OKI Microline 320 setup on Altair Clone

General discussions related to the Altair 8800 Clone

OKI Microline 320 setup on Altair Clone

Postby Drunkle » April 8th, 2015, 4:47 pm

I just received my OKI 320 Turbo today with the serial card. Set the printer up for 9600, 8N1 and hardware handshake. Tested it on one of my PCs with good output via serial. What is the setup needed within the Altair Clone to support serial printing on port 2, using CP/M 2.2b and MBASIC-80? Right now all LLIST and LPRint go to port 1 only. I have configured the following:

"6) Admin Menu" --> "2) Line Printer Controller" --> "1) Enable LIne Printer on Serial Port 2" The Line Printer Controller shows Current setting: Line Printer Enable on Serial Port 2.

The 3) "Serial Port Menu" shows that all my serial ports are setup to 2SIO at 9600 and 8N1. I have switched port 2 to SIO at 9600 8N1 and back.

I have placed a serial line monitor on port 2 and see good handshake and send reaceive data voltages present on the correct pins. Running an LPRINT or LLIST from CP/M MBasic-80 only gives results on port 1. Port 2 nothing.

So what simple thing am I missing?
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Re: OKI Microline 320 setup on Altair Clone

Postby AltairClone » April 8th, 2015, 6:29 pm

This is a great topic - I hoped it would be brought up one day!

If you're using cp/m 2.2b, then the IOBYTE is implemened and you can use the STAT command in cp/m to change which physical device LST: routes to. You can see the default and available IOBYTE assignments by looking at the IOBYTE.TXT file on the cp/m 2.2b disk ("TYPE IOBYTE.TXT"). For more information, also see the ReadMe.pdf file in the CP/M 2.2b directory on the support page.

Looking at either of these files, or by typing "STAT DEV:" you'll see the default assignment for the LST: device is CRT: which is the first 2SIO port. To use the 2nd 2SIO serial port for the LST: device, type "STAT LST:=UL1:" as shown. Data sent by BASIC or CP/M to the LST: device will now be sent through the 2nd 2SIO serial port. Note the change is temporary and returns the default on the next cold boot of CP/M. Creating a patched CP/M version with a modified IOBYTE is a fun exercise and something a typical user in the day would have to do when using CP/M. Notes about how to do this are in the ReadMe.pdf file mentioned above.

You'll want to use the configuration monitor to set the 2nd 2SIO port to 9600 baud and to "Only RTS Used" or "CTS, RTS Both Used."

The Line Printer Controller options in the Admin menu have absolutely nothing to do with this operation. The LPC is a completely separate I/O board for the Altair unrelated to the 2SIO or SIO serial board. However, to support more original software, the Clone can route data written to the LPC board out through serial port 2. Altair BASIC expects the LPC when "O" (oh) is chosen for the printer type during boot, and the original Altair (Burcon) CP/M (which doesn't implement IOBYTE), routes the LST: device to the LPC board.

Mike
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Re: OKI Microline 320 setup on Altair Clone

Postby Drunkle » April 8th, 2015, 9:21 pm

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm now up and printing over here. And more importantly, I have learned some new things.

My Altair CP/M 2.2B has been patched to have the correct IOBYTE set at boot up and a "virtual disk" has been saved.

Here is a pic of my setup now. Thanks again!
Attachments
Altair8800_clone_office-sm.jpg
My current Altair Clone setup.
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Re: OKI Microline 320 setup on Altair Clone

Postby Caterman » June 28th, 2015, 1:00 pm

Can you offer me some help. I am having no joy with getting an OKI microline 320 Elite to print.
The serial card in the printer passes the loop back test.
Tried a few cable options and settings still no joy.
I am getting data out of SIO port 2 configured for LPC when I do a LLIST LPRINT from extended basic also tried the above with CP/M.
What are the settings in the printer/altair and cable pinouts required.
Thanks
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Re: OKI Microline 320 setup on Altair Clone

Postby Drunkle » June 29th, 2015, 12:47 pm

Here is how my serial interface had been configured on the printer end. I have not included the full list of setting like font, bottom feed, etc settings. They should not prevent you from printing via serial. If you need them let me know.

