Re: Apple //e as serial terminal

[CUTblakeney@home.com (Jeff Blakeney)]

On Mon, 13 Sep 1999 20:02:42 -0400, amitai.schlair@usa.net (Amitai
Schlair) wrote:

>I have managed to obtain an Apple //e with a Super Serial Card, but
>without software. I'd like to use the Apple ][ as a snazzy serial
>console for my Sparc IPC. Lacking clue, I would appreciate help figuring
>out
>
>+ where I can get system software and a term program for the //e
>
>+ how to make a serial cable to connect the Apple ][ and Sparc
>
>The Sparc's PROM defaults to 9600-N-8-1 out the serial port. Can the
>Super Serial Card handle 9600 bps?

Yes, an SSC will hande up to 19200 bps.  However, if the IIe is
unenhanced, you might get some character loss at the higher speeds but
9600 should be okay.  (You can tell if your machined is enhanced if it
says "Apple //e" at the top of the screen on power up instead of
"Apple ][".)

Cables can vary depending on whether you want hardware handshaking and
what communications program you intend to use.

If you do get a cable made up and want to play with things before you
get a terminal program do the following:

     put the SSC in slot 2
     make sure the jumper block on the SSC is pointing to modem
     set SW1 switches 1-4 to OFF OFF OFF ON - 9600 bps
     set SW1 switches 5-6 to ON ON     - modem mode
     set SW1 switch   7   to ON        - use RS232C standard
     set SW2 switch   1   to ON        - 1 stop bit
     set SW2 switch   2   to ON        - 8 data bits
     set SW2 switches 3-4 to ON ON     - no parity
     set SW2 switch   5   to ON or OFF - to have the card add
                                         linefeeds after carriage
                                         returns or not respectively
     set SW2 switch   6   to ON or OFF - to enable or disable
                                         interrupts respectively;
                                         early Apple IIe's didn't
                                         handle interrupts correctly
     set SW2 switch   7   to OFF       - use RS232C standard

Power up the machine and type the following (you can skip the REMs):

     PR#3               : REM if you have an 80 column card installed 
                        : REM this will put you into 80 column mode
     PR#2               : REM send output to slot 2
     IN#2               : REM get input from slot 2
     [CTRL-A]T          : enable terminal mode

If you find everything you receive being displayed in upper case, type
[CTRL-A]1T to tell the card to not translate lower case characters
into upper case.  Also, if the Sparc is sending linefeed's after
carriage returns and it is messing up the display on the Apple IIe,
type [CTRL-A]ME to enable the line feed mask.

If the Sparc isn't echoing what you type back to the Apple IIe
display, type [CTRL-A]EE to enable local echo of typed characters.

This just gives you a way to type stuff and have stuff displayed.  I
haven't had a chance to actually test the information in this post but
I have done a similar set up in the past so I know it is possible.  :)

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