10707 Stancliff Rd. Houston, TX 77099
Rose Electronics – Europe: +49 (0)2454 969442 Rose Electronics – Asia: +65 6324 2322
DS CTP 2.2 Copyright 2004 Rose Electronics. All rights reserved WWW.ROSE.COM
Typical Application
Connect up to 8 computers to a single serial or parallel device
Introduction Caretaker Plus has been designed with advanced
features for a smooth, trouble-free operation. Following are some
of the features that make it the best buffered automatic switch on
the market.
Basic Concepts Caretaker Plus routes data automatically from
multiple computers to a common printer or plotter. When you send
a print job from your computer, the Caretaker Plus checks to see if
the peripheral is available. If it is, it makes the port connection,
sending your data immediately to the printer. When your job is
finished, the switch disconnects your computer from the peripheral,
making it available for another job. If you send a job while the
peripheral port is busy, Caretaker Plus queues your job with any
other pending jobs, storing all data in the buffer until the printer is
available.
Buffered Memory The Caretaker Plus buffer is dynamically
allocated, meaning that memory is allocated to each job as it is
needed. As the data in the buffer is sent to its destination, the
buffer is reclaimed to be used again, ensuring that all jobs have
adequate memory available. This maximizes productivity by
returning control of the computer to the operator quickly and by
significantly reducing print time. Schools and offices that most
commonly print one or two page documents typically need 16K or
64K buffers. For larger business and word processing
environments, memory sizes of 256K or 512K are most common.
CAD plotting, legal, or desktop publishing applications, on the other
hand, require buffer memories of 1MB or 2MB.
Cables Caretaker Plus is connected to serial peripherals by null
modem cabling and to parallel peripherals by Centronics-to-
Centronics cabling. Normally, serial cabling in excess of 100 feet is
not recommended, nor is parallel cabling over 25 feet. Caretaker
Plus, however, has a very strong driving capability and can usually
exceed these distances. The limitation is not with Caretaker Plus,
but in your computer’s driving capability. To break the 25-foot
parallel barrier, you can rely on Super Cable, another quality Rose
product that lets you extend parallel cabling up to 200 feet.
Noise Protection The advanced filtering techniques that
Caretaker Plus has make it immune to most transients generated by
other computers that are connected.
Front Panel The LEDs located on the front panel display active
and queued print jobs, busy information, data flow, and errors.
Advanced features The advanced features list allows you to
configure the number of filter characters, unidirectional XON/XOFF,
reverse channel data time-out, and allow time-out on busy. These
are not normally used but are used to access certain non-standard
printers, mainframes, or computers. You can also disable the front
panel switches when tampering is discouraged, such as in schools.
Part Numbers
CTP-4S 4 serial in, 1 serial out
CTP-4P 4 parallel in, 1 parallel out
CTP-5P/25 5 parallel in, 1 out (DB25 connectors)
CTP-8S 8 serial in, 1 serial out
CTP-8P 8 parallel in, 1 parallel out
Specifications
Dimensions WidthDepth Height Weight
in
cm 10.5
26.7 5.0
8.9 3.5
12.7 4-port: 6 lbs / 2.72kg
8-port: 7 lbs / 3.18 kg
Power Auto Switching, 90 - 240 VAC
Connectors Power: Din5
Serial: DB25F
Parallel: 36 pin Centronics Female
Memory Field upgradeable to 64K or 256K
Chassis Electro-galvanized steel,
Powder coated
Controls Advance and select switches
Mode, Data, Busy, Error, Port 1-8 LEDs
Serial protocol* EIA asynchronous RS232D
Parallel protocol TTL Centronics
Serial flow control DTR/DSR or XON/XOFF to buffer;
DSR/DTR sent through for modem
Parallel flow control STB/ACK/BUSY
Serial baud rate 50 – 19,200 BAUD*
Serial word size 5, 6, 7, or 8*
Serial parity none, odd, even, mark, space*
Serial stop bits 1 or 2*
Environmental 32°F - 131°F (0°- 55° C),
0%-80% non-condensing relative
humidity
Approvals CE
* Each port is individually programmable
Rear view of Caretaker Plus models CTP-8S and CTP-8P
Computer
workstations
Shared serial or
parallel device
