CNet and Other BBSs - Why VICE Wont Work

[xlar54]

Ok, it _REALLY_ bugs me when something should work but wont. So, after digging around some more today with CNet and Image BBS, I think I have figured out why they are so hard-headed. Looks like any BBS or terminal app that messes with the locations below, crap out.

661-662 - RS-232: Nonstandard Bit Timing
665-666 - Time Required to Send a Bit

It has to do with using or setting unstandard timing on the RS232 port. VICE just cant handle that. I was able to remove the pokes to these locations in Image, and both CNet and Image were able to talk to TCPSER4J using AT commands - no problem.

I also had to hunt down the OPEN 131,2... command for both systems to find what code they were initially sending. They were both starting out with a CHR$(6), which is 300 baud. I changed them to CHR$(8) for 1200 baud.

That all being said, the results were mixed. Image seemed to be quite content sending modem commands, but then afterwards would loop in and out of resetting itself. I assume this has to do with peeking the CIA for DSR. CNet on the other hand must be manipulating these locations in ML, because after removing the pokes above, it simply locked up at a point.

One note about Image... the thing takes way too long to boot up, and periodically the emulated drive would go flashing, stopping the whole process. This happening too many times was really annoying and so I walked away from it.

Short story is, as long as you dont mess with those locations above, VICE should work just fine with BBSs. So maybe this will help you guys as you mess around with this stuff. Good luck! Im posting this out on usenet also, incase the VICE team can use the info.

[path0s]

The next version of VICE should *dramatically* improve rs232 handling. In 1.19, I think only about 4 or 5 out of 20 terminal programs I tested actually worked, and only 1 at 2400 baud. When I tested the same terminals in what I assume will become 1.20, only 2 didn't work.

Just be a little patient and things should work fairly well in the next version
-P

[Excalibur]

Well they just released Vice 1.20. I downloaded it, moved my test bbs, which has been running fine for weeks under the "fixed" version of 1.19 courtesy of Anthony Tolle, and now the bbs will reset the modem (tcpser4j) but when answering the modem it immediately disconnects. Would appear that the Vice team ignored the ACIA and RS232 fixes that Anthony did <sigh>. Gotta give them credit for spending their time on Vice and all but why they wouldn't implement those easy, thus far proven fixes from Atolle is beyond me. Guess I'll be sticking with 1.19 for a while.

[cube]

I had a similar experience with Vice 1.20 and Image, but inverting CD by using Shift-T at the System Idle screen fixed the problem. The challenge I am facing now is that even though I am able to telnet into the emulated Image 1.2a BBS, it seems to drop one of the lines of communication - in most cases (but not all) the RX (from client to Image.) I'll be logged in with CGTerm, and at some random point it seems like the keyboard locks up. Image is still able to send data to CGTerm through TCPser, but nothing I type in CGTerm makes it back to image. It is as if the modem is not there, but doing a hard reset (Alt+F12) and rebooting the BBS solves the problem. Maybe it is something in Image, but I've tried ACIA in Normal, Swiftlink, and Turbo232 modes with identical results. What makes this tricky to track down is that it happens at random. I might get through two or three calls, posting in the Subs, playing online games, editing files, reading drive directories, sending disk commands - the whole process works flawlessly and then all of a sudden - without warning or provocation - I lose the ability to send any data to Image through rs232.

Has anyone else encountered this?

John