[amsat-bb] LVB Tracker Box July/Aug 2007 AMSAT Journal

[Alan]

Page 10/11  describes the LVB Tracker and page 4 has a price list.
 
However, it is unclear to me what the page 4 " Ethernet interface capable"
references.  Is it an alternative/addition to the USB and serial computer
interface?  If so, is there a daughter board that must be added?   At what
cost?  Is there a schematic for the DYI crowd? 
 
IMHO the IP connection will out live the serial/parallel/USB/firewire etc
and it seems to me that the LVB, as a network device, is the way to go
especially for those running their sat programs on a PC behind a hardware
firewall.  Extra ports on the firewall are often available and if not, the
addition of a hub or switch will give you enumerable ports.  The time has
come that, for me, 4 or 6 USB ports are not enough. To me this is also
preferable to adding USB hubs if your PC is already using all the USB's ( as
in my case, printers, scanners, blue tooth RX/TX for wireless mice and
keyboards, external USB drives and the occasional spare USB  for digital
camera downloads and thumb drives ).
 
And now the second "however": are there IP drivers or shims for programs
such as SATPC32 and Nova as these program do not specifically talk to IP
addresses. 
 
Thanks for any input y'all can offer.  Enquiring minds need to know
 
This LVB Tracker is a serious contender for a Xmas present to myself :-)
 
73, Alan VE4YZ
AMSAT 35968
 <blocked::http://www.mts.net/~ve4wsc/> http://www.mts.net/~ve4wsc/
AMSAT A-485