Friday, February 11, 2005

Features Status (IDE)

Status:Feature:
Outstanding    COLLECT command
Outstanding    DIRECTORY command
Done   Disk Status (print ds$)
Done   INITIALIZE command (not needed for harddisks)
Done   HEADER (Formats the disk)
Done   low-level BAM (Block Allocation Map) and directory routines
Outstanding    Load
Outstanding    Save
Outstanding    Sequential Files
Outstanding    Relative Files
In Progress    SCRATCH
Done    RENAME
Outstanding    COPY
Outstanding    CONCAT

Features Status (RS-232 Serial Port)

Status:Feature:
Done   RS-232 Serial Port with programmable baud-rate, start/stop bits, parity, device-address
Outstanding   RTS/CTS (hardware) handshake.
OutstandingPETASCII to ASCII translation
OutstandingConnector wired as DTE (male connector instead of female etc.)

Progress: Serial Port works...

The Serial Interface is now working. That means that the device can now act as an interface between an RS-232 device (modem, barcode scanner, printer) and a CBM using the CBM's IEEE-488 interface. Supported baudrates are from 75 to 38400 with 7/8 databits, 1/2 stop bits and Odd/Even or No parity.

Here's a sample program to set the serial parameters (the factory IEEE-488 device number is 7):

10 open 1,7,1
20 print#1, "1200,8,1,n" : rem 1200 baud, 8 databits, 1 stop bit, no parity
30 close 1

The cool thing is: The parameters are stored in EEPROM (non-volatile memory) so once they're set there's no need to set them again (unless you want to change them, of course). There's no battery required to retain the settings.

To send something:

10 open 1,7
20 print#1,"Hello World";
30 close 1

To read data and display it on the screen:

10 open 1,7
20 get#1,a$
30 if st = 0 then print a$;
40 goto 20


ALSO... The device number for the serial interface (as well as for the IDE drive to follow) are set through the PET software:

10 open 1,7,2
20 print #1, "14"
30 close 1

after you run the above, the serial port device number will be 14. To reprogram it to 12 you'd run:

10 open 1,14,2
20 print #1, "12"
30 close 1