Date: Mon, 13 Jun 1994 13:08:57 MDT From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Mastering Serial Communications" by Gofton BKMSSRCM.RVW 940323 Sybex, Inc. 2021 Challenger Drive Alameda, CA 94501 510-523-8233 800-227-2346 Fax: 510-523-2373 or Firefly Books 250 Sparks Avenue Willowdale, Ontario M2H 2S4 416-499-8412 Fax: 416-499-8313 "Mastering Serial Communications", Gofton, 1994, 0-7821-1202-1, U$26.99/C$36.95 The title overstates the case a bit here. To begin with, the serial communications are to take place only on an RS-232 port. The promise of the inclusion of LAN technology refers only to a brief discussion of the Novell NetWare Asynchronous Services Interface (NASI); a means of accessing a COM port over a LAN. The COM port had better be on an MS-DOS machine: other than mentioning that the Macintosh serial ports are not "true" RS-232, they don't rate any ink. Finally, the communications had better be with a modem or host computer. This might be the primary use of MS-DOS COM ports, but there isn't even the slightest mention of the possibility of using serial communication for process control or data collection. Within those limits, Gofton has written an interesting book. The coverage is quite distinct from other personal computer communications guides. Gofton states that he is interested in a technical resource, and does give significantly more detail in some areas than other works. On the other hand, he is surprisingly coy about some topics. The difference between band and bits per second is mentioned, but never defined. The Hayes "AT" command set explanation is possibly the best I have seen to date, but there is no help with diagnosing the most common parameter setting mistakes. The modem reference explains V.32, but not V.42, MNP levels or 14,400 bps modems. Part of this may be due to the fact that the book appears to have been hurriedly updated from the 1986 edition. All references are to the RS-232-C version, rather than the more recent D version (more properly referred to as EIA-232-D). The importance of IRQ settings is explained, and COM3 and 4 are mentioned, but there is no explanation of the means of using COM3 and 4 given that most configurations only allow you to use two IRQs. Gofton's writing style is clear and, when he gives sufficient information, is quite suitable for the end user. The communications novice, given a necessary level of interest and perseverance, should be able to obtain a lot of useful material from the first half of the book. The utility to the programmer, or more technically advanced user, is problematic. However, even the experienced programmer, if approaching serial communications for the first time, could get a lot of value from this book. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKMSSRCM.RVW 940323. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists. DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 BCVAXLUG ConVAXtion, Vancouver, BC, Oct. 13 & 14, 1994 contact vernc@decus.ca