netbeui Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Hi everyone, I'm trying to create a simple SIO2USB cable based on the instructions on this website: http://www.stephens-home.com/sio2usb/ I recently purchased a FTDI Basic Breakout board (http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9716) and now discovered that my board is slightly different than the one on Stephen's website. On Stephen's site it instructs you to connect the Atari SIO cable to 4 headers: TX, RX, GND and RI (Transmit, Receive, Ground, Command). The board I purchased has inputs for GND, CTS, POWER, TXO, RXI and DTR. I'm guessing the mapping would be as follows: TX --> TXO RX --> RXI GND --> GND RI --> ? Does that sound correct and does anyone know what the RI (Command) would map to on my board? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 After looking at the board at SF, your breakout brd doesn't have RI from the chip pinned out. It does bring out CTS, which I do belive you can configure as the command line in some(all) SIO2PC SW. I'm pretty sure that Win810 allows you to set up the command line and AspeQt does (?). But you could also mod the board, by jumping pin 6(RI) to the header, but SSOP pins are SO very small! Proceed at your own risk Van Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2286657 Share on other sites More sharing options...
netbeui Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 Thanks Van! I will definitely give AspeQt a shot. Looks like it should work, I downloaded it and found there are CTS and DTR handshake options in the preferences. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2286681 Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloopy Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 maybe crossing the TX and RX line would be a good idea... and AspeQt is all i ever use... (nothing wrong with APE, except it doesnt run on linux ;') sloopy. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2286684 Share on other sites More sharing options...
netbeui Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 Sorry I don't understand. Why would I want to cross TX and RX? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2286691 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 TxO (from PC) => Atari Rx; RxI(from PC) <= Atari Tx. AspeQt can use RI, CTS or DSR (not DTR, its out from PC). Van Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2286712 Share on other sites More sharing options...
netbeui Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 sloopy - I see the confusion. My mapping wasn't from the Atari to PC it was from the ports described on Steve's website to the ports avaiable on the board I purchased. I'm assuming Steve already crossed the lines as needed... Van - thanks again for the quick response and clarification. I'm sure it will work once I've configured Aspeqt to use CTS as the handshake method Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2286751 Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloopy Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 sloopy - I see the confusion. My mapping wasn't from the Atari to PC it was from the ports described on Steve's website to the ports avaiable on the board I purchased. I'm assuming Steve already crossed the lines as needed... Van - thanks again for the quick response and clarification. I'm sure it will work once I've configured Aspeqt to use CTS as the handshake method without going into a lengthy explaination, the TX and RX labels can be referenced by a couple different methods (google: DCE DTE if you want more info) but i have some usb board that i chave to connect TX-TX and RX-RX and others that have to be done TX-RX and RX-TX... never assume (etc...) sloopy. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2286757 Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloopy Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 for anyone else considering this... use this board from sparkfun... http://www.sparkfun.com/products/718 (has proper connections for RI, and has been tried and verified working by people) sloopy. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2286838 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I've wired up the original board listed in Stephens' instructions using "CTS" before and it worked fine that way as well, using AspeQt. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2286906 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Though this doesn't apply to your board netbeui; the other SF board, the 718, ships set for 3.3V IO, which could cause a problem for the Atari's Rx (a TTL level of '1' = >2.5V but for 3.3V logic a '1' = 2.7V typ. Plus the drive current is 1mA @ 3.3V; where as, at 5V the chip will drive @ 2mA. This may be an issue for the Atari). There is a forum post at Spark Fun that describes resetting for 5V IO, http://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=21234 Van Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2286944 Share on other sites More sharing options...
netbeui Posted May 25, 2011 Author Share Posted May 25, 2011 I fibished building my cable and I can confirm now that the board I bought (http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9716) works fine using the CTS handshake setting in AspeQt. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2287053 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Is it only me, or are more people getting rather confused by different interfaces with the same name? Since 2007 Sio2USB is an interface created by ABBUC/RAF. Now there is this Sio2USB from that side the topicstarter writes about. Then there is Sio2PC with USB connector ... some people also do call that Sio2USB. In my opinion this s*cks. In my opinion the ABBUC/RAF version is the only REAL Sio2USB since that one is indeed SIO to USB (stick). All other versions are still a Sio2PC where the pc connection is USB. An original Sio2PC isn't called a Sio2RS232 right? So why would we call a Sio2PC with USB connection suddenly a Sio2USB? The word after the "2" should refer to the (storage)device. Sio2IDE -> the Sio is talking to an IDE drive. Sio2SD -> the Sio is talking to a SD drive. Sio2USB -> the Sio is talking to an USB drive. Sio2PC -> The sio is talking to a PC. That all makes sense. 5 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2287072 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+rdemming Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 TxO (from PC) => Atari Rx; RxI(from PC) <= Atari Tx. AspeQt can use RI, CTS or DSR (not DTR, its out from PC). Van In my experience, DSR is more reliable than using RI. The load .xex option of Aspect didn't work in high-speed (normal speed was OK) using RI, but it worked without problems with DSR. I did not get APE to work with the FTDI chip. Has someone experience with APE and FTDI chip USB->serial communication? Robert Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2287132 Share on other sites More sharing options...
