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

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

> > 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
> 
> I'm kind of curious about some of the file names. Is this dos or prodos
> based software?
> What is the load sequence of the files. A disassembly of the SSC driver
> could tell a lot.

I don't believe this particular disk is in either DOS or PRODOS
format.  It
is a variant of FORTH and has its own built-in utility for managing
the disks.
If perhaps the section of code could be isolated that talks to the
Serial port is it likely that it could be patched?  Either that or it
might point to a simple enhancement to an existing emulator to allow
it to work as well.

> Another point. You can detect the SSC but there is no way to tell if it is
> configured for modem or terminal. The software manual should instruct on the
> setup.
> As such it is not uncommon for the software to to ask for a slot # and to
> store that in a configuration file. It might also insist the card be in a
> specific slot.

I'm not sure how it looks for the SuperSerial board.  Was there a
common function call to the OS to identify it or did it have to check
memory for a signature?  When the program boots it looks for a
SuperSerial card in the configured slot.  If it donesn't find it it
will respond that it can't find a SuperSerial card in slot #x.  There
is a FORTH command to change the slot it uses:

Configure SuperSerial in slot #4:

4 SETUP-SERIAL-SLOT
SAVE-FORTH

Configure SuperSerial in slot #2:

2 SETUP-SERIAL-SLOT
SAVE-FORTH

When I match the slot up in the Kegs or Apple Oasis the program at
least
thinks it sees a SuperSerial card.  Whatever signature it looks for is
in those two emulators.  When I match up the slot in AppleWin it ends
up crashing the emulated Apple session so something during the
detection does something bad.

> I don't think kegs32 will work for you. Assuming the the TOPO communicated
> at the hardware level of the SSC ACIA.
> The //gs and hence kegs emulation is of the SCC chip from Zilog.
> 
> Again a more detailed description of the involved software might help in
> getting you going.

I have disk images of the program I am trying to run.  TOPOSOFT 1.01
 
> Also do a google search for like tools to aid in troubleshooting.
> 
> http://www.snapfiles.com/get/asdl.html

Looks like an excellent utility!  Worst case if I can't use the
TOPOSOFT program within an emulator then I could use a utility like
that to capture each code that is sent to the robot anf then write a
new application on my PC.  That was the route I was originally going
to use but I would really rather use the original control program if
possible.  It will make my day if there is some way to get it to work.

Best Regards,

Robert