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Wifi modem! Telnet from any computer with a serial port


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I'm looking forward to seeing your results. I'm not aware of anyone ever being able to get Telco to work with a Nano-PEB. I know I never was, and I had three different ones to try it with. Good luck.

 

I am sorry if I was not clear, I am using a stock TI Peripheral Expansion Box not a Nano-PEB. Thank you and I am having so much fun playing around with and troubleshooting RS-232 terminal communications again. It has been a while!

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Good afternoon everyone! I am requesting your input once again as I need to tap into your wisdom and experience of all things TI-99 related.

Goal: I would like to utilize my PEB’s TI RS-232 board and WiModem 232 OLED to connect to Heatwave, FuSiON, 9640news, and other TI-99 BBS’s (Preferably with ANSI graphics).

I would also like to have 80 column mode but do not have an F18A yet (Looking for one to become available).

I have:

  1. PEB w/Flexcable Interface, TI Disk Controller, TI RS-232 Interface (DB25F), TI 32Kx8 Memory Expansion Board and PHP 1250 5.25” Full Height SS/DD Floppy Drive.
  2. WiModem 232 OLED (DB25F)
  3. Gender Changer Adapter (DB25M to DB25M)
  4. Break Out Box (DB25F to DB25M)
  5. FinalGROM 99 Cartridge
  6. Terminal Emulator II Cartridge

Current Connection: TI RS-232 (DB25F) – (DB25M to DB25M) Gender Changer – (DB25F to DB25M) Break Out Box (Wired – 1-1, 2-3, 3-2,7-7,6-20,20-6) – (DB25F) WiModem 232 OLED (Connected to WoodlandNET Home WiFi).

Using TEII Cartridge – Selecting 300 baud, Even Parity, Full Duplex, Port #1, 40 Columns

Current Issue: Screen displays: Looking for router…, Connected to WoodlandNET, Filesystem Ready! (Looping). It will not accept any AT commands (+++, ATH etc.)

What am I doing wrong? What is the best setup for what I want to accomplish?

Thank you in advance for your time and input.

TWoodland

 

attachicon.gifScreen.jpg

attachicon.gifBOB.jpg

attachicon.gifWiModem232OLED.jpg

 

One thing I noticed after posting this and setting back down to troubleshoot some more is something that should have been obvious to me. If you look at my breakout box configuration settings from the picture, after trying a straight-thru 2-2,3-3 configuration that did not work, I tested 2-3, 3-2 by adding jumpers... BUT I forgot to turn off the bank switches!!! So it makes total sense now why I was getting the loop. I had configured 2-2&3, and 3-3&2. DOH!

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I received my TELCO disk today (Thank you arcadeshopper!). I am having a problem loading TELCO. I tried using the Extended Basic V.2.7 Suite cartridge and the regular Extended Basic cartridge. Both act the same way. When it auto loads the disk, it shows "Now loading:- Telco" then stops with a "* BAD ARGUMENT IN 5" error. When I catalog the disk to screen using Disk Manager 2, it displays "DISK ERROR 16". (see attached screen shots). Ugh! What am I doing wrong?

 

I messaged Arcadeshopper, he was quick in response to my folly! He asked, "Is your disk drive Double Sided? TELCO was too large to fit on a sssd disk so it's formatted dssd."

 

DOH! I have a stock PHP 1250 SS/SD Full Height Drive. Note: The manual states that although the PHP 1240 TI Disk Controller Card will use double-sided, double-density diskettes and disk drives, data will ONLY be recorded in single-density format!

 

So, my next option is to upgrade my disk drive or to add an additional drive that is Double-Sided...

 

I guess it is fair to have to relive the frustrations along with the joys of vintage retro computing!

 

Back to the drawing board...

 

post-65819-0-14341600-1539622041_thumb.jpg

post-65819-0-87049500-1539622056_thumb.jpg

post-65819-0-75100300-1539622081_thumb.jpg

Edited by twoodland
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So I received my TELCO disk today (Thank you arcadeshopper!). I am having a problem loading TELCO. I tried using the Extended Basic V.2.7 Suite cartridge and the regular Extended Basic cartridge. Both act the same way. When it auto loads the disk, it shows "Now loading:- Telco" then stops with a "* BAD ARGUMENT IN 5" error. When I catalog the disk to screen using Disk Manager 2, it displays "DISK ERROR 16". (see attached screen shots). Ugh! What am I doing wrong?

 

I messaged Arcadeshopper, he was quick in response to my folly! He asked, "Is your disk drive Double Sided? TELCO was too large to fit on a sssd disk so it's formatted dssd."

