Kaypro 2 as a Linux terminal?

[nnth...@gmail.com]

I've been attempting to use my Kaypro 2 as a serial Linux terminal using a few different programs: Kermit, Term, Mex.

I'm new to the Kaypro and to CP/M in general, but I've been able to set up serial Linux terminals before with my Apple II and IBM PC.

Kermit, which I obtained pre-assembled from Terry Stewart (thank you!!) has seemed like my best bet so far. I have a null modem cable going from the Kaypro to the Linux machine; on the Ubuntu side, I start up a getty instance...

agetty -L ttyS0 1200 vt52

I set Kermit to vt52 mode, with the rest of the defaults as-is... but all I get are garbage characters. The bitrate does match on both the Kaypro and Ubuntu ends (and the characters' rate of appearance does change when bitrate is adjusted). I've tried tweaking a few different Kermit settings - flow control, buffer size... but no dice.

The serial connection *itself* seems to be fine. I installed gtkterm on the Linux box, and was able to send raw characters from there that were displayed on the Kaypro. Also, I connected to the Kaypro to a PowerMac G4 running OS X 10.2, started the 'screen' program on the Mac with a getty, and was able to send raw characters from the Kaypro that were displayed in the Mac's terminal window (although Kermit refused to show what the Mac's terminal window itself was displaying). So I don't believe there is any catastrophic hardware failure.

Any ideas what I might be missing? Given the nature of the problem, I feel like it must be something obvious...

[Dennis Boone]

> I set Kermit to vt52 mode, with the rest of the defaults
> as-is... but all I get are garbage characters. The bitrate does
> match on both the Kaypro and Ubuntu ends (and the characters' rate
> of appearance does change when bitrate is adjusted). I've tried
> tweaking a few different Kermit settings - flow control, buffer
> size... but no dice.

Word length or parity, maybe? Either try passing -8 to agetty,
or use stty to set the desired parameters before starting agetty
with the -c option.

De

[ldkr...@gmail.com]

On your Ubuntu box see what settings are default for /dev/ttyS0 as well
as permissions with:

[code]
ls -alt /dev/ttyS0
/[code]
which will show USER:GROUP of maybe ROOT:DIALOUT etc., so your loginuser
in ubuntu needs to be a member of group DIALOUT.

See that with:
[code]
groups loginuser
[/code]

Now, check the bits per character, parity, and stop bits of /dev/ttyS0 with:
[code]
stty -F /dev/ttyS0 -a
[/code]
and use man to check for: cs8 or cs7, parenb & parodd, cstopb, crtscts, and
ixon & ixoff

[code]
man stty
[/code]

Set the Kaypro serial port accordingly.

Larry

[none William Pechter]

In article <16acfa1a-c88f-482f...@googlegroups.com>,

check the Kermit character size and parity...

Linux is probably 8 bit no parity and Kermit's probably set 7 even parity.

BTW -- I think you should be able to get higher than 1200 baud once you
debug this.

Bill

[Steven Hirsch]

On 07/08/2016 11:33 AM, William Pechter wrote:

> BTW -- I think you should be able to get higher than 1200 baud once you
> debug this.

I have used a 4 Mhz. Kaypro 10 at 19.2K, but that's about as far as you can go
without dropping characters here and there.

[none William Pechter]

In article <T7adnQcbXfWKuh3K...@giganews.com>,

I think I did 19200 on a Gemini Zorba as well. I know I did 19200 (if my old
memory hasn't bitrotted on a DEC VT180 as well -- interrupt driven bios was
pretty solid.)

[nnth...@gmail.com]

I took at look at the settings on both the Ubuntu and Kaypro ends.

Output of stty -F /dev/ttyS0 -a:

speed 9600 baud; rows 0; columns 0; line = 0;
intr = ^C; quit = ^\; erase = ^?; kill = ^U; eof = ^D; eol = <undef>;
eol2 = <undef>; swtch = <undef>; start = ^Q; stop = ^S; susp = ^Z; rprnt = ^R;
werase = ^W; lnext = ^V; flush = ^O; min = 1; time = 0;
-parenb -parodd cs8 hupcl -cstopb cread clocal -crtscts
-ignbrk -brkint -ignpar -parmrk -inpck -istrip -inlcr -igncr icrnl ixon -ixoff
-iuclc -ixany -imaxbel -iutf8
opost -olcuc -ocrnl onlcr -onocr -onlret -ofill -ofdel nl0 cr0 tab0 bs0 vt0 ff0
isig icanon iexten echo echoe echok -echonl -noflsh -xcase -tostop -echoprt
echoctl echoke

Photos of the Kermit settings on the Kaypro:

http://imgur.com/QfoJrPg
http://imgur.com/R8b84B1

In checking the user manual for the CP/M version of Kermit 4.11, it doesn't seem like there's even a way to change the word length for Kermit...

ftp://www.columbia.edu/kermit/pub/cpm80/cpkerm.pdf

...so I figured it was hardcoded at 7 bits. I changed the Ubuntu side to match with cs7, started up another getty - and same thing, just garbage characters.

[nnth...@gmail.com]

Oh and I do see 9600 baud, but I know this is overridden when I specify 1200 in the agetty command string...

[ldkr...@gmail.com]

The Kaypro II default is 300 baud 81N for Bits per Char, Parity, and stop bits
straight from the User Manual. You would have to set it for 9600 with the
config program or run some terminal program that would allow you to modify
the Baud rate.

I've got Modem904.lbr that will work good with the Kaypro, if you are interested.

Larry

[nnth...@gmail.com]

I would definitely be interested. I finally returned to this after a year, and tried a copy of Kermit-80 ostensibly tailored for Kaypros from http://www.retroarchive.org/maslin/disks/kaypro/ but got the same results. I've been making sure to match speed and parity... none of my other micros have been this troublesome, so I am starting to wonder if it is some kind of very specific hardware failure (that apparently allows SOME functionality but not all).

I've only tried it with the Linux machine so far, not the OS X one, but I'm not optimistic. This fellow makes it seem as though it should be easy-peasy: https://trmm.net/Kaypro

[Larry Kraemer]

Check your PM's.

Larry

[vld...@gmail.com]

This is an old thread, but it shows up in relevant google search. So for anyone arriving here through the search here is the solution.

The serial port on kaypro 2 is female so standard cable would plug right to it without null modem -- and it would not work, because null model is still required for correct wiring. So in order to connect kaypro to another computer a null modem cable need to be patched in with the help of gender changer.

After that kermit from Mazlin archive works straight up, just set the baud rate with command SET BAUD 9600, and then CONNECT

Cheers

[norwe...@gmail.com]

I removed the floppy drives from an old Kaypro 2 and installed a homebrew Z80 with battery backed RAM disk and hard drive interface. It used the Kaypro serial port for its console. The Kaypro was just essentially a console for the homebrew Z80. Made for a nice portable system.

Two problems with it, however. The keyboard click of the Kaypro is annoying (but I'm sure it can be tuned off. I just never devoted enough time to figuring out how to do it), and (more seriously) the Kaypro locked up when there was no keyboard activity for a period of time. I was never able to figure out why this was or how to fix it.

Roger