Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cica!iuvax!maytag!xenitec!geoffw
From: geoffw@xenitec.on.ca (Geoffrey Welsh)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Re: Serial Communications faster than 2400 baud on a 128
Message-ID: <1990Mar23.001917.13211@xenitec.on.ca>
Date: 23 Mar 90 00:19:17 GMT
References: <7113@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
Reply-To: root@zswamp.fidonet.org (Geoffrey Welsh)
Distribution: comp
Organization: XeniTec Consulting Services, Kitchener, ON, Canada
Lines: 55

In article <7113@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> ez001287@deneb (Thomas Lew) writes:
>I need an answer to the ago old question of "How fast can a 128 go?"  I
>now have the need to communicate over my 128's user port (via a RS232
>interface add on) at the fastest speed possible.  I talked to a Commodore
>representative over Q-Link, and they told me that the fastest a 64 could
>communicate over the user port was 1200 baud, and the best a 128 could do was
>2400 baud.

   The rep should be ashamed of himself. The info, while not incorrect
per se, is incomplete.

   The C128 operating system will not operate a mdoem faster than 2400
bps, and even then not quite perfectly. However, there is nothing to
stop a programmer from writing a better RS-232 driver and going plenty
faster than 2400. Steve Douglas included a 9600 bps setting in PaperClip
II and III for the C128 (though his timing isn't quite close enough to
run an autosync modem like a USRobotics HST), and both Chris Smeets
(CS-DOS) and Matthew Desmond (DesTerm) have installed my RS-232 drivers
in their C128 terminal programs to get accurate 9600 bps, at least for
all half-duplex and some full-duplex operations.

   If statistical duplexing, co-ordinated by hardware handshaking, is
also acceptable, baud rates of 19,200 bps or higher can be achieved,
but I don't know anyone who has come up with working code for it and
I'm not about to spend time on it unless there's something in it for
me. I'm not greedy, just busy.

   OK, so I'm greedy, too.

>So, I guess the REAL question is:  does anyone know of a terminal program for
>the 128 that allows a communication rate FASTER THAN 2400 BAUD?  If so,
>where can I get it and how reliable is it?  It would be very nice if
>the program were capable of terminal emulations (ie VT52/VT100/ADM31A, etc)
>although not absolutely necessary.

   DesTerm 128 does 9600 bps, and has damned good VT-102 emulation
(including VT-52 fallback) - just about everything except 132 column
mode is supported. Of course, I'm biased... but you have nothing to
lose from trying it out, except perhaps the time and a small cost
to get a hold of a copy.

   I don't kow if DesTerm can be obtained from an ftp site... sadly,
I don't have access to a full TCP/IP machine to make it available.
However, you can download DSTRM102.ARC from my machine at (519)742-8939
at 3/12/2400 bps. If you don't have something that handles Chris Smeets'
ARC format (NOT compatible with 'standard' ARC), you'll need to d/l
a copy of ARC250 as well.

   Geoff

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