FXTerm - VT100 terminal emulator for Casio fx cg

[christop]

Yep, I'm referring to Punix. I don't mention much about the VT100 emulator, but here's the Punix thread: http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?topic=6795

[flyingfisch]

If you try fxterm with Casio serial cable, you may find, that stream PC->fxterm goes OK, but fxterm->PC doesn't. The problem is in DTR signal on COM port, which must be set ON. The cable (probably) uses it to get power.
I used following (and very dirty workaround):
Linux is running in vmware (which run on windows), it has serial port, which is configured as named pipe (\\.\pipe\seriak), vmware end is server,other end is an application.
On windows run proxy - attached application, which forwards data between pipe and real COM1 port. The proxy ensures, that DTR signal is ON, so it works.

This is very dirty solution, proxy is very dirty software, but at least it works for testing:-)
I hope there is a way to configure Linux to set DTR signal ON, I did a very quick research, but found nothing:-(
Martin

Can you connect with the USB cable?

[MPoupe]

Can you connect with the USB cable?

No.
1. I do not know how to communicate on USB (do we know such syscalls ?)
2. The device (calculator) must emulate usb->serial convertor so linux machine will make console for it. This would probably require low level programming of USB controller on the calculator. Do you know how ? I do not :-(

[flyingfisch]

I do not know how, unfortunately.

So, I have to have a way to connect to my computer with the COMM cable?

[MPoupe]

So, I have to have a way to connect to my computer with the COMM cable?

Yes.

[DJ Omnimaga]

I think I have this cable, because it came with my FX-9850G, but when I tried to connect my 9850G a few years ago, it was not detected.

[flyingfisch]

this cables work

Oh, wow never saw one of those before.

[MPoupe]

I released new version at my page http://martin.poupe.org/casio/
News: 4 embedded fonts, menu for communication parameters.
Source code included.
The simulator variant uses windows pipe instead of COM port - I used it to communicate with Linux running in VMWare

[christop]

Nice state machine! I've been thinking about adding character tables as you did for a few different states (ground, ESC, CSI, etc), but I worried about how much space those will take. Mine currently tests each character (eg, ch == 0x18 || ch == 0x1a || ...). But now I'm thinking the size of character tables shouldn't matter that much; it'll add probably a couple kilobytes or so in ROM but should execute a little faster (which I think matters more than ROM usage).

I'm amused at the way you defined your fonts in source code with defines like _X_X_X (I defined my fonts in the binary PBM image format and automatically convert them to C source code when the software is built).

I'm still jealous of the hardware UART and the higher resolution color screen on the Casio. All I've got is a proprietary serial protocol (TI D-BUS) and a crappy low-resolution monochrome screen.

[helder7]

Nice see a update

Unfortunately, I will not be able to test this new update, I have no cable. I tested the initial version with a cable borrowed.

is possibel to make a homemade cable? Official cables are expensive and rare, they cost 37€ + taxes.

[MPoupe]

Unfortunately, I will not be able to test this new update, I have no cable. I tested the initial version with a cable borrowed.
is possibel to make a homemade cable? Official cables are expensive and rare, they cost 37€ + taxes.

You can test it partially without nay cable. Run fxTerm on any COMM settings and select local echo. You will be able to write letters on the screen.
BTW: I never tried it ;-)
Cable: do you have USB->RS232 convertor? I think it contains USB->uart (TTL) converter and TTL->RS232 (max232) converter. If you remove the second convertor and replace connector by 2.5 mm jack, it should work.

[DJ Omnimaga]

Glad to see this software updated. Also I wish TI cables worked with Casio calcs, because there are some tutorials on Google (or ticalc.org) on how to build $5 link cables.

[helder7]

this ti cables 2,5 mm to usb works?

[MPoupe]

this ti cables 2,5 mm to usb works?

I do not know the schematics, but I think no. I mean this: http://pinouts.ru/Converters/usb_serial_adapter_pinout.shtml
Imagine you remove MAX213 and wire signals (TXD and RXD) from FT232AM to the calculator.

[Juju]

I think an Arduino would work, it have a build-in USB-to-TTL converter, so you would plug the 2.5mm jack to pins 0 and 1 and it would work. I didn't tested it though, as I don't have any cable to cut in half.

EDIT: It's doable, you don't even have to load a program in the Arduino, I would need to know whether the tip or the ring is TX or RX. The sleeve is most likely the ground.