Slow End

Between work, vacation, having my car stolen, recovering it myself (long story) and working on my new (to me) car, I haven't done anything on my RetroChallenge entry. Total retro Macintosh failure.

I did spend some time working on the car I bought, specifically the computer and sensor system. It is 1990 Infiniti Q45, so its computer system technically qualifies as retro, I guess. The previous owner had put a piece of black tape over the diagnostic information display to hide the "STOP LAMP INOPERATIVE" error. Unfortunately, that was one of the most minor abuses that he put this car through. Anyway, a few minutes of soldering on the stop lamp sensor to fix some damaged solder joints, and I was greeted with "OK"!

It actually took less time to fix the sensor than to open up the dash and get the black tape off!

So that's it. I compiled the new lwip code, made an application, but never tested it, and made my old car computer say "OK".

Slow Start

Between 4th of July, World Cup, and the British Grand Prix, I haven't spent much time on my RetroChallenge project. I spent way more time reading about other people's projects than working on my own! I did manage to compile the latest lwip sources and the lwip httpserver into an application, but I haven't tested it yet. The MPW build option to use unix #include paths worked perfectly.  I wish I had know about it last time around, as it would have saved me some time.
SetDirectory "{MPW}Maclwip2:lwip-contrib-ppp-new:ports:mac:"; BuildProgram ElWhip # 2:50:02 PM ----- Build of ElWhip. # 2:50:02 PM ----- Analyzing dependencies. # 2:50:02 PM ----- Executing build commands.   SC [...]   Link -o ElWhip [...] ## Link: Warning: File was not needed for link: (Error 52) :::apps:httpserver_raw:fsdata.c.t.o   Rez -rd -o ElWhip ElWhip.r -append   DeRez "Mac OS 9:MPW:Libraries:Libraries:SERD" -only SERD   Rez -o ElWhip -append # 2:51:51 PM ----- Done. ElWhip The warning about the file not needed for link is troubling because that is where the html for the web server is stored. I will test it all out tonight.

Making an lwip web server

Looks pretty easy:
http://lwip.wikia.com/wiki/Sample_Web_Server
although the nonstandard file system seems weird.

Both the lwip core and the ppp-new branch have been updated since January, so I will try to update them first. Also, I will try to use the MPW compiler flag for using Unix paths.  I had no idea this existed when I ported the code in January. Hopefully, this will make my implementation standard enough to include in the lwip contributions branch.

Also, I did some research on how I can test the web server with 128K of memory (rather than the 512K my computer was upgraded to).  It looks like I can just solder a jumper to disable one of the RAM address lines, making it 128K.

Spending Spree, part 3

Since I was never able to get the ethernet card working on my Mac SE during the last Retrochallenge, I decided I need a better way to transfer files than a serial terminal and ZModem. So, I bought an internal Zip drive on ebay. Adding it to the G4 was cheap and easy.  I am still using an old SCSI Zip drive to boot my Mac SE and my Mac SE/30. These drives are great, and I have never had any data corruption, even after long periods of storage.

Spending Spree, part 2

Earlier this year, I took a chance on buying one of these poorly documented Chinese BOLUTEK RS232 / Bluetooth modules. I followed these instructions, and to my surprise, it worked great for a basic wireless serial terminal between my G4 (with USB Bluetooth adapter) and Mac SE. Hopefully, I can use it to establish a wireless PPP link to my Macintosh 128k. First, I need to re-solder my broken RS422 to RS232 adapter, though. Wireless internet, here I come!

Oh, and the Fanny Mac arrived already. It fits and works great!

Spending Spree

Just bought a fan on eBay for the Mac. I figured that if I will be leaving it on for 24 hrs a day for a month, this is a necessary purchase. The fans for these Macs are expensive on eBay, especially the "Kensington System Saver". Fortunately, I found this "Fanny Mac" on sale.

RetroChallenge 2014SC Intro

I won't have all of July to work on the RC 2014 SC, so I will try to keep it manageable. Building off of my RetroChallenge 2014 Winter Warmup Project, I will compile a web server for the original Macintosh 128K. I may need a few hardware upgrades (like a fan) to keep this going. In the unlikely event I have some extra time, I will get soldering on my Standalone Apple IIe Disk Emulator.