After a weekend with the old IIgs, ADTPro and modern computers.....

[IUnknown <stevementzer@gmail.com>]

While I am still waiting for some ebay purchases to arrive, I wanted
to hook up the IIgs (ROM3) to an old TV and figuring out any quirks
before I start throwing more parts in it.

So, after the suggestion to use ADTPro, I found an old mini-din8 to
DB25 cable. I figured that this would be a piece of cake. Famous last
words...

So, I took a look at every computer in the house..... and I have a
few :)  Not a single serial port to be found ANYWHERE. Argh. Well,
actually there was this old home-built gaming PC with a flaky video
card laying there - and I figured that I would just need to put a new
hard drive in it, install XP ...... never mind.

I figured I would just buy a USB->Serial adapter. Turns out that my
local staples stocks a belkin rebranded adapter for $39.95 - ouch.
Instant gratification is much better than waiting for amazon, so I
take the drive and buy the dongle.... On the back it says "Windows,
Mac OS 8.6 or later...". Done.

So, I drive home, plug in the adapter to my macbook pro... it shows up
in the USB device list, but it doesn't map a new device for serial
access. A quick search for drivers tells me that mac os/x isn't
supported..... and specifically, Lion isn't supported because it is 64
bit. Drats. No time for this.

So, I plug the adapter into my Win7 machine (where I make a living as
a programmer), and it fails to install the driver. Blech. No 64 bit
driver available from Belkin.  So I dig around on google, find that
someone else located a compatible driver from another manufacturer -
turns out these adapters are rebranded like crazy. Driver works. I am
in business.

Nope.

DB25 vs. DB9

Better yet, I am unsure of whether the mini-din8 cable is a null-modem
cable. A simple DB25->DB9 adapter may not cut it. And sometime tells
me that a DB25->DB9 adapter with a null modem option isn't something I
am going to source locally (radio shack is useless).....Time to break
out the soldering iron.

Fortunately, I am a packrat and have a 'cable ball' that contains a
couple decades of old cables, wall warts, etc. I found a suitable DB9
connector. Snip.   I have an extra mini-din8 cable there as well.
Snip.

So, using the instructions on the ADTPro website, I wire up the cable
with a mini-din8 at one end and a DB9 on the other. Fire up ADTPro -
and start bootstrapping prodos. Bingo. I am in business.

I get as far as getting the ADTPro serial client to bootstrap..... and
when I try to [R]eceive the disk image so I can write it to a floppy,
it gets as far as 'waiting for host reply....' ... It appears as if
the IIgs isn't sending the data - or the PC isn't receiving it.

So, I dig a little more and find that the ADTPro mini-din8 wiring
indicates that pin7 was supposed to route to pin1 on the DB9. However,
a different source indicates that a null-modem cable should route pin7
to pin4. As soon as I fixed that, everything was in business, and
within 30 minutes, I had GS/OS running (single floppy) .

In Summary:

- ADTPro is an amazing chunk of software.
- The IIgs has an elegant simplicity that is seriously lacking in
modern computers.
- I can't believe that simple forms of communication (ala serial) are
so complicated on modern computers, mostly because of driver issues.
- Yes, one wire really does make a difference :)
- GS/OS doesn't look good on a composite monitor - but we all knew
that.
- Soldering irons are hot. Cats don't know this.