PARCP-USB

[joysfera]

Hello guys,

thank you for your support. I have finished the PARCP-USB and updated the web at http://joy.sophics.cz/parcp/parcp-usb.html. Please have a look there, it describes everything including internals, pricing information and even reasons for some of the decisions I've made during the development. And of course there are some photos of the finished device.

Please let me know by e-mail (pstehlik@sophics.cz) whether you want to buy the PARCP-USB adapter. I need to order the components to start building them, you know.

Thanks,

Petr

[Dal]

Wow - it looks really nice!

I have emailed my order

[dbsys]

Great news.

I will order one.


PS: Out of interest, what would it take to port the PARCP software to OS X?

[simonsunnyboy]

Nice job, I will place my order later on.

[frank.lukas]

I see it is Windows and Linux only, so for me OSX support would be nice ...

[dml]

I'm placing an order

[joysfera]

I'd like to offer PARCP for OSX as well but I have neither the hardware (Mac) nor the software (SDK?).

Can someone here suggest me how to cross-compile the existing source code (plain C + ncurses library) for OSX? The code is fairly portable, I believe. And for USB I use the HIDAPI library that has support for OSX, so there should not be many obstacles, hopefully.

Though I don't know how Mac can handle console application. Perhaps it has something like terminal window (TOSWin2?

[joska]

I don't know anything about cross-compiling for OS X, but I found this.

[DarkLord]

I'm in for one! Really neat, clean design.

Thanks for all the hard work on this!

[joysfera]

Thank you guys for your kind words and keep the orders coming. I have ordered large amount of all the necessary components

Jo Even, that cross compiler you've found seems pretty promising. I talked with its author and he confirmed that it was possible to create fully working binaries for OSX from Ubuntu. Will give it a try soon. A working OSX binary would be a great addition to the existing set of TOS, Linux and Windows binaries running on m68k, i386, amd64 and ARMv6 CPUs

BTW, I have just released new version of PARCP software and updated the PARCP What's new page.

[dbsys]

I am wondering if the PARCP Software on the Windows side can handle two Ataris hooked up at the same time via one each PARCP-USB interface?

The background of this question is to use the Windows PC and the PARCP software to exchange data between the two Atari machines.

[joska]

Can't you just use the classic Parcp cable and connect the two Ataris directly?

[dbsys]

Can't you just use the classic Parcp cable and connect the two Ataris directly?

Yes, I could. The idea of having the PC in-between is, to use it as a file server.

[joysfera]

I am wondering if the PARCP Software on the Windows side can handle two Ataris hooked up at the same time via one each PARCP-USB interface?

This isn't possible - I am wondering how you'd want to wire the two Atari parallel ports into one parallel port of the PARCP-USB?

What is possible, though, is to plug several PARCP-USB adapters into one PC (running Windows if you wish) and then hook up several Atari computers to one PC. This is well tested as I use similar arrangement for testing the PARCP-USB adapters before shipping them.


BTW, for those waiting for their PARCP-USB adapters: I've got fully soldered 11 boards waiting just for CPUs. As soon as they arrive (tomorrow, hopefully) I'll solder them, test the adapters and start shipping them.

[dbsys]

What is possible, though, is to plug several PARCP-USB adapters into one PC (running Windows if you wish) and then hook up several Atari computers to one PC. This is well tested as I use similar arrangement for testing the PARCP-USB adapters before shipping them.

That´s exactly what I asked.

Will the PARCP software itself be able to handle several PARCP-USB adapters? What is the most practical way to work?

[joysfera]

Will the PARCP software itself be able to handle several PARCP-USB adapters? What is the most practical way to work?

Nope, the PARCP is strictly point-to-point communication. Simply said each interface (USB or parallel port) needs its own PARCP instance. But in a multitasking OS (Windows, Linux, MiNT) you can run several PARCP instances easily. It doesn't consume any CPU time nor other resources (apart from a bit of memory).

This is where the "-f" command line parameter comes handy. You can have several PARCP.CFG files with different configuration and then start several PARCP instances, like this:

PARSERVE.EXE -f parcpLPT1.cfg
PARSERVE.EXE -f parcpUSB2.cfg
PARSERVE.EXE -f parcpUSB3.cfg

put these lines in a start-parserver.bat, let it run after your Windows boot up and you're done Then on your client computers run PARCP whenever you need to copy stuff. The servers will keep running until you shut your Windows down.

