Subj : Re: recent projects To : Mike Powell From : Jeff Thiele Date : Sat Aug 13 2022 10:04 am On 13 Aug 2022, Mike Powell said the following... MP> > ESP-12 modules can be programmed to all sorts of things, but almost all MP> > them come from the factory programmed to be a WiFi modem. They behave pr MP> > much just like a Hayes-compatible modem, but instead of dialing phone MP> > numbers, one dials internet addresses. They accept AT commands and gener MP> > the usual "CONNECT" and "RING" messages, although there are some additio MP> > AT commands available to facilitate things like searching for and connec MP> > to a WiFi network. MP> I have seen those. Some folks have used them to get some pretty old MP> machines (old in comparison to the public internet age) connected to the MP> internet. The ESP-12 modules are based on the ESP-8266 microcontroller, but the ESP-8266 has a big brother that itself is not that expensive at all: the ESP32. My favorite peripheral for getting an old machine online is the FujiNet, which is made for the Atari 8-bit family. A couple of things to know about the Atari 8-bits are that their primary peripheral interface is an SIO port, and that they do not have a built-in RS-232 interface. Peripherals such as disk drives, cassette drives, printers, and the Atari 850 RS-232 interface are all daisy-chained off of this one SIO port, which is a serial port and (arguably) a distant ancestor of the modern USB port. The FujiNet device connects to this SIO port and emulates a number of peripherals, most but not all with some vintage counterpart. It emulates disk drives and cassette drives, sure, but its internet capabilities can be used to mount a disk image from a server halfway around the world. It emulates printers in a very fun way, too. In addition to being configurable from the Atari 8-bit to which it's connected, the FujiNet also has a small web server built in which allows for deeper configuration, such as which printer type to emulate. Options include raw Ascii as well as a number of vintage printers If one of the latter is chosen, anything printed from the Atari is converted to a PDF, using a font very reminiscent of the specific printer being emulated, and then the "printout" PDF can be downloaded from the FujiNet's web server. Additionally, printer #4 can be configured to be a primitive voice synthesizer reminiscent of the era. A Hayes-compatible modem connected to an Atari 850 RS-232 interface is also emulated, so that older software expecting such a configuration (such as BBS software!) can run unmodified. However, for modern Atari 8-bit software, that's an unnecessary complication of things, since one shortcoming of the 850 was that it took over the SIO bus when it was in use, which meant that no other peripherals could be used at the same time (yep, downloading files larger than the available memory was impossible). To address this, the FujiNet also has a peripheral that never existed before: the N: device. This cuts out the 850 and modem entirely and allows an Atari to open internet connections as easily as opening a file or a printer. Most importantly, perhaps, it does not suffer from the aforementioned shortcoming of the 850. As if all of that wasn't enough, the FujiNet also has running on that same microcontroller an emulated Z80 CPU running CP/M, which can be accessed from the Atari. Jeff. --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32) * Origin: Cold War Computing BBS (1:387/26) .