18 Feb
2013
18 Feb
'13
7:26 a.m.
Morning all,
I thought I'd try and get the ol' Epson QX-10 running as a dumb terminal.
AFAIK, there's nothing on the 'standard' set of disks to do this (e.g.
valdocs has the 'mail' program which is aware of the serial port and which
I think can talk via a direct link rather than a modem - but I think its
functionality is all quite high-level and there's no 'terminal' mode).
So... MEX looks like a possibility, and an overlay for the QX-10 seems to
be available (although I'm not sure how much work is involved in merging
them yet). Does anyone know of any other options[1] which will work with
the QX-10's serial hardware? Or, does anyone happen to have a QX-10 enabled
version of MEX archived already?
[1] does CP/M abstract serial hardware into a set of common calls, or is
that outside its scope?
cheers
Jules
18 Feb
18 Feb
7:48 a.m.
On Mon, 18 Feb 2013, Jules Richardson wrote:
So... MEX looks like a possibility, and an overlay for
the QX-10 seems to be
available (although I'm not sure how much work is involved in merging them
yet). Does anyone know of any other options[1] which will work with the
QX-10's serial hardware? Or, does anyone happen to have a QX-10 enabled
version of MEX archived already?
Both MEX and IMP (which I'd recommend over MEX) are VERY easy to configure
for a new computer if you've got the serial overlay for your machine
already. The docs are very clear and straightforward on how to do it.
[1] does CP/M abstract serial hardware into a set of
common calls, or is that
outside its scope?
CP/M itself doesn't directly address serial ports the way you're thinking
- it knows about four (?) devices, RDR: PUN: CON: and LPT: (I _think_).
Any serial communications in CP/M is most often done by the software
talking directly to the serial hardware. That's why programs like MEX,
IMP and the various BYE variants have "include" files that contain the
code specific to the machine you're using them with.
If you need any help, just yell.
g.
--
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3:04 p.m.
On 02/18/2013 09:48 AM, geneb wrote:
Yes, I wasn't remembering anything in any docs about there being direct
support within CP/M - but OTOH I suspect that a lot of CP/M boxes were
pressed into service as direct-connect or dial-up terminals for other
systems, so I figured there may have been some OS support in there.
On Mon, 18 Feb 2013, Jules Richardson wrote:
Aha, thanks - I wasn't aware of IMP (one of the problems of looking at e.g.
the oakland FTP archives is that you pretty much have to know the name of
the thing that you're looking for in advance).
So... MEX looks like a possibility, and an
overlay for the QX-10 seems to
be available (although I'm not sure how much work is involved in merging
them yet). Does anyone know of any other options[1] which will work with
the QX-10's serial hardware? Or, does anyone happen to have a QX-10
enabled version of MEX archived already?
Both MEX and IMP (which I'd recommend over MEX) are VERY easy to configure
for a new computer if you've got the serial overlay for your machine
already. The docs are very clear and straightforward on how to do it. [1] does CP/M
abstract serial hardware into a set of common calls, or is
that outside its scope?
CP/M itself doesn't directly address serial ports the way you're thinking -
it knows about four (?) devices, RDR: PUN: CON: and LPT: (I _think_).
Any serial communications in CP/M is most often done by the software
talking directly to the serial hardware. If you need any help, just yell.
Thanks. I've just been looking at Valdocs' 'mail' utility and it
doesn't
seem like it supports direction connection at all (there's a
"person-to-person" option, but it still expects to talk to a modem rather
than a host via a null-modem cable).
So, it looks like the only way to get code onto the machine is to assemble
and write a disk image to floppy on a modern PC, which is a bit of a PITA
(not least because I have no spare 5.25" drives on this side of the
Atlantic, so it means dismantling the QX-10 in order to use one of its drives)
cheers
Jules
19 Feb
19 Feb
3:34 p.m.
On 02/18/2013 05:04 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
So, it looks like the only way to get code onto the
machine is to assemble
and write a disk image to floppy on a modern PC
Well, it turns out that RSI BASIC has some rudimentary serial port
functionality in it - enough for me to hack together a crude xmodem
implementation in order to blat a few essentials across the link from the
Linux box. I think it's probably been 25 years since I wrote any BASIC code
"in anger".
It's glacially slow - I'm getting about 32 cps - but it'll do.
cheers
Jules
3:41 p.m.
I have a limited number of QX-10 images. Probably no terminal emulators. One file says
QXTPM.IMA. If anyone was intersted. I do have Valdocs images or some of them.I don't
have my QX-10 anymore.
4:18 p.m.
Chris,
I have a QX10 and would be interested in any images not already on this site.
http://fjkraan.home.xs4all.nl/comp/qx10/disklibrary.html
Terry (Tez)
On Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 12:41 PM, Chris Tofu
<rampaginggreenhulk at yahoo.com> wrote:
I have a limited number of QX-10 images. Probably no
terminal emulators. One file says QXTPM.IMA. If anyone was intersted. I do have Valdocs
images or some of them.I don't have my QX-10 anymore.
4:42 p.m.
I'll have to double check Terry but that seems to run the gamut (as far as what
I've seen for the Q)
From: Terry Stewart <terry at webweavers.co.nz>
Chris,
I have a QX10 and would be interested in any images not already on this site.
18 Feb
18 Feb
11:54 a.m.
[1] does CP/M abstract serial hardware into a set of
common calls, or is
that outside its scope?
Not really. Often, on more recent CP/M machines, the PUN: and RDR@:
drvies were mapped to a serial port, but the funcitonality provided was
not enough for a serious terminal emulator. In genral CP/M comms progrmas
had to me modified for each particualr machine.
Was Kermit ever ported ot the QX10? I would be suprised if not. And most
microcomptuer kermits act as a terminal emulator too.
-tony
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
geneb＠deltasoft.com -
jules.richardson99＠gmail.com -
rampaginggreenhulk＠yahoo.com -
terry＠webweavers.co.nz