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OS X problems

2017-12-18
2017-12-29
  • Thomas Sontowski

    Hi,

    I am new to the Apple II -but not to retro computers in general- and have a hard time trying to get ADTPro
    up and running. Initially ADTpro didn't see my usb<->serial converters, I did the 'copy libs to /Library/Java/Extensions/
    manually advice and afterwards it did allow me to select them.
    When sending the bootstrap data I got a bunch of unexpected garbage on my IIc so I tried with a terminal
    app instead and tested the connection this way - which showed that the converter was at fault. So I tried
    a few more that I had, all w/o luck, and today borrowed an old HP FTDI converter that finally worked as
    expected: I can use a terminal to both send and receive the data (via IN#2 and PR#2 back).

    Sadly, ADTpro doesn't seem to send a single byte to the IIc with this setup - and I have to force it to shut down.
    Afterwards, when using a terminal again, I suddenly see a few trailing things ADTpro tried to send off when
    starting a connection via that terminal arriving on the IIc.

    So, now I believe my serial connection is ok but the ADTpro serial just doesn't work.
    I am running 10.12.6 with current java and the Apple FTDI drivers. I've also tried on an older 10.7.5 with
    non-Apple FTDI drivers and older java - same problem.

    No idea what else I could try in the moment - and I don't have access to a Windows setup to try this there
    (is this the preferred way to use ADTPro I am now wondering ?!)

    any ideas ?

    p.s.
    the progress bar does finish - file sent in 9 secs - and then freezes.

    p.p.s.
    adtpro 2.0.2

    java version "1.6.0_65"
    Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_65-b14-468-11M4833)
    Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 20.65-b04-468, mixed mode)

     
  • David Schmidt

    David Schmidt - 2017-12-18

    Hi, Thomas -

    You almost certainly don't want to do the old 'copy libs' trick. You'll want to back those changes out immediately.

    Back to your USB woes - each adapter will require a driver specific to the chipset in the adapter in order to mesh with OSX. It sounds like you might have a good one for FTDI, but not for the others. And cheap clones of the 'Prolific' chipset generally are poorly supported on OSX.

    I've heard of some other uplevel OSX folks having trouble with the Java support since Apple kind of abandoned us - I think you'll likely have better luck with the ADTPro.command file rather than the app, as it bypasses some of the Mac nannying.

     
  • Thomas Sontowski

    thanks for the quick answer - I did get it working now with another, old ftdi USB-serial adapter
    and a change of baud rate. It looks like it is really hard these days to find one that supplies the
    voltages (?) plus baud rate my German PAL-IIc needs here. And works with OS X.
    Or I was just plain unlucky.

    Also my IIc in this working setup still just doesn't want to work with 2400 baud - which I tried most
    of the time since it was the lowest baud rate for the initial bootstrapping.
    Worked in the end with 9600 baud though. It's the 255 romset and has the slightly lower frequency for
    the serial clock. 115200 also isn't absolutely stable, aborts once in a while, so I am using 19200 bauds.
    I've copied over a few dozen disks now so my confidence with this setup is growing.

    And.. thanks for ADTPro - very useful and easy to use, once you stumble across the initial
    boulders !!

    Thomas
    p.s.
    still using the FTDI drivers included with the latest OS X and copied over those libs

    p.p.s.
    just curious - are checksums created over partial data blocks and aborted once they
    are incorrect or it times out ?

     
  • David Schmidt

    David Schmidt - 2017-12-29

    Regarding pps - there are checksums for the (full) data block and retried until success or 5 or os retries are exhausted. For example, see the protocol specification here:
    http://adtpro.com/protocol.html#Image_Get_Packet