Load/Execute binaries via serial?

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2009-11-24 16:27

Has anyone done a solution to load/execute binaries through serial?

something along the lines of what Femtobasic does except from a
connected PC or Prop via Propplug/serial?

A serial modification of FSRW might make a nice drop-in for folks without SD attached.

OBC

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
New to the Propeller?

Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.

Cluso99 · 2009-11-24 16:41

OBC: Can You explain a little more please? Are you wanting a pc program to look like an SD card file system via USB/serial access?

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Links to other interesting threads:

· Home of the MultiBladeProps: TriBlade,·RamBlade,·SixBlade, website
· Single Board Computer:·3 Propeller ICs·and a·TriBladeProp board (ZiCog Z80 Emulator)
· Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
· Emulators: CPUs Z80 etc; Micros Altair etc;· Terminals·VT100 etc; (Index) ZiCog (Z80) , MoCog (6809)
· Search the Propeller forums·(uses advanced Google search)
My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz·· MultiBladeProp is: www.bluemagic.biz/cluso.htm

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2009-11-24 16:44

That's the direction I'm thinking.. Something along the lines of a FSRW that communicates with the PC over the Propplug. I'm also looking into a VMUSIC type solution as well.

OBC

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
New to the Propeller?

Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.

ericball · 2009-11-24 17:26

Oldbitcollector said...
A serial modification of FSRW might make a nice drop-in for folks without SD attached.

Hmm... replace the block routines with serial I/O.· Conceptually not that difficult.· ReadBlock sends the "Read block #", then does a serial getbyte.· The trick then is to create the disk interface on the other end.

Something like the old Atari SIO protocol would work:

http://ftp.pigwa.net/stuff/collections/nir_dary_cds/Tech Info/The SIO protocol description/sio.html said...
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
The SIO protocol description

Written by Draco, 18.IX.1996. Last update 7.XI.1996.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
What is the SIO?The SIO stands for the "Serial Input/Output". It is a data transfer protocol used by the Atari 8-bit machines to communicate with a printer, disk drive, modem etc. via the SIO connector. These transfers are controlled by the POKEY chip.
Is this something like RS-232?Basically, yes. It is possible to connect the SIO port to a RS-232 port, the only one you should change is the voltage: the SIO uses TTL-signals. Serial transfer parameters usually are as follows:
1 start bit

1 stop bit

8 data bits

no parity control

19200 bits per second

The last parameter may vary, as for example so called "cassette recorders" (who can remember such data storage?) use 600 baud; also some disk drives may operate at 38400, 52000, 67000, 96000 or 125000 baud.
SIO commandsThe command block contains 4 (four) bytes:
CDEVIC - device ID, e.g. $31 for the D1:, $32 for the D2: etc.

CCMND - command

CAUX1

CAUX2 - sector number (low/high)

Most commonly used commands (DCMND values) for disk drives are as follows:
$50 (P) - put a sector (128 or 256 data bytes to the drive)

$52 (R) - read a sector (128 or 256 data bytes from the disk drive)

$53 (S) - read status (4 data bytes from the drive)

$57 (W) - write sector (the same as P command, but with verify)

$21 (!) - format disk (128 data bytes from the drive)

$22 (") - format disk in the medium density (128 data bytes from the drive)

$4E (N) - read configuration (12 data bytes from the drive)

$4F (O) - set configuration (12 data bytes to the drive)

Communication
first, the computer sets the COMMAND line at the SIO connector

then sends the command block (4 bytes + checksum)

then waits for a response (1 byte without a checksum):
$41 (A) = Acknowledge, the command is valid and will be executed

$4E (N) = Negative, the command is invalid.

if the device responds "N", the transfer is aborted.

otherwise ("A") the data block is transferred with the checksum.

now the computer waits for a final acknowledge (1 B without a checksum):
$43 (C) = Complete, operation completed successfully.

$45 (E) = an Error has occurred.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Composite NTSC sprite driver: Forum
NTSC & PAL driver templates: ObEx Forum
OnePinTVText driver: ObEx Forum

Post Edited (ericball) : 11/24/2009 5:43:45 PM GMT

ericball · 2009-11-24 17:52

More SIO details at http://web.archive.org/http://www2.asw.cz/~kubecj/asio.htm

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Composite NTSC sprite driver: Forum
NTSC & PAL driver templates: ObEx Forum
OnePinTVText driver: ObEx Forum

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2009-11-24 21:26

Eric,

Good information! Thanks!

I was considering what it might take to do a Propeller based Zmodem protocol as
it would "auto-start" the transfer from a compatible terminal. This might eliminate
the need to recreate the wheel, that is unless there is already an Atari SIO server
written for the PC?

OBC

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
New to the Propeller?

Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.

