To address some limitations in my tcpser modem emulator (http://www.jbrain.com/pub/linux/serial), I've been working on a new version that is Java based. Firstly, comments about any hate of Java should be directed to /dev/null or similar :-) tcpser4j is a piece of software that runs on a PC/Mac/Workstation and turns a regular rs232 port into an emulated Hayes compatible modem. Instead of dialing out over phone lines, this modem uses TCP/IP for the connection. tcpser4j can handle both incoming and outgoing calls. It is most useful to place vintage BBS systems online as telnet BBSes. The original version of tcpser was a single 'C' codebase, but to get Win32 support I needed cygwin1.dll. That is a problem at times, and there are a number of older versions of the DLL out there that do not work with the app. As well, baud rates less than 300 seem to be non-functional in the DLL. I can't legally redistribute the DLL in my archive either. Moving to Java addressed those issues, and it also allowed the codebase to become more dynamically loadable, or reloadable. The new version contains the following features found in the original: o Multi-platform support o Support for all normal and extended Hayes AT commands, including multi-command strings o Proper S register support, including changing line terminator, linefeed char, guard time, etc. o Correct AT command response codes, including abbreviated numeric codes and Hayes Smartmodem limited response code emulation. o Tracing abilities (see what is being sent on the wire) o Phone book aliases (alias 555-1212 to servername:portnumber) o Multi-line support (multiple "modems" listen on one IP port, like modem pool) o Proper DCD support (with modified null modem cable) o Very good Hayes modem emulation o Inbound and outbound call support o Support for sending text files or raw text to local and remote sides for events like BUSY, ANSWER, TIMEOUT, NO_ANSWER, etc. o Support for inverting the DCD line o Proper support for +++ Hayes escape sequence o Support for handling NVT sequence negotiation when "dialing" telnet servers The new version hopes to better the original in a number of ways: o Java codebase, can be run on any platform with a 1.2+ JRE o Uses the RXTX Comm Library, available for most platforms. o Extensive logging flexibility. Users should be able to cater logging to their heart's desire o Better support for AT command set. Default S register setting and querying now supported, for example. o Multi-modem bank support (configure 2 modems on 1 port, 3 on another, etc.) o XML based configuration file easier to use than command line switches o Phone book aliases now loaded from file. o Multiple Phone books, with phone book delegation. Modem has a modem book, which checks pool book if no results. pool book checks master book if no match found in pool book. o Support for remote administration GUI o TCP232 option. Connect to the server via TCP/IP port and issue AT modem commands. This is best used with an emulator like VICE that emulates a rs232 interface by conecting to a TCP/IP port. It can also be used to test modem operation. DCD operation is not supported in this mode. o Remote232 option. This allows one to use RS232 ports on on the local machine. If your BBS or vintage PC is by another PC, but you want tcpser4j to run on a server, use this option. the RS232 port need only be on a machine reachable via TCP/IP, so it could be across the house, the state, the country, or the world. All control lines are preserved in this mode. o captive modem support. If configured, soft-modem will listen to IP port and real modem. This will allow existing dialup BBS systems to add telnet option while preserving dialup user support. In this mode, if telnet access is active, captive modem will be placed off-hook, and will be placed on-hook when telnet user logs off. Outbound calls will also be routed, so atdtjbrain.com will go out over IP, while atdt431-7754 will use modem. (this is still under development) o Better support for +++ sequence timing. o Support for extended error code reporting (i.e.: "NO CARRIER (Server Refused Connection)") o Support for adding new modem commands to better emulate specific modem variants I'm pretty much done with the base code, and am looking for some folks who would be interested in helping to test this codebase in some situations with different vintage platforms and send bug reports. As it's an all-new codebase, I need to do a shakedown. Initial testing has been good, but I only have so many test scenarios here. I'm also interested in ideas folks might have. Some have asked for hooks to add a chat room in the unit for folks who get busy signals when dialing in. I'm looking into that option, and some others. Most will be support via dynamic classes. Finally, I'm looking for someone to help with the Remote GUI Administration component. The codebase is available at: http://www.jbrain.com/pub/xplatform/serial/tcpser4j-2.0alpha.zip. Windows users need only unzip and execute run.bat. Other platforms need to install the appropriate RXTXComm JNI library (http://users.frii.com/jarvi/rxtx/) for that platform and tweak the run script to suit. Since I can redistribute the RXTX codebase, I may add the various libraries in a later release. Please send run scripts for other platforms. Notes: I preloaded all of the telnet BBS systems I know of into the master phone book. Please help me add to the list. As well, I created my own protocol for encapsulating serial line status into a TCP/IP datastream with the serial data. I had once saw another application that provided remote serial ports, but was unsuccessful in finding a current reference. If someone has a link and the existing protocol will work for this project, I will change my code to use the existing protocol. I have not prepared a proper README file for tcpser4j as yet. Please use information from the current tcpser project archive, or email me if you have trouble. I have tested the IP232 port option with the WinVICE emulator configured to send serial data to a remote IP port. VICE 1.16 has bugs with TCP/IP serial option, but 1.15 works. However, I have not yet been able to test the ACIA IP emulation in 1.15, and the user port emulation fails if custom RS232 routines (the George Hug routines, for example) are used. Normal KERNAL RS232 works fine. Jim Brain -- Jim Brain, Brain Innovations brain at jbrain.com http://www.jbrain.com Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, Old CBM computers, and Good Times!