Re: Cannot get ADT to work

[pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <FLoha.336811$na.25323723@news2.calgary.shaw.ca>,
Albert D. Kallal <kallal@msn.com> wrote:
> "Ivan" <ivanf@aintegra.com> wrote in message
> v8b3cofjdjhu01@corp.supernews.com">news:v8b3cofjdjhu01@corp.supernews.com...
>
>> Greetings,
>>
>> I have an Apple 2e (enhanced) with an apple Super Serial Card II
>> (670-8020B) and a null modem cable.  I downloaded ADT and followed
>> the instructions but I cannot get the PCs (tried 2 different ones)
>> and the Apple to talk.  I get garbage in the hyperterm window when
>> I type on the Apple and nothing on the Apple when I type on the PC.
>> I can't get them ADT.dmp file over to the Apple.
>>
>> I've tried different baud rates and such but it's always garbage and
>> only in one direction, nothing ever appears on the Apple screen.  I
>> suspect that I have a defective SSC-2 but I only have the one to use.
>>  Is there something I am doing wrong or has anyone else seen this
>> problem?  Any help is much appreciated, thanks
>>
>> Ivan
> 
> You sure you serial cable is ok?
> 
> did you try flipping jumper cube thing on the serial card?
> 
> It has been several years since I have dropped by this newsgroup. Or in fact
> pulled out my old appleII with a serial card. However, it did work for me.
> 
> You might also want to check the serial port settings on the windows side in
> the control panel.
 
There's no point in checking the port settings on the Windows side in
the control panel (if he runs Windows; he might be running plain MS-DOS
since he only says "PC"): the PC side of ADT sets its own port speed/etc
instead of just using whatever has been set by the OS.
 
A good way to troubleshoot your serial connection is to put away ADR
for awhile and instead start some terminal program on each side.  On
the Apple II there should be one simple dumb terminal program built
into the ROM's of the serial card: it's activated by (assuming your
serial card is in slot 2) doing IN#2 followed by typing some control
characters (on the older Apple Comm. Card it was Ctrl-A Cltr-F;
you'll have to consult a Super Serial Card manual to figure out how
to do this on the Super Serial Card).  Or, if you have some comm
program for your Apple II, such as ASCII Express or ZTerm (the latter
runs under Apple Softcard CP/M), you could use that.
 
On the PC side you could use SuperTerminal if you're running Windoze.
If you're running plain MS-DOS you could use e.g. MS-Kermit (which
is free and has a "dumb terminal mode") or ProComm or Telix (commercial
software with shareware versions you could try for a limited time;
they should be available on SimTel).
 
You could start, on the PC and on the Apple II one at a time, making
it communicate with a (Hayes comatible) modem: type "AT" followed by
<Enter> (or <Return>) on the computer's terminal program and the
modem should respond with "OK".  When that works, connect the two
computers to one another with a null modem cable; if done properly
and if both sides have set their serial ports to the same speed and
parity, whatever you type on one of the computers should appear on
the screen of the other computer.
 
You might have to pay some attention to the modem signals RTS, CTS,
DSR and DTR: one, or both, computers may require these signals to
work (that depends on how the termimal programs).  The easiest way os
to, on either side, "cheat" by doing a local connection from DSR to
DTR and from RTS to CTS.  But if you want to do it properly, the DSR
on one side shoyld be connected to the DTR on the other side, and the
RTS on one side should be connected to the CTS on the other side, and
this should be done in both directions.  But then the cable must have
7 instead of 3 wires.  You could also connect RTS to not just CTS but
to DCD as well.
 
When you get this to work, your ADT should work as well.  Yep, this
is the step-by-step method you must use in order to successfully
troubleshoot a situation like this.  And this is the way I proceeded
when I modified the Apple II side of ADT to work on the older Apple
II Communications Card: my old Apple II has no Super Serial Card, thus
in my case I had no working ADT but wanted to make it work.  So the
first question was: did my Comm. Card still work?  (if it didn't
it was no use tinkering with ADT).  To figure out if it worked and
if my cable could connect the Apple II and the PC, I proceeded in the
way I described above: on the Apple II I used ASCII Express and on the
PC I used Telix as terminal programs.
 
 
 
Some more info about RS-232 and null modem cables follows:
 
 
Definition:
 
RS-232      9-pin       25-pin         Description
 
DCD --------- 1 ---------- 8  -------- Data Carrier Detect
Rx  --------- 2 ---------- 3  -------- Receive data
Tx  --------- 3 ---------- 2  -------- Transmit data
DTR --------- 4 ---------- 20 -------- Data Terminal Ready
GND --------- 5 ---------- 7  -------- Ground
DSR --------- 6 ---------- 6  -------- Data Set Ready ("Data Set" = modem)
RTS --------- 7 ---------- 4  -------- Request To Send
CTS --------- 8 ---------- 5  -------- Clear To Send
RI  --------- 9 ---------- 22 -------- Ring Indicator
 
 
Description:
 
DCD -- Modem raises this high when it detects a data carrier
Rx  -- Computer receives data from modem
Tx  -- Computer send data to modem
DTR -- Computer raises this high when ready to receive
GND -- Common signal ground
DSR -- Modem raises this high when ready to receive
RTS -- Computer raises this high when it wants to send (useful for half duplex)
CTS -- Modem raises this high when it's ready to receive
RI  -- Modem raises this high when a "ring" signal arrives at phone line
 
 
 
 
Full Null Modem cable (RI need not be connected):
 
    GND -------- GND
    Rx  <------- Tx
    Tx  -------> Rx
    RTS -------> CTS,DCD
DCD,CTS <------- RTS
    DTR -------> DSR
    DSR <------- DTR
 
 
Minimal Null Modem cable -- works sometimes, depending on the software:
 
    GND -------- GND
    Rx  <------- Tx
    Tx  -------> Rx
 
 
Another simple Null Modem cable (on each side, connect RTS with
CTS+DCD and also connect DSR with DTR).  Usually works but fails
to detect when the other side has been disconnected:
 
    GND -------- GND
    Rx  <------- Tx
    Tx  -------> Rx
    RTS \      / CTS,DCD
DCD,CTS /      \ RTS
    DTR \      / DSR
    DSR /      \ DTR
 
 
-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter,  Swedish Amateur Astronomer's Society (SAAF)
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