[comp.sys.atari.st] 1200/75 baud comms program? Possible Explanation

gary@brb.isnet.inmos.co.uk (06/16/90)

In article <2878@syma.sussex.ac.uk>, grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Graham Thomas) writes:
> There are several commercial programs which allow you to call up
> services transmitting at 1200/75 bits per second (V23).  Two of them are
> Fastcom (the ST version of Vicom for the PC) and K-Comm.  They also
> support viewdata services (videotex services operating to the Prestel
> standard).  However, they are not PD/Shareware, and are not particularly
> wonderful programs either.

I can't remember exactly where I heard this, but the above program recieves
at 1200 baud using the normal UART mechanism. However to transmit at the
slower 75 baud rate, the software makes use of ability to set the Transmit
Out pin to the appropriate state (by forcing a Break?). I assume another
timer is setup to interrupt at an appropriate rate for 75 baud, and that
the interrupt routine either sets or resets the TX Out pin for each of the
start, data, and stop bits (one transition per interrupt).
 
--Gary 
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