User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sat Jan 06, 2018 10:18 am

After a while the system will seem to freeze altogether (I assume a really extended wait for the characters to catch up) until the BBS kicks me for no interaction, this may be worse if I type fast, I may be able to avoid it if I type slow - I haven't tried that yet. Sometimes characters just repeat across the screen for no reason.
It's not just you. And you're on PAL hardware, correct? Heck I had a really hard time just getting his modem to connect to BBSes in 64Door. Oftentimes it would call then just disconnect. Almost like how it might if you forget to add the port number at the end.

I have had this exact same issue you're describing with the WiModem232 and 64Door. I have not had any issues at all running a "normal" terminal in ANSI mode. But for whatever reason, Jim's modem (something in the firmware) just doesn't like 64Door at all. I've moved back over to Paul Rickards modem for hitting PETSCII boards on an Amiga. It simply never has any issues at all. And I've moved Jim's modem over as my main backup. I can get online, hit my router, fire up terminal programs in ANSI and do whatever. But something about 64Door gums up in the WiModem232. Kind of a bummer. If I didn't have Paul's modem working flawlessly I'd blame the software. But since it does work it's a head scratcher. I tried various settings and finally just gave up. I was hanging BBSes over and over (sysops said it was fine - keep testing) but I after a couple of days figured, nah. I'm done doing that.

So, if you're going to hit Particles or the dozen other boards you like running off of C64s/128s, you're probably best off using your C64 for now. His modem for C64 rocks. The only issue I ever saw in that department was sometimes it would get laggy or freeze if I typed too quickly (and usually on a long-ish post). Luckily it isn't that easy to be a speedy typist on the C64. Hah!

User avatar
Bulletdust

Posted Sat Jan 06, 2018 3:30 pm

intric8 wrote:
After a while the system will seem to freeze altogether (I assume a really extended wait for the characters to catch up) until the BBS kicks me for no interaction, this may be worse if I type fast, I may be able to avoid it if I type slow - I haven't tried that yet. Sometimes characters just repeat across the screen for no reason.
It's not just you. And you're on PAL hardware, correct? Heck I had a really hard time just getting his modem to connect to BBSes in 64Door. Oftentimes it would call then just disconnect. Almost like how it might if you forget to add the port number at the end.

I have had this exact same issue you're describing with the WiModem232 and 64Door. I have not had any issues at all running a "normal" terminal in ANSI mode. But for whatever reason, Jim's modem (something in the firmware) just doesn't like 64Door at all. I've moved back over to Paul Rickards modem for hitting PETSCII boards on an Amiga. It simply never has any issues at all. And I've moved Jim's modem over as my main backup. I can get online, hit my router, fire up terminal programs in ANSI and do whatever. But something about 64Door gums up in the WiModem232. Kind of a bummer. If I didn't have Paul's modem working flawlessly I'd blame the software. But since it does work it's a head scratcher. I tried various settings and finally just gave up. I was hanging BBSes over and over (sysops said it was fine - keep testing) but I after a couple of days figured, nah. I'm done doing that.

So, if you're going to hit Particles or the dozen other boards you like running off of C64s/128s, you're probably best off using your C64 for now. His modem for C64 rocks. The only issue I ever saw in that department was sometimes it would get laggy or freeze if I typed too quickly (and usually on a long-ish post). Luckily it isn't that easy to be a speedy typist on the C64. Hah!
If I could have bought one of Pauls devices I would have bought one in a heartbeat, but they were just unobtainium and I don't have time to watch Twitter like a Hawk.

This is the only issue I'm having and as stated if I type 'slow' it may not be an issue - Apart from that 64Door works perfectly for me even if it is a little stripped out as a client.

I need more desk space so I can set up my C64 along with my Amiga...

User avatar
Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Sat Jan 06, 2018 6:44 pm

Hopefully Jim will be able to sort it out with a firmware update. I would have loved to have one of Paul's modems but the same situation, could never find one. I love having the OLED status screen though.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sat Jan 06, 2018 6:52 pm

I do too, on all counts. That OLED is so kick ass. I think for most people it’s a non-issue. But for geeks like me who prefer the Amiga’s keyboard but the true PETSCIi graphics when I hit 64 BBSes, right now I am on Paul R’s. Maybe it’ll get sorted at some point.

User avatar
Bulletdust

Posted Sat Jan 06, 2018 7:59 pm

Just tried ColorTerm 2.2, that seems better but it keeps 'carriage returning' by itself and skipping past menu's.... :(

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sat Jan 06, 2018 8:45 pm

Yeah, I gave up on ColorTerm near the beginning. 64Door is just light years better IMO.

User avatar
JimDrew
LHC, AZ

Posted Sat Jan 06, 2018 10:19 pm

If I could duplicate an issue, I could fix it. I just don't have a problem running 64 door on my A1200. No slow text, no corrupt characters, etc. I am booting from the disk and running in PAL mode. I don't know if this makes a difference, but it might because CIA timing is different in PAL mode (which the 64 door program was written for). Typing speed won't matter, the WiModem232 can handle 1 megabaud so you are not going to ever out type it!

User avatar
Bulletdust

Posted Sat Jan 06, 2018 11:41 pm

Hey Jim!

I'm running a PAL A1200 booting off floppy.

The issue isn't hard to replicate, just dial into Particles BBS in 80 column mode at 9600 baud using 64Door and start typing a message of about the length in my screenshot, at first you'll notice the characters really start to lag behind your typing speed, then you'll start getting repeated characters followed by even slower speeds, then the characters will repeat and the system will freeze. See my screen shot below for an example.

Kindest regards.

Image

User avatar
Bulletdust

Posted Sat Jan 06, 2018 11:52 pm

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the issue is somewhat present in A-Talk III also.

I connect just fine in ANSI mode at 9600 baud, start typing, things start off fine, slowley but surely the text on the screen starts considerably lagging behind what I'm typing until I'm pausing waiting for the terminal to catch up and then all of a sudden I get a 'No Carrier' and loose connection.

I can't post a message on Particles no matter what I do, going to see if the issue is present on other BBS's.

See example:

Image

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sun Jan 07, 2018 12:29 am

Hm... it's probably a fixable problem. But yeah, I've seen that before, too. But far far less in ANSI mode for some reason. Maybe luck? I don't know for sure. I took a break from it but something funky is going on. Hm... Have you had the same issue with Term - your preferred terminal, bulletdust?

As Jim would say - it's the exact same firmware as for the C64 modem. But something is getting chewed up somewhere, right? I wish we could triangulate the issue. Jim would fix it in a heartbeat if we had a clue of some kind, I just know. I'm not sure what else to do, though, to help QA the issue(s).





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