Re: A86: Serial (Thrifty) link support for the 86


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Re: A86: Serial (Thrifty) link support for the 86



On Mon, 25 Aug 1997, Matthew R Price wrote:

> If I wanted to try to do this myself, where would I look for information

I gave someone the source to get86 and send86, and he's going to add
compatibility for plain serial and parallel homemade link cables.  It's
been a while, though... I wonder if he's done.  Try checking the DOS
section of ticalc.org.

> on how the GraphLink accesses the calculator and what the variables look
> like.  Clearly it is different than the way calc to calc transmitions
> work; i'm not just interested in the calculator port info but the
> protocols secific to computer--calculator linking.

AFAIK, the only difference in protocols is an ID byte, and that doesn't
even matter.  I've attached an old document about the TI-85 protocol, in
case you want to experiment.  Just change all the 85 bytes to 86, and 05
to 06.

--------
Dan Eble (mailto:eble@cis.ohio-state.edu)
         (http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/~eble)
Date: 12-14-94 (13:36)  *           Number: 4848 of 4865 (Refer# NONE)

  To: DAN EBLE

From: pfimdt93@hvdc.hv.se, PER FINANDER

Subj: Calc-TI - TI85/TI82 Link protocol



Message-ID: <941214143653.353b-2.2b8-pfimdt93@hvdc.hv.se>



TI85/TI82 link-protocol

-----------------------



The linkinterface uses 2 outputs (RTS/DTR) and 2 inputs (CTS/DSR) on the

serial port to communicate with the TI85/TI82. The bits CTS/DSR can be

read from port $3F8+6, bit 4 (CTS) and bit 5 (DSR). The bits RTS/DTR is

controlled from port $3F8+4, bit 0 (DTR) and bit 1 (RTS). $3F8 is the port-

address for COM1: (or $2F8 if COM2: is used).



I've included 5 routines in Pascal to show how to send/receive bytes to/from

the TI85/TI82. These routines are not optimized and doesn't contain any

timeout check. The constant "PortAddr" contains the base-port address to the

com-port. PortAddr=$3F8 if the link-interface is in COM1: or $2F8 if COM2: is

used. The "InitPort" procedure must be called as fast as possible, because

if CTS & DSR isn't set, then the calculator will slow down when the link

is connected.





All data is sent in packages. A packet looks like this:



ID From: $85=TI85 ($82=TI82), $05 (Computer communicating with TI85) /

|                             $02 (Computer communicating with TI82)

|

|   Command:  $06 : Variable-header (used to initiate a variabletransmission)

|   |         $15 : Data part (the datapart of a variable)

|   |         $36 : Answer skip/abort

|   |         $56 : Package received OK (used to acknowledge a package)

|   |         $92 : No more variables to send (used to end a transmission)

|   |         $6D : Send screendump

|   |                                      Low byte

|   |   Data word / Size of DataPart       |  High byte

|   |   |     Data zero or more bytes      |  |

|-- |-- |---- |-----------------           |- |-

$85 $56 00 00 [DataPart:00 .. 00 Checksum: 00 00]



Checksum=(Sum of all bytes in the datapart) and 65535



A transmission can look like this:

a variable: ABC:REAL=3.1415... (PI) from TI85 to computer (all values in hex)







          ID $85=TI85 (byte, $82 for a TI82)

          |  Command (byte): Var-header

          |  |  Packet length (word, 4+NameLength for a Var-header)

          |  |  |

          |  |  |     ------Datapart------

          |  |  |     Variable length (word)

          |  |  |     |     Type (byte 0=Real number)

          |  |  |     |     |  Name Length (byte)

          |  |  |     |     |  |  Name

          |  |  |     |     |  |  |        Checksum,(0A+03+41+42+43) and FFFF

          |- |- |---- |---- |- |- |------- |----

TI85:     85 06 07 00 0A 00 00 03 41 42 43 D3 00

COMPUTER:                                        05 56 00 00

                                                 |- |- |----

                                                 |  |  No packet

                                                 |  Command: Received OK

                                                 ID $05 = Computer <=> TI85

                                                    ($02 = Computer <=> TI82)

                         Received OK

                         |           Command: Data part

                         |           |  Packet length: 10 bytes for a REAL

                         |           |  |     Data (PI)

                         |-          |- |---- |----------------------------

TI85:                 85 56 00 00 85 15 0A 00 00 00 FC 31 41 59 26 53 58 98

COMPUTER: 05 09 00 00

             |- |----

             |  No packet

             Command: Ready to receive data part



          Checksum             Command: No more variables

          |                    |  10 bytes data was sent

          |----                |- |----

TI85:     30 03             85 92 0A 00             "Done..."

COMPUTER:       05 56 00 00             05 56 00 00 END

                   |-                      |-

                   Received OK             Received OK







If a TI82 is used instead of a TI85, the Var-header command changes:

1. The "Type" byte - TI82/TI85 have different variable types

2. The "Name length" byte - don't exists for the TI82. The name is Zero-

   terminated.



