218 replies to this topic

[timofonic]

HiassofT, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:59 AM, said:

Hi!

timofonic, on Sun Mar 14, 2010 4:14 PM, said:

I use it under Archlinux (I'm a Linux user, yes!) and no problem, but my Pentium III 733mhz has problems when using the SIO 3x mode. It loads all fine under SIO 2x.

What kind of serial port/adapter are you using, a "real" one or a USB-RS232 adapter? If it's a "real" one, are you using the AtariSIO kernel driver or the default serial driver of AspeQt?A few months ago I tried AspeQt with a 16550 port (using the AtariSIO kernel driver) on a 233MHz Pentium MMX. The AspeQt UI was slow as hell, but transmission worked fine, even at 3xSIO. A USB-serial adapter or the default serial driver could be problematic on slower computers, though.so long,Hias

Hello.

It's the real serial port, no AtariSIO kernel driver. What advantages offers this kernel driver? I usually use the latest stable kernel available on my distro and not sure if the kernel driver needs be modified with each release.

My motherboard is powered with an i810 chipset, so I think serial ports are okay. Also, this computer is a lot faster than a Pentium II and the GUI is fast here. I fine tune my Linux systems to avoid most of the slow bloated crap too (I hate Ubuntu and such).

I can load lots of files under SIOx3, but some of them fails (I found some and said it in this forum thread).

flashjazzcat, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:05 AM, said:

timofonic, on Sun Mar 14, 2010 4:14 PM, said:

A thing I miss is the ability to load .xex files directly. Needing to do a disk image for loading is a bit messy. Are you considering to add this feature?

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your point, but surely you can boot an XEX file with File->Boot Atari Executable. Works well for me with version 0.6.

Oh yes, thanks a lot! I don't know how I missed it. Maybe because I'm nore into keyboard than graphical buttons and menus

Edited by timofonic, Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:40 PM.

[HiassofT]

Hi!

timofonic, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:26 PM, said:

It's the real serial port, no AtariSIO kernel driver. What advantages offers this kernel driver? I usually use the latest stable kernel available on my distro and not sure if the kernel driver needs be modified with each release.

The advantages of the kernel driver are higher reliability and stable 3xSIO speed, even on low-end computers (such as my old Compaq Contura Aero with a 33MHz 486 SX).

The disadvantages are that you need to recompile the kernel driver each time you update your kernel, and from time to time you also need to download a new AtariSIO version when the Linux kernel guys decided to change their API.

Quote

I can load lots of files under SIOx3, but some of them fails (I found some and said it in this forum thread).

I think this has nothing to do with the files but is just coincidence.

The Linux serial API is really horrible and therefore AspeQt needs 100% CPU time when it's idle (it has to do busy-waiting). But even though it consumes 100% CPU time it might still react too late, especially when some background programs are running.

BTW: If you want to try AtariSIO please use the latest development snapshot (currently atarisio-100228) from my homepage http://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/

so long,

Hias

[timofonic]

HiassofT, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:11 PM, said:

Hi!

timofonic, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:26 PM, said:

It's the real serial port, no AtariSIO kernel driver. What advantages offers this kernel driver? I usually use the latest stable kernel available on my distro and not sure if the kernel driver needs be modified with each release.

The advantages of the kernel driver are higher reliability and stable 3xSIO speed, even on low-end computers (such as my old Compaq Contura Aero with a 33MHz 486 SX).

The disadvantages are that you need to recompile the kernel driver each time you update your kernel, and from time to time you also need to download a new AtariSIO version when the Linux kernel guys decided to change their API.

Quote

I can load lots of files under SIOx3, but some of them fails (I found some and said it in this forum thread).

I think this has nothing to do with the files but is just coincidence.

The Linux serial API is really horrible and therefore AspeQt needs 100% CPU time when it's idle (it has to do busy-waiting). But even though it consumes 100% CPU time it might still react too late, especially when some background programs are running.

BTW: If you want to try AtariSIO please use the latest development snapshot (currently atarisio-100228) from my homepage http://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/

so long,

Hias

Hi.

