Altair Replica and Stuff

[Geoff Harrison]

Tom,

You said earlier that you checked the teletype by connecting it to a PC. Does that mean you have a current loop port on your PC?

Geoff.

[TomL_12953]

Originally Posted by Geoff Harrison

Tom,

You said earlier that you checked the teletype by connecting it to a PC. Does that mean you have a current loop port on your PC?

Geoff.

Yes. I have an Advantech PCI-1603 2-port PCI board where either port can be configured as either RS-232 or 20mA Current Loop (sound familiar?) by setting jumpers on the board. I bought it specifically to run the Teletype with the Altair32 emulator until I could get Grant's replica. It works great!

BTW are there instructions somewhere for using the monitors, DBL, MBL and music ROMS I got with my system? I tried to load 4K BASIC into the replica using your instructions for the TeraTerm terminal emulator but have been unsuccessful. If I could use the MBL ROM to do it, I'd save having to enter the bootloader each time That's the point of the MBL ROM, no? 8^) Thanks again for your patience!

Tom L

[Geoff Harrison]

Originally Posted by TomL_12953

BTW are there instructions somewhere for using the monitors, DBL, MBL and music ROMS I got with my system? I tried to load 4K BASIC into the replica using your instructions for the TeraTerm terminal emulator but have been unsuccessful. If I could use the MBL ROM to do it, I'd save having to enter the bootloader each time That's the point of the MBL ROM, no? 8^)

I'm not sure how to use the AdvMon. I got it to respond to 5 commands: Mxxxx, Wxxxx, Exxxx, Rxxxx, Gxxxx, where xxxx is a 4 digit hex address. The only one that did anything useful for me was M which displays a hex dump starting at xxxx, one line at a time. Press space for another line, return to quit.

Yes, you definitely want to use MBL instead of toggling a loader in each time. I tested the PROMs on your machine with my 2SIO and got 4k basic to load. You have to play some games with the front panel switches because 4kBasic interprets the sense switches differently from MBL, but it's still easier than entering a 1st stage loader each time. We can go over that when we get the port working.

Just out of interest, did you try entering the simple echo routine on http://www.solivant.com/altair_bootl...oaders&pagen=1 ? If that won't work correctly we're not going to get VTL, MBL or anything else working on that port.

Geoff.

[TomL_12953]

Originally Posted by Geoff Harrison

Just out of interest, did you try entering the simple echo routine on http://www.solivant.com/altair_bootl...oaders&pagen=1 ? If that won't work correctly we're not going to get VTL, MBL or anything else working on that port.

Geoff.

I tried it, just to see if my input problem on port 1 is a hardware problem or a problem with VTL-2. It's a hardware problem. I can't use the first port for input. If I change the IO port references iin the code to the second port, it works OK.

Tom L

[TomL_12953]

Originally Posted by Geoff Harrison

I'm not sure how to use the AdvMon. I got it to respond to 5 commands: Mxxxx, Wxxxx, Exxxx, Rxxxx, Gxxxx, where xxxx is a 4 digit hex address. The only one that did anything useful for me was M which displays a hex dump starting at xxxx, one line at a time. Press space for another line, return to quit.Geoff.

How? I tried examining its start address and executing from there but I can't get output at all. How do you specify port 2 rather than port 1? As you know I can't type on port 1.

Tom L

[Geoff Harrison]

Originally Posted by TomL_12953

How do you specify port 2 rather than port 1?

I don't know if you can. Like MBL, it may be hard coded to port 1.

As for your current loop problem, I'm not sure what else to suggest other than sending the card back and I'll do my best to figure out what's wrong with it.

Geoff.

[TomL_12953]

Originally Posted by Geoff Harrison

I don't know if you can. Like MBL, it may be hard coded to port 1.

As for your current loop problem, I'm not sure what else to suggest other than sending the card back and I'll do my best to figure out what's wrong with it.

Geoff.

OK, I was hoping to avoid that but it does seem like it's the only way, given my poor hardware skills. I'll try to get it out tomorrow. Did you include your address on the box? I'm at work right now so can't look at it and of course I was too excited when the box came to check for such details! If you want, send me your address privately.

Thanks, Geoff.

[Geoff Harrison]

My address was on the box and I also just sent you a PM.

Geoff.