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PLATOTERM LITE 1.3 Cartridge Release


tschak909

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PLATOTERM Lite Version 1.3

About this test release

The Entire code-base has been brought up by starting from a skeleton implementation of PLATOTERM, and folding in precisely only the required functionality, testing each touch driver to make sure that it fits correctly within the 16K ROM address space.

The Serial driver has also had its input buffer drastically increased (to 2048 bytes), which should allow testing of higher speeds. There still is much work to be done, hopefully Mr. Atari's SIO changes can be folded in.

Baud rate selection is now possible by pressing SELECT-1, 2, 4, or 9 for 1200, 2400, 4800, or 9600 baud respectively.

Also to be done, are various initialization tasks (such as ensuring that page 6 isn't blown away, at Mr. Atari's request.)

About The Atari Lite Release

This is a special version of PLATOTERM, that has been re-organized to fit the code within approximately 16K of space, so that it can be fit onto a cartridge,

In order to do this, preferences was eliminated completely, and 1200 baud is initially selected. But the upside is, you can flash this onto a cartridge.

Like the larger version, PLATOTERM requires a loaded R: handler. The cartridges are configured to load the DOS first, before jumping into the main program, so any handlers you wish to run, you should be sure they are loaded first (e.g with AUTORUN.SYS).

Since devices like the Atari 850 can autoboot their handler if no disk drive is present, they will also work with the cartridge version. Just be sure that the 850 interface is switched on, before poweron.

R-Verter users must ensure their handler is loaded, before starting PLATOTERM.

The only available hotkeys are:

  • SELECT-T to switch to TTY mode.
  • SELECT-P to switch to PLATO mode.
  • SELECT-X will exit the cartridge to DOS.
  • SELECT-RETURN to send a carriage return and a line feed.
  • SELECT-1 to switch to 1200 baud.
  • SELECT-2 to switch to 2400 baud.
  • SELECT-4 to switch to 4800 baud.
  • SELECT-9 to switch to 9600 baud.

Versions available:

There are file and cartridge versions available for the following touch devices:

  • Atari Joystick
  • Atari CX77 Touch Tablet
  • Atari CX80 Trak-Ball
  • Atari ST Mouse
  • Amiga Mouse

in addition, a ROM without any pointer device driver is also available.

What is PLATOTERM?

PLATOTERM is a terminal emulator to access CYBIS services now available
on the Internet utilizing a WIFI Modem.

For the purposes of this documentation. PLATO and CYBIS are interchangeable
names for the same platform.

What services are currently available to access via PLATOTERM?

As of writing this preliminary documentation (September 2019), there are
two major CYBIS systems running. CYBER1.ORG and IRATA.ONLINE.

WHAT IS PLATO? (aka CYBIS?)

(from the PLATO wikipedia page:)

PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations), was the first
generalized computer-asisted instruction system. Starting in 1960, it ran
on the University of Illinois ILLIAC I computer. By the late 1970s, it
supported several thousand graphics terminals distributed worldwide, running
on nearly a dozen different networked mainframe computers. Many modern
concepts in multi-user computing were originally developed on PLATO, including
forums, message boards, online testing, e-mail, chat rooms, picture languages,
instant messaging, remote screen sharing, and multi-player games.

What is CYBER1.ORG?

CYBER1.ORG is a CYBIS system initially set up in 2004, as a haven for
ex-PLATO users to experience a classic PLATO author experience.

CYBER1.ORG is home to many thousands of classic PLATO lessons and
notesfiles which have been restored from various sources, and have
been made available in the interests of preserving PLATO.

What is IRATA.ONLINE?

IRATA.ONLINE is a CYBIS system that has been set up for the benefit of
the greater vintage computing community, in the interest to provide
a unique experience that can be accessed on a wide variety of
vintage computers with a bitmapped graphics display. To this end,
IRATA.ONLINE develops PLATOTERM for dozens of platforms, so that they
can access CYBIS systems, as well as provide a community and learning
infrastructure for vintage computing users of all types, in the hopes
that as a cohesive community, something unique can hopefully
emerge.

What is the connection between IRATA.ONLINE and CYBER1.ORG?

