New QTerm port for CP/M 3

[Anna Christina]

Hi,

A small announcement:

I created a new patch for QTerm to make it use CP/M 3 BDOS calls for serial I/O, so it is independant

of the type of serial chip, as long as the BIOS provides an interface.

I tried it on my RC2014 with a SC106 SIO/2 module using RomWBW and CP/M 3 and also on my

SC126 using its serial port B, also running RomWBW and CP/M 3.

This way, even RTS/CTS seem to be working, as I needed to enable it on my VT132 modem on the

RC2014 :) (and the SC106 supports it, unlike the standard RC2014 SIO/2 module)

Yesterday, I used it to log into a BBS from my SC126 and it worked fine.

You can find QTerm here: https://git.imzadi.de/acn/qterm

(I moved it to its own repository, but left a pointer on its old location)

There are new patches for ACIA and RomWBW HBIOS, that might be added soon, so we will get

a nice little collection of "modern" QTerm patches.

Best regards,

Anna

[fritzeflink]

Thanks Anna - I like Qterm and will make a try.

[Michael Dadswell]

Hi Anna,

I'm trying to locate your version of QTERM for SC126 + VT132 - the link in your message above does not work for me. Is it located in another repository?

Danke,

Mike

[Anna Christina]

 Hi Mike,

>>> You can find QTerm here: https://git.imzadi.de/acn/qterm

> I'm trying to locate your version of QTERM for SC126 + VT132 - the link in your message above does not work for me.

> Is it located in another repository?

Sorry for the problems, but the git repository daemon (an instance of "gogs", the "Go git server") that I'm using on my server has died.
And as I'm currently on holidays, I did not notice it.
I've restarted it and it is running again.

So I hope you can download it now.

Have fun - and have a look at my BBS: box.imzadi.de (Telnet port 23) ;-)

The VT100 compatible games that are also available in the repository can also be found in the BBS :)

Regards,
Anna 

[Michael Dadswell]

Hi Anna,

Many thanks for responding so quickly, the link works now. I'll try connecting to your BBS once I have everything working.

Regards,

Mike

[Michael Dadswell]

Hi Anna,

I've copied QTERMC3.COM to the SC126 which has a Highnibble VT132 card fitted.

I found that the VT132 modem seems to be expecting 57600 baud, so I've changed that on COM1 and I get an ERROR, ERROR  back when I type AT because there seem to be a return sent as soon as I type the A. 

I probably being dumb :( .   What have I misunderstood?

Regards,

Mike

[Michael Dadswell]

Sorry Anna,

I should probably add that I'm running CP/M 3 from the latest ROMWBW distribution. Also when I run QTERMC3, the ^Y ? menu commands seem to work fine.

Regards,

Mike

[Anna Christina]

Michael Dadswell schrieb am Donnerstag, 15. September 2022 um 16:42:52 UTC+2:

Hi Mike,

I've copied QTERMC3.COM to the SC126 which has a Highnibble VT132 card fitted.

I found that the VT132 modem seems to be expecting 57600 baud, so I've changed that on COM1 and I get an ERROR, ERROR  back when I type AT because there seem to be a return sent as soon as I type the A. 

I probably being dumb :( .   What have I misunderstood?

As you get the messag "ERROR", the communication with the modem seems to work, as this is what the modem is answering.

Have you entered an "A" (capital letter) or an "a" (lowercase letter)?

Contrary to every modem manufacturer back in the day that I know, the VT132 modem only allows uppercase letters for the AT (and also the commands that follow, AFAIR).

I hope that this is a solution for your problem...

As TheHighNibble is still not opening the sources for the VT132 (which is a violation of the GPLv3 license of FabGL, which is the library that the VT132 is based on), although he promised it quite a while ago, this behaviour cannot be changed.

Regards,

Anna

[Michael Dadswell]

Anna,

Thanks - using capitals was the answer to that problem!  I can't believe I didn't try that.

But the next problem is that when I type AT$ the command description is garbage, it looks like a baud rate problem, it looks like a lot of characters are being lost.  I guess I need to re-read the VT132 documentation. I wonder if it is to do with the lack or RTC/CTS on COM1?

