From: "Terry O." <sandstar.geo@...>
Nov 21, 2007
I need to look in my van to see if my mailstations are still there or
if th=
ey ended up at goodwill. If they are, I'll try to load the new
OS files an=
d play around some.
I was reading your livejournal and am impressed :-) bu=
t since I'm not
a c coder and only know that cp/m preceded ms-dos (well, ov=
erlapped
some, IIRC) what can I expect to do with it? Maybe if I list some=
things, you can tell me if they are ever remotely possible?
- Simple memo=
ry games or flashcards for the kids?
- Pull weather, headlines, whatever =
from a direct connected
internet-enabled pc? (Along the lines of ybox?)
- =
Smart Keyboard for a pda with a serial connection?
- Dumb terminal for a se=
rver box?
From what you've written, they don't seem totally impossible. I =
really
like the idea of using a MS like this:
(URL)
amp.htm
Of course, I know that the Palm OS has a lot more memory available=
but
the serial connection to the WinAmp machine is cool.
One thing =
that I've always thought would make the MS useable as is, if
I could use a =
null modem connection to put any text I'd written onto
my main pc. You see=
m to be able to talk to the unit, so is that
something you could document h=
ow to do? I do have an old external
modem and null modem adapter. I even =
have an ancient parallel port
external hard drive that I could dig out and =
use.
Anyway, thanks for sharing all your work!
Terry
From: "Fr. John & Pybta. Phylis" <ke7doy@...>
Nov 21, 2007
I could use a null modem connection to put any text I'd written onto
ain pc. You seem to be able to talk to the unit, so is that
u could document how to do? I do have an old external
em adapter. I even have an ancient parallel port
t I could dig out and use.
work!
I made a cable from a standard rj11 cord and an old 9V w=
all cube. I
cut the red wire and hooked the wires from the wall cube to e=
ither side
of the cut. (afaik the polarity does not matter.) Plug one end=
into
your computers modem and the other into MS. Change the setting to n=
ot
wait for a dial tone before dialing and fax the document to a blank
ph=
one number. I use an OCR to reconvert the tiff image to text. You
have t=
o save each 500 word block seperatly.
From: "Jeff" <fyberoptic1979@...>
Nov 30, 2007
wrote:
t
ome, IIRC) what can I expect to do with it? Maybe if I list some
you can tell me if they are ever remotely possible?
Well if I could put a=
ctual CP/M on it, there'd be lots of
applications that could be run native=
ly. The problem is the memory
layout of the Mailstation, and how CP/M and=
applications compiled for
it expect a slightly different memory layout. =
Changing it would
require a hardware modification to the unit, which is pr=
obably above
the head of most casual Mailstation modders. Possibly above =
mine as
well, considering the small traces on the board involved in doing =
it!
That's pretty much why I was working on FyOS, which would be similar
=
to CP/M, but unfortunately not be compatible with its applications.
Possi=
ble exceptions might be in cases where the source code to one
might be ava=
ilable and easily modifiable. Ones without source just
seem too hard to d=
o anything with. I tried to decompile and modify
Zork, for example, but o=
nce I started going into the assembly code
and realizing just what a job t=
hat would be, just for one program, I
found it just wasn't viable. I was =
having to completely learn what
every bit of the code did before I could e=
ven begin modifying it, and
considering it was all in assembly, that's a b=
it hard.
Most applications for FyOS would probably have to be written by m=
e or
someone else who learned the ins and outs. But since I figured out
=
how to compile things in C for it, there might be a few folks who
could do=
it once I had a better version of FyOS out. When I last
worked on it, I =
was still at the stage of developing a storage
method, which would be a pr=
etty important part to being able to have
applications on there. At the m=
oment, people can write programs in C
with what I've done so far, but they=
'd still have to be transferred
individually.
You made some pretty good s=
uggestions though of the sorts of programs
that I too would like to see. =
One being something like a PDA
keyboard, since I type pretty quick on the =
PC, and it's extremely
limiting to try and peck stuff out on a PDA screen'=
s keyboard. I
think my Palm would be a much more useful tool if I could u=
se the
Mailstation to type stuff into it.
The other good suggestion is =
the dumb terminal. I run one particular
server completely headless, and i=
t would be handy to be able to
interface it directly without having to SSH=
in from elsewhere at
times. I also have one of those Fonera router thing=
s which runs
Linux, and think it would be neat to interface the Mailstatio=
n with
it, giving the Fonera (which has wifi) a keyboard and screen to wor=
k
with. With a battery pack, the Fonera could be mobile, since it's so
s=
mall.
The problem with making any sort of serial connection though is the =
lack of a serial port. The Mailstation uses a modem chip, which
unfortun=
ately directly outputs to a phone line. I haven't looked
over the datashe=
et for the chip very thoroughly, so I don't know if
it might have any pins=
to tap into the serial port of it directly,
but even if one could, solder=
ing onto those pins would be extremely
tricky. The other alternative is u=
sing the parallel port of the
Mailstation to emulate a serial port, which =
would require very
precise programming to time the speed of a serial data.=
It would
probably also require a bit of hardware to be plugged between t=
he MS
and PC, to convert the signals from the parallel port into the
volt=
ages that a serial port wants. I've managed to get away without
such conv=
ersions in the past on other projects, but that only worked
when talking t=
o my laptop's serial port, and not on my desktop
machine.
