VT132 QTERM

[Davide]

Hello,

I tried both QTERM82 and QTERM84 from this repo:

https://git.imzadi.de/acn/qterm

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if it's an issue with the software:

I deleted QTERM82 since keypresses caused weird characters to be displayed on screen. QTERM84 works, but e.g. when typing in "AT$" and Enter, nothing happens. I'm trying to follow along with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=085KuhvN8zE, but I don't know, maybe I'm typing in the wrong characters?

Thanks in advance!

Dave

[Davide]

Actually, when pressing Enter on my keyboard, it just goes back to the beginning of the line and when typing, overwrites what was already there.

[Anna Christina]

Am 10.01.2021 um 17:57 schrieb Davide:

Hi Davide, 

What serial module are you using?
If you use the standard RC2014 SIO/2 module, the VT132 modem should be connected to the second port which is 0x82 (the console is on the first port, 0x80), so QTERM82 should work.

If you use an SC126 with RomWBW, then QTERMH1.COM is for the second serial port of a RomWBW system.

After starting QTERM, did you try pressing the button for changing the baudrate on the VT132? This should at least show some characters on the screen and after reaching the correct baudrate, it should write it to the screen.

Regards,
Anna 

[Davide]

Hello Anna,

Thanks for your quick reply!

I use the standard SIO/2 and standard RC2014 Pro Kit, so no ROMWBW or so.

Which button do you mean for changing the baudrate?

Davide

[Davide]

Clicking "Prog" while in QTERM makes the cursor stay static for a short period of time, then everything back to normal.

[Davide]

Okay, I just had to do it lots of times! I was expecting it to output the new baud everytime, instead it just displays something readable once you've reached the correct one, I see!

[Anna Christina]

Hi,

yes, the other times you only get garbage back from the modem.

Does it work now?

Anna

[Davide]

Yep, now I can send commands! The output looks all garbled though, not sure yet why.

[Davide]

This is the output:

[Anna Christina]

Hi,

what baudrate are you using?

For a normal RC2014 with the standard SIO/2, I would suggest 9600 baud.

Try setting the second clock for 9600 baud and select the baudrate via the prog button.

Regards,

Anna

[Davide]

At the moment I was still on the highest setting on both clocks. I'll try setting clock 2 lower now.

[Davide]

As soon as I set something other than 115200 via the Dual Clock module, I get no output on the  screen, somehow. Even though that's clock 2, not clock 1.

[Davide]

The speed in SET-UP B is for the Terminal, right? So that should stay on 115200 as far as I'm concerned.

[Davide]

I tried lots of combinations, like even setting both clocks to 9600 and adapting the baud in SET-UP B accordingly, then clicking „Prog“ until meaningful output was on the screen. I’m just stuck on AT$ outputting a total mess, and I have no idea why. AT does print „OK“ nice and fine though. On low bauds, I can also see that when sending AT$, sometimes the cursor actually moves left and overwrites stuff.
Maybe I just need to update my kit? It was in the Mail for a Long time before it arrived.

[Davide]

I’d also like to add that QTERM82 itself seems to work just fine, e.g. ^Y+? prints perfectly.
Just the output from the modem is bad.

[Davide]

Ok the issue was that I had the jumper on the dual serial board on “Port B clock”. Removing that solved the problem.

[Anna Christina]

Hallo Davide,

so it is working now?

Yes, the "speed" setting in Set-Up B is for the terminal part of the VT132. The modem speed is set using the "Prog" button.

Btw, did you look at the "Quick Reference Guide" for the VT132 that I've created?
Get it here: https://git.imzadi.de/acn/vt132-quickref

(I have to adapt it to reflect the v1.2 changes, I'm a little behind...)

Regards,

Anna

[Davide]

Hello Anna,
Yes it works now! Only issue is that depending on what baud I use and seemingly how much stuff is drawn on the screen, the screen just goes black every few seconds which makes it hard to interact with the BBS.
For example some games work without issue while others are impossible and I also can’t reply to mail.
I went down to 9600 baud and it works better but still in some places this happens (like when replying to mail).
Also somehow the arrow keys don’t really work as they should (I tried minesweeper). No idea why, will investigate, maybe someone has some tips!
Kind regards, Dave

[Davide]

I went another step down from 9600, I think it’s now 4800 and now those dropouts are less frequent so the BBS gets usable, also arrow keys now work.
What baud do you run your modem on and why could it be that I get these issues with faster bauds?

[Anna Christina]

Hi,

I'm using 9600 baud with the modem, but I updated from the RC2014 SIO/2 module to a SC104 SIO/2 module from Steve Cousins, because on the standard SIO/2 module the RTS and CTS lines are not connected.

These lines are used for hardware handshaking, so the CPU can tell the modem to stop/start transferring data and thus dropouts should not occur.

This way it is even possible to set the baudrate to 115.200, although the effective data transfer rate will be around 9600 bit/s.

But nevertheless,  9600 baud should work with a standard RC2014 pro.

The problem with the screen going black is also something that I don't understand - here I think TheHighNibble should be able to help or diagnose the problem further.

Regards,

Anna

[Davide]

Okay, thanks a lot!

I emailed him, let's see what he says. hopefully I can get 9600 to work fluidly with this serial module since the dropouts are very annoying. I noticed especially on pages with an animated prompt, it happens more frequently.

Worst case, I'll get the SC104 SIO/2 module as well (would it be possible to wire up the RTS / CTS lines manually? :thinking:).

Cheers,

Davide