I did the building, but this happens after doing "make":

make[2]: se sale del directorio `/usr/src/atarisio-100228/tools/6502'
g++ -g -W -Wall -DATARISIO_DEBUG -DUSE_ZLIB which: no ncurses5-config in (/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin/perlbin/site:/usr/bin/perlbin/vendor:/usr/bin/perlbin/core:/opt/plan9/bin) -c -o atariserver.o atariserver.cpp
/bin/sh: -c: línea 0: error sintáctico cerca del elemento inesperado `('
/bin/sh: -c: línea 0: `g++ -g -W -Wall -DATARISIO_DEBUG -DUSE_ZLIB which: no ncurses5-config in (/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin/perlbin/site:/usr/bin/perlbin/vendor:/usr/bin/perlbin/core:/opt/plan9/bin) -c -o atariserver.o atariserver.cpp'
make[1]: *** [atariserver.o] Error 1
make[1]: se sale del directorio `/usr/src/atarisio-100228/tools'
make: *** [all] Error 2

I did "ln -s ncursesw5-config ncurses5-config" under /usr/bin and built fine

But where are the udev and modprobe.conf/ files? They are not clear in the INSTALL file

EDIT: Found they are the atarisio-ttyS* files (one of them depending what serial ports to use). Now I don't know where's that "update-modules" command...

EDIT2: It seems "update-modules" is exclusive to Debian. depmod -a seems to do the same. Please note it in the INSTALL file

EDIT3: It has problems under atarisio too...

Quote

Serial port speed set to 19200.
[Disk 1] Speed poll.
[Disk 1] Get status.
Serial port speed set to 57600.
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 2 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 3 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 361 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 4 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 5 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 6 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 7 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 8 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 9 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 10 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 11 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 12 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 13 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 14 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 15 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 16 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 16 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 16 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.
[Disk 1] Read sector 16 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 16 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 16 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).
[Disk 1] Read sector 1 (128 bytes).

It shows the "Yoomp is loading", then tries to load after certain time but does the same. Others load fine, so maybe the custom code in Yoomp! is problematic? :/

Edited by timofonic, Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:37 PM.

[HiassofT]

timofonic, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:17 PM, said:

I did "ln -s ncursesw5-config ncurses5-config" under /usr/bin and built fine

Thanks for the info, I'll have a look at it.

Quote

But where are the udev and modprobe.conf/ files? They are not clear in the INSTALL file

EDIT: Found they are the atarisio-ttyS* files (one of them depending what serial ports to use).

Damned. I forgot to include these files in the release-tarball.

The atarisio-modprobe.conf file looks like this:

# example configuration file for AtariSIO kernel driver
# (c) 2009 Matthias Reichl <hias@horus.com>
# edit and copy this file to /etc/modprobe.d/atarisio.conf

# use the first serial port
options atarisio port=/dev/ttyS0

# first serial port, debugging enabled
#options atarisio port=/dev/ttyS0 debug=1

# first serial port, excessive debugging
#options atarisio port=/dev/ttyS0 debug=3 debug_irq=3

# use serial ports 4 and 5 (for example if you installed an addon card)
#options atarisio port=/dev/ttyS4,/dev/ttyS5

# disable extended 16C950 features on /dev/ttyS4, make it work
# just like a standard 16550 port
#options atarisio port=/dev/ttyS4 ext_16c950=0

And the atarisio-udev.rules looks like this:

KERNEL=="atarisio[0-9]*", MODE="0666"

Instead of using MODE="0666" you can also use MODE="0660", GROUP="users" or something like this (depending on your distribution and your personal preferences about device permissions :-)

Quote

Now I don't know where's that "update-modules" command...

You don't need it (it's old stuff that's only relevant if you are using an old 2.4.x Linux kernel).

With Linux kernels 2.6.x you just need the kernel driver (obviously :-), the /etc/modprobe.d/atarisio.conf file (to tell the kernel driver which ports to use), the /etc/udev/rules.d/???atarisio.rules file (to set the permissions of the /dev/atarisio? device nodes) and, optionally, a line containing "atarisio" in /etc/modules so that the kernel driver is automatically loaded at boot time.

so long,

Hias

[timofonic]

HiassofT, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:41 PM, said:

timofonic, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:17 PM, said:

I did "ln -s ncursesw5-config ncurses5-config" under /usr/bin and built fine

Thanks for the info, I'll have a look at it.

