To follow up on the last couple of posts...

-It's packet based data with specific start and end delimiters and a limited char set in between. The line drivers are turned on prior to the start of packet and off at the end of packet.

-I'm not in charge of hardware (else we'd be doing RS485) so the RC thing won't fly, but waiting a bit time seems to work fine so far (before turning off the line driver at end of packet).

-I'm not sure what happens to the bus when everyone is turned off (idle line state), but it's a good question/point!

Thanks to all,
GB