Re: Plus/4 RS232 woes

From: Jim Brain <brain_at_jbrain.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2018 09:35:58 -0500
Message-ID: <89106d40-664e-cb56-0a85-05a21fa60697@jbrain.com>
On 9/5/2018 2:54 AM, smf wrote:
> On 05/09/2018 01:26, Jim Brain wrote:
>> It works as designed.  /16 mode gives 115200. The T232 used this to 
>> get 115200 and 230400 (by using the 6551A and double clocking it)
>>
> Whoever wrote the data sheet seemed to think the /16 mode is only for 
> working with synchronous TxC (XTAL1) and not an asynchronous with an 
> external crystal (XTAL1 + XTAL2).
>
> "On-chip baud rate generator: 15 programmable baud rates from a 
> standard 1.8432 Mhz external crystal (50 to 19,200 baud)."
>
> "External 16x clock input for non-standard baud rates (up to 125Kbaud)"
>
Not sure how you arrived there from that text, but I see no connection.  
The ACIA supports 15 standard baud rates and 1 non standard one.
>
> I can't tell what the person who designed the chip was thinking, but 
> it's rather telling that both commodore and apple don't appear to have 
> been aware of it when they wrote their drivers.
>
Most people did not make the connection that 1.8432/16 = 115200. 
However, I think Commodore and Apple did understand.  At the time the 
devices came out, 115200 was not a bps rate in general use, and line 
drivers at the time would have struggled to keep up and adhere to the 
standard.  I also seem to recall that EIA relaxed the serial standard at 
some point to allow the higher speeds to comply with the signalling 
standard.
>
> I admit my electronics knowledge is a little poor, so I have no idea 
> what xtal2 input is and what the chip will do if you put it into a 
> mode where it would normally be ignored.
>
XTAL1/2 represent the connections to the Xtal in this diagram.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierce_oscillator

As you can see, connecting an oscillator to XTAL1 would drive the 
inverter, but nothing will be connected to XTAL2.  The circuit will 
operate as designed, though.

Jim


-- 
Jim Brain
brain@jbrain.com
www.jbrain.com
Received on 2018-09-05 17:00:05

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