188622462@excalibur.UUCP (Greene T Richard) (06/21/86)
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(* Inter-Personal Substitute Mailing System (IP SuMS) *)
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This is a letter to Jim Hayes (...!wizard!hayes), who I have been unable
to reach through the net mail. It seems something is wrong with
machine sdcsvax at the moment.
Jim-
I recently managed to download your DCOM 3.21 (I think that's the version)
from the net. The program seems to be running properly, I have gotten the
cofiguration done without any problem. The equipement I am running with
is an Apple //e (rev A), Super Serial Card, Apple //e Extended 80 col card,
and a Radio Shack 300 baud modem. I have to do the dialing, then flip the
"Orig" switch on the modem to connect. On booting DCOM, the program
takes itself through the loading section (after I hit the return key), then
clears the screen into 80-col mode. Then I get either of two happenings:
1) There is an error message quickly flashed on the top line just before
the screen is cleared. On using a ctrl-S at the right spot, I saw the
message was:
*Serial Init Error*
The screen would then go blank, and no key except ctrl-RESET would get any
response, including the open-apple combinations.
2) The screen clears, then the program crashes me into binary, giving me this
memory dump:
5955- A=35 X=35 Y=F0 P=34 S=F1
I think that the Serial Init Error may also appear before this, but I have
been unsuccessful in catching it, if it exists.
One more piece of hardware info, I do have some problems with my slots
and card connecting properly. With my other program (ASCII Express), I have
had to re-boot several times, each time wiggling the card in its slot to
get a successful connect.
Please, let me know as soon as possible if there is any way of fixing this.
I also have the PATCH.EXEC that was posted, but I don't believe I have used
it as of yet. I would prefer to try to fix this through mail messages or
whatever, I can't really afford to send to you for the disk at the moment.
Thanks in advance (and sorry for the trouble),
--
Rick Greene
(take your pick) ...!psuvax1 -\
...!sdcrdcf --\
---- !burdvax --\
....!sjuvax --/ \
.......!bpa -/ \
!hutch ---------- !excalibur!188622462
/
...!psuvax1 --\ /
.....!pyrnj ------- !vu-vlsi --/
....!cbmvax --/nazgul@apollo.uucp (Kee Hinckley) (06/27/86)
In article <45@excalibur.UUCP> 188622462@excalibur.UUCP writes: > from the net. The program seems to be running properly, I have gotten the > cofiguration done without any problem. The equipement I am running with > is an Apple //e (rev A), Super Serial Card, Apple //e Extended 80 col card, I'm running a rev B ][e with either a CPS Multifunctin or a Apricorn Super Serial board. > > 1) There is an error message quickly flashed on the top line just before > the screen is cleared. On using a ctrl-S at the right spot, I saw the > message was: > *Serial Init Error* > The screen would then go blank, and no key except ctrl-RESET would get any > response, including the open-apple combinations. I got this message with both boards. With the CPS board I was able to patch the Basic code to ignore the message and everything worked fine. With the Super Serial board this did not work and the program would either crash or (if patched) hang strangly (eg. everytime I type a key it would do one more thing (like line by line clear the screen)). Ascii Express works fine with both boards. -kee -- Mail is welcome... ...{yale,uw-beaver,decvax!wanginst}!apollo!nazgul Apollo Computer, Chelmsford MA. (617) 256-6600 x7587 There's so many different worlds, so many different suns And we have just one world, but we live in different ones. Dire Straits - "Brothers in Arms"
ix742@sdcc6.UUCP (James Hayes) (06/29/86)
188622462@excalibur.UUCP (Greene T Richard) writes in article <45@excalibur.UUCP>: > >1) There is an error message quickly flashed on the top line just before > the screen is cleared. On using a ctrl-S at the right spot, I saw the > message was: > *Serial Init Error* > The screen would then go blank, and no key except ctrl-RESET would get any > response, including the open-apple combinations. A few people have this problem. I suspect the SSC card has interupts enabled. I've tested each configuration on all the hardware drivers I've written. They worked for me... The "*Serial Init Error*" is part of a kludge to detect a problem in itializing the serial card. It appears EVERY time the program boots. If the serial card init works, the message is cleared, if the serial card hangs during the init, the message stays. (I know it's a bad kluge, but it works pretty well.) > >2) The screen clears, then the program crashes me into binary, giving me this > memory dump: > 5955- A=35 X=35 Y=F0 P=34 S=F1 > I think that the Serial Init Error may also appear before this, but I have > been unsuccessful in catching it, if it exists. > This might be a genuine bug. Most of the code is very tight and does not bother saving registers, the routines are designed to run fast. The trade off here is when you start to mix and match video/serial drivers. Some may interact differently (and crash) with each other... Here are the combinations that I have PERSONALLY TESTED: Apple //e + 80 columns and : Super serial card : Mountain Hardware CPS card Apple //c + Apple modems Apple ][+, VIDEX 80 columns and : Super serial card : CCS 7710 serail card Apple ][, Omnivision 80 and ALS dispatcher >One more piece of hardware info, I do have some problems with my slots >and card connecting properly. With my other program (ASCII Express), I have >had to re-boot several times, each time wiggling the card in its slot to >get a successful connect. This could cause a problem. ----- General note: Some of the drivers were two configuration specific, I fixed them and released a patch file called PATCH.EXEC that also contained the VIDEX driver. The new updated drivers in PATCH are very hardware oriented and assume very little about your configuration. Some people have perfect results with the old drivers and some have perfect results with the new drivers... These bugs are very hard to track down. My mailbox seems to indicate much success with the program (barring "cosmetic" things like schpelling errors). So I really have nothing more to offer than phrases like: "Check your dipswitches" -or- "Get a fresh copy." -or- "I'm working on it." My thanks the to net people that have made my UNIX mailbox file to it's current 201K. I have discovered that "net" people are not like the rest of the world... The word "human" comes to mind. I really appreciate the comments/bug reports. -Jim Hayes, UCSD ARPA: hayes@UCSD.ARPA UUCP: {ihnp4, ucbvax, decvax, etc}!sdcsvax!hayes P.S. Now that school is out, I'll have more time to add new features, check this group out in September...