pyDriveWire

Python Implementation of DriveWire 4 and EmCee Protocols

PyDriveWire is a nearly complete DriveWire4 Server written in Python. The goal is to eventually implement all of the features available. The server also implements additional features that are not available in DriveWire4.

PyDriveWire v0.4 also has experimental support for the EmCee Protocol for use with MCX Basic on the TRS-80 MC-10.

DriveWire 4 and EmCee Procotols can be used simultaneously on the server without reconfiguration.

Features

• (new for v0.4) Remote dw command input on TCP port
• (new for v0.4) Experimental EmCee Protocol Support
• (new for v0.4) Added Windows installation instructions
• (new for v0.4) Added pyDriveWire.bat file
• (updated v0.4) dw server dir and dw server list enhanced to run on ALL OSes (Mac/Windows/Linux, etc)
• (new for v0.3) Experimental printing support
• (new for v0.3) New command line parameters, see the "Run It" section for details
• Connections to serial ports at all supported baud rates: 38400, 57600, 115200, 230400, 460800, 921600
• Listen for incoming connection on any TCP port with a default of 65504
• Ability to make outgoing TCP connections for serial-net converters
• Disks to be mounted can be specified on the command line
• Interactive CLI allowing all dw commands to be run
• Support for DriveWire 4 virtual ports
  • dw commmands over vport
  • AT Modem-style connections
  • Outbound connections with ATD/ATDT or tcp connect
  • Inbound vports via tcp listen/join/kill commands

Notable Missing Features

• Support for mounting disks via URL/URI
• MIDI
• Experimental text-only support in v0.3
• OS9 /Z console windows

Requirements

• pypy -- For maximum performance it is recommended to run the server with pypy. pypy is a Python interpreter that does JIT compilation and results in greatly increased speed
• pyserial -- Install using pip

Supported Operating Systems

• Any OS where you can run Python, including but not limited to:
• Linux
• macOS
• Windows

Installation (Linux/macOS/UNIX)

• Download Latest: https://github.com/n6il/pyDriveWire/releases
• Mac: brew install pypy; pypy -m pip install pyserial
• Ubuntu: apt-get install pypy; pypy -m pip install pyserial

Experimental Printing Support

• pypy -m pip install reportlab

Installation (Windows)

1. Obtain the latest copy of Python 2.7 Compatible PyPy for Windows from https://www.pypy.org/download.html
2. Extract it to the C:\Program Files (x86) folder
3. Add 2 entries to your system path:
   a. the folder where you extracted PyPy to
   b. the folder above and add \bin to the end
4. Download pip: https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
5. Install Pip. Open a command prompt and type: pypy get-pip.py
6. Install pyserial: pip install pyserial
7. Download (or git clone) the latest pyDriveWire release package from https://github.com/n6il/pyDriveWire/releases and extract it.
8. Versions 0.4 and later have a pyDriveWire.bat batch file you can run. Earlier versions can be started from the command prompt: pypy pyDriveWire.py <options>

Run It

usage: pyDriveWire [-h] [-s SPEED] [-a] [-c] [-H HOST] [-p PORT] [-R]
                      [-x EXPERIMENTAL]
                      FILE [FILE ...]

pyDriveWire Server v0.4

positional arguments:
  FILE                  list of files

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -s SPEED, --speed SPEED
                        Serial port speed
  -a, --accept          Accept incoming TCP connections on --port
  -c, --connect         Connect to TCP connections --host --port
  -H HOST, --host HOST  Hostname/IP
  -p PORT, --port PORT  Port to use
  -R, --rtscts          Serial: Enable RTS/CTS Flow Control
  -x EXPERIMENTAL       experimental options
  -D CMDPORT, --cmd-port CMDPORT
                        Remote dw command input

Examples:

• Serial Port: ./pyDriveWire -s 115200 -p /dev/tty.usbserial /tmp/nos96809l2_becker.dsk
• Listen for TCP connections on port 65504: ./pyDriveWire -a -p 65504 /tmp/nos96809l2_becker.dsk
• Establish outbound TCP connection: ./pyDriveWire -c -H 127.0.0.1 -p 23 /tmp/nos96809l2_becker.dsk
• Experimental Printing support: ./pyDriveWire -x printer -a -p 65504 /tmp/nos96809l2_becker.dsk

Experimental Printing Support

pyDriveWire v0.3 includes experimental printing support. The -x printer command line option enables it. Currently this only suports printing text, and the out is rendered into a PDF.

