Re: [NTLK] FDTI usb

From: Jake Bordens (newton_at_allaboutjake.com)
Date: Tue Dec 07 2004 - 06:24:14 PST


David,

Thanks for your reply. I know the feeling about having too many
projects and not enough spare time to work on them. This project will
certainly get lost on my bench as well. But its a fun thought exercise
at the very least.

Your point about Port 0 vs Port 3 is understood. Port 0 is probably
more useful to people.

If the inner conenctor has logic-level IO lines, then it would be almost
trivial to connect things up to the FDTI chip. In fact, now that I
think of it, I think they make a dual channel chip. It could be
possible to make both port 0 and port 3 available through USB... to what
end, I don't exactly know.

I found the interconnect port spec on UNNA, but not the internal port
spec, I'll keep poing. Also I noticed that the "select" pin seems to be
an 'output' on the external port. Does the OS have the ability to chose
which port it wants to route Ports 0/3 to on demand and notify the
devices on these ports by setting this pin?

I was originally thinking about brute forcing the thing in there, with
some jumper wires, the FDTI module, a USB connector, and some epoxy.
:) I don't think I'd be mass-producing anything like this anyway. I
just really don't want to use that silly dongle anymore. :)

Since my Newton was recently dug out of a drawer anyway, and I'm just
considering now using it again, I think I'll see how long my latest
'newton phase' lasts. I'd like to do an implant upgrade (or maybe the
homebrew switch variety). A dongle elimination upgrade of some sort
would be nice as well...

Take care,
Jake

On 12/07/04 at 5:30 AM you wrote:
> In answer to Jake Borden's questions...
>
> > A SER-001 type board (USB-001?) would certainly be possible. The
> > SER-001 has a full AppleTalk and local talk transceiver on it,
> > and I'm not exactly sure why. If we were adding a full
> > second port to the thing then it might make some sense.
> > However, the SER-001 if I recall is just an alternate
> > connector to the first port. In this case, why doesn't it
> > just use the first port's transceiver? I'm not too familiar
> > with apple/local talk. Maybe this configuration allows both
> > the original port and the new DIN port to be active at the same
> time?
>
> In order to make the board as user-install-friendly as possible it was
> necessary to use the internal connector.
> Unfortunately, this connector doesn't carry the buffered output from
> the AppleTalk chip but rather the raw inputs from
> the Cirrus asic. These are logic level signals that I would not want
> to appear on an external connector for someone to
> short out.
>
> Also, some of the signals are inverted.
>
> Using the LTC1328 might seem unnecessary at first glance but it fitted
> the application perfectly as it was simply a
> duplication of the main board mounted one and isolated the Cirrus chip
> from the bad, bad outside world.
>
> It would have been a lot easier if the output of this chip appeared on
> the external connector but... Oh well!
>
>
> >
> > A USB-001 daughter board would probably only expose
> > Serial-over-USB functionality anyway.
>
> Without a major rewrite of the OS that is probably true. Serial over
> USB is of course possible as evidenced by the
> keyspan adaptor.
>
> >
> > Does anyone know why the designer of the SER-001 opted to
> > expose port 0 again rather than port 3? Was port 3 ever
> > exposed in software? Does anyone have a pinout for the
> > internal connecter used by the SER-001?
>
> Well let me ask him...
>
> The SER-001 was meant to alleviate the mechanical destruction of the
> external connector. It provides a more standard
> mini-din connector without the need for a dongle. Most software uses
> port 0. Why make things difficult?
>
> Port 3 is exposed in a limited way. The keyboard can use it.
>
> The internal pinout is available on UNNA.
>
>
> >
> > My guess is that the internal port that the SER-001 connects
> > to has some sort of pin that you pull to 5v (or gnd) to
> > indicate that the internal serial port (modem) is available.
> > This, coupled with the FDTI chip and a USB connector out the
> > back, and you're good to go.
> >
>
> Yes, it has such a pin. You can toggle between internal and external
> using it.
>
>
> > seems like a potentially cool project.
> >
>
> And one that I have investigated.
>
> It is hard to find time to devote to these projects. I have a lot
> going on in my life at the moment and other Newton
> projects are sitting on my workbench...
>
>
> Regards,
>
> PCBman
>
> --
> This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all
> inquiries
> Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
> WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles:
> http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/

-- 
This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/


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