Quote

But where are the udev and modprobe.conf/ files? They are not clear in the INSTALL file

EDIT: Found they are the atarisio-ttyS* files (one of them depending what serial ports to use).

Damned. I forgot to include these files in the release-tarball.

The atarisio-modprobe.conf file looks like this:

# example configuration file for AtariSIO kernel driver
# (c) 2009 Matthias Reichl <hias@horus.com>
# edit and copy this file to /etc/modprobe.d/atarisio.conf

# use the first serial port
options atarisio port=/dev/ttyS0

# first serial port, debugging enabled
#options atarisio port=/dev/ttyS0 debug=1

# first serial port, excessive debugging
#options atarisio port=/dev/ttyS0 debug=3 debug_irq=3

# use serial ports 4 and 5 (for example if you installed an addon card)
#options atarisio port=/dev/ttyS4,/dev/ttyS5

# disable extended 16C950 features on /dev/ttyS4, make it work
# just like a standard 16550 port
#options atarisio port=/dev/ttyS4 ext_16c950=0

And the atarisio-udev.rules looks like this:

KERNEL=="atarisio[0-9]*", MODE="0666"

Instead of using MODE="0666" you can also use MODE="0660", GROUP="users" or something like this (depending on your distribution and your personal preferences about device permissions :-)

Quote

Now I don't know where's that "update-modules" command...

You don't need it (it's old stuff that's only relevant if you are using an old 2.4.x Linux kernel).

With Linux kernels 2.6.x you just need the kernel driver (obviously :-), the /etc/modprobe.d/atarisio.conf file (to tell the kernel driver which ports to use), the /etc/udev/rules.d/???atarisio.rules file (to set the permissions of the /dev/atarisio? device nodes) and, optionally, a line containing "atarisio" in /etc/modules so that the kernel driver is automatically loaded at boot time.

so long,

Hias

The modprobe file is there, but lacks the .conf so I missed it until further finding

The rules file is missing, so thanks! Anyway, it works too without it here.

Any idea about the Yoomp! loading problem under Atarisio? Are you in some irc network? Maybe we can find the problem

[HiassofT]

timofonic, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:17 PM, said:

EDIT3: It has problems under atarisio too...

Quote

[Disk 1] Read sector 16 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.

OK, this could be a bug in AspeQt. Could you try this ATR with "atariserver" (from my AtariSIO suite)?

so long,

Hias

[HiassofT]

timofonic, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:45 PM, said:

Any idea about the Yoomp! loading problem under Atarisio? Are you in some irc network? Maybe we can find the problem

Sorry, not at the moment (I still haven't setup IRC and jabber/pidgin on my PC). But just let us (ab)use this forum, I'm sure we'll find a solution :-)

so long,

Hias

[timofonic]

HiassofT, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:45 PM, said:

timofonic, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:17 PM, said:

EDIT3: It has problems under atarisio too...

Quote

[Disk 1] Read sector 16 (128 bytes).
Cannot write COMPLETE byte: Command timeout.
Cannot write data frame: Command timeout.

OK, this could be a bug in AspeQt. Could you try this ATR with "atariserver" (from my AtariSIO suite)?

so long,

Hias

That tool does the same. Shows this message repeated all time:

Warning: send complete failed
Warning: send complete failed
Warning: send complete failed
Warning: send complete failed
Warning: send complete failed
Warning: send complete failed
Warning: send complete failed
Warning: send complete failed
Warning: send complete failed

"high" and "high with pauses" speed modes fails to load in the "Yoomp!" custom loader, but not the slow one.

All other big software loaded fine at fast mode, even Numen and newer games.

Edited by timofonic, Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:00 PM.

[HiassofT]

timofonic, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:53 PM, said:

That tool does the same. Shows this message repeated all time:

Warning: send complete failed

This usually means that the PC reacted too slow, or that the Atari resent the command frame too fast.

Which version of Yoomp are you using? And are you using the stock OS or some alternative OS version?

I just checked the official yoomp.atr and this version doesn't include a highspeed SIO driver. It worked fine on my 800XL with the stock OS (of course, only at standard SIO speed) and it also worked fine at 3xSIO and 125kbit ("atariserver -S 0 yoomp.atr", with my 16C950 card) with my highspeed SIO patched OS.