Prerequisites

Printing support requires the reportlab module. This module can be installed with pip:

pypy -m pip install reportlab

Use

Most of the standard Nitros9 DriveWire builds have printing support built in. Any program that uses the standard /P printing device will work just fine. A simple example for testing:

dir >/P

The console log will explain where the output PDF went:

DWServer: Enabling experimental printing support
Printing: opening print buffer: /var/folders/1y/cjrxv35d76bc54myg7hy7k1c0000gn/T/tmp2zG0Pb.txt
Printing to: /var/folders/1y/cjrxv35d76bc54myg7hy7k1c0000gn/T/tmpWdKRQY.pdf
Printing: closing print buffer: /var/folders/1y/cjrxv35d76bc54myg7hy7k1c0000gn/T/tmp2zG0Pb.txt

Experimental EmCee Protocol Support

pyDriveWire version v0.4 adds experimental support for the EmCee protocol used on the TRS-80 MC-10 running MCX Basic (MCX Basic is available on the MCX-128 expansion card). The EmCee protocol support is always turned on allowing any application connected to a pyDriveWire server to use EmCee and DriveWire protocols simultaneously. With this setup one could use a DriveWire application on a MC-10 or a EmCee application on a CoCo without the need to switch servers.

As of v0.4 the following MCX Basic Commands are supported:

• SETDIR
• DIR
• LOAD
• LOADM

The following file formats are supported:

• .C10
• .CAS

Important Note about Simultaneous use of DriveWire and EmCee Protocols

Drive 0 will be used by the EmCee server for mounting the .C10 or .CAS files. Any DriveWire disk in Drive 0 will be unmounted. If data was written to the DriveWire disk in Drive 0 it is highly recommended to umount the DriveWire disk using the dw disk eject 0 command before using any of the EmCee features.

Notes

1. You must use 38400 baud to use the EmCee protocol on a MC-10 running MCX Basic
2. The SETDIR command works differently than the standard EmCee Server.
3. At the current time pyDriveWire only supports .C10 and .CAS formatted files. WAV and BIN file support is planned for a future update.
4. At the current time you cannot open a .C10 or .CAS file from the command line. Use the LOAD, LOADM or OPEN commands.

Using pyDriveWire's EmCee Server

The EmCee server in pyDriveWire is on by default and there are no commands to turn it on or off. The only special requirement is that You must use 38400 baud to use the EmCee protocol on a MC-10 running MCX Basic. Please see the rest of this documentation for how to invoke pyDriveWire. Once pyDriveWire is started you can use the normal MCX Basic commands to access files on the server.

SETDIR <path> - Set the directory on the server

Options

• <path> -- full path name a directory on the server

Description

The pyDriveWire version of SETDIR is different than the normal EmCee server. You must provide a full path name to the directory you want to switch to.

Examples

• Windows: SETDIR C:\Users\Mikey\MC-10
• Mac/Linux: SETDIR /home/Mikey/MC-10

DIR [<path>] - List directory on the server

Options

• <path> -- optional full path name a directory on the server

Description

List the directory on the server. The default directory is the one where pyDrivewire was invoked. <path> is optional and must be a full path name to the directory you want to list.

Examples

• DIR
• Windows: DIR C:\Users\Mikey\MC-10
• Mac/Linux: DIR /home/Mikey/MC-10

Supported DW Commands

• dw disk
  • dw disk show
  • dw disk insert 0 <file>
  • dw disk eject 0
  • dw disk reset 0 -- (re-open)
• dw port
  • dw port show
  • dw port close <n>
• dw server
  • dw server instance
  • dw server dir [<path>]
  • dw server list <file>
• tcp commands
  • tcp connect <host> <port>
  • tcp listen <port> ... -- Remainder of options ignored
  • tcp join <channel>
  • tcp kill <channel>
• AT Commands
  • ATD<host>:<port>
  • ATDT<host>:<port>
  • ATE
  • ATH
  • ATI
  • ATO
  • ATZ
• Debugging commands
  • dw port debug <n> [true/false]
  • dw server debug [true/false]
  • dw server dump
  • dw server timeout <s>