oh dear, we're going to go into memory lane.
In the 70s, for our 8-bit 6800 systems, we set up so that BRK would
produce a reset. This was good, since the ASR-33 had a BRK key. Since
BRK would work fine from ASR-33 -> modem -> modem -> 6800, we had remote
reset. I will say no more.
On a coupla thousand nodes here, we have these ICE boxes from Linux
NetworX that are interesting. You telnet in, and they talk to a little
module in the box over I2C. Said module can assert reset. You tell said
module to do it, voila, done. It can also assert soft power cycle. And,
finally, the ICE box can cycle the AC power. Very, very flexible, and
very, very useful.
Sometimes, you really want to cycle the AC, sometimes the soft power
supply, sometimes the reset. For doing reset, well, hmm, the ICE box is
pricey.
But: you can get reed relays from radio shack. Wire the contacts of the
reed relay across RST. Drive the relay coil from one of 8 parallel ports
of a PC. Voila, 8 remote resets. I did use these relays once for a
remote doorbell, and I can tell you that you could even use the remote
doorbell + reed relay combo for reset ... that would be amusing. Ring
the doorbell, reset the rack of machines. The doorbells have multiple
selectable channels. Fun.
If you have more time than money, this will work. We have more money
than time, so we use ICE and similar stuff.
ron
