I did a thing called SyncDongle.(
https://github.com/MattisLind/alfaskop_emu/tree/master/hardware/SyncDongle)
Essentially a BluePill with some level converters. It is using the SPI port
for sync communication.
Then I developed a BSC implementation and a HDLC implementation to use on
the SyncDongle.
https://github.com/MattisLind/alfaskop_emu/tree/master/Utils/BSCGateway/BSC…
https://github.com/MattisLind/alfaskop_emu/tree/master/Utils/SDLCBridge
BSCBridge is more finished and works quite well to communicate between a
USB host (Hercules) and a BSC terminal controller. SDLCbridge is working
but is unfinished but tested fine with some simple SDLC messages to a
terminal so the low level stuff seemed to work.
https://youtu.be/H1Sxt7xjn4Y
https://youtu.be/CFfB3yCN9OI
Not sure if 1 mbit/s is possible with the SyncDongle hardware. But it might
be.
/Mattis
Den tis 26 jan. 2021 kl 02:46 skrev Paul Koning via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org>:
In playing with DECnet I built a DDCMP implementation
which deals with a
byte stream, normally from a UART. So that works nicely with async link
DDCMP as found in RSX and several other operating systems. But the speed
is limited.
The other option would be synchronous links, which would enable
connections to DMC11 or the like at speeds up to 1 Mb/s. But synchronous
comm devices that connect to modern computers aren't so easy to find,
though I have seen a few.
After playing with Arduino for LK201 keyboard emulation I started to
wonder if one could be made to be a synchronous comm link with a USB back
end, with low level things like byte framing and maybe DDCMP packet format
handling in there, but the protocol state machine in the host behind the
USB interface. For moderate speeds that seems entirely practical. For 1
Mb/s, probably not, though perhaps one of the fast ARM based units with its
built-in SPI could be warped into that.
The alternative would be something like a BeagleBone Black (or Green) such
as David Gesswein used as the engine for his MFM hard disk emulator. That
clearly could do the job without any strain.
So I'm wondering: would there be interest in such a thing? If yes, should
it be a modem-connected one (RS232 signaling, bit clock supplied externally
by a modem or modem-eliminator)? Or should it be the "integral modem"
short distance type, the ones that used a pair of coax with 4-pin AMP
connectors like this
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/te-connectivity-amp-connectors/2…
?
paul