From: davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: Can I upgrade a 16450 uart to a 16550a?
Date: 11 Jan 93 22:47:39 GMT

jcburt@gatsibm.larc.nasa.gov writes:

>In article <3653@aegis.or.jp> davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane) writes:
>>jim@n5ial.mythical.com (Jim Graham) writes:
>>
>[...stuff deleted...]
>>
>>>based on that information (which appears to have been incorrect to begin
>>>with), my statements were correct --- it can be directly replaced with a
>>>16550.  of course, that assumes that the app-notes and specs from
>>>National Semiconductor are correct.  :-)  and it also assumes that I
>>>wasn't dreaming when I replaced a few 16450s with 16550s a while back.
>>
>>Unfortunately you only responded to part of the original post. The
>>clue was the part where Dell says it has a VLSI.

>Regardless of *what* Dell said, the original poster asked (see subject line)
>"Can I Upgrade a 16450 UART to a 16550a", NOT "what kind of UART does
>a Dell 325D have..." or "What will it take to put a 16550A UART in a Dell
>325D...", Jim answered the original poster's question, not the question the
>poster *should* have asked...'nough said...

If you assume that the Sujbect line and one sentence in the orginal
posting adequately represented the problem, this is true. 

But after restating the question in the second paragraph it said "(I
assume that will help the problem; correct me if I'm wrong.)" and
the 'the' is referring to the loss of characters on his Dell 325D
when using a high speed modem which is the overall problem.

  | I just purchased a high speed modem (14.4K from Boca) for my Dell
  | 325D.  I was almost sure Dell would have put a good uart in the
  | machine, but it turns out it's only a 16450.  Naturally, I'm losing
  | char.s with high-speed transfers, especially with a loaded machine
  | (I'm running Linux --- a Unix clone).

  | Is it possible to upgrade the 16450 to a 16550a?  (I assume that will
  | help the problem; correct me if I'm wrong.)  
  | 
  | [I tried asking the representative a Dell, but, when he answer my
  | question of "What kind of uart is in the machine" with "You have a
  | VLSI chip," I gave up.]
  | 
  | Thanks in advance.
  | 
  | -Joel

According to your logic, the Dell representative should have said,
"Yes. Just you take out the 16450 chip and put in the 16550A." The
guy buys a 16550A, opens up his Dell 325D and tries to find the
16450 chip ... and there is none. That would have answered the
question not have solved the problem :-)

.....

>Ummm...excuse me Dave, but the original question *was* can one chip be
>replaced with another...as far as being computer literate, I know many
>people who write software for a living, even down to the device driver
>level, and many who have andvanced degrees in computer science who have
>no idea what kind of UART a Dell 325D has and could really care less...I guess
>this makes them COMPUTER ILLITERATE??? And I guess the fact that somebody
>tinkers with a PC and runs a few programs makes the computer literate???
>give me a break!!

While the *question* posed by one sentence in the post was about the
one chip, the overall *problem* was how to keep from dropping
characters with a high-speed modem on a Dell 325D. I proposed a
solution to the problem, and didn't try to answer the question as it
wasn't relevant (as the Dell 325D doesn't have UARTS, it has a VLSI). 

I don't know about you, but I think that somebody who is talking
about swapping chips on the motherboard needs to know their names.

Dave

--
Dave McLane 
JUNET: davidg@aegis.or.jp (ONLY within Japan: post otherwise)
Nagaokakyoshi, Kyoto Japan Tel: +81-75-951-1168 Fax: +81-75-957-1087