real serial port on atari

[tregare]

i've been looking for a way to hang a real hardware based serial port on ataris. anyone have schematics or designs?

 

[thorfdbg]

Hard to say what you actually need.

 

i've been looking for a way to hang a real hardware based serial port on ataris. anyone have schematics or designs?

 

The standard solution for this problem is to use a 850 or 850XL which provides four (or one) "real" serial port, i.e. RS232. Comes with drivers. Due to the nature of the SIO port, serial IO does not mix with disk transfer, though. The only other option would be to build a customized serial interface and connect it to the PBI of the XL series. The 65xx microprocessor series comes with a good collection of port chips, including UARTs you would need to build a serial port. That, plus a couple of voltage adapters (1488/1489 IIRC) should give you a serial port that can work "in parallel" to disk transfer, independent of SIO.

[ricortes]

How real and how fast? I agree the 850 thorfdgb recommends is the obvious solution and closest thing to a right stuff answer. They are a little hard to find/expensive when you do IMHO.

 

I believe most people just take a shortcut and use one of the original versions of SIO2PC with an RVerter driver. I'm not sure how far it was taken as far as speed goes. I *THINK* there is a driver that will do 19.2K BAUD.

Edited July 17, 2014 by ricortes

[ataridano]

The 850 would be the most common solution, but this uses the SIO hardware in the Atari as the UART and is somewhat limited. I would suggest looking at the MIO board. It would give you a PBI based serial port w/ UART and flow control, and you could probably use the MIO's ROM to supply the needed driver.

[BillC]

The 850 would be the most common solution, but this uses the SIO hardware in the Atari as the UART and is somewhat limited. I would suggest looking at the MIO board. It would give you a PBI based serial port w/ UART and flow control, and you could probably use the MIO's ROM to supply the needed driver.

While the MIO serial port was only designed to be configured to 19,200 it has been posted that the IC is capable of 115,200(clock/16) and IIRC it was also posted this had been done on cards for the Apple II. I don't know whether this would require modification to the MIO firmware or just special applications capable of configuring this setting.

 

Len Spencer wrote a replacement driver for the MIO serial port with slightly increased speed and, more importantly, hardware flow control.

 

While the stock MIO serial port is 19,200 I had to restrict my 14,400 modem to 9,600 when I connected to Compuserve about 20 years ago, otherwise some data would be lost once the data was decompressed. While I haven't tested it myself Len's Hyperspeed driver is supposed to be able to handle a 14,400 modem at full speed without data loss, and the hardware flow control should pause the data momentarily in the event the port can't keep up.

 

http://www.lenardspencer.com/Lenspencer/hyperspd.html

[kogden]

Easiest cheap DIY solution would be an RVerter. If you are looking for something prebuilt, an Atari 850 or P:R Connection.

 

The P:R connection is nicer looking with an XL or XE machine vs. the old beige 850. The 850 can be had for like $20-$50 on eBay, most P:R connections I see go for much more. B&C has both interfaces for around $75.

 

The 850 gives you more ports, has some weird limitations but it can talk to just about anything from an ancient electromechanical teletype to a fairly modern modem. I don't think you'll reliably get much more than 9600bps out of it though and the pinouts for the ports are funky. Both the 850 and P:R connection have parallel printer ports too.

 

Myself, I have an 850 and I'm happy with it. Got it for $20.

[+DrVenkman]

 

The P:R connection is nicer looking with an XL or XE machine vs. the old beige 850. The 850 can be had for like $20-$50 on eBay, most P:R connections I see go for much more.

 

 

For real? (... he says, incredulously). I have a P:R: Connection that I got in a miscellaneous batch of stuff I got on eBay about 12 or 13 years ago for essentially pocket change. I got a 1050, an 820 printer, 1025 printer and the P:R:, plus a batch of SIO cables, a parallel cable, and power bricks for maybe $50. If I remember right, the shipping was almost as much as the purchase.

That reminds me - I really wish eBay kept your entire account purchase history archived for you to view. It would be amusing to look back after so long now.

Edited July 26, 2014 by DrVenkman

[+David_P]

 

That reminds me - I really wish eBay kept your entire account purchase history archived for you to view. It would be amusing to look back after so long now.

On the other hand, by not doing that it means my wife can't see how much I spend on my Atari hobby... not necessarily a bad thing, that...

[kogden]

I got a 1050, an 820 printer, 1025 printer and the P:R:, plus a batch of SIO cables, a parallel cable, and power bricks for maybe $50.

12 years ago you could have a used dual-processor 64-bit Sun Ultra 2 Enterprise RISC workstation/server with an Elite3D card for what a decent 130XE with a pristine XF551 would cost today. Maybe even less.

[+DrVenkman]

12 years ago you could have a used dual-processor 64-bit Sun Ultra 2 Enterprise RISC workstation/server with an Elite3D card for what a decent 130XE with a pristine XF551 would cost today. Maybe even less.

 

Trust me, I know. I have a nice collection of A8 stuff (and a few Commodore bits) that was all acquired between about 2001 and 2003. I shudder to think how much it would cost to replace it all today.

[tregare]

Hard to say what you actually need.

 

The standard solution for this problem is to use a 850 or 850XL which provides four (or one) "real" serial port, i.e. RS232. Comes with drivers. Due to the nature of the SIO port, serial IO does not mix with disk transfer, though. The only other option would be to build a customized serial interface and connect it to the PBI of the XL series. The 65xx microprocessor series comes with a good collection of port chips, including UARTs you would need to build a serial port. That, plus a couple of voltage adapters (1488/1489 IIRC) should give you a serial port that can work "in parallel" to disk transfer, independent of SIO.

somewhere i have an 850... i just find the bit banging serial of the SIO port horribly.......ineligant. if i do build an actual serial port i'd use something other than 1488/1489 pair that way i won't need +12v iirc, only 5v for the maxim serial drivers...

[guus.assmann]

Helo,

 

Years ago, I did design something that may do what you want.

But there's one small setback. I never got to writing the software.

I do however have quite a supply of the chips.

And I build and tested the PCB.

The registers of the Uart are visable.

If you ever write drivers for it, I would appreciate to get them.

And if you need the PCB changed or want the original design files, just let me know.

 

BR/

Guus

UART.zip