[dbsys]

Will the PARCP software itself be able to handle several PARCP-USB adapters? What is the most practical way to work?

Nope, the PARCP is strictly point-to-point communication. Simply said each interface (USB or parallel port) needs its own PARCP instance. But in a multitasking OS (Windows, Linux, MiNT) you can run several PARCP instances easily. It doesn't consume any CPU time nor other resources (apart from a bit of memory).

This is where the "-f" command line parameter comes handy. You can have several PARCP.CFG files with different configuration and then start several PARCP instances, like this:

PARSERVE.EXE -f parcpLPT1.cfg
PARSERVE.EXE -f parcpUSB2.cfg
PARSERVE.EXE -f parcpUSB3.cfg

put these lines in a start-parserver.bat, let it run after your Windows boot up and you're done Then on your client computers run PARCP whenever you need to copy stuff. The servers will keep running until you shut your Windows down.

Wow, this is great news and serves exactly the purpose I was looking for. Great work!!

So I will definately get me a second PARCP-USB device, which I already ordered.

Thanks a lot for all your hard work.

[joska]

One happy customer here I received the adapter a few days ago and has used it with my Mega and the Falcon/AB. It doesn't work properly with TOS 1.02 on my Mega but with newer TOS-versions it works flawlessly. On the Falcon I've seen speeds above 100kb/s, which is more than my ethernet card can do.

The Mega only has an ACSI drive so I've been using floppy-net to transfer stuff to it until now. PARCP makes it so much faster and easier. I've found that the software is far more advanced than it looks at first glance, reading the docs is a must to get full usage of it.

[dbsys]

One happy customer here I received the adapter a few days ago and has used it with my Mega and the Falcon/AB. It doesn't work properly with TOS 1.02 on my Mega but with newer TOS-versions it works flawlessly. On the Falcon I've seen speeds above 100kb/s, which is more than my ethernet card can do.

The Mega only has an ACSI drive so I've been using floppy-net to transfer stuff to it until now. PARCP makes it so much faster and easier. I've found that the software is far more advanced than it looks at first glance, reading the docs is a must to get full usage of it.

Great news either way.

First, PARCP-USB are obviously shipping, so I will hopefully soon get more info on how to pay.
Second, PARCP-USB seems to perfectly work with your Falcon. My main Ataris are all Falcons!

[joysfera]

The waiting is over: the batch of PCBs I ordered on Nov 27 finally arrived two days ago (apparently the Christmas season delayed it by 10 days). I've been soldering since then non-stop and will have all your PARCP-USB adapters ready for shipping in less than three days. I'll email each of you who ordered it in the last month with payment details.

BTW, after shipping all the previously ordered items I will have four extra adapters ready so if anyone wants to join the exclusive club of satisfied PARCP-USB owners just email me and you can get it without any waiting

Frankly, I don't know why the PARCP software (not the PARCP-USB hardware) misbehaves with old TOS 1.02. But it's definitely a software bug so it should be possible to fix it. There's an simple workaround even for those who insist on keeping the old TOSes: they can start TOS 1.4 or TOS 2.06 (they're apparently available as AUTO folder programs) and then PARCP works correctly. Weird. Perhaps the old TOS is so slow when it comes to directory operations (FsFirst/FsNext)? Or the MiNTlib I use in PARCP does not cope with some limitations in the old TOS? I don't know and don't have anything but Falcon handy to test with.

[dhedberg]

I totally missed this thread! I'm interested and would like to buy one of the remaining PARCP-USB! I've sent you an e-mail.

[frank.lukas]

I will buy one too ...

I hope for some OSX Support !?!

[499]

Payment sent, can't wait to get it, thanks!

[joysfera]

These are the fruits of five day soldering marathon

parcp-usb.jpg

I'm posting this picture to ensure you the PARCP-USB is indeed being shipped. This is actually the fourth batch. You can notice the two items at bottom right are still free

[DarkLord]

Very nice!

I'm not surprised about TOS v1.02. Seems there are a lot of things
that don't work well with it. Just recently, Jookie had problems
with his CosmosEX device with earlier TOS versions.

As dead easy as it is to upgrade to TOS v1.04, a much better and
more stable version, I don't know why people haven't done it.