RossH · 2009-11-24 22:15

@OBC,

Check out the Generic_SD_Loader and Generic_SIO_Loader programs that are provided as Catalina utilities. The SD loader can either load programs from SD card into the local CPU and execute it, or send it using a serial protocol to another CPU running the SIO loader (which then executes it).

They work for both normal SPIN/PASM programs and Catalina programs (hence the "generic" bit). I intend to write a PC program that will do the same over a PropPlug (the Generic_SIO_Loader program will already accept that) but I haven't had time yet.

Ross.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Catalina - a FREE C compiler for the Propeller - see Catalina

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2009-11-24 22:35

RossH

Thanks I'll give that a look...

I was under the impression that Atari was the originator of the SIO protocol in their 8bit machines?
I'm getting the impression that they don't have the corner on the market there? [noparse]:)[/noparse]

OBC

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
New to the Propeller?

Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.

Cluso99 · 2009-11-24 22:43

Dr_Acula has done xmodem for the ZiCog - in Z80. That could be a start.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Links to other interesting threads:

· Home of the MultiBladeProps: TriBlade,·RamBlade,·SixBlade, website
· Single Board Computer:·3 Propeller ICs·and a·TriBladeProp board (ZiCog Z80 Emulator)
· Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
· Emulators: CPUs Z80 etc; Micros Altair etc;· Terminals·VT100 etc; (Index) ZiCog (Z80) , MoCog (6809)
· Search the Propeller forums·(uses advanced Google search)
My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz·· MultiBladeProp is: www.bluemagic.biz/cluso.htm

Oldbitcollector (Jeff) · 2009-11-24 22:49

I wrote an Xmodem translation for the Prop, but I'm interested in something along the lines of Zmodem's autostart.

Already reviewing the specification... [noparse]:)[/noparse]

OBC

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
New to the Propeller?

Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.

RossH · 2009-11-24 22:54

@OBC,

Sorry, I may have misled you. I just meant SIO as shorthand for "Serial I/O" - the actual serial protocol I use is quite trivial, and is not the Atari "SIO" - although I wish I had seen the Atari one a few days ago, since I've just extended my own SIO protocol to handle keyboard, mouse, screen and SD Card access transparently from one Prop to another when used in a multi-prop system (such as Morpheus or the TriBladeProp). This will be included in the next release of Catalina, to be released shortly ("shortly" as measured in units of geological time).

Ross.

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Catalina - a FREE C compiler for the Propeller - see Catalina

Cluso99 · 2009-11-25 01:17

OBC:
Does Zmodem take a command to request a file by name ? If so, then I can see where you are going with this. Suggest you ask Drac. He has many versions of X/Y/Z modem.

Or are you after a pc program (windoze/unix/mac) that will function like an SD card with calls from a prop cog simulating it is connected to an SD card but in reality it is a pc via serial/USB?

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Links to other interesting threads:

· Home of the MultiBladeProps: TriBlade,·RamBlade,·SixBlade, website
· Single Board Computer:·3 Propeller ICs·and a·TriBladeProp board (ZiCog Z80 Emulator)
· Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
· Emulators: CPUs Z80 etc; Micros Altair etc;· Terminals·VT100 etc; (Index) ZiCog (Z80) , MoCog (6809)
· Search the Propeller forums·(uses advanced Google search)
My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz·· MultiBladeProp is: www.bluemagic.biz/cluso.htm

Ariba · 2009-11-25 13:41

Oldbitcollector said...
Has anyone done a solution to load/execute binaries through serial? ...
OBC

PropTerminal can do that. You can send a request to PropTerminal which includes the filename. PropTerminal then uploads the binary into RAM or EEPROM depending of the extension. You can also request a text file which is then sent in 16 Byte packets, and you can save a text file on the PC harddisk.

But it can not emulate FSRW and can also not provide a directory of the files available to download.
Emulating FSRW would be very slow and it would be not possible to play Wave files and such things.

Andy

ericball · 2009-11-25 14:10

I wouldn't recommend using the ATARI SIO protocol verbatim, but I think the general idea could be used.
1. Prop sends command block to PC.

byte 0 - device ID
byte 1 - command
byte 2-5 - long parameter 1 (i.e. block address)
byte 6-9 - long parameter 2 (i.e. # of bytes)
byte 10 - checksum (sum of bytes 0-10 == $00)

2. PC provides 1 byte response to command (MSB set=error, transfer aborted)
3. Prop or PC performs data transfer with checksum/CRC
4. PC or Prop provides 1 bytes response to data transfer (MSB set=error, transfer aborted)

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Composite NTSC sprite driver: Forum
NTSC & PAL driver templates: ObEx Forum
OnePinTVText driver: ObEx Forum

Load/Execute binaries via serial?

Comments