tnc2 eproms...

[Gary Kohtala]

Jeff,

If I remember right, there was a binary kiss code that was sent to
the TNC from the computer, but not burned into eprom. That might be
the one you downloaded. I suggest contacting MFJ or anyone with an
old TNC2 with a later release of firmware with kiss in it. Be advised,
however, that there were problems with some versions of TNC2 firmware
in that the TNC would easily get knocked out of kissmode. I found that
to be the case in PacComm's Micropower-2 and Tiny-2, as well as the
MFJ-1270 and 1270B. I believe late releases of TNC2 firmware finally
fixed the problem and can be had from most of the TNC manufacturers
for a small fee.

73,

Gary, W7NTF

jeff wrote:
>
> I have an old tnc2 that I need to get kiss capability for. I go to
> ftp.tapr.org to tnc under software_lib and download tnc2v116.bin and
> burn it.
> It doesn't boot, I try 1.1.5 same thing. Then I notice looking in the
> data buffer that the files seem short. So, I download tnc2v113.bin, the
> version I have in eprom already and compare it to what I have on eprom
> and lo and behold, it is different.
> What I downloaded has code up to 0x2bff, about half what is in my eprom.
>
> So, how the hell do I get ALL of the eprom binaries????
>
> Also, I have an eprom marked 1.1.3 with kiss. It was one that I used
> with dos nos years ago. The way it worked is after power on you could
> either go to normal tnc2 v1.1.3 by entering 'h', for Howie code, or it
> could placed in kiss mode. The problem is I cannot remember how to get
> it into kiss mode. I can only get it into Howie code. Anybody remember
> this????
>
> Jeff, wd4nmq
> wd4...@earthlink.net
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[jeff]

Gary,

I think your right. Now I do seem to remeber that was the way it worked,
downloading teh kiss code rather then the code being in eprom.

I got kiss working by just downloading tnc2kiss.hex and burning it.
Actually better this way since I only use it with Linux ax.25, on;t have
to bother starting kiss. It just comes up as a kiss tnc.

Thanks for the reply.

jeff, wd4nmq

[jabennett]

Hi Jeff.

The latest image is 1.1.8a and is on the TAPR site. I have been using this
firmware running in the KISS mode on three different linux nodes with no
problems. In fact, one site has been running for almost a year at this point
without being touched. A couple of things to try...

1. Be sure your ftp client is in the binary mode. If not, it would
definitely corrupt the file data.

2. You mentioned this was an old TNC2. The original TNC2s only came with 16K
of RAM. Not sure at which firmware version support for 16K was dropped and
32K became the standard, but it was early. Binary images written for the 32K
RAMs will not work if 16K is installed. If you upgrade the memory, be sure
to read the TNC docs. If I remember correctly, a trace had to be cut and a
jumper installed. Ditto if the clock speed is changed.

3. If the LEDs cycle normally, but you are getting garbage on the serial
output (@9600), you may need to change the OpAmp on the RS-232 output. It
can appear that the TNC is not working properly if this is the case. The
replacement is a TL084 (I think). The problem here is the slew rate of the
earlier parts.

4. You could have bad RAM.

To put the TNC in the KISS mode, type KISS Y <cr>RESTART<cr> when the TNC
command prompt appears. You have to use the RESTART command, not RESET.
Thereafter, assuming the battery is good, the TNC will remember to go into
KISS when powered up.

Hope this helps.

73, John Bennett
n4xi

[Bob Nielsen]

I suspect you may have 16K of SRAM and will need 32K for that version.
It involves exchanging the two 8k chips for a single 16K and changing a
jumper. I would advise getting 1.1.8a (the latest which TAPR can make
publicly available).

If you only need to use KISS, just download the KISS image and burn an
eprom with that. I do this with most of my TNCs and don't have to
worry about whether or not it is in KISS mode. You could use the
tnc2kiss.hex file, although I have been using the JKISS image which is
included with the G8BPQ node software.

Bob, N7XY

On Fri, Dec 07, 2001 at 10:19:15PM -0500, jeff wrote:
> I have an old tnc2 that I need to get kiss capability for. I go to
> ftp.tapr.org to tnc under software_lib and download tnc2v116.bin and
> burn it.
> It doesn't boot, I try 1.1.5 same thing. Then I notice looking in the
> data buffer that the files seem short. So, I download tnc2v113.bin, the
> version I have in eprom already and compare it to what I have on eprom
> and lo and behold, it is different.
> What I downloaded has code up to 0x2bff, about half what is in my eprom.
>
> So, how the hell do I get ALL of the eprom binaries????
>
> Also, I have an eprom marked 1.1.3 with kiss. It was one that I used
> with dos nos years ago. The way it worked is after power on you could
> either go to normal tnc2 v1.1.3 by entering 'h', for Howie code, or it
> could placed in kiss mode. The problem is I cannot remember how to get
> it into kiss mode. I can only get it into Howie code. Anybody remember
> this????
>
> Jeff, wd4nmq
> wd4...@earthlink.net
> -

--
Bob Nielsen, N7XY nie...@oz.net
Bainbridge Island, WA http://www.oz.net/~nielsen
IOTA NA-065, USI WA-028S