Bob ..
I'm catching up on a few items..... temporarily....
Are you running SIO for the com ports and/or vmodem
definitions? If so, is this SIO version 1.60d? If
so, is it a registered version that is registered for
8 or more nodes? If not registered, it will only
allow up to for "ports" to be used, if I remember
correctly.....
I've never thought about this and haven't researched it in the manual, just assuming your thought line is correct. Does the SIO2K version have the same 'limitation' of no more than four 'ports' and/or vmodem definitions?
I have both SIO 1.60d as well as SIO2K registered. A number of systems around me use all four serial ports with four port accessory plugin serial port cards .. some old style buss type and some PCI. At least in my case each comm port for those hardware cards is on a separate IRQ. In my case no more than two instances of MAX are running against telephone lines at one time, but the other
two hard comm ports are being used for other telecommunications purposes. That
varies from serial port use for Rochelle phone line data monitoring for up to four phone lines simulteously, to my own programs which use serial port connections for radio transmitter send/receive purposes for telegraph or other digital data, plus antenna and other discrete station site hardware control devices. Which in the case of Rose KVM switched sites might even include still
serial mouse port activity as one of the hard comm port uses.
On top of that is the SIO Vmodem issue which can 'expand' the use of 'comm' ports to what I guess is four ports. In this case the IRQ that is 'required' in the SIO control parameters is 'listed' for the control setup for the system,
but is an 'upper' IRQ number and if I recall this correctly is really not 'used' as such for Vmodem? Right? That's how we get more than four 'serial' ports into use for the four hardware comm ports and Vmodem in SIO/SIO2K, no? And SIO/SIO2K, in theory, doesn't 'care' about that VModem IRQ number, as it is
not one of the sixteen IRQ's that are 'reserved' for such things?
Which can be confused in some cases because PCI slot hardware can share IRQ's .. provided that the device driver for that PCI slot hardware is written properly to share IRQ's. Which sometimes it doesn't no matter what .. in the case of audio and NIC card isses and OS/2, specifically. sigh.
Now I don't have MAX attempting to run on eight different users at one time like is in question here. But the Integrand Research pig iron relay rack OS/2 system which is running this BBS is using all four serial ports at one time on SIO2K registered. Two of the phone lines are in fact MAX BBS systems still on phone line connections, while the other serial ports are in use for other things. Which obviously, SIO2K is servicing.
But in this case another MAX BBS is, in fact, using Vmodem and TelNet for a third MAX operation while all this is going on. And .. that does work at the same time as the other four comm port lines are in use. The other two serial ports in the box on SIO2K are being used for the mouse and for an RF gateway to
an AEA packet operation between the MAX BBS operation and VHF Packet radion work to gate Fido to VHF Packet operations for emergency data service if needed. Thus providing a Vmodem Telnet operation which can gateway Fido to either land line Fido or other service as well as VHF/HF radio interfaces for emergency uses.
Which works.
That would be, in this case, five comm port uses, including the Vmodem Telent instance. But .. that's not five MAX BBS users. Say four on modem connections
and four more on Vmodem Telnet connections, like I think is the question here?
Part of the reason I'm participating here is that there is another quirk I have
noticed in all this over the years. I also use HyperAccess for OS/2 for remote
desktop operations under OS/2 between sites over phone line modems using one of
the phone lines at some sites as well. And curiously, while the remote site can use SIO2K for the HHost part of the connection, the local site I am using to connect to the SIO2K remote HHost operation cannot use SIO2K. It has to be on the older SIO 1.6d version as well. Or I can never complete local HyperAccess Pro desktop connection to the SIO2K remote HHost site connection.
Which opens up the next issue that may be at work here for the poster with the questions! You must use a DIFFERENT serial number SIO installation for each interconnection via Vmodem and Telnet between sites! That means, if you were using four different serial ports on hard phone lines with SIO or SIO2K, that part would work fine. But any user with OS/2 and SIO or SIO2K which attempts to connect with a Vmodem and TelNet connection back to this same box, has to have an install version of SIO or SIO2K with a different serial number for that
connection, if my memory is correct! Same with HyperAccess Pro and HHost. In this case when you register that, it comes with two different install diskette files, so you can connect between two sites that way.
But .. in the case of SIO or SIO2K, is the reason this is failing is that the test boxes are also running OS/2 for the four Vmodem and Telnet connections and
all from the same registered version of them?
In my case I registered more than one version of SIO and SIO2K. They are different for each install remote site which I know is expected to connect to my systems .. site to site. And I know from past experience that without that I cannot successfully get Vmodem and Telnet service between sites.
So might this be what is wrong?
Sleep well; OS/2's still awake! ;)
Mike @ 1:117/3001
--- Maximus/2 3.01
* Origin: Ziplog Public Port (1:117/3001)