 

DOH! I have a stock PHP 1250 SS/SD Full Height Drive. Note: The manual states that although the PHP 1240 TI Disk Controller Card will use double-sided, double-density diskettes and disk drives, data will ONLY be recorded in single-density format!

 

So, my next option is to upgrade my disk drive or to add an additional drive that is Double-Sided...

 

I guess it is fair to have to relive the frustrations along with the joys of vintage retro computing!

 

Back to the drawing board...

 

attachicon.gifTelco_Error1.jpg

attachicon.gifTelco_Error2.jpg

attachicon.gifTelco_Error3.jpg

I can send you another disk that's SSSD it would be missing some files though. i can leave off all the docs and some emulation modules you may not need just leaving what you need for basic BBS

 

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk

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I can send you another disk that's SSSD it would be missing some files though. i can leave off all the docs and some emulation modules you may not need just leaving what you need for basic BBS

 

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk

Arcadeshopper YOU ROCK! That would be GREAT! I appreciate it so much!

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Arcadeshopper's disk arrived in the mail (Thanks again Arcadeshopper! I appreciate it and will make it up to you!) and I was excited to finally use TELCO! This time the TELCO program started loading up! A status bar appeared at the bottom of the screen (Yea!) followed by a pop up box which read "Unable to load module, press any key" (Doh!). After pressing a key the popup kept appearing. I tried swapping back to the original disk but it did not help. What to do now?!?

 

In the meantime, I was able to get the MFM (Magic File Manipulator) program to work transferring files via XMODEM CRC to and from the TI to my PC, so I figured that I would try and figure out what file was needed and then copy it to the disk.

 

On the PC I downloaded TELCO.DSK. I loaded it up in Ti99Dir and extracted it. I noticed that the TELCO TI Filenames had an ">" in them. As you can see from my screenshot from my previous post of the TELCO floppy that I received, the files have a "@" not a ">".

 

I thought I would try to rename the @ files to > files on the latest disk that Arcadeshopper sent to me. EUREKA, it worked!

 

I do not know why there was a difference in the filenames. I will delve into that later after I play with TELCO for a bit...

Edited by twoodland
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Arcadeshopper's disk arrived in the mail (Thanks again Arcadeshopper! I appreciate it and will make it up to you!) and I was excited to finally use TELCO! This time the TELCO program started loading up! A status bar appeared at the bottom of the screen (Yea!) followed by a pop up box which read "Unable to load module, press any key" (Doh!). After pressing a key the popup kept appearing. I tried swapping back to the original disk but it did not help. What to do now?!?

 

In the meantime, I was able to get the MFM (Magic File Manipulator) program to work transferring files via XMODEM CRC to and from the TI to my PC, so I figured that I would try and figure out what file was needed and then copy it to the disk.

 

On the PC I downloaded TELCO.DSK. I loaded it up in Ti99Dir and extracted it. I noticed that the TELCO TI Filenames had an ">" in them. As you can see from my screenshot from my previous post of the TELCO floppy that I received, the files have a "@" not a ">".

 

I thought I would try to rename the @ files to > files on the latest disk that Arcadeshopper sent to me. EUREKA, it worked!

 

I do not know why there was a difference in the filenames. I will delve into that later after I play with TELCO for a bit...

Oops sorry i forgot about that since you can't have > on a PC

 

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk

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Oops sorry i forgot about that since you can't have > on a PC

 

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk

 

Not a problem! It was my ID10T error. I should have picked up on it a lot sooner. Even though I read the "Hangup Type" section in the manual to get the pin outs to try on my BOB (Break Out Box), I should have RTFM (read the %$&*! manual). The obvious step before checking that it is plugged in and restarting it! lol :-)

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Now that I have confirmed Insane Multitasker's TELCO/WiModem232/TI-RS232 cable configuration (also confirmed by BerryMiller) with the BOB (break-out box), I am ready to create a cable. I am going to use one of the many obsolete Ethernet CAT5 patch cables that are laying around, taking up space (I just can't seem to get rid of old cables). The patch cable along with DB25M/RJ45F modular adapters will work nicely. Not that I don't have DB25M shells, pins, cable, crimper and pin extractor tool handy (I have wired many a building back in the day using serial connections), but these things are just so handy and easy to use! For those of you who do not know what a DB25 Modular Adapter is it looks like this:

 

post-65819-0-82143500-1540239099_thumb.jpg

 

I got them online from http://www.dalco.com/p-260-dalco-modular-adapter-db25rj45-male.aspx

 

Color coded, just push the pin into the numbered socket and there ya go! Plus, if you need a longer cable, simple, you just use a longer patch cable!

