In a quote from the Daily Planet, Eric Schonning said:
 ES> Did you make the null modem cable yourself?  Most of these null
 ES> modem adapters only cross over 2 and 3 and run 7 straight thru. 
 ES> This will not do.  4 and 5 must be crossed over as well
 ES> (RTS/CTS) and DSR (6 or 8) to DTR (20).  I'll poke around and
 ES> see if I can find the correct pinout for a null modem
 ES> cable/adapter.
    Yes, I built it myself, but haven't actually put a breakout box
 on it to check for signals.  If you find that pinout, compare it
 with the one I used, as follows.  I adapted it from a 25-pin
 null-modem pinout to a 9-pin design, which is what I needed.
    CD  1 ---+        +--- 1  CD
    RD  2 -- | --\/-- | -- 2  RD
    TD  3 -- | --/\-- | -- 3  TD
    DTR 4 -- | -\  /- | -- 4 DTR
    GND 5 -- | - \/ - | -- 5 GND
    DSR 6 ---+--/  \--+--- 6 DSR
    RTS 7 --\          /-- 7 RTS
    CTS 8 --/          \-- 8 CTS
    RNG 9 NC            NC 9 RNG
    That doesn't look very legible, I know.  On each side, CD (1)
 is tied to DSR (6) and goes through the cable to tie into the other
 side's DTR (4), RD (2) ties to the other side's TD (3), RTS (7) is
 tied to CTS (8), Ground (5) goes straight through to the other
 side's Ground.  Ring Indicator isn't needed.
 ES> I always just cross over 2 and 3, run 7 thru,
 ES> connect 4 & 5, and connect 6, 8 & 20 together for my pc to pc
 ES> cables.  If you do cross 4 and 5 in the cable remember the other
 ES> end must assert the RTS and CTS signals as well or you will have
 ES> handshaking problems (and the timeouts you are seeing).  This is
 ES> when a rs-232 breakout box with led's is nice.   
    This, I believe, is how I've wired it, though at 11:15pm my
 brain is too fuzzy to be clear on what you mean about "the other
 end must assert the RTS and CTS signals."  You mean each end must
 provide its own CTS by tying it with its own RTS; not that
 RTS/CTS should be connected to any other signals from either PC,
 right?
 ES> Were they not a while ago talking about a "pb programmers tech
 ES> manual"?  I wonder what happened to it....     Eric
    Were they?  I missed that one.  I've got an offer to buy,
 through a book club, the PC Intern book and CD.  Looks very good,
 but they want over $50, even at club prices!
... If it's too good to be true, our taxes must be paying for it.
--- PPoint 1.86
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