I have kind of =
made a dumb terminal to my PC before in a way, by
writing some software to=
send keystrokes to the computer, then send
them to an IRC chat room, and =
then send any output from chat back to
the Mailstation screen. This was a=
ll done through the parallel
laplink cable though that I use to load FyOS.=
One could probably do
something similar with a Linux machine for an actu=
al terminal, but it
wouldn't be as simple to setup as just a serial connec=
tion.
But yeah, I think perhaps trying to emulate the serial port is
prob=
ably something good to try sometime. With that, it would open up
a few po=
ssibilities in general. I'm just not sure if I have any of
the chips arou=
nd to do the serial conversion at the moment for
testing.
From: "Jeff" <fyberoptic1979@...>
Nov 30, 2007
Phylis" <ke7doy@...=
be.
her side of the cut. (afaik the polarity does not matter.)
into your computers modem and the other into MS.
not wait for a dial tone before dialing
phone number. I use an OCR
ve to save each
I once had two modems that =
were able to talk to each other without a
line simulator, and crossed my f=
ingers in hopes that the Mailstation
could talk to my PC's modem the same =
way. But alas, that wasn't the
case. So I also had to build one of these=
too. Mine ended up kind
of sloppy since I didn't solder any of it, but i=
t gets the job done
at a fair connection speed.
Here's a reference on ho=
w to make one for anyone interested: (URL)
www.jagshouse.com/modem.html
=
Somebody emailed me with interest in downloading emails off the
Mailstati=
on without having to do this, and I think that's a good
idea. I had also =
considered it before myself, since it's pretty
handy for writing stuff on.=
So the next thing I work on will
probably be a way to just download all =
the email off the unit via the
parallel laplink cable, which would be a lo=
t easier/faster than the
modem connection stuff. I doubt it'll be hard, i=
t's just a matter of
diving back into all that Mailstation code again!
=
From: "iwireless2001" <waynem@...>
Nov 30, 2007
Jeff, I would like to thank you for all the work you have done on
this pro=
ject !!!
Were you able to find out what the internal modem had for
parame=
ters ?? Baud rate, parity ???
Also is there some pin on the serial/parall=
el port that could be used
as a PTT/transmit pinout when the modem goes in=
to transmit mode ??
My thinking is to use this as a dumb data terminal in =
a mobile sense,
connecting to some 2 way radio units.
Thanks,
Wayne
In mailstation@yahoogroups.com, "Jeff" <fyberoptic1979@...> wrote:
In mailstation@yahoogroups.com, "Fr. John & Pybta.
ote:
c=
ube.
one end into your computers modem and the other into MS.
etting to not wait for a dial tone before dialing
to a blank phone number. I use an OCR
text. You have to save each
had two modems that were able to talk to each other without
a
ulator, and crossed my fingers in hopes that the
Mailstation
to my PC's modem the same way. But alas, that wasn't
the
also had to build one of these too. Mine ended up kind
I didn't solder any of it, but it gets the job done
speed.
(URL)
rest in downloading emails off the
, and I think that's a good
f, since it's pretty
rk on will
via
the
n the
of
From: "Jeff" <fyberoptic1979@...>
Dec 10, 2007
wrote:
=
project !!!
Thanks a lot! It wouldn't have been possible without all =
the hard
work of Cyrano Jones though, who I thank for that in turn.
re you able to find out what the internal modem had for
aud rate, parity ???
Different model Mailstations appear to have different=
modem speeds.
There's a list in the Database section of the group here. =
The one
mine uses though is 33.6kbps, using the chip RCV336ACFW/SP. Ther=
e's
a datasheet for it in the Files section here, in the "part files"
dir=
ectory, if you understand electronics enough to look over it. I
would ass=
ume it defaults to 8-N-1 parity, but I have no idea. I've
never written a=
ny code to access it myself as of this time.
on the serial/parallel port that could be
used
when the modem goes into transmit mode ??
as a dumb data terminal in a mobile
sense,
io units.
The modem chip itself might activate some pins when it's usin=
g the
modem, but I haven't read the datasheet in any detail to know. It'd=
be hard to take advantage of that anyway since the pins are so tiny
on t=
hat chip.
That's an interesting concept though. I honestly have never w=
orked
with any sort of half-duplex audio equipment with a data connection,=
but I assume it can be done. I don't think a standard modem would
work,=
however, since as far as I know, it requires full-duplex,
particularly to=
negotiate the connection, but to maintain it as well.
The only thing I ca=
n figure that you could do would be to use some
sort of external hardware =
to modulate data into something that could
transmit via audio, and use the=
Mailstation's parallel port to talk
to that device. Not exactly what you=
had in mind I guess, but that's
the only way I can figure that it could b=
e done. I don't know enough
about that sort of thing to know what sort of=
device you'd need for
it.