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Communicating with Altos986T

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NathanAllan

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Joined
Jun 1, 2003
Messages
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Location
Bellevue, Colorado
I am trying to get this machine marked good or bad. The setup I have is as follows:

Altos 986T
serial ports 1-7, db25
hdd expansion port, large db
altos net 1, db15
IBM 486 Executive tower
serial ports 1 and 2, db9
null modem/laplink cable, db9-db25 by manhattan cables

I fired up terminal and told it to go 9600bps, on comm1, stop bit 1, got nothing; hooked up to serial1 on the Altos.

What am I doing wrong? The Altos makes the spinning up noise, the fdd and hdd both make sounds, and no beep codes are heard. terminal isn't telling me anything. I intend to hook up to the win95 laptop with hyperterminal next (more control).

This all happened after I went in a bunch of boxes searching for ANY term program, finally hooked up that IBM. The frustration comes with the hobby, I guess! :)

Nathan
 
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Looked in older posts, found this from back in April from Ahm:

I seriously doubt it's a terminal server. If it runs Xenix, it's a computer and the serial ports are for terminals. Of course, you'll need at least one serial terminal (or a PC) and the proper cable, wired to the console port (JC?) before you can see and boot messages or communicate with it. Your terminal or comm software should be set for 9600,8n1.

afaik, this is what I did. Still gonna try with a different computer and different null modem, the cable I was using was specifically for laplink, and I have a more generic one. Would still appreciate suggestions.

Nathan
 
oh dear Nathan!
if the cable you were using was for laplink then it was almost certainly a strangely mutated parallel cable, and won't be any use at all.
You need a 25way straight through male to male cable to connect to your terminal, connected 1-1, 2-2 etc.
Either get one intended for serial comms, or use a "parallel port to printer switch cable" which should be connected on all pins.
I think the baud rate etc is correct, I'll look the books out later, and the operator console is on serial port 1, so that's ok.
if you haven't got a breakout box it's a fairly useful bit of kit if you intend to hook more bits of serial kit up!

good luck!
 
Nige, cough cough. Laplink cables weren't always parallel jobbers. I have a Compaq Portable sitting here that uses only serial Laplink. You can't even pick a non-serial port. But, granted, most of those cables are those weird parallel jobs. I have one of those myself. Fortunately, it's ElEcTrIc ORANGE and easy to tell from the other ones.
 
sorry, should have read nathan's post more thoroughly, thought he had a 25 way male-male laplink cable and A terminal, doh
 
I'm not sure a laplink cable will work. Altos machines tend to want to see proper handshaking. You'd be better off using a full null-modem cable or a straight-thru cable and a null-modem adapter, plus whatever gender changers you need along the way.
 
Eureka!

Eureka!

I tried with the new setup, and it worked. The cable was not right. After I tried a different cable hyperterminal picked it right up. Altos is running well. it has Xenix 3.1a, thinks it is April 1, 1970 (why that date I'll never know). Does anyone have some Xenix docs they can refer to, that will tell me how to navigate this machine? I am trying some of the cmd line linux commands and am having some success, but not all of them work.

Also, it asked for a username and all I typed in was root and it let me in as root! So the hdd is NOT bad, it'll need a new fdd (is it the same kind, but writes ina different format???) and whatever else I can make it do.

BTW, the guy whom I got it from thought it was a 986, as in 486, 586, etc. Not a model number.

But it works, and I'm playing :)

Nathan
 
I found an incomplete but useful list of commands for Xenix. Here is the link for those interested:

http://www.textfiles.com/hacking/UNIX/

the text file that has them is near the bottom. remember, this is not complete and there are otehr commands that I have found. systemhalt is one, tht is a normal shutdown. wq! does not get you out of cat like I thought it would, that's another missing command. Better than nothing!

Now to figure out how to make this thing act like a server.

Nathan
 
ahm said:
Connect more terminals to it.
Click to expand...

Well, I meant to act like a server to go to the net. Nothing fancy, mainly for BBS and downloading data to/from the different machines. First try is to hook the ST up to it and make it talk through the Altos, to the main machine in the house. On the back of the altos is has an empty hole marked ethernet. Since I can't use that, I'll have to route it though one of the serial ports to the main machine.

Next would be to make it talk to the 800XL and the C64. But I am getting ahead of myself. I know i can make a script on how to do this, just gotta figure out how with Xenix.

Nathan
 
Well, the "man" command I am sure is in there. Of course, if the actual data files that support the man command were not installed, it won't do you much good.

Anyway, you can try "man ifconfig" or just "ifconfig -a", see if it lists any network ports. And of course, you have "netstat" and "route".
 
Thanks Terry, but I'll have to pass. I'll have plenty of access with all 7 hooked up (eventually) and I don't have room anyways. I can either stick with hyperterm or use the ST to log onto it.

Nathan
 
This is turning into quite a project! After learning so much Xenix that I never thought I would (I could always use a few more books) and figuring out the hardware tweaks to get all these different machines connected, I have decided to do this as a final result: Use Comm7 with a serial-ethernet box, line it to the switch in my bedroom (long wire, yay!) and have it all online. What's gonna be the most fun is having them all online at the same time, while people access the drives available from the net.

Looks like I didn't need the school computers after all!

Nathan

edit/ Since I am going to be using this machine pretty extensively, does anyone know where I can get a parts machine or the floppy drive for it? Pinouts for the hdd port on the back? Just in case the hdd fails I want to be able to back it up. I can only assume that the drive in it 28 years old along with the rest of the computer and is on its last legs. The tape drive I can live without. It looks like it has been abused and it's full of sand anyways. Is the hdd connector SCSI? If so, I have a hdd NOW that I can use. Much info requested!
 
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Got the 1040STFM to work as a console for it. This tell me that all of the ataris will work as long as I use the proper term settings. One more step completed in the testing process.

Been tinkering with the idea of making some kind of code to open the lines of serial communications while not using a terminal. Each of the machines would be different, but the advantage is to have them all talk to the xenix box. Need more books...

Nathan
 
NathanAllan said:
I found an incomplete but useful list of commands for Xenix. Here is the link for those interested:

http://www.textfiles.com/hacking/UNIX/

<snip>

Nathan
Click to expand...

I found myself perusing around in some of the Unix text files on the site. Some of them are quite humorous, like "unixsysv.hac", Hacking Unix System V. It shows how far we've gone since then, and how vulnerable Unix was 18 years ago, when that file was produced!

Good luck on the Altos 986T!
 
So far so good. I've fired up a bunch of user accounts and they seem to be all different shells for using files. So far I've messed with Clyde's and Bill's accounts, along with root. No passwords anywhere. So far I haven't found any files (a good thing). Still looking for hardware documentation, too.

Nathan
 
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