[HECnet] Console terminal switch and/or reverse terminal server suggestion?

It doesn't have all of the features you're looking for, but I use Livingston Portmasters (like the 2e). It was originally used as a modem concentrator, but you can telnet into it and attach to any serial port (up to 30). They are usually found quite cheap on eBay. I used them extensively in the 90s when I owned a dial up ISP and if you need to know anything more about them, let me know. Ian Sent from my iPad On 2013-05-14, at 8:07 AM, "Bob Armstrong" <bob at jfcl.com> wrote: Guys Here s the situation I ve got several PDP11s and a couple of PDP8s and I want them all to be able to share a single console terminal. I could just use an old fashioned RS232 switch box, but I was looking for something better. For one thing, a smart switch that would actually buffer output from the unselected ports would be nice, and it d be nice to be able to change the selected port from the terminal keyboard. What d be idea is something like the multi session support that some of the later VTxxx terminals had, but with multiple physical ports and without any special host software. It d also be nice if I wasn t limited to just one physical console but I could use any terminal anywhere on the network too. I thought about using a DECserver in reverse LAT for this, but AFAIK the only way to connect to a DECserver in reverse is from a real host system, like VMS or RSX. That means my console terminal would have to connect to a VAX, log in, and from there connect out again to the DECserver and the PDP-11 or 8 console port. Kinda complicated and ugly. I don t think there s any way to have one terminal server connect directly to another terminal server w/o a host system in between, at least not with LAT. Telnet would be OK, if anybody can recommend a multi-port telnet terminal server that works in reverse. It d be especially cool if it can telnet to itself then I could just connect directly from one port on the server to another. Anyway, I was thinking that I can t be the only collector with a bunch of computers and room for only one console, so I thought I d ask what other people are using. Thanks, Bob --- Filter service subscribers can train this email as spam or not-spam here