CYBER1.ORG and IRATA.ONLINE are independent of one another. With that said,
the reason IRATA.ONLINE and PLATOTERM exist, are because of the efforts of
CYBER1.ORG to not only preserve a running PLATO system, and provide the
necessary information for interested parties to write terminal software
to access CYBIS systems, but also in their effort to produce a publically
available distribution of CYBIS that others who are interested may also
run their own CYBIS installation. IRATA.ONLINE is a direct result of the
public release of this distribution.


Connecting to IRATA.ONLINE

Once PLATOTERM is started, you can connect to CYBER1.ORG using your WIFI modem,
using a command such as:

ATDTIRATA.ONLINE:8005

Connecting to CYBER1.ORG

Once PLATOTERM is started, you can connect to CYBER1.ORG using your WIFI modem,
using a command such as:

ATDTCYBERSERV.ORG:8005

PLATO Keyboard

The PLATO keyboard is mapped to the Atari keys, like so:

PLATO KEY Atari Key
ANS CTRL-A
BACK CTRL-B
SHIFT-BACK CTRL- + (left arrow)
COPY CTRL-C
SHIFT-COPY CTRL- - (up arrow)
DATA CTRL-D
SHIFT-DATA SHIFT-CTRL-D
EDIT CTRL-E
SHIFT-EDIT SHIFT-CTRL-E
FONT CTRL-F
÷ CTRL-G
HELP CTRL-I
SHIFT-HELP SHIFT CTRL-H
LAB CTRL-L
SHIFT-LAB CTRL-= (down arrow)
SUPER CTRL-P
SHIFT-SUPER SHIFT CTRL-P
SQUARE CTRL-Q
ACCESS SHIFT CTRL-Q
STOP CTRL-S
SHIFT-STOP SHIFT CTRL-S
TERM CTRL-T
× CTRL-X
SUB CTRL-Y
SHIFT-SUB SHIFT CTRL-Y
ESC
CR and LF Select RETURN

MICRO Symbols

PLATO KEY MICRO Key
α A
β B
¸ C
δ D
æ G
ø H
å J
ä K
λ L
μ M
&126; N
° O
π P
` Q
ρ R
σ S
Θ T
¨ U
ˇ V
ω W
X
ö Y
l-embed 0
r-embed 1
˷ :
,
=
SHIFT A
SHIFT X
SHIFT D
SHIFT W
© SHIFT C
SHIFT F
&Aelig; SHIFT G
Ø SHIFT H
Å SHIFT J
Ä SHIFT K
SHIFT O
Ö SHIFT Y
SHIFT <
SHIFT >
{ SHIFT [
} SHIFT ]
CTRL X
SHIFT )
Arrow 6

Credits

  • '''Thomas Cherryhomes''' - Terminal coding, sleepless nights.
  • '''Steve Peltz''' - original PAD protocol decoder from MacPAD.
  • '''Christian Groessler''' - multiply funcs for Atari, lots of testing
  • '''Jon Halliday''' - Fast text output routines for Atari
  • '''Ron Klein''' - Testing, testing, and more testing
    ' '''Sijmen Schouten''' - FAST I/O and R-Verter support! Testing, testing, and more testing.
  • '''Michael Sternberg''' - Apple2 testing, showing off at Kansasfest 2018
  • '''The.Doctor''' - Help tuning XON/XOFF parameters.
  • '''John Buell''' - Testing
  • '''John Manterola''' - Testing
  • '''Jasmaz''' - Commodore 64 testing
  • '''Paul Rickards''' - Commodore 64 testing
  • '''Glenn Wiorek''' - Commodore 64 testing.
  • '''Rory McMahon''' - Testing

 

 

 

 

 

 

PLATOTERM-LITE-ATARI-1.3-ALL.zip

Edited by tschak909
place files into content.
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Apologies, slight release edit, I had to make one little bugfix to exit the program if the R: handler can't be loaded. It will jump right back through DOSVEC if there is no R: handler.

 

Also run address has been shifted, should work everywhere now.

and XEX versions have been added.

 

 

PLATOTERM-LITE-ATARI-1.3-ALL.zip

Edited by tschak909
more bugfixes.
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3 minutes ago, flashjazzcat said:

Then no. Could be made to run from the SIDE2, however (which can be put into flat 16K cart mode), with some minor alterations.

