MIKE ROSS wrote in a message to Greg Mayman:

 GM> OTOH, the best idea is not to let the spikes get into the
 GM> equipment in the first place ;-)

 RJT> That's one of the reasons I prefer external modems...    :-)

 GM> Yep, it's one extra barrier...

 MR> The actual barrier is those little 1488/1489 interface IC's that
 MR> give up their little lives to save the computer. I remember they
 MR> were often the only socketed IC's on serial cards. It was done for
 MR> that very reason! 

And if they're not socketed then they SHOULD be!

 MR> ... You mean 15" sparks are SUPPOSED to come out of this thing?!? 

  Reminds me of some pictures I have here,  all this Tesla coil
stuff.  I'll post a list if anybody's interested.

---