sloopy Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Is it only me, or are more people getting rather confused by different interfaces with the same name? Since 2007 Sio2USB is an interface created by ABBUC/RAF. Now there is this Sio2USB from that side the topicstarter writes about. Then there is Sio2PC with USB connector ... some people also do call that Sio2USB. In my opinion this s*cks. In my opinion the ABBUC/RAF version is the only REAL Sio2USB since that one is indeed SIO to USB (stick). All other versions are still a Sio2PC where the pc connection is USB. An original Sio2PC isn't called a Sio2RS232 right? So why would we call a Sio2PC with USB connection suddenly a Sio2USB? The word after the "2" should refer to the (storage)device. Sio2IDE -> the Sio is talking to an IDE drive. Sio2SD -> the Sio is talking to a SD drive. Sio2USB -> the Sio is talking to an USB drive. Sio2PC -> The sio is talking to a PC. That all makes sense. personally i call it a sio2pc-usb, just to differentiate it from the rs-232 version, and if i need to specify the RS-232 then i refer to it as sio2pc-serial. and if you ever see me call it sio2usb, you have full right to whack my knuckles with a ruler as i have done so to people who call a sio2pc-usb a sio2usb... oh, yeah and sometimes i call them 'Pac-Man'! ;') sloopy. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2287145 Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I might have to get me one of these breakout boards to fit in my 1064 case. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2287253 Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodByteXL Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 I might have to get me one of these breakout boards to fit in my 1064 case. Some people put it into a SIO plug. -> http://www.abbuc.de/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6102 Just to add: it works perfect at POKEY divisor 0 with my A8s and SDX, IDE V2 or any other A8 boot disk image from AspeQt. For historical reasons I connected to RI. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2346747 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wood_jl Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 I might have to get me one of these breakout boards to fit in my 1064 case. Some people put it into a SIO plug. -> http://www.abbuc.de/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6102 Just to add: it works perfect at POKEY divisor 0 with my A8s and SDX, IDE V2 or any other A8 boot disk image from AspeQt. For historical reasons I connected to RI. THIS: .....from the abbuc page you linked to above, is one of the coolest Atari things I've seen! HA HA! Now I want the entire Sdrive to fit in there, and have a micro-SD slot in the end of the SIO plug, where the USB connector is, on this one! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2346751 Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibrewire Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 Nice! I can see this completely replacing any other solution currently on the market. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2346758 Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodByteXL Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 (edited) Nice! I can see this completely replacing any other solution currently on the market. If somebody doesn't own a SIO2PC in any form, yes, this is the currently most recommendable solution. If you already have a PBI driven harddrive etc., this is nice to have but no need to have. The real put through of data is not much more than using a standard SIO2PC with 3xSIO speed. POKEY 0 is 10KByte/s raw transfer and ca. 8.9KByte/s real transfer on 512 byte images with DMA OFF. DMA ON and 256 byte sectors are slower of course. Depending on the settings PBI IDE is 10 to 15 times faster. What I admire most is the integration of real SIO high speed into SDX. Edited August 11, 2011 by GoodByteXL Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2347060 Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0nsumer Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 That's a quality solution right there. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2347191 Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodByteXL Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 (edited) just to mention it: SpartaDOS X users do not need anything else to take advantage of these FTDI breakout modules. SDX generally allows SIO2PC connections down to POKEY divisor 3. Additionally utilizing the KMK/JZ IDE v. 2.0 Plus enables the user to run the connection at POKEY divisor 0 when using the onboard SIO driver. Depending on your customized hardware the limit might be different. Edited August 22, 2011 by GoodByteXL Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2354554 Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari8warez Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 Nice! I can see this completely replacing any other solution currently on the market. Nice, but not quite enough to replace other solutions, some people still use PCs with serial ports, just like we still use our Ataris Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2492387 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Defender II Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 (edited) Is it only me, or are more people getting rather confused by different interfaces with the same name? Since 2007 Sio2USB is an interface created by ABBUC/RAF. Now there is this Sio2USB from that side the topicstarter writes about. Then there is Sio2PC with USB connector ... some people also do call that Sio2USB. In my opinion this s*cks. In my opinion the ABBUC/RAF version is the only REAL Sio2USB since that one is indeed SIO to USB (stick). All other versions are still a Sio2PC where the pc connection is USB. An original Sio2PC isn't called a Sio2RS232 right? So why would we call a Sio2PC with USB connection suddenly a Sio2USB? The word after the "2" should refer to the (storage)device. Sio2IDE -> the Sio is talking to an IDE drive. Sio2SD -> the Sio is talking to a SD drive. Sio2USB -> the Sio is talking to an USB drive. Sio2PC -> The sio is talking to a PC. That all makes sense. I believe this SIO2USB is the one you are referring to. i'd like one, but can't afford it. Edited March 30, 2012 by Defender II Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2492807 Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari8warez Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Is it only me, or are more people getting rather confused by different interfaces with the same name? ..... The word after the "2" should refer to the (storage)device. Sio2IDE -> the Sio is talking to an IDE drive. Sio2SD -> the Sio is talking to a SD drive. Sio2USB -> the Sio is talking to an USB drive. Sio2PC -> The sio is talking to a PC. That all makes sense. If that's the case what do you call an SIO based interface that talks to ANY USB device?. IMO SIO2USB should be a general name indicating "Interface from Atari SIO to a USB device" (whether such interface exists or not), much like the USB interface on a PC. So Abbuc's device should have really been called SIO2USBS (USB Stick) or SIO2USBF (USB Flash drive) instead of monopolizing (perhaps unintentionally) the acronym SIO2USB. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/182392-sio2usb-with-a-ftdi-basic-breakout-board/#findComment-2540927 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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