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Xref: sserve comp.os.linux.development:12691 comp.unix.bsd:14484 Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development,comp.unix.bsd Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!comp.vuw.ac.nz!waikato!ames!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!solaris.cc.vt.edu!news.ans.net!potogold.rmii.com!gcs!mark From: mark@gcs.com (Mark Bolzern) Subject: Re: APC UPS owners or potential buyers, trying to show user base Organization: WorkGroup Solutions (FlagShip) & GCS, Inc. Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 04:38:57 GMT Message-ID: <Ctw4wy.I26@gcs.com> References: <316bjc$hlh@thor.tjhsst.edu> <317k55$kq3@news.halcyon.com> Lines: 28 In article <317k55$kq3@news.halcyon.com>, Michael Dillon <mpdillon@coho.halcyon.com> wrote: >In article <316bjc$hlh@thor.tjhsst.edu>, >Craig Metz <cmetz@thor.tjhsst.edu> wrote: >> I had a talk today with Debbie Gray (sp?) of American Power Conversion >>regarding trying to get information on how to communicate with their Smart >>UPS products' onboard controllers in order to write a Linux driver. APC is >>one of the *many* manufacturers that plays the old NDA game, i.e., ``we >>consider that to be proprietary information that we have to protect''. H > >Really now! Those boxes use an RS-232 interface, right? What do they tell >the computer? If they only communicate one thing (power fail) then it >is probably something as simple as shorting the RD and SD lines. Get a >technician to check it out for you while you pull the plug. > >If they are giving more info than that, then it probably can be >reverse engineered with simple program to monitor the incoming >serial port. Older UPS were that way.... but the Best, and APC do a lot more talking than that. They communicate status, load, testing, and tons more. They literally have dedicated computers inside, fully capable of conversing. -- Mark Bolzern : mark@gcs.com USA Tel: (303) 699-7470 Fax: (303) 699-2793 WorkGroup Solutions, Inc. The FlagShip "Clipper and XBase on Unix" People FlagShip is a 4GL Database Development System & Xbase Porting Tool for Unix No Runtime Fees Info at ftp.wgs.com : /pub2/wgs/Filelist OR mail: info@wgs.com