 

Could you give me some hints how to run it from SIDE2 as ROM then, please? :)

I can run it as xex and I'm curious if running as ROM will make any difference?

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4 minutes ago, tschak909 said:

If someone can find a way to make this an 8k banked cart, that would be awesome...

Making it a banked cart would be a great way to save 8K of memory space, but it would probably require some planning at the coding stage. I assume the 16K cart doesn't simply unravel itself into RAM? The Ultimate 1MB doesn't support 8K 'external' banked carts either. How is running PlatoTerm as a 16K cart any different to running it as a 16K executable? Does one actually gain anything from it residing in ROM?

 

Ah... I see my last questions have already been answered. :)

 

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Making it a banked cart would be a great way to save 8K of memory space, but it would probably require some planning at the coding stage. I assume the 16K cart doesn't simply unravel itself into RAM? The Ultimate 1MB doesn't support 8K 'external' banked carts either. How is running PlatoTerm as a 16K cart any different to running it as a 16K executable? Does one actually gain anything from it residing in ROM?
 
Ah... I see my last questions have already been answered. [emoji4]
 
Believe me, I would love to be able to squish it in to 8K of space. I would absolutely love to be able to run this cartridge from the ultimate 1mb bios menu.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

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Just now, tschak909 said:

Believe me, I would love to be able to squish it in to 8K of space.

If there's 16K of code, I doubt it will ever fit into 8K. 8K of address space is doable with a pair of banks, however, although that means it won't run straight off an U1MB BASIC slot. I've never tried writing a banked cartridge in CC65. Both the banked carts I've written (the WIP GOS, which is 16x8K banks, and the SIDE loader, which is 2x8K banks) were coded in assembly language, and the only really difficult part is ensuring that all data required by code in a given bank is not in the other bank. Some kind of general purpose inter-bank JSR is rather useful as well, but I have no idea how C calls spanning banks would work, if they can work at all.

 

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I thought the R: handler might be integral (or could be loaded from within the app), but if it isn't, forget running this from the SIDE loader. A DOS environment is needed.
I designed the cart as a disk loading cart for this reason. Some ppl have 850s, Some have R:Verters. Both need different handlers. The cart has the advantage of being able to bootstrap the 850's handler.

Otherwise, yeah, you need a DOS.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

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I had great success by using the platoterm cart joystick version, 2400 baud, bobverter rverter (I prepared a dos25.atr which included the rverter handler from the bobterm disk, renamed autorun.sys). The st-mouse and the tablet pad version worked, but then after login in, or in some point soon after login in the pointer disappear and never got back again, so I  continued with the keyboard. I noticed that the DOS 2.5 installed the 130xe Ram disk automatically, maybe it has something to do with that.

I played checkers, and being able to use the joystick makes such a big difference!

Thanks!

 

 

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I had great success by using the platoterm cart joystick version, 2400 baud, bobverter rverter (I prepared a dos25.atr which included the rverter handler from the bobterm disk, renamed autorun.sys). The st-mouse and the tablet pad version worked, but then after login in, or in some point soon after login in the pointer disappear and never got back again, so I  continued with the keyboard. I noticed that the DOS 2.5 installed the 130xe Ram disk automatically, maybe it has something to do with that.
I played checkers, and being able to use the joystick makes such a big difference!
Thanks!
 
 
The pointer appears initially. The host sends commamds to turn on and off the touch panel, which makes the pointer appear or disappear.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

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1 hour ago, myriadcs said:

sorry for missing this help ?

 

I've tested higher speeds and 2400 is stable, 4800 and 9600 are giving some problems, especially with graphics drawing

 

1 hour ago, myriadcs said:

sorry for missing this help ?

 

I've tested higher speeds and 2400 is stable, 4800 and 9600 are giving some problems, especially with graphics drawing

Which interface are you using? Apparently only the Atari 850 handler correctly uses the whole 2048 byte buffer allotted to concurrent mode. Seriously, the more I deal with Atari R: and RS232, the more I get angry at just how ham-strung the whole design was.

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3 minutes ago, tschak909 said:

 

Which interface are you using? Apparently only the Atari 850 handler correctly uses the whole 2048 byte buffer allotted to concurrent mode. Seriously, the more I deal with Atari R: and RS232, the more I get angry at just how ham-strung the whole design was.

RVerter + ESP8266

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