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

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

> >Yes, I have tried it with AppleWin (which looks like an excellent
> >emulator) but the program could not find a Serial card in any slot.
> 
> Thanks for the feedback - even if it is negative :-)

Hello Oliver,

I didn't mean anything negative about AppleWin at all.  On the
contrary it has been the easiest of all the emulators to use and works
perfect on the Apple programs i've tried.  That is except for one
program that I really would love to get working from within an
emulator.  So far none of the other emulators have full SuperSerial
support either so I can't say the others would be better.  If the
robot control software i'm trying to use did work in one of the others
that would mean they would be better for this particular application
but perhaps not for others.

What I am seeing is that when I try the program with either Apple
Oasis
or under Kegs that the program actually thinks a SuperSerial card is
present although it doesn't work properly and communicate with the
serial I/R pod.  That makes me think that a portion of the SuperSerial
is implemented but not the whole thing.

With AppleWin when I try the Application it will crash the emulated
Apple.  It must be calling some routine that is avialable in the other
two emulators but not one that is implemented in AppleWin.

I'm not sure how the original application was written (no source has
been found) so they could be accessing the SuperSerial directly.  The
program was probably written in assembler and provides a FORTH
interpreter which allows programs to be written for controlling an old
Androbot TOPO II robot.  It then executes those programs which
generates the appropriate command sequences to send serially to a
small POD that has a bi-directional I/R link to the robot.  The robot
can also send some status info back to the host PC.  It is a very cool
piece of history now and someday I hope that I can run the controlling
program from a Modern Laptop PC so it will be easier to take it places
for a DEMO once in a while.  Packing up the whole Apple isn't nearly
as convient.
 
If there is a way I could help to try and add full SuperSerial support
I would be glad to help.  It looks like i've already found a program
that tests the compatibilty of the emulation and if this works then
any other app that needs full SSC support should work as well.  I'm
sure there must be a way to add it but I don't know where to start. 
Perhaps some of the other Apple experts on the Newgroup can help
brainstorm some ways that it could be done.

> >The conversion from a 25pin to 9pin is the easy part.  I have those
> >pinouts on hand.  I wanted to confirm that the Serial port on the
> >SuperSerial card did in fact have the same pinout as a 25pin port
> >that the PC uses.
> 
> Okay, now I got it. The SSC manual says:
> 
> 10-pin	DB-25
> Header	Conn.
> 1	1	Frame Ground
> 2	2	TXD
> 3	3	RXD
> 4	4	RTS
> 5	5	CTS
> 6	6	DSR
> 7	19	SCTS (Secondary CTS)
> 8	7	Signal Ground
> 9	20	DTR
> 10	8	DCD
> 
> >I was under the impression that one of the jumper blocks on the SuperSerial
> >board changes some of the pin signals.  If that is not the case then perhaps
> >someone can confirm that.  Otherwise a link to some docs that show the pin
> >signals in each mode would help.  I believe that I have the card set for Modem
> >mode.
> 
> There IS a plug you can put in two directions, named MODEM and
> TERMINAL. MODEM is the normal setting. The table above assumes the
> MODEM setting. The TERMINAL setting is like a built-in null-modem
> cable.

That clears it up.  Thank You!

Best Regards,

Robert