Users of Sparc-based workstations from Sun Microsystems Inc and Solbourne Computer Corp are beginning to get communications options thrust at them from all sides. Sunnyvale, California-based CoSystems Inc’s CoALM-S communications controller boards for Sbus-based Sun and Solbourne workstations are available from Thame Microsystems Ltd, Thame, Oxfordshire, following a distribution deal the two signed last month. The boards incorporate a VLSI device with an in-built 10MHz RISC processor and SunOS 4.1 Streams driver designed by CoSystems, allowing printers, modems and other peripherals to be connected to the workstations. A four-channel serial CoALM-S4 costs UKP527, expandable to eight channels with the CoALM-S4E which is priced at UKP333. A single-slot eight channel version, the CoALM-S8, is UKP973, or UKP1,060 with the addition of a Centronics-compatible parallel port, (the CoALM-S8P). A two-port CoPIO parallel input-output controller – also Centronics-compatible – is available for UKP527.
