006 08:12:18 -0600, Phil Townsend wrote:

>Seems to me most computers today are USB as a standard...

  More of a "compromise" than a "standard".  Laziness, cheapness,
  whatever.  Why did they try to fix what wasn't broken?

>I've put up with that stupid RS232 (standard???) for many more years than I
>care to think.

  I use 9 - count 'em - NINE - serial ports on my "late model"
  whiz-bang computer -- it came with one serial port on the m/b
  but I added three dual serial port cards, ran out of slots
  (another gripe of mine - never enough slots) and then went to
  two USB-to-Serial adapters.  I speak "RS-232" real well.  I
  also had to add a USB sound adapter to give me a sound channel
  for digital data separate from the computer's built-in sound
  channel.  I'm scared that my next computer won't have any
  serial  ports.

  Just like going from my decades-long support of IBM's Warp-OS/2
  operating system to Win XP, going to USB was surrendering to
  the Dark Side.

--
   73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
   Elecraft K2/100   5402



_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Phil Kane-2]

On Sun, 18 Jun 2006 19:04:54 -0700 (PDT), Fred (FL) wrote:

>Being able to transmit or receive a document,
>from your desktop typewriter - was a big deal,
>in 1978. Messages, documents, etc.  All based on TTY
>and RS-232. Of course, all over phone or data lines.

  We did that in 1962 on USAF-SAC Project 465-L (The Strategic
  Air Command Control System, an all-electronic store-and-forward
  message system) using modified IBM Selectrics and a weird collection
  of printers.  No big deal then, and certainly not by 1978.

  Although the system itself was upgraded and replaced long ago,
  one part still remains -- the digital character code we used
  became what we now know as "ASCII", primarily because my then
  office-mate (Bob Mayer) was selected to be on the ASCII committee
  (ASCII then stood for American Standard Code for Information
  Interchange) and was amost single-handedly successful in getting
  the "465-L Code" adapted instead of IBM's EBDBIC (?) code.

--
   73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
   Elecraft K2/100   5402



_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[N2EY]

In a message dated 6/18/06 11:55:26 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[hidden email] writes:


> IBM's EBDBIC (?) code.
>

I think you meant EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code).

--

On the subject of USB vs. RS-232, IMHO it's a design philosophy issue.

The design philosophy of the K2 is clearly one of getting the most
performance from the least complexity & cost. USB was around back in 1999, but to
implement it in the K2 then or now would mean a big jump in complexity & cost
*without* a corresponding jump in performance.  

There's also the Elecraft philosophy of not making things that are already
well-made by others. That's why you don't see Elecraft making power supplies -
Astron and others already do that job. The emergence of inexpensive RS-232/USB
converters solves the problem handily at low cost, and the special
remove-this-pin interface cable can be incorporated into the converter lashup. Problem
solved!

Elegantly, too.

73 de Jim, N2EY
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

[Joe-aa4nn]

Project 465-L used an 8-bit code but only 7 bits were
significant. It was called Field Data code.  IBM's code,
EBCDIC, we just called it "ib see dick."

I was the programmer who wrote and debugged those
routines that handled input/output terminal messages
of Project 465-L  I also designed message switching
between those four interconected computers (crosstel).
Many hours spent under ground at Omaha and in a
hangar at Barksdale.

73 de Joe, aa4nn
----------------------------------------------------------

>  Although the system itself was upgraded and replaced long ago,
>  one part still remains -- the digital character code we used
>  became what we now know as "ASCII", primarily because my then
>  office-mate (Bob Mayer) was selected to be on the ASCII committee
>  (ASCII then stood for American Standard Code for Information
>  Interchange) and was amost single-handedly successful in getting
>  the "465-L Code" adapted instead of IBM's EBDBIC (?) code.
>
> --
>   73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
>   Elecraft K2/100   5402
>
>

_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com