Cocoon POWERTALK 101 - Manual (Page 8)

PowerTALK 101
7
Introduction
Brief description
PowerTALK 101 is an Ethernet-to-Serial Converter that packages serial data into TCP/IP packets
that are transmitted through a standard Ethernet port and onto the corporate or industrial network
/ Intranet / Internet.
It simultaneously also does the inverse: TCP/IP packets that are addressed to PowerTALK 101’s
IP Address (user definable) is accepted by the device and repackaged into the original stream of
serial data and is sent to the appropriate serial port.
The distance between any two PowerTALK 101 devices is irrelevant, as long as the TCP/IP
packets do not time out in transit, and the user application can accept such delays introduced by
the carrier network route. Given effective communication links, one PowerTALK 101 may,
hypothetically, be on one side of the globe, while the other may be in the same office block.
Each PowerTALK 101 device has 2 serial ports that may both be connected to conventional serial
links / separate serial communication networks on site. In combination with other equipment
such as the PowerTALK 103 RS-485 converter, each serial port may further be expanded to
more serial devices.
PC configuration tool PT.EXE & PT98.EXE
PowerTALK/DOS and PowerTALK 98 are supplied free of charge. This software is used to track
PowerTALK 101 connections, to functionally test the system, to configure Ethernet type
information, to configure serial ports and set up Ethernet connections remotely.
PowerTALK 98 and PowerTALK/DOS (PT.EXE) have the same configuration abilities, but
PowerTALK 98 has easier testing features. PowerTALK 98 makes use of the advantage of the
GUI interface of Windows while PowerTALK/DOS makes use of a command line interface.
PowerTALK 98 connects via the PC serial port, PT.EXE via the PC Ethernet port.
Information on this software can be found in the on-line help in both PowerTALK 98, and PT.EXE
v1.01 on the distribution disk. (Run PT.EXE –h). Also see complete options and examples on
page 28.
Year 2000
The PowerTALK tool set is Y2K compliant – third party software used to control devices may not
be and therefore it is recommended that tests are conducted by clients to ensure interoperability
on critical Y2K or subsequent dates.