AKISUJAR@NUSVM.BITNET ("S.Sujarittanonta") (12/01/89)
REF: Spectre and AppleTalk I do not know what make it so difficult for Dave to make his Spectre works with AppleTalk. I am not a 'Software man' but I own Aladin Mac Emulator v.1.3e at th e same time which I have the MagicSac V.6.1. While the MagicSac did not work with many Modem programs except Red Ryder 7.0 and Freeterm V.1.xx due to the co nfliction with the serial chip in Atari, Aladin V.1.3e (which is a very old ver sion released in 1986) did not have this problems. Spectre from V.1.75 onward has solved the serial chip problem well. I don't understand why Dave can't do it. I recalled he did mentioned long back that he also own Aladin 1.3 too. Pooling or exchanging experience with Matias Greeves (Author of Aladin) may do all Atari users more good. I not sure how approachable he is but my friend talk to him via the long distance call tole me that he seem to be a very nice guy. BTW. I have tried Assync Apple Talk program with Spectre but fail because this program uses Mac printer port. Our Atari Printer port is Parallel. Regards.
dsmall@well.UUCP (David Small) (12/03/89)
The referenced note asks why it's so difficult to make the Atari ST talk Appletalk (now called Localtalk). Basically, the Atari doesn't have the needed chips built in. Apple uses the SCC high-speed serial communications chip to drive Appletalk; it's interrupt driven also. Atari's MFP tops out at 19,200 baud, if I recall correctly. Also, the VIA timer chip in the Mac appears to be in the mix somewhere. So, it's a matter of adding several chips to the ST, a machine that was not designed to have chips added to it (to be charitable). Then, it's a matter of hooking up software wiring to th pseudo SCC, interrupts, and so forth. That's the basic problem. Let me know if I need to explain further. - thanks, Dave / Gadgets
dlm@druwy.ATT.COM (Dan Moore) (12/05/89)
in article <8912010818.AA04783@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, AKISUJAR@NUSVM.BITNET ("S.Sujarittanonta") says: > REF: Spectre and AppleTalk > I do not know what make it so difficult for Dave to make his Spectre > works with AppleTalk. I am not a 'Software man' [...] There is a real simple reason that the ST Mac emulators (Spectre, Magic Sac, and Aladin) don't support Appletalk, lack of proper hardware. Appletalk runs at 230,000 baud, the ST does not have a synchronous serial port that runs that fast. Without hardware support what is the point in working on the software support? On several occasions Dave Small has said he will support Appletalk when there is hardware available to connect it. In the last 4 years at least 6 companies have either privately or publicly announced they were going to build Appletalk hardware, none of them have ever released any hardware. Most of them decided to drop the project since they didn't expect it to make enough money to pay back the R&D expenses. A couple of them may still be working on it. Dan Moore AT&T Bell Labs Denver dlm@druwy.ATT.COM