Thanks again, I'll let you know when I get it working.

Thanks,

Mike

[Wayne Warthen]

On Thursday, September 15, 2022 at 8:15:30 AM UTC-7 Michael Dadswell wrote:

But the next problem is that when I type AT$ the command description is garbage, it looks like a baud rate problem, it looks like a lot of characters are being lost.  I guess I need to re-read the VT132 documentation. I wonder if it is to do with the lack or RTC/CTS on COM1?

Yes, it is possible, especially if the modem port is running at 57600 baud.  I do have a VT132 and I will try mine later today.  I thought I was able to get the modem port to run at a slower speed, but I don't remember right now.   I will play with it and let you know.

Thanks,

Wayne

[Wayne Warthen]

I was able to recreate the problem where you are getting garbage after sending AT$ to the modem.  It is indeed dropped characters due to overrunning COM1 serial port (since there is no flow control possible on the second serial port of the built-in Z180 serial ports).  I set the speed of COM1: to 9600 baud, then used the "prog" button on the VT132 to get it to switch to 9600 baud.  Once I did that, I had no problems.  I think you can make the adjusted modem baud rate permanent with an AT&W command (but I didn't try it).  Another alternative would be to add a serial card to your system that supports flow control and jumper that card to the RX2/TX2 pins of the bus.

Thanks,

Wayne

[Michael Dadswell]

Wayne,

 

I think pressing the ‘prog’ button steps the modem through the speed settings, but it looks like a reset or power cycle returns it to 57600 baud. I’ll play around with it some more tomorrow.

 

Regards,

 

Mike

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "retro-comp" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/retro-comp/1Bj4avX2DoE/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to retro-comp+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/retro-comp/1f946549-aa7b-4d0b-a617-b19b20a0daf8n%40googlegroups.com.

[Wayne Warthen]

On Thursday, September 15, 2022 at 10:56:13 AM UTC-7 Michael Dadswell wrote:

I think pressing the ‘prog’ button steps the modem through the speed settings, but it looks like a reset or power cycle returns it to 57600 baud. I’ll play around with it some more tomorrow.

I just tried using AT&W after getting the modem baud rate to 9600.  It seemed to "stick" even after a reset or power cycle.  Hope it works for you.

Thanks,

Wayne 

[Michael Dadswell]

Wayne, Anna,

All working now!

Many thanks to both of you for your help.

Best regards,

Mike

[Anna Christina]

Anna Christina schrieb am Mittwoch, 14. September 2022 um 12:21:37 UTC+2:

Hi,

Have fun - and have a look at my BBS: box.imzadi.de (Telnet port 23) ;-)

just a small bit of information:  

I've seen that some users from this group had a look at the BBS and registered as new users.

The BBS system had a problem with delivering the "account validation" e-mails, so registering and logging into the BBS did not work

for new users.

I'm sorry for this problem, but it is fixed now.

Regards,

Anna 

[Todd Na]

So cool! I'll check out your BBS. I just clicked on it and happened to see "WeedLink" ... hahah. To be clear, I've never used drugs in my life... but when I was 14/15, I ran a WWIV BBS and became a node on WeedLink as well. I'm willing to bet that if all those old posts are saved from the early 1990s... mine are still on there as well. I'll check our your board tonight. Thank you!

/s

Hah... oh man, old habits are coming back.

[Anna Christina]

73vw...@gmail.com schrieb am Sonntag, 25. September 2022 um 00:30:31 UTC+2:

Hi,

> So cool! I'll check out your BBS. I just clicked on it and happened to see "WeedLink" ... hahah. To be clear, I've never used drugs in my life... but when I was 14/15, I ran a WWIV BBS

> and became a node on WeedLink as well. I'm willing to bet that if all those old posts are saved from the early 1990s... mine are still on there as well. I'll check our your board tonight.

> Hah... oh man, old habits are coming back.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's not "WeedLink", but "WeedNet" - a fairly new (and low traffic) message network.

So you won't see old posts from the 90s :)

Regards,

Anna

[Todd Na]

Hahah, that's perfectly OK. Anything I wrote in 1994 when I was 16 is probably best long-gone.