Is there a Prop1 loader with settable baudrate?

Larry Martin

Hi folks. Is there a Propeller 1 loader for Windows that lets me reduce the bitrate for code download?

I have a customer who cannot load code to a Prop1 via PropPlug, using either propellent /eeprom or the SPIN tool. His hardware worked here, and his photos look like everything is set up right. I even sent him a new board and Prop Plug, with cable and power supply, after testing them all together here and making a video. I want to try a lower baudrate like loadp2 can, but can't find anything for P1 with that capability.

The closest I have is propeller-load -S (from the spin2cpp project), which inserts delays but does not slow down transmission. bstl can't find my COM port, and anyway it looks like its low speed is 115kbps. LoadP2 and PNut seem to be P2-specific - I tried them with P1 files, but not real hard. Am I missing anything? Thanks as always.

Wuerfel_21

The P1 loader protocol works a bit oddly, I think the speed cannot really be adjusted (there is proploader's fast second-stage loader, which does have a baud adjustment, but that won't work either if the initial download fails). And if it fails with a known good board + adapter, well, it shouldn't matter in the first place.

So the problem most likely has to do with COM port settings on the customer's computer. I haven't needed to mess with that in years, but there's a settings pane you can get to from Device Manager that allows you to change buffer sizes and a number of obscure settings (like serial mouse PnP...). Compare values on there.

VonSzarvas

Could this be a DTR setting… Does the Propeller detection work for them? Propeller Tool F7 ?

RossH

You could try payload. It has options to select baud rates, timeouts, enable/disable lfsr, perform a double reset etc:

Catalina Payload 8.8.4

usage: payload [options] propeller_file [catalina_file ...]

options:  -? or -h  print this helpful message and exit (-v for more help)
          -a port   find ports automatically, starting from specified port
          -A key    set attention key (default is 1, 0 disables)
          -b baud   use specified baudrate
          -B baud   same as -b
          -c cpu    cpu destination for catalina download (default is 1)
          -d        diagnostic mode (-d again for more diagnostics)
          -e        program the EEPROM with the program loaded
          -f msec   set interfile delay in milliseconds (default is 500)
          -g c,r    set terminal columns and rows - default is 80,24
          -i        interactive mode - act as terminal after load
          -I term   interactive mode - run program 'term' after load
          -j        disable lfsr check altogether
          -k msec   set interpage delay in milliseconds (default is 0)
          -K msec   set key delay time in milliseconds (default is 25)
          -l        use old style lfsr check (slower)
          -L name   execute the named Lua script after opening the port
          -m max    set max_attempts (default is 5)
          -n msec   set sync timeout in milliseconds (default is 100)
          -o vers   override Propeller version detection (vers 1 = P1, 2 = P2)
          -p port   use port for downloads (just first download if -s used)
          -q mode   line mode (1=ignore CR, 2=ignore LF, 4=CR to LF, 8=LF to CR
                               16=Auto CR on LF Output,32=CR or LF moves cursor
                               NOTE: modes can be combined, e.g. -q3 = -q1 -q2)
          -r msec   set reset delay in milliseconds (default is 0)
          -s port   switch to port for second and subsequent downloads
          -S msec   set YModem char delay time in milliseconds (default is 0)
          -t msec   set read timeout in milliseconds (default is 250)
          -T msec   set YModem timeout in milliseconds (default is 3000)
          -u msec   set reset time in milliseconds (default is 15)
          -v        verbose mode (or include port numbers in help message)
          -w        wait for a keypress between each load
          -x        do catalina download only (boot loader already loaded)
          -y        do not display download progress messages
          -z        double reset

The key options to download a file are -p (port) and -b (baud rate). The default baud rate for a Propeller 1 is 115200 baud.

The options that might help diagnose or address Propeller 1 issues are: -z, -j, -l, -t, -u, -t, -r

Also, -d can help by identifying how far through the process it gets.

Ross.