Re: Super Serial Support in Emulator (How to use it???)

[rdoerr@bizserve.com (Robert L. Doerr)]

> > original Apple IIe control software and I/R communications POD to
> > control and Androbot TOPO II robot.  
> 
> neat!
> 
> what language is the TOPO sofware written in ?  BASIC?  Assembly?  you
> may be able to change the values of the serial port address, and make
> the program work with an emulator that supports some other type of
> serial card.

Hello Rich,

I am trying to get the software for an Androbot TOPO II/III working
from
an emulator so I can use a laptop to control the robot instead of
carrying
around my whole Apple system when I want to use it.  The robot is an
intelligent device (somewhat) and can accept commands sequences
transmitted to it by an I/R communications POD.  The I/R pod has a 9
pin serial port which
connects to the Apple IIe SuperSerial card.  The I/R link is
bi-directional so
the robot can send some status info back to the host PC.  

The software that controls it is FORTH.  I expect that much of the
underlying drivers and interpreter are written in assembly.  No source
has been uncovered for it.  If I can find an emulator that supports
the SuperSerial then I can
probably use the original programs as they are which is the way i'd
like to go.
If not then i'll have to execute each command and monitor the link
between the
PC and the pod to grab all the command codes which I could then try to
write a new application for the PC as a native program (no emulation)

It is a bit frustrating at the moment since I am SO close to getting
it to work.  I can load the control software into a couple of
different emulators but none yet can actually talk throuh the PC
Serial Ports and talk to the I/R pod.
At the moment Apple Oasis and Kegs seem the best.  AppleWin puts a
bunch of garbage on the screen then freezes when I try to use the SSC
portion.

This is only in regards to the TOPO II and TOPO III robots.  The
original TOPO I has a special Apple I/O card with a 9513 chip to help
generate timings to simulate a standard RF radio control on the 27mhz
band.  Those drivers are written in assembly and called from BASIC. 
There was also an add-on for LOGO so that the robot could be
programmed in LOGO so you could see it move around.
I've only seen that custom card work in a II+ system (not IIe) and I
doubt that
will ever work in an emulator due to the custom transmitter.