Hi,

I got my stuff today. Thanks. The myIDE is excellent. I'm just trying to get the SIO2PC running on linux. The kernel mode sio2linux code doesnt work on recently kernel trees (I didnt try fixing it yet), but I found some other source (a user mode program) called sio2linux

http://www.crowcastle.net/preston/atari/

However, I am unable to get it to talk to the machine. If i snoop on the serial port (vaud 19200) and try and read a directory from the atari 800 should I see any data coming in - I would assume i should ? The middle light flashes on the interface.

One thing I thought it could be was I read that some cables use RI (ring) and some use DSR (data send ready). Which does your interface use? I tried tweaking the source to use DSR instead of RI, but i still got nothing.

I need to test in windows I guess and go from there. I'll try some other serial snooping software also, so I can see whats going on

I've just read that the interface is auto sending DSR/CTS/RI, so im not sure what else could be wrong. I need to do more testing.

Well. it works fine on windows.

Seems the

ioctl(atari,TIOCMIWAIT,TIOCM_RNG); /* Wait for a command */

waits for ever, which is odd. I need to know if the serial port is working correctly with linux. I'll plug it into another machine and make sure. grr.

A friend and I have now got this working. To do this, we had to snoop the windows APE software serial stuff.

The sio2pc hardware claims to support CTS/DSR and RNG handshaking modes, but did not work with any linux software.

After looking at the windows software, I saw that it CLEARS the RTS line. Doing the same on linux allowed the device to start talking.

the following code did the trick

// Clear RTS (override hw flow control)
int sercmd = TIOCM_RTS;
ioctl(fd, TIOCMBIC, &sercmd);

I had to modify the sio2linux code also to wait for DSR instead of RNG. Is the clearing of this line something which "configures" the sio2pc for a specific mode ?

It would help me greatly if any other specifics of this interface were detailed. It also seems the hardware is NOT tested on anything other than ape :/

the following patch for sio2linux makes it work. I haven't yet applied any changed to atarisio yet to make that work, although the author has given me access to the most recent version (which solved the new kernel compatibility issues)

http://www.exotica.org.uk/~buzz/atari/sio2linux.diff

Yes, clear RTS for sio2pc mode, set for ProSystem/10502PC mode.

In either mode you can use it as you would each individual cable.

Steve

Thanks for the info. Very useful. Before i have a little moan, i want to say the hardware i bought is great, very pretty etc.. but

the page about the hardware says:



but it doesnt mention the use of some switch to put the system in a certain mode. Nor did it to this point work with any linux software. It's only since today i contacted both the sio2linux authors and atarisio author (who has implemented this change today), that this has come to light.

well. the good thing is its fixed, but really, you wouldn't have liked to see me earlier after spending 8 hours messing around with this and thinking my serial hardware was at fault! perhaps some simple developer documentation would be a nice idea..

im just very glad its sorted. are there any other things to know. Your hardware says it also supports RNG and CTS handshaking modes. Is this automatic or does it need another "pin" tweaking ?

I've just updated <A href="http://www.crowcastle.net/preston/atari/">SIO2Linux</A> based on the comments above. I'm very sorry for taking so long. I only have an original SIO2PC cable, and it still works the same with the new version. Let me know if you have any issues or suggestions.