Serial I/F Parity None
Serial I/F Serial Data 7/8 Bits 8 Bits
Serial I/F Protocol Ready/Busy
Serial I/F Diagnostic Test No
Serial I/F Busy Line RTS
Serial I/F Baud Rate 9600 BPS
Serial I/F DSR Signal Invalid
Serial I/F DTR Signal Ready on Power UP
Serial I/F Busy Time 200ms
Printer Control Emulation Mode IBM PPR

My serial cable uses five wires:
Clone 2 (RXD) <-- OKI 2 (TX)
Clone 3 (TXD) --> OKI 3 (RX)
Clone 4 (CTS) <-- OKI 4 (RTS)
Clone 5 (RTS) --> OKI 5 (CTS)
OKI 6 (DSR)
Clone 7 (GND) --- OKI 7 (GND)
OKI 11 (SSD)
OKI 20 (DTR)

The OKI serial manual says that pins 5 (RTS) and 6 (DSR) should be connected together on the printer end. I have never done this and have never had any problems printings.

Hope this helps you.
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Re: OKI Microline 320 setup on Altair Clone

Postby Caterman » June 29th, 2015, 3:42 pm

Thanks, that sorted that out. It was the cable. All the references on the internet seemed to need a null type cable.
I only needed to connected the 4 wires no need for printer to transmit to clone.
Next job will be patching the IOBYTE, I may be back !! ;-)
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Re: OKI Microline 320 setup on Altair Clone

Postby jibanes » July 1st, 2015, 11:47 pm

This is great, keep us updated.

Btw, I tried kermit transfers @ 9600 with no luck; maybe 9600 is a bit too fast, but that's the minimum I can do on "the other end".
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Re: OKI Microline 320 setup on Altair Clone

Postby Caterman » July 5th, 2015, 7:02 pm

Now having an issue with patching the iobyte of CP/M 2.2b
I thought this would be fairly straight forward.
Here's what I do:-
I have CP/M 2.2b DSK image in "A" Floppy Drive
Run MOVCMP8.COM
Start DDT
-D25DA - gives me a display of 0x25DA which has 55 at that memory location
-S25DA - change data from 55 to 80 @ that memory location
period to exit S command
-D25DA - now shows 80 at this memory location.
CTRL C exit to A Prompt
SYSGEN to destination A
All looks like a success but,
Reboot just goes to period prompt!!!!
Now with a corrupt CP/M boot I have to reload the CP/M DSK image to floppy again.
If I run MOVCMP8.COM and then do a SYSGEN Straight away all good reboots to CP/M A prompt.
What am I missing?
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Re: OKI Microline 320 setup on Altair Clone

Postby AltairClone » July 5th, 2015, 7:38 pm

Starting DDT clobbers part of the CP/M image. After MOVCPM8, save memory to a file as shown by MOVCPM8:

SAVE 39 CPM.COM

Start DDT and reload memory:

DDT CPM.COM

Then patch with the S command like you did and run SYSGEN.

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Re: OKI Microline 320 setup on Altair Clone

Postby Caterman » July 6th, 2015, 3:47 pm

Still no joy.
Insert floppy image cpm22b24k.dsk into A
MOVCPM8
Save 39 cpm63.com
DDT CPM63.COM
I then get DDT VERS 2.2 NEXT PC 2800 0100
-S25DA
I then get 25DA 55
I type 80 then .
CTRL C to return to A>
SYSGEN
press RETURN
press A
press RETURN
press RETURN
it returns to the A>
Check STAT DEV: but this shows LST AS CRT still
When I try and restart machine it just hangs no cp/m sign on
I have to reload the floppy image to start again!
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