Pinouts: 1-1, 2-3, 3-2, & 7-7. The color code I am using is WHT=Frame Ground, RED=Transmit, GRN=Receive, & BLK=Ground. On the first adapter ((DTE (Data Terminal Equipment) = (TI RS-232 Card)) the pinouts are: 1-WHT, 2-RED, 3-GRN, & 7-BLK and on the second adapter (DCE (Data Communications Equipment) = (WiModem232)) the pinouts are: 1-WHT, 2-GRN, 3-RED, 7-BLK. Of course, after you build the cable it doesn't matter which side of the cable you plug into the TI-RS232 or the WiModem232. The connections will be the same.

 

Well, there is most likely a more concise and easier way that I could have posted about this... I digress...

Edited by twoodland
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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

 

There is no escaping done ever.. It's just raw data packets. I have been selling the WiModem for the C64 for nearly 2 years and the first I had ever heard about Telnet was about 2 months ago when someone was trying to contact tty.sdf.org:23 and the terminal software just sat there and then hung up. It turns out tty.sdf.org sends a request for the terminal type. Once I supported it, you can log in no problem.

 

Edit: so I have looked into the Telnet a bit more and it seems that ONLY port 23 is suppose to be handled as a Telnet type connection. That makes sense because the only portals I have seen all have port 23 as their port. Everything else has no Telnet escaping at all.

 

I have just recently purchased a WiModem232 modem and successfully connected to several servers.

I'm wondering what TELNET protocol features are implemented in the firmware?

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AT*T[x] – Translation mode [0/1] This command will change the translation mode. 0 = none, 1 = TELNET. If you want to log into a telnet specific site you must first change this setting to 1. Other translation types will be added in the future. Default is 0.

 

WiModem232 Manual

 

Hopefully JimDrew will reply with more information than the manual contains.

Edited by twoodland
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Thanks, but I'm actually not looking for a solution to a particular problem.

 

I would only like to learn, which "TELNET Options" are supported by the WiModem232 firmware if the TELNET translation is enabled (AT*T1).

 

For example I can take a look at the PUTTY source code::

https://git.tartarus.org/?p=simon/putty.git;a=blob;f=telnet.c;h=1287bd2dd6f31fe2aecfaf0244fa356e0558c439;hb=a5911f76d02b0de6fbc20b4c943ee33f54b432af

 

and I see that PUTTY Telnet client supports following "options":

NAWS, TSPEED, TTYPE, OENV, NENV, ECHO, SGA, BIN

WiModem232 code is closed, so I only can ask Jim Drew about it.

I hope he visits this forum from time to time :)

 

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Thanks, but I'm actually not looking for a solution to a particular problem.

 

I would only like to learn, which "TELNET Options" are supported by the WiModem232 firmware if the TELNET translation is enabled (AT*T1).

 

For example I can take a look at the PUTTY source code::

https://git.tartarus.org/?p=simon/putty.git;a=blob;f=telnet.c;h=1287bd2dd6f31fe2aecfaf0244fa356e0558c439;hb=a5911f76d02b0de6fbc20b4c943ee33f54b432af

 

and I see that PUTTY Telnet client supports following "options":

NAWS, TSPEED, TTYPE, OENV, NENV, ECHO, SGA, BIN

WiModem232 code is closed, so I only can ask Jim Drew about it.

I hope he visits this forum from time to time :)

 

 

You could go to his forum at http://www.cbmstuff.com/forum/and inquire there.

 

Beery

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The WiModem232 responds to all Telnet commands with DON'T/WON'T. This seems to be enough to get telnet stuff running. With a WiFi modem you don't need a telnet connection, and frankly I am a little surprised that they are used at all because Telnet was used mainly for controlling remote dumb terminals (width, number of lines, speed, etc.) We don't use dumb terminals, we use terminal software which handles all of that. Telnet dramatically reduces the through-put and has difficulties with flow control as well. 99.999% of the time when you are "calling" a BBS nowdays, it is a direct TCP/IP connection - no telnet.

 

There are literally hundreds of telnet commands that would have to be supported in order to be fully "telnet compliant". Since I didn't even know about telnet for 2 years after releasing the WiModem, I would say it's probably not worth the effort to try to support it for a handful of cases. I doubt there is enough code space left for full support as well.

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Thanks for the answer. That makes perfect sense.

I didn't ask for better Telnet support - just wanted to get better understanding.

Telnet has a notion of a virtual terminal, unifying control codes between different proprietary standards,

but the approach with DON'T / WON'T is still Telnet conform and works well nowadays.

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