Re: Updating KEGS, have some questions

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Christopher G. Mason wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have been hacking away at the last release of KEGS 0.91, namely the 
> KEGS32 port that used to be hosted over at geocities. So far I have 
> added full Uthernet support via WinPCap (using the latest tfe code from 
> VICE), parallel card support, and virtual color printer support (Epson 
> LQ based, from an unofficial CVS build of the DOSBOX project). Anyway I 
> had a few questions.
>
> 1. For the parallel card emulation, I implemented a very basic interface 
> in virtual Slot 1 utilizing the firmware from the Apple II Parallel 
> Card. How do these cards work officially? Right now I am sending all 
> data being written to $C090 to the virtual printer. It seems to work ok 
> but I am noticing apps are writing the same data to other addresses (ex: 
> $C092), is there any particular reason for this behavior? For printer 
> status info, I am following AppleWin's approach and just returning 0xFF 
> ("Ready") anytime an app reads $C090-C09F. What is the "official" 
> address used to query printer status, and what are the hex values for 
> the various states? (ex: off line, out of paper, etc.)
>
> 2. I would like to implement ImageWriter II emulation, but I am running 
> into issues with GS/OS. Its Imagewriter driver queries the printer using 
> ESC-? to determine if there is a color ribbon installed and assumes B&W 
> only printing if it receives no response. Even though it isn't possible 
> in real life, I would like to route data via the parallel interface 
> because it "prints" ALOT faster, KEGS' SCC emulation is timing accurate 
> and 57600 baud is 57600 baud. The problem is parallel data transfer is 
> one way and one can't return the query string the driver is looking for. 
> Is there a patched driver around one can use to force color printing? 
> Otherwise I will have to resort to using the emulated serial interface.

How about always returning either "color capable" or "black and white"
based on a user option?

> 3. Does anyone have technical info for the Imagewriter LQ (escape codes, 
> etc.)? It may be a viable emulation option for high res color GS/OS 
> printing.

That manual must be online somewhere...

> 5. I would like to possibly add basic MIDI I/O to KEGS. Emulating an 
> Apple MIDI adapter hooked up to a serial port would likely be the 
> easiest way to do this, but I need to know how it works. Was it just a 
> "dumb" box, just converting the RS-232 signals to MIDI friendly timing, 
> or did it have any firmware? Otherwise another option might be emulating 
> a Passport Designs MIDI card.

That would enable many older //e programs to use MIDI as well.

The clock rate and character frame of the UART must be changed to match
MIDI.  Other than that, it's an electrical conversion problem.

-michael

NadaNet and AppleCrate II: parallel computing for Apple II computers!
Home page: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon

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