Quote

"high" and "high with pauses" speed modes fails to load in the "Yoomp!" custom loader, but not the slow one.

All other big software loaded fine at fast mode, even Numen and newer games.

Very strange. Maybe there's some strange (or even broken) highspeed SIO code on your Yoomp image... But anyways, please send me your Yoomp ATR image, I'd like to have a look at it :-)

so long,

Hias

[timofonic]

HiassofT, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:49 PM, said:

timofonic, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:53 PM, said:

That tool does the same. Shows this message repeated all time:

Warning: send complete failed

This usually means that the PC reacted too slow, or that the Atari resent the command frame too fast.

Which version of Yoomp are you using? And are you using the stock OS or some alternative OS version?

I just checked the official yoomp.atr and this version doesn't include a highspeed SIO driver. It worked fine on my 800XL with the stock OS (of course, only at standard SIO speed) and it also worked fine at 3xSIO and 125kbit ("atariserver -S 0 yoomp.atr", with my 16C950 card) with my highspeed SIO patched OS.

Quote

"high" and "high with pauses" speed modes fails to load in the "Yoomp!" custom loader, but not the slow one.

All other big software loaded fine at fast mode, even Numen and newer games.

Very strange. Maybe there's some strange (or even broken) highspeed SIO code on your Yoomp image... But anyways, please send me your Yoomp ATR image, I'd like to have a look at it :-)

so long,

Hias

It's the same from Atari Fandal. Is it wrong?

Ok, I was using QMEG OS. I tried it on another (Beetle modified it to add a 4x OS switch) and runs fine

Edited by timofonic, Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:09 PM.

[HiassofT]

timofonic, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:02 PM, said:

It's the same from Atari Fandal. Is it wrong?

No, it's identical to the original Yoomp! ATR.

Quote

Ok, I was using QMEG OS. I tried it on another (Beetle modified it to add a 4x OS switch) and runs fine

Great!

The QMEG OS was the reason I added the "highspeed with pauses" mode because it reacts a little bit slower then the other highspeed SIO routines. But it's still strange that it didn't work for you. I'll have a look into this issue again (haven't used QMEG for quite some time), maybe it's time to hook up my logic analyzer again and see what's actually happening :-)

so long,

Hias

[mikey]

HiassofT, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 5:32 PM, said:

The QMEG OS was the reason I added the "highspeed with pauses" mode because it reacts a little bit slower then the other highspeed SIO routines.
Hias

Just as a note, as of Qmeg 4.04, US speeds are possible without the pauses. Even with some 10 foot sio2pc cable.


BTW, if I may suggest a feature for the atarisio driver, I'd like an operation mode that would act like a 'serial spy', i.e
so I could dump all the sio traffic both ways without disrupting the SIO workings.
I don't know if that's possible hardware-wise, but I'd appreciate a statement on this

[timofonic]

HiassofT, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 5:32 PM, said:

timofonic, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:02 PM, said:

It's the same from Atari Fandal. Is it wrong?

No, it's identical to the original Yoomp! ATR.

Quote

Ok, I was using QMEG OS. I tried it on another (Beetle modified it to add a 4x OS switch) and runs fine

Great!

The QMEG OS was the reason I added the "highspeed with pauses" mode because it reacts a little bit slower then the other highspeed SIO routines. But it's still strange that it didn't work for you. I'll have a look into this issue again (haven't used QMEG for quite some time), maybe it's time to hook up my logic analyzer again and see what's actually happening :-)

so long,

Hias

Nice, thanks

Also, I found this very interesting forum thread about SIO, sadly the conversation didn't continue:
http://www.atariage....8-sio-protocol/

So it's possible to accelerate SIO beyond 3x?

[Rybags]

Hias did a couple of threads last year about achieving the highest possible SIO speed.

Unsure what he got to... I think it was something in the neigbourhood of 90kbits+ / second or so.

http://www.atariage....__fromsearch__1

http://www.atariage....__fromsearch__1

Edited by Rybags, Mon Mar 15, 2010 8:01 PM.

