freetz Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Hi everyone, I posted this problem in an older Ice-T thread already but was asked to put it in here: My setup is as follows: Atari 800XL with P:R:-Connection Cable connected to an UDS-10 Lantronix Serial-to-Ethernet converter which acts like a modem. This works fine when I use Bobterm or 850Express, but unfortunately not with Ice-T (tried with most recent 2.8alpha version and several other earlier ones, including the 48k version). For Ice-T, I've tried the 850-, PR-Connection-Cable- as well as the R-Verter handler. With the latter one, I don't get any characters, with the two former ones I get the character I enter repeated endlessly (for example, I enter "a" and then a stream of "a"s is printed on the screen. When I disconnect the UDS-10 from power and turn it on again, I get a "NO CARRIER" after a few seconds, which I think is a Lantronix message. It seems to me that the Lantronix can't handle anything else but A(TA)SCII in command mode, as also I get nothing returned in Bobterm when I switch to VT52. Since Ice-T only offers VT100 or ANSI-BBS, maybe this could be an explaination? In that case, would it be possible to add a setting option for A(TA)SCII as well? It would be great to have an 80 column terminal program I could use ! Or does anyone have the same configuration and it's just some settings I didn't set correctly? Thanks in advance, Frederik Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3005055 Share on other sites More sharing options...
itaych Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 Another thing Frederik hasn't mentioned is that on that other thread I gave him a BASIC program that accesses the serial port in pretty much the same way Ice-T does, and that worked well for him - so I don't really know what to say. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3005076 Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetz Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 But wasn't the BASIC-program using A(TA)SCII as set by the XIO command? That's why my assumption is that using VT100/ANSI instead of ASCII is probably the issue, same as with Bobterm where I also have to use ASCII and cannot use VT52 (or was it VT100 as well, can't recall right now). Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3005102 Share on other sites More sharing options...
itaych Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 Yes but you said that when you turned off the translation in the BASIC program you saw untranslated ASCII, which is exactly the expected result and what Ice-T is designed to handle. I don't know why you're not getting anything at all or garbage in Ice-T. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3005104 Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetz Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Ok. Then I can only think of two other reasons: The parity bit (which was set to "ignore" in the BASIC program you sent me and I'm not sure how it's handled within Ice-T) - or it's an issue with the internal settings of the Lantronix UDS-10. In that case, does anyone of you use that device in conjunction with Ice-T and could post their configuration? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3005344 Share on other sites More sharing options...
itaych Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 Have you tried other terminal programs? In particular does FlickerTerm work for you? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3005373 Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetz Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Sorry for the delay in my response, but I think I found the problem: It's in the handlers that come with Ice-T that don't work correctly with my P:R:-Connection cable. I have tried all of them (at least PRCONN.HND or ATARI850.HND should work) now also with Bobterm and I get the same results now. With PRCONN.HND, for example, I get the continously repeating character as well, as I did in Ice-T. Flickerterm is the same. When I use Bobterm, Omnimon or 850Express out of the box, everything is fine, so they seem to provide their own handler (which unfortunately isn't loaded through an extra file), so that seems to be the reason for me. Is there any chance for you to extract the handler from Bobterm and use it as an external handler as you did with the other modem handlers? That would be great. Thanks again, F. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007192 Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetz Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Ok, just tried the following: Booted Bobterm (which loads its own, working handler), pressed RESET, put in my Ice-T disk and loaded Ice-T 2.8a - and it worked like charm ! So the R: handler of Bobterm seems to be staying in memory after pressing RESET and I can at least use this as a workaround (works with Flickerterm as well). But of course it would be great to extract it and provide it out of the box with whatever terminal program one wants to use. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007195 Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetz Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Ok, I found a working driver on the 850Express disk which came with my P:R: Connection Cable, you can download it from here: http://frederik.hol.st/atari/8-bit/rs232.sys When I load this before starting Ice-T or Flickerterm, all is fine, so maybe it would be worth including it into your Ice-T distribution if copyright allows? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007201 Share on other sites More sharing options...
itaych Posted June 9, 2014 Author Share Posted June 9, 2014 I have no problem adding it to the next release, but before doing that I'd really like to know what's so special about this tiny (123 byte) file that helps in your specific case. It's too small to actually contain a handler - it probably downloads the handler from the device, just like the ATARI850.HND or PRCONN.HND. Does anyone have a clue? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007203 Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetz Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 That's probably the case at there is a long beep after the handler is loaded, similar to when I use the 850 handler. However, both seem to be different somehow which is why one works and the other one doesn't. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007212 Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaeron Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 The RS232.SYS file just triggers the standard 850-compatible handler bootstrap -- it issues a poll command (3F/01) to retrieve the bootstrap DCB, then uses that to pull in and call the relocator at $0500. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007783 Share on other sites More sharing options...
