Lost Chars on ttys

[Brent Thirsk <thirsk@telusplanet.net>]

Martin-Eric Racine wrote:

> That might explain why I never succeeded in connecting the Stacy to
> my TT through nullmodem. Seems anytime MiNTos and HS-Modem are booted
> together, Stacy locks dead on bootup. Then again, booting without the
> HS-Modem package results in too many lost characters, so both of the
> serial ports of the Stacy are currently useless under MiNT.
> 
> A friend who tried running STinG on his Stacy reports similar problems,
> though, so I'm begining to wonder if the hardware design of the Stacy
> isn't bugged to begin with...?
As I haven't installed HS-MODem yet, so I can't comment. I will try it.
My cure for the lost characters is the terminal program below. I found
I had to build in delays in the term prog to avoid lost chars.
It is different delay for a ST at 8mhz, to a mega ste at 16mhz, to a 
TT. Also TT running single verses not affects terminal program. I use
one TT as a terminal for testing purposes and it does not make a good 
terminal under MINT. When term prog is pre-emted, lost chars occur.
I think Terminal programs probably should have a methed of detecting
data transfer rates and properly adjusting for that. maybe that should 
be the next project. I think I can do that, maybe.  

> ----------------------------------------------------------------
This is GFA Basic code. Sorry, I'm not much of a programer either.
old hackers never change.
.he                      TERMINAL.GFA                    PAGE #
$m64000
ON ERROR GOSUB error_routine
@init_display  ! SET UP TERMINAL DISPLAY, IN THIS CASE 80 X 50 SMALL
flushinp(void)
FOR delay=1 TO 100
NEXT delay
erase
OPEN "U",#1,"AUX:"
' @login_term
OUT (1),13
DO
  WHILE INP?(1)<>0  ! START OF GET INPUT FROM SERIAL PORT
    FOR delay=1 TO 100 ! DELAYS ARE TO NOT MISS DATA
    NEXT delay
    x$=INPAUX$
    FOR delay=1 TO 100
    NEXT delay
    control&=INSTR(x$,CHR$(254))
    IF control&>0  !TESTS FOR CONTROL CODE
      IF control&>1
        PRINT LEFT$(x$,control&-1)
      ENDIF
      endcontrol&=INSTR(x$,"*")
      IF endcontrol&<=0
        REPEAT
          IF INP?(1)<>0
            FOR delay=1 TO 100
            NEXT delay
            ix$=INPAUX$
          ENDIF
          IF ix$<>""
            x$=x$+ix$
          ENDIF
        UNTIL INSTR(x$,"*")<>0 ! * SIGNIFY END OF CONTROL CODE
      ENDIF
      terminal_
      REPEAT
      UNTIL OUT?(1)
      OUT 1,0
    ELSE         ! OR OUTPUTS TO STD I/O (SCREEN)
      PRINT x$;
    ENDIF
  WEND !ENDIF
  CLR x$
  IF INP?(2) ! INPUT FROM KEYBOARD & I/O TO SERIAL PORT
    KEYLOOK n%
    IF n%=338493464
      GOTO fini
    ELSE
      n%=0
    ENDIF
    k$=INKEY$
    IF k$<>""
      IF ASC(k$)<>0
        char%=ASC(k$)
      ELSE
        char%=CVI(k$)
        char%=char%+128
      ENDIF
      REPEAT
      UNTIL OUT?(1)
      OUT 1,char%
    ENDIF
  ENDIF
LOOP
CLOSE #1
fini:
restor_display
SYSTEM

' TERMINAL PROCEDURES

PROCEDURE prn_out  ! TO REDIRECT TO PRINTER ATTACHED TO TERMINAL
    x$=""
    ckprnout
    OPEN "",#99,"PRN:"
    REPEAT
    UNTIL OUT?(1)
    OUT 1,0
    REPEAT
         IF INP?(1)
              FOR delay=1 TO 5
              NEXT delay
              x$=INPAUX$
              IF ASC(x$)=253
                   CLR x$
                   REPEAT
                        ix$=INPAUX$
                        IF ix$<>"" AND ASC(ix$)<>253
                             x$=x$+ix$
                        ENDIF
                        EXIT IF INSTR(ix$,CHR$(253))<>0
                   UNTIL ASC(ix$)=253
                   IF INSTR(x$,CHR$(253))<>0
                        pos&=INSTR(x$,CHR$(253))
                        x$=LEFT$(x$,pos&-1)
                   ENDIF
                   WHILE INSTR(x$,CHR$(252))<>0
                        pos&=INSTR(x$,CHR$(252))
                        MID$(x$,pos&,1)=CHR$(0)
                   WEND
                   IF ASC(x$)<>254
                        REPEAT
                        UNTIL OUT?(0)
                        PRINT #99;x$;
                   ENDIF
                   REPEAT
                   UNTIL OUT?(1)
                   OUT 1,0
              ENDIF
         ENDIF
    UNTIL ASC(x$)=254
    set_term
    x$=""
    CLOSE #99
RETURN

-- 
Brent
Thirsk Engine /Ponoka/Alberta/Canada
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/thirsk/thirsk_web_page/index.htm
Email  thirsk@telusplanet.net