[timofonic]

Rybags, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:58 PM, said:

Hias did a couple of threads last year about achieving the highest possible SIO speed.

Unsure what he got to... I think it was something in the neigbourhood of 90kbits+ / second or so.

http://www.atariage....__fromsearch__1

http://www.atariage....__fromsearch__1

Wow! I'll wait from Hias how it went. I'm quite interested in having accelerated sdrive and sio2pc!

Also, those forum threads has so interesting information as a basis for a depthly technical article

[HiassofT]

mikey, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 6:57 PM, said:

HiassofT, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 5:32 PM, said:

The QMEG OS was the reason I added the "highspeed with pauses" mode because it reacts a little bit slower then the other highspeed SIO routines.
Hias

Just as a note, as of Qmeg 4.04, US speeds are possible without the pauses. Even with some 10 foot sio2pc cable.

I just ran a test with Qmeg 4.04: Dos 2.5 and MyDos booted fine at 3xSIO (without pauses), but Yoomp!.atr failed. Without pauses I got a lot "send complete failed" and "send data frame failed" warnings and the SIO transmission was stuttering. With pauses it was a little bit better (no warnings), but still some stuttering and Yoomp! loading didn't complete successfully. But the ball in the loading screen bounced smoothly :-)

Then I ran another test with my Highspeed SIO patched OS (with patched NMI): Yoomp! loaded fine at 3xSIO and at 125kBit - but while loading the ball wasn't bouncing smoothly. Another test with my Highspeed SIO patched OS (without patched NMI handler) revealed similar problems as with Qmeg: a lot of stuttering and several fallbacks from high to standard SIO speed.

So: the loading screen of Yoomp! (which installs an immediate VBI handler) is to blame for the loading problems - the VBI code takes too much time.

Quote

BTW, if I may suggest a feature for the atarisio driver, I'd like an operation mode that would act like a 'serial spy', i.e
so I could dump all the sio traffic both ways without disrupting the SIO workings.
I don't know if that's possible hardware-wise, but I'd appreciate a statement on this

This would really be a nice feature, but it's not too easy to do: The MAX232 in the SIO2PC interface only has 2 receivers (one is used for command line, the other for RxD) and 2 transmitters (one used for TxD), but we'd need another receiver (for TxD to PC). This can be solved, for example with another re-wired SIO2PC interface or with another MAX232 chip. But then you also need a second serial port on your PC that connects to TxD, so the PC can also sniff data from SIO devices to the Atari computer.

There's a small program in the AtariSIO tarball, serialwatcher.cpp, that sniffs the command line and data input (using the standard Linux serial API, so unload the AtariSIO kernel driver first). It wouldn't bee too hard to extend this program to sniff on a second serial port, so all data could be captured.

so long,

Hias

[HiassofT]

Rybags, on Mon Mar 15, 2010 7:58 PM, said:

Hias did a couple of threads last year about achieving the highest possible SIO speed.

Unsure what he got to... I think it was something in the neigbourhood of 90kbits+ / second or so.

Here's a short summary:

Yes, it's possible to go beyond 3xSIO, but not with a standard 16550 serial card.

With a 16C950 card and with the patched SDrive firmware 110kbit/sec and 125kbit/sec work fine (this is approx. 6xSIO, for 125kbit to be stable you need my highspeed SIO patch that also patches the NMI handler). I use the 125kbit/sec mode quite often, especially when I need to flash 512k or 1MB into my flashcarts :-) Another benefit of the 16C950 card is that atarixfer then also supports highspeed SIO (with 16550 cards you can only use the XF551 and Happy Warp 2xSIO modes).

Another possibility for higher transfer speeds (up to 125kbit) is using a FTDI based USB-serial adapter with AspeQt. Just select "use non-standard speeds" in the option dialog and enter the desired pokey divisor (8 would be 3xSIO, 0 125kbit / approx. 6xSIO).

so long,

Hias

[Fox-1 / mnx]

Just received my "Profilic USB-to-Serial Bridge" adapters.



and gave it a try with APE (DOS) and Aspeqt.

Since my RT-8 died a while ago I used APE to download that info to my BBS. Due the lack of enough serial ports I had to set-up a laptop, running APE in a Win98 DOS window while the BBS was using another PC for the telnet/serial conversion, taking up it's single serial port.