itaych Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) Well, there are now three different files (of different sizes) that do the task you describe, but with different results: ATARI850.HND, PRCONN.HND (these are files from the disks that came with the 850 and PRC respectively) and now this RS232.SYS file of unknown origin from the 850Express disk, which seems to exclusively solve freetz's problem. The questions are what is the functional difference between these files, what is special about this new RS232.SYS file, and do I really need to distribute all 3 with Ice-T or would this RS232.SYS be sufficient for all use cases, superseding the other two? Edited June 10, 2014 by itaych Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007786 Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetz Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Is that really idententical to the ATARI850.HND that comes with Ice-T? I do get the long bootstrap beep with both, but with ATARI850.HND I get swamped with endless repeats of the first character I enter. With the RS232.SYS that came with the cable's 850Express, all is working fine. Would be interesting to use the latter one on a real 850 and see if there are any differences. Unfortunately, I don't have one. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007787 Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetz Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 BTW: PRCONN.HND was not on the disk that came with my P:R: Connection Cable (which was in its original box from Best Electronics where I ordered it recently). Maybe they changed something along the way? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007788 Share on other sites More sharing options...
itaych Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 BTW: PRCONN.HND was not on the disk that came with my P:R: Connection Cable Not even with a different name? I made up the "HND" names, it would have been difficult to have 5 or more files named RS232.SYS on the same disk... Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007789 Share on other sites More sharing options...
phaeron Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 RS232.SYS is the same has ATARIHND.SYS with the following additional fixup code prepended: 5000: A9 60 LDA #$60 5002: 8D 00 50 STA $5000 5005: AD E7 02 LDA MEMLO 5008: F0 07 BEQ $5011 500A: C9 E0 CMP #$E0 500C: 90 08 BCC $5016 500E: EE E8 02 INC MEMLO+1 5011: A9 01 LDA #$01 5013: 8D E7 02 STA MEMLO 5016: 60 RTS Looks like a workaround for some relocation bug with either the 850 or P:R: Connection built-in handler. 2 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007817 Share on other sites More sharing options...
itaych Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 Thanks, I guess I'll keep all three in the distribution while recommending the 850Express version (in the docs, which no one reads anyway ). 2 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007823 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 Now we are discussing rs232 driver... I would love to see an RS232 driver that forces the 850 to upload it's driver, even when the atari hasn't been off or the 850 been off. Since bobterm can do this (it loads the 850 driver everytime it runs) I would love to see RS232 to be able to do this to. I almost never switch off my Atari, but I do reboot it. After a reboot, I have to power cycle my 850 (or the atari) to get it operational again with rs232 driver. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007837 Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetz Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 @itaych: On the 850Express disk, there are three drivers: RS232.SYS (1 sector), RS232.COM (2 sectors) and PRC.SYS (12 sectors). The last one is mentioned for programs that create trouble in conjunction with the cable's 850 compatibility. I can't do a byte-by-byte comparison right now, but I've uploaded the disk as well on my server, so maybe someone could try to find out where the differences are between the first two as well as ATARI850.HND and PRCONN.HND (each 1 sector)? http://frederik.hol.st/atari/8-bit/850Express.atr Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3007903 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Cygnus Posted July 8, 2014 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Itay, what will you include in your next release of Ice-T? I know your latest release is 2.8.0 Alpha 6. Thanks for all your hard work and grand features of ICE-T! (I'm still enjoying ICE-T on my Atari 130XE + ICD P:R:Connection + Lantronix UDS-1100 with success) -=[Lord Cygnus]=- Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3027360 Share on other sites More sharing options...
itaych Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 (edited) Since MyBIOS on stock atari disables internal OS and wants bit 0 of PORTB being false, I replaced all PORTB values in the binary. So what makes for a good BBS experience is macros. Hi, what year is this? I guess it's time to address these requests. Here is the long awaited alpha 7 PORTB bit 0 is no longer modified by Ice-T, fixing compatibility with systems that enable OS RAM, such as MyBIOS. Macros. To use macros, note the new menu entry Options > Macros. It will display 12 empty 'slots', each of which can be set to a letter or number of your choice and then filled with a macro of up to 64 characters of text. The text entry field accepts only plain text, but special characters may be encoded within the macro as follows: To insert a control code, the percent symbol '%' can be used. The character immediately after '%' will be sent stripped of its upper 3 bits, so %X or %x will send Ctrl-X (ASCII code 24) and %[ will send Esc (ASCII code 27). To send the percent sign use '%%'. To insert an arbitrary byte use '$' followed by 2 case-insensitive hex digits. To send the dollar sign use '$$'. To activate a macro in Terminal mode, hold down START and type the corresponding key. Note that in previous versions the START button caused plain key codes to be prepended with Esc (so pressing START-C would transmit Esc c), mimicking the Meta key that was present on keyboards of some old terminals. This feature remains available for any key that is not assigned to a macro. Enjoy! And as always let me know if there are any problems. icet_280_alpha7.xex Edited October 12, 2014 by itaych 8 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3090553 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Will test this soon! Thanks a lot for improving this brilliant piece of software everytime, highly appreciated! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3090574 Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 YES!!! Need to get my Atari back out now and try this! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3090611 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Hi Guys, I have a problem using ICE-T under SDX with APE, when starting ICET.COM, R: is not loaded automatically using APE, while normally when I boot ICE-T from MYDOS ATR there's no such problem. Any hint? 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/217539-ice-t-xe-276-released/page/6/#findComment-3611551 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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