| Posted By
George
on 2021-07-20
16:41:28
 |  Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
Hi all,
I don't know if it has been done before, but i have a vague idea of sending data for calculation to a timeperiod correct UNIX-System (like a Cray) and recieve the result back with a plus/4. The program on the Unix-server will be written by me in C, Fortran or similar..
Any ideas how this can be done?
Thanks for any ideas in advance..
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Posted By
TLC
on 2021-07-20
18:02:32
| Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
Hi @George, if the question is about data connection, for that I think your best option would be RS-232. With a Commodore VIC-1011A cartridge, or, preferably, it's modern clones like GGLabs' GLINK-LT, the Plus/4 can talk RS-232 quite easily and reliably. Also, RS-232 has a defined standard physical layer (ie. no later problems with ad-hoc / TTL level wirings), and it has been supported under Unix systems for ages.
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Posted By
George
on 2021-07-20
19:18:11
| Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
Hi TLC,
Thank you for the interesting information.
I was more referring to a connection through network ideally the internet, like FTP oder maybe some other API's.
Scenario:
* Plus/4 connects to the UNIX-System
* sends some imputdata: an a) ascifile (directry) or b) Datastructure from memory to a process
* Unix does the heavy calculation
* Unix provides a a) resultfile or b) sends data back to a running plus/4 program.
Best case, if i can run the scenario in an emulator.
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Posted By
siz
on 2021-07-21
03:12:48
| Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
My two cents: why don't You use some WiModem-like wifi adapter?
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Posted By
Doug
on 2021-07-21
07:07:16
| Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
Maybe this can provide some inspiration:
http://www.dunkels.com/adam/tfe/
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Posted By
MMS
on 2021-07-21
08:34:17
 | Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
I agree, maybe sending and receiveing packagage via the wifi modm would be fastest method with no wiring.
On the other hand, if own a UNIX workstation :-) , you may try the MAX232 circuits, available for few $.
These small board translate the +4 user port TTL level signals to RS232 compatible ones, and you can set up your own serial port communication with the UNIX.
One example:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/113005736222?hash=item1a4faab11e:g:hP0AAOSwCmFbPyHq
This is the same stuff for C64. Actually it is the same as the RS232 Mouse card 
http://biosrhythm.com/?p=1136
almost all UNIX station should have a serial RS232 connector.
For the protocol (although I think you know better than this )
https://www.cyberciti.biz/hardware/5-linux-unix-commands-for-connecting-to-the-serial-console/
The VIC-1011A could also work (it does the same thing as MAX232, and you should not take care of the wiring) but nowadays those original Commodore cartridges costs a lot.
I think due to a communication protocol bug of 6551 you need to cover/block one of the pins on the user port. (same as for the modems), but I am not 100% sure about that, HW gurus could tell
For C16 and C116 the only option is to create a cartridge with 6526 CIA (slow) or MOS 6551 (fast, with external clock up to 125kbit/s speed), or maybe Motorola 6280. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Motorola_Microcomputer_Components_1978_pg11.jpg
Maybe two other useful links:
https://ilkerf.tripod.com/cdoc/rs232-pc.html
https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/5202/transfer-files-to-dos-over-serial-cable-from-linux
Let us know how it goes on! We would greatly appreciate playing Fortnite on +4 with external CRAY calculus 
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Posted By
George
on 2021-07-21
15:49:07
| Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
Thank you all for your ideas.
@MMS: The good news i already found my CRAY X-MP emulator online: http://cray.modularcircuits.com/
So Fortnite is coming...
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Posted By
TLC
on 2021-07-22
12:07:12
| Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
@George : wow... Looks nice!
I tried logging in over ssh, but I got a network connection refused. Verified, I get an explicit connection refused from cray.modularcircuits.com. Maybe, there's a firewall there with an explicit IP allow list to permit access? Update: however, the in-browser ssh client did work indeed.
As speaking of the data exchange with the Plus/4, as I understood then, you were looking for a complete software TCP/IP + hw stack. Unfortunately I don't know abut such solutions for Plus/4. The closest one would be Daniel Dallmann's LUnix OS http://lng.sourceforge.net/ which was written for C64 (and could maybe ported to Plus/4 without too much difficulty). LUnix had a working TCP/IP stack with SLIP and PPP support over RS-232. (No direct Ethernet support here either as far as I'm aware). Maybe, porting other software with embedded TCP/IP stacks from C64 could be also options, I don't really know. There might be more recent developments that I'm not (yet) aware of.
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Posted By
George
on 2021-07-22
13:20:42
| Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
@TLC The colors of the panels remind me of the nintendo switch. The Web ssh-client was only way for me to log in, too. I wrote a small Hello World program in C on the Cray. Great feeling to program on a legendary retro super-computer..
If I contact the developer of the Cray-emulator (he is Hungarian, worked at Microsoft and now at SpaceX, and he seems to bee really smart guy), maybe he is willing to tell a way how to realize a connection (with the help of our mostly hungarian scene) and gives us an account for testing.
Maybe its a good idea to go to over a PC in the first step. The Plus/4 connects to the PC over RS232, the PC connects to the Cray over Internet ande vice versa.
If this works, the second stage would be a direct connection from Plus/4 (or C64) to the Cray (without PC).
If anyboby is interested (like me) to find out how to connect to the Cray, everybody is invited to contribute.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2021-07-22
17:02:13
| Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
@George: you know I am not the most brilliant programmer here (at least to say ), but ready to do some testing.
BTW few years ago I almost bought a Silicon Graphics Indy, but due to space (and wife) issues I gave up the idea.
So I am also without workstation, although it could serve as a good testing device
(it is hard to believe, that the machine shown in Jurassic Park has only a 100-150 MHz CPU, and maybe just 32MB memory. (but had really advanced GFX cards for the time) )
UPDATE: SGI Indy has NO RS232 port. :-) (Maybe Octane or Onyx, LOL)
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Posted By
TLC
on 2021-07-23
04:54:11
| Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
@George when I'm thinking it over now, indeed @siz's idea looks also promising. The C64 WiFi adapter that you can recently see sold on eBay and various other sites, are generally derivatives of this design, and run this firmware. The interface has an embedded TCP/IP stack. As far as I could see, there's also an embedded Telnet client inside (but no FTP). With that, the Plus/4 could connect to a WiFi hotspot, and communicate over the network just right away. Considering that, unlike the C64, the Plus/4 has a real (hardware) async serial interface controller, communication over the WiFi interface should be both faster and less CPU intensive on the Plus/4 than it is on the C64. (Communication between the host machine and WiFi interface mimics modem communication both physically and logically, and as such, it's also RS-232).
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Posted By
siz
on 2021-07-23
11:15:43
| Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
I think it's time I dig up my WiModem and do some tests.  I've tested it with some online BBS sites when I bought it but it worth some more attempts.
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Posted By
George
on 2021-07-23
14:34:55
| Re: Question: Send and recieve data to UNIX-System with the commodore plus/4
Really curious, about your results.
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