The USB-to-Serial I use (PL-2303 based) doesn't work with APE (DOS). This has probably something to do with the IRQ values APE expects to see but there isn't really one when using USB.

Aspeqt does a better job as it seems. It worked instantly on my old Win2K PC.

The adapter I have is this one: http://www.prolific....ducts.asp?ID=59

Drivers here: http://www.prolific....loads.asp?ID=31

I ordered these for a whopping US $1,00 a piece in Hongkong!

http://cgi.ebay.nl/w...em=150310723007

(o.k. plus US $2,49 shipping :-)).

Haven't tried using ATR images yet as the time/date was my first concern. I run AspeQt on my Win2K PC as "START /belownormal /min C:\winapps\AspeQt\aspeqt.exe" and used the drivers from the site. There are also drivers on the supplied mini CD-Rom but these are quite old. For linux no drivers are required.

[joplinatari]

Hi,

I've heard several reports of people successfully using cheaper RS232 to USB adapters with AspeQt... but I've tried everything I can think of with mine and haven't been successful.

Anyone here successfully using one of these adapters (like the blue colored ones with silver braided cords sold on Ebay by Hong Kong sellers for a few bucks) with AspeQt and could give me some pointers? If I could get my Aspire One netbook to talk to my 130xe... it would be like Christmas in April!

Thanks,

SP

[HiassofT]

joplinatari, on Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:18 PM, said:

I've heard several reports of people successfully using cheaper RS232 to USB adapters with AspeQt... but I've tried everything I can think of with mine and haven't been successful.

I'm using a Digitus DA-70146, the newer DA-70156 should also work fine. It costs approx. 10 EUR here at local stores and has a FTDI chip (which supports baudrates up to 125 kbit in AspeQt).

Considering the price I really wouldn't want to try other adapters which might be using a PL2303 or some other crappy chip and for which I'd have to pay shipping.

so long,

Hias

[manopac]

joplinatari, on Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:18 PM, said:

Hi,

I've heard several reports of people successfully using cheaper RS232 to USB adapters with AspeQt... but I've tried everything I can think of with mine and haven't been successful.

Anyone here successfully using one of these adapters (like the blue colored ones with silver braided cords sold on Ebay by Hong Kong sellers for a few bucks) with AspeQt and could give me some pointers? If I could get my Aspire One netbook to talk to my 130xe... it would be like Christmas in April!

Thanks,

SP

I bought one of those Hong Kong seller 1$ adapters and it works ... barely ... I have to unplug the USB cable after every game I load to reset it ... I probably will get a better adapter, so don't bother with that one ...

[candle]

its because it goes to sleep mode after some time of idle
you may try to run some FTDI configuration tools and see if that changes anything

[Fox-1 / mnx]

candle, on Wed Apr 14, 2010 7:06 PM, said:

its because it goes to sleep mode after some time of idle

If it has a sleep mode it must be an extremely extended one.

I use one of those to read the time/date from AspeQt on my 8-bit BBS. I wrote a small piece of code to read T/D from APE (and AspeQt of course) that's been run every hour (actually every 50 minutes due to 50Hz/60Hz differences). This code tries to read T/D 3 times with a 2 second pause in between the attempts and then gives up. In the few weeks I use this config it never missed a single event. It always succeeded at the first try.

[retrobits]

joplinatari, on Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:18 PM, said:

...If I could get my Aspire One netbook to talk to my 130xe... it would be like Christmas in April!

Well, maybe its not $1, but $18 seems fairly inexpensive to me.

I purchased this adapter:
http://www.usbgear.com/USBG-232.html

and use these drivers:
http://www.ftdichip....Drivers/VCP.htm

Works great on a Macbook and also my MSI Wind netbook.

Edited by retrobits, Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:51 PM.

[joplinatari]

Thanks for the info. Went ahead and ordered a FTDI chipset based adapter from USBgear.com about a week ago and arrived today. Works perfectly!

retrobits, on Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:50 PM, said:

Well, maybe its not $1, but $18 seems fairly inexpensive to me.

I purchased this adapter:
http://www.usbgear.com/USBG-232.html