🚀 go-pugleaf

Organization : Perkin-Elmer DSG, Tinton Falls NJ

In article <325@dadla.UUCP> tektronix!dadla!toc writes:
>-------
>	I would like to write a program under CP/M which watches the
>	Atari serial bus and acts as a file server, storing a virtual
>	Atari disk under CP/M as a 90K file.  A grafix program on the
>	Atari could read commands from a file with a grafix program on
>	my CP/M machine acting as a file.  To do this I need to know
>	much about what the 800XL is saying on it's serial bus.
>
>	Anyone got any suggestions as to where I look?

I'm not sure if they're still in operation, but there was a firm called
USS Enterprises :-) that marketed a package for doing just what you
describe.  The package was called 'The Critical Connection' and required 
you have a serial port on your CP/M box that could manage 19.2Kb.
They included a serial cable with a DB-25 on one end and an Atari
serial bus plug on the other, which would lead me to assume there
is some mapping between RS-232 and Ataribus.  They allowed you to 
simulate an Atari disk volume within CP/M, etc.  Pournelle wrote it 
up in one of his BYTE columns.  Someone on the net have any further 
information on this (continued existance, performance, etc.)?

I also seem to recall some Atari - CP/M program being posted to 
CPMUG or SIG/M.  If you have access to one of their catalogs,
they may also be of help.

Good luck.

						Bob Halloran
						Sr MTS, Perkin-Elmer DSG
=============================================================================
UUCP: {ihnp4, decvax, ucbvax}!vax135!petsd!pedsgd!bobh
USPS: 106 Apple St M/S 305, Tinton Falls NJ 07724
DDD: (201) 758-7000
Disclaimer: My opinions are mine alone. (*) is a trademark/copyright of (*).
Quote: "There are times when verbal ingenuity is not enough." - B. Banzai

I've connected the atari serial bus to my heathkit-100, mostly successfully.
I still get a moderate amount of checksum errors during data transfers, but
that's the fault of my not-yet-complete disk server program.

The atari serial bus is actually 19.2k baud, 8 bits, no parity.  The only
problem is that it is running at TTL levels, and not RS-232.  You can solve
this problem by attaching the cable between your computer's uart and it's
ttl-to-rs232 converter.  You need to connect ground, send, receive, and one
more status line (it indicates the beginning of a command packet transfer).

If you want more specific information, just drop a line.
-- 
			Evan Ross   {nsc, ihnp4, decwrl!amd} !fortune!dsd!ross

   A nightmare within a nightmare, a terror beyond terror, you have entered...

			The Unix System!!!

/* Written  7:15 pm  Jul 16, 1985 by toc@dadla.UUCP in uiucuxa:net.micro.atari */
/* ---------- "Looking for info on 800XL serial bu" ---------- */
-------
[Spa Fon, Line Eater]

	I am desirous of using the (now inexpensive) Atari 800XL as a
	(now inexpensive) grafix display for my CP/M machine.  It's a
	sin, tho', to ignore the game playing potential of the Atari,
	so...

	I would like to write a program under CP/M which watches the
	Atari serial bus and acts as a file server, storing a virtual
	Atari disk under CP/M as a 90K file.  A grafix program on the
	Atari could read commands from a file with a grafix program on
	my CP/M machine acting as a file.  To do this I need to know
	much about what the 800XL is saying on it's serial bus.

	Anyone got any suggestions as to where I look?

					may all your snarks be boojums,
							to'c
there are some good articles in some old 
Antic's of early 85'  they describe how to make a simple
modem for the 800XL parallel bus.  
It gives pinouts and other good info
/* End of text from uiucuxa:net.micro.atari */