AltairClone.com

Dear Altair Clone fans

I've been failing to upload .hex format PROM content to my Altair via the configuration menu. I'm sure I succeeded before as I have some PROM slots filled with code I want my students to have available at switch-on. But now when I try to upload new content to other PROM slots I get the "PROM receive aborted or failed. PROM not updated" message when I have TeraTerm send the file (plain send, not Xmodem). Does the hex file look okay to you:

:20FA0000DB06E601C200FADB07FE00CA00FA7723DB06E601C210FADB0777237CFE02C210C6
:02FA2000FA7674
:00000001FF

? Any other common 'gotchas' I might be falling foul of?

Regards

Gabriel Egan

mail@gabrielegan.com wrote:Dear Altair Clone fans

I've been failing to upload .hex format PROM content to my Altair via the configuration menu. I'm sure I succeeded before as I have some PROM slots filled with code I want my students to have available at switch-on. But now when I try to upload new content to other PROM slots I get the "PROM receive aborted or failed. PROM not updated" message when I have TeraTerm send the file (plain send, not Xmodem). Does the hex file look okay to you:

:20FA0000DB06E601C200FADB07FE00CA00FA7723DB06E601C210FADB0777237CFE02C210C6
:02FA2000FA7674
:00000001FF

? Any other common 'gotchas' I might be falling foul of?

Regards

Gabriel Egan

What baud are you using? If it's 9600 or above, you could try inserting some delays in TeraTerm
Click on Setup, then Serial port. Look in the Transmit delay section. I have 10 msec/char and 10 msec/line but YMMV. Experiment with it.
You want as small a value as possible that still works, of course.

Gabriel,

If I cut and paste what you posted into a text file using notepad, I can upload that file as a .hex update to a PROM slot without any issue. It's possible there is some unicode stuff going on in your original file. Try cutting and pasting from your post here on the web into a new text file like I did and see if that file works for you.

Note that there is no need for delays of any sort. The processor can handle 115K baud without problem. 9600 baud is boringly slow for the processor.

Mike

AltairClone wrote:Gabriel,

If I cut and paste what you posted into a text file using notepad, I can upload that file as a .hex update to a PROM slot without any issue. It's possible there is some unicode stuff going on in your original file. Try cutting and pasting from your post here on the web into a new text file like I did and see if that file works for you.

Note that there is no need for delays of any sort. The processor can handle 115K baud without problem. 9600 baud is boringly slow for the processor.

Mike

When I had a Clone, I needed a delay above 9600. Could I have had a noisy line?

Tom,

Not sure what you were up against. Really no line noise on a relatively short cable running through a small lab in the house. Even a 2MHz 8080 in an real Altair can keep up with a hex file load at up to 19,200 baud.

Mike