Raspberry Pi Terminal Program

[kwiebe]

Anyone using Rpi as their terminal?

What program do you use for serial comms with Altair?

I have a basic terminal working using putty but putty has no file xfer capability for tape files. So I installed "cutecom" but haven't gotten it to work with the tape files either. So looking for a program known to be able to xfer tape files to Altair from Rpi platform.

[steve_a]

Minicom works really well. I haven't tried the tape images but it will do an xmodem transfer**

[wheagy]

There was a thread on this a number of years ago that might be useful.

http://altairclone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29

Win

[kwiebe]

Thanks for the link, wheagy. Good info in that thread, looks like I'll try Minicom for the xfers.

I have used FTDI chip USB-serial adapters and also GPIO serial with the level converters on the Pi with success. There are many Pi config options to choose from to customize the way you access the Rpi and the way you access devices from the Rpi. For example, you could run a clone-connected Rpi headless and ssh into it over the network, then access the clone from there. That way, you wouldn't even need a keyboard and monitor dedicated to the clone.

All in all, I think the Rpi and the Altair clone go well together. I'm currently using a Pi Zero W with the clone and it's really tiny. But very capable as a serial server. Not as powerful as the Pi 3 but you don't really need it to be, if all you're doing is serial/CLI.

I like the idea of putting a Rpi inside the clone. May do that eventually.

Awhile back there was something called Pocketerm http://www.brielcomputers.com/wordpress/?cat=25

but it is no longer available.

This seems like a similar project:

http://geoffg.net/terminal.html

[kwiebe]

Not having any luck with Minicom file transfer attempting to load 4K basic from tape image

Installed lrzsz and tried zmodem, xmodem, and also found a post about adding a new binary xfer protocol to Minicom. None worked.

After loading the bootstrap loader and running it, and sending the file from Minicom (per pp 18-19 in clone manual), I get varied unsuccessful indications on the clone, depending on which Minicom selections I've made. Sometimes the bootstrap loader locks up (all panel lights on) and sometimes the panel lights don't change (A12 on, A4-A0 on). But I don't get the MEMORY SIZE? prompt either way.

I read some posts here from other Minicom users but wondering if someone could give an exact step-by-step?

[AltairClone]

It sounds like you’re saying you tried xmodem and zmodem to send the tape file to load 4K BASIC? None of those protocols should be used to send tape image file to the Altair. The Altair expects a stream of 8-bit binary data straight from the tape. You simply do a simple file send and make sure that 8-bit transfers are enabled.

Mike

[kwiebe]

Yeah I thought xmodem and zmodem were wrong choices but since I couldn't get binary to work I was just trying different things and seeing if doing that might force out some clues from Minicom. Darn. Except for this situation I really like my Pi setup. Wish I knew what was missing.

[AltairClone]

I’ve used the screen command on a pi with the Altair. See http://altairclone.com/downloads/Using% ... ulator.pdf

Mike

[kwiebe]

screen did the trick.

Thanks Mike!

-Ken