Re: Franklin Ace 500 serial port - SSC compatible?

["Ralph E. Dodd" <redodd@TAKETHISOUTcomcast.net>]

"schmidtd" <schmidtd@my-deja.com> wrote in message 
1d38ca71-1482-403d-96a6-e52b938ad908@f8g2000yqn.googlegroups.com">news:1d38ca71-1482-403d-96a6-e52b938ad908@f8g2000yqn.googlegroups.com...
On Feb 22, 3:42 pm, "Ralph E. Dodd" <red...@TAKETHISOUTcomcast.net>
wrote:
> "Ralph E. Dodd" <red...@TAKETHISOUTcomcast.net> wrote in 
> messagenews:hlst43$390$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>
> > Hello all,
>
> > I have a Franklin Ace 500 and I was wondering if the serial port is 
> > super
> > serial card compatible so it can be used with ADT. TIA.
>
> > Ralph
>
> Thanks for all the replies.

>Let us know how you get on.  I got motivated to revisit the Laser 128
>based on these conversations, and was able to tweak my SSC routines to
>finally jack up the Laser run at 115.2kbps like everybody else.  Maybe
>those changes will work for the Franklin Ace 500 as well...

David,

I had problems with the Franklin Ace 500.  The internal disk drive is dead. 
I get a disk activity light but that's it.  No drive noise except for 
spinning.  I had it apart a few years ago and reseated the chips, cleaned 
the drive, etc. and it worked on and off.  It doesn't seek to boot from an 
external drive either.  It goes to BASIC when I hit cntr-reset.  It wouldn't 
accept the serial  port setup codes but it defaults to 300 baud so I set the 
ADTPro server to 300. Too bad it doesn't work because it has a really nice 
display with my IBM cga monitor.  I made the 5 pin din serial cable and it 
talks to my laptop.  I couldn't send Prodos (meaning that there was no 
activity on the Franklin monitor at all), but when I tried to send the 
ADTPro client, I could see the data stream (started with CALL -151) but it 
was unevenly spaced on the screen.  Letters flashed in inverse video and 
numbers were in normal video and the download failed.   So the cable pinouts 
work with the Franklin but that's all that I could verify.

I also hooked up to an AppleIIe with different results.  I set up the SSC as 
per the instructions.  It wouldn't send Prodos (same symptoms as Franklin) 
but when I booted with Prodos, I could send the ADTPro client.  After that, 
file transfers were really fast.  It works a whole lot better than the Dos 
version of ADT.  Great job!

While I was in the cable making mode, I made an 8pin mini din cable to hook 
up to my AppleIIc+.  With this setup, I was able to send Prodos and the 
Adtpro client with no problems.

I wish the Franklin didn't die so I could have tested your program.  It 
seems that not too many people have Franklin Ace 500's.

Ralph