Example: the variable ABC on a TI82 (header command):

82 06 07 00 0A 00 00 41 42 43 00 D0 00

                     |------- |-

                     Name     Zero - terminates the string





After a Var-header have been sent, then the calculator (or computer) waits

for a "Received OK"-command and an answer. The answer can be one of the

following (the computer sends, TI85 receives and answers) :



85 09 07 00          : Continue (header-datalength: 7 bytes)

85 5A 07 00          : Checksum error, send last package again

The two following answers can occur if the variable already exists in memory:

85 36 01 00 02 02 00 : Variable skipped ("Skip" was pressed)

85 36 01 00 01 01 00 : Variable refused ("Exit" was pressed)



If more than one variable is send, then a "Var-header" command when the

reciever (calculator or computer),have acknowledged the datapackage instead

of a "No more variables"-command.



The "Type"-byte (for a TI85) can have one of the following values (hex):

00    Real

01    Cplx

02    Vectr  03  Vectr complex

04    List   05  List  complex

06    Matrx  07  Matrx complex

08    Const  09  Const complex

0A    Equ

0B    Range

0C    Strng

0D-10 GDB

11    Pict

12    Prgm

13    Range

14    ?

15-1B Range



I'm not sure everything's alright about the TI82 because I just borrowed one

for a weekend. But if anyone can figure out more about the TI82 and the

CBL-format (for both TI82 & TI85), send me a note.



Note:

The "Send screendump" command can be sent to the TI85/TI82 to download

a screendump to the computer. The TI85/TI82 will send a "Received Ok"-command

and the a datapackage of 1024 bytes. The datapackage is a copy of the

memoryarea $FC00-FFFF (the screen). This works almost anytime (it's not

necessary the calculator is in the LINK-menu), but it won't work when a

program is running (except if the program is waiting for a key).





****** Procedure to set/reset RTS/DTR:



 procedure SetPort(Bits:Byte);

 { Input: "Bits", a byte 0 - 3, bit 0 = DTR, bit 1 = RTS }



 begin

   Port[PortAddr+4]:=Bits and 3;

 end;



****** Function to read CTS/DSR:



 function  GetPort:Byte;

 { Returns a byte 0 - 3, bit 0 = CTS, bit 1 = DSR }

 { if GetPort returns 0, then the calculator have noticed a timeout }



 begin

   GetPort:=(Port[PortAddr+6] and 48) div 16;

   { if KeyPressed then HALT(1); }

   { Add the line above if you don't add a timeout-check somewhere else. }

   { The program will probably hang in "GetPort" when the calculator     }

   { causes a Timeout }

 end;



****** To send a byte to the TI85/TI82:



 procedure Send(B:Byte);

 { Sends the byte B to the calculator }



 var

    BitLoop:Byte;



 begin

   { Send the bits from bit 0 -> bit 7 }

   SetPort(3);

   for BitLoop:=0 to 7 do begin

       { Wait for calculator to be ready to recieve a bit }

       { RTS and DTR must be set }

     while GetPort<>3 do;

     if (B and 1)=0 then begin

          { Send 0 : DTR=1, DSR=0 }

        SetPort(1);

          { Wait for calculator to set RTS=1 }

        while (GetPort and 2)=2 do;

          { CTS=1, DSR=1 }

        SetPort(3);

          { Wait for calculator to set RTS=0 }

        while (GetPort and 2)=0 do;

     end else begin

          { Send 1 : CTS=0, DSR=1 }

        SetPort(2);

          { Wait for calculator to set DTR=1 }

        while (GetPort and 1)=1 do;

          { CTS=1, DSR=1 }

        SetPort(3);

          { Wait for calculator to set DTR=0 }

        while (GetPort and 1)=0 do;

     end;

     B:=B div 2;

   end;

 end;



****** To recieve a byte from the TI85/TI82:



 function Receive:Byte;

 { Recieves a byte from calculator }



 var

    B,CurrentBit,BitLoop:Byte;



 begin

   CurrentBit:=1;

   B:=0;

   { Recieve bit 0 first }

   SetPort(3);

   for BitLoop:=0 to 7 do begin

       { Wait for the calculator to send a bit }

     while GetPort=3 do;

       { Check it the calculator sends a 1 or 0 }

     if GetPort=1 then begin

        { 1 }

        B:=B or CurrentBit;

          { CTS=1, DSR=0 }

        SetPort(1);

          { Wait while RTS=0 }

        while (GetPort and 2)=0 do;

     end else begin

        { 0 }

          { CTS=0, DSR=1 }

        SetPort(2);

          { Wait while DTR=0 }

        while (GetPort and 1)=0 do;

     end;

       { CTS=1, DSR=1 }

     SetPort(3);

       { Wait for calculator to set RTS & DTR }

     while GetPort<>3 do;

     CurrentBit:=CurrentBit*2;

   end;

   Receive:=B;

 end;



****** Initiates the com-port (MUST be called before anything else)



 procedure InitPort;



 begin

   Port[PortAddr+1]:=0;

   Port[PortAddr+2]:=1;

   Port[PortAddr+3]:=0;

   Port[PortAddr+4]:=3;

   Port[PortAddr+5]:=96;

   Port[PortAddr+6]:=50;

   Port[PortAddr+7]:=0;

      { Set CTS & DSR }

   SetPort(3);

 end;





--------------------------

Per Finander

e-mail:pfimdt93@hvdc.hv.se






References: