Hamby wrote on 2021-12-24, 12:36:

I got to thinking about this. My thinking was, if you could connect the serial port of the 200lx to a midi adapter, you could co […]
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I got to thinking about this.
My thinking was, if you could connect the serial port of the 200lx to a midi adapter, you could connect it to a midi device; an MT32 or PMA-5 or some other synth, and have audio for it.
The PMA-5 is about twice the size of the 200lx, but will run on batteries...
So I started looking up RS232 to MIDI... I guess it's not all that easy because MIDI uses an unusual baud rate and some electrical difference.
But I did discover that the gameport MIDI adapter on most sound cards puts out TTL on pins 12 and 15 (iirc) and then the MIDI cable adapter translates it into the type of signal needed by MIDI devices.

But, further, I stopped by Adafruit, and came across this featherwing MIDI adapter...
Adafruit MIDI Featherwing Kit
Theoretically, you could connect the RS232 to this device, and this device to a midi synth, and have audio (for whatever games/programs support MIDI), but you still have the baud rate issue.
So... you could connect the Featherwing to this Teensy 3.2 + Header, which has 3 UARTS, one of which could talk to the 200lx (or other device with an RS232 port) and another to the MIDI device. It would take some programming, but I think is theoretically doable.They have other, similar boards which may work better; I dunno cause I'm not very knowledgeable (yet) about electronic circuity like this.

I've also seen posts on making a midi controller from an arduino, but I'm not sure that's what's needed here. I like the Teensy because even with the featherwing adapter, it's... tiny.

Almost as small is making a midi synth from a Raspberry PI Zero 2 W. The setup here communicates via USB, but the Zero W does have UART pins and should be able to talk to the 200lx at whatever speed the 200lx wants.
The nice thing about this solution is that it will work with pretty much any vintage hardware with an RS232 port and software/games that support MIDI. Theoretically, you could even add a character lcd to the device so it would say "Insert Buckazoid" while playing Space Quest (will Space Quest play on the 200lx? I hope so...)

Hi,

I already have a serdaco RS232 to MIDI converter board, which does this (and a few patched games too),
but, the problem is you lose your RS-232 port that you need for the mouse. (And, many games like Eye of the Beholder require a mouse to play)
(If you look up "cloudschatze" channel on youtube, he has several videos of an HP 200LX Palmtop with a seradco rs232 to midi converter playing
a few DOS games on a real Roland MT-32 sound module.)

But, I need the serial port for the mouse..., having the sound device on your LPT1 parallel port makes much more sense.
Also, Eye of the Beholder does'nt support MIDI / MT-32 etc, only adlib, that's why it's required to change the Adlib code (The only supported sound card) modified to with with an OPL2LPT on LPT1...

Anyways, patching a game's adlib code to go through your COM1 port should be just as easy as patching it for the LPT1 port...

Cheers,
Radiance

PS: Serdaco has an MT-32 PI hat that you install on a RaspBerry PI 3+ and it makes it into an MT-32 compatibe softsynth with MIDI ports on the hat...

Bondi wrote on 2021-12-24, 09:54:

I would not mind doing that. Yet, it has not much sense. Having read the article on writing patches, if I understand correctly, […]
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radiance32 wrote on 2021-12-24, 00:26:

Maybe you could try to do your best in patching it, and then send me a .zip file of your changes, and I will test them out for y […]
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Bondi wrote on 2021-12-23, 16:30:

I tried to patch it, but without the OPL3LPT I cannot really see if it works. If I connect covox, I can hear some clicks and ticks, so it outputs something...
I can also see that EOTB outputs both to 388 and 389 port. Whereas 379 port is read only AFAIK. Thus we have to know more about how OPL3LPT works to make correct patching.

Maybe you could try to do your best in patching it, and then send me a .zip file of your changes,
and I will test them out for you!
Are you ok with that ?

Radiance

I would not mind doing that. Yet, it has not much sense. Having read the article on writing patches, if I understand correctly, it's not just about changing the port addresses.
https://github.com/pdewacht/adlipt/wiki/Makin … ADPATCH-patches
Adlib uses 0388 (hex) - Address/Status port (R/W) and 0389 (hex) - Data port (W/O). And I still don't quite understand waht the equivalent OPL3LPT ports are, given the 379 is a read-only port.
Maybe someone on the forum has a better understanding of this?

I hope someone does as I really don't know...

Radiance

hm... I wonder if there are any vintage infra-red mice that might be compatible with the 100/200lx irda port?
Thus freeing up the serial port.
I really should get back to work sometime on writing some kind of DOS driver/tsr for the stinger serial joystick, now I think about it..

radiance32 wrote on 2021-12-25, 06:21:

Hi, […]
Show full quote

Hamby wrote on 2021-12-24, 12:36:

I got to thinking about this. My thinking was, if you could connect the serial port of the 200lx to a midi adapter, you could co […]
Show full quote

I got to thinking about this.
My thinking was, if you could connect the serial port of the 200lx to a midi adapter, you could connect it to a midi device; an MT32 or PMA-5 or some other synth, and have audio for it.
The PMA-5 is about twice the size of the 200lx, but will run on batteries...
So I started looking up RS232 to MIDI... I guess it's not all that easy because MIDI uses an unusual baud rate and some electrical difference.
But I did discover that the gameport MIDI adapter on most sound cards puts out TTL on pins 12 and 15 (iirc) and then the MIDI cable adapter translates it into the type of signal needed by MIDI devices.

But, further, I stopped by Adafruit, and came across this featherwing MIDI adapter...
Adafruit MIDI Featherwing Kit
Theoretically, you could connect the RS232 to this device, and this device to a midi synth, and have audio (for whatever games/programs support MIDI), but you still have the baud rate issue.
So... you could connect the Featherwing to this Teensy 3.2 + Header, which has 3 UARTS, one of which could talk to the 200lx (or other device with an RS232 port) and another to the MIDI device. It would take some programming, but I think is theoretically doable.They have other, similar boards which may work better; I dunno cause I'm not very knowledgeable (yet) about electronic circuity like this.

I've also seen posts on making a midi controller from an arduino, but I'm not sure that's what's needed here. I like the Teensy because even with the featherwing adapter, it's... tiny.

Almost as small is making a midi synth from a Raspberry PI Zero 2 W. The setup here communicates via USB, but the Zero W does have UART pins and should be able to talk to the 200lx at whatever speed the 200lx wants.
The nice thing about this solution is that it will work with pretty much any vintage hardware with an RS232 port and software/games that support MIDI. Theoretically, you could even add a character lcd to the device so it would say "Insert Buckazoid" while playing Space Quest (will Space Quest play on the 200lx? I hope so...)

Hi,

I already have a serdaco RS232 to MIDI converter board, which does this (and a few patched games too),
but, the problem is you lose your RS-232 port that you need for the mouse. (And, many games like Eye of the Beholder require a mouse to play)
(If you look up "cloudschatze" channel on youtube, he has several videos of an HP 200LX Palmtop with a seradco rs232 to midi converter playing
a few DOS games on a real Roland MT-32 sound module.)

But, I need the serial port for the mouse..., having the sound device on your LPT1 parallel port makes much more sense.
Also, Eye of the Beholder does'nt support MIDI / MT-32 etc, only adlib, that's why it's required to change the Adlib code (The only supported sound card) modified to with with an OPL2LPT on LPT1...

Anyways, patching a game's adlib code to go through your COM1 port should be just as easy as patching it for the LPT1 port...

Cheers,
Radiance

PS: Serdaco has an MT-32 PI hat that you install on a RaspBerry PI 3+ and it makes it into an MT-32 compatibe softsynth with MIDI ports on the hat...

But the 100/200lx only has the one port? It doesn't have a separate printer port...

Hamby wrote on 2021-12-25, 11:32:

hm... I wonder if there are any vintage infra-red mice that might be compatible with the 100/200lx irda port?
Thus freeing up the serial port.
I really should get back to work sometime on writing some kind of DOS driver/tsr for the stinger serial joystick, now I think about it..

There is only one serial port, eg COM1, and you can use it with the HP serial cable, or with the infrared port, but, since it's just one serial port, you can't use both at the same time,
you just select the "output" of the serial port to cable or infrared...

I also have never seen an infrared mouse before, I don't think one exists, but I'm just speculating...
And either way, it would'nt be a solution...

Radiance

Hamby wrote on 2021-12-25, 11:33:

radiance32 wrote on 2021-12-25, 06:21:

Hi, […]
Show full quote

Hamby wrote on 2021-12-24, 12:36:

I got to thinking about this. My thinking was, if you could connect the serial port of the 200lx to a midi adapter, you could co […]
Show full quote

I got to thinking about this.
My thinking was, if you could connect the serial port of the 200lx to a midi adapter, you could connect it to a midi device; an MT32 or PMA-5 or some other synth, and have audio for it.
The PMA-5 is about twice the size of the 200lx, but will run on batteries...
So I started looking up RS232 to MIDI... I guess it's not all that easy because MIDI uses an unusual baud rate and some electrical difference.
But I did discover that the gameport MIDI adapter on most sound cards puts out TTL on pins 12 and 15 (iirc) and then the MIDI cable adapter translates it into the type of signal needed by MIDI devices.

But, further, I stopped by Adafruit, and came across this featherwing MIDI adapter...
Adafruit MIDI Featherwing Kit
Theoretically, you could connect the RS232 to this device, and this device to a midi synth, and have audio (for whatever games/programs support MIDI), but you still have the baud rate issue.
So... you could connect the Featherwing to this Teensy 3.2 + Header, which has 3 UARTS, one of which could talk to the 200lx (or other device with an RS232 port) and another to the MIDI device. It would take some programming, but I think is theoretically doable.They have other, similar boards which may work better; I dunno cause I'm not very knowledgeable (yet) about electronic circuity like this.

I've also seen posts on making a midi controller from an arduino, but I'm not sure that's what's needed here. I like the Teensy because even with the featherwing adapter, it's... tiny.

Almost as small is making a midi synth from a Raspberry PI Zero 2 W. The setup here communicates via USB, but the Zero W does have UART pins and should be able to talk to the 200lx at whatever speed the 200lx wants.
The nice thing about this solution is that it will work with pretty much any vintage hardware with an RS232 port and software/games that support MIDI. Theoretically, you could even add a character lcd to the device so it would say "Insert Buckazoid" while playing Space Quest (will Space Quest play on the 200lx? I hope so...)

Hi,

I already have a serdaco RS232 to MIDI converter board, which does this (and a few patched games too),
but, the problem is you lose your RS-232 port that you need for the mouse. (And, many games like Eye of the Beholder require a mouse to play)
(If you look up "cloudschatze" channel on youtube, he has several videos of an HP 200LX Palmtop with a seradco rs232 to midi converter playing
a few DOS games on a real Roland MT-32 sound module.)

But, I need the serial port for the mouse..., having the sound device on your LPT1 parallel port makes much more sense.
Also, Eye of the Beholder does'nt support MIDI / MT-32 etc, only adlib, that's why it's required to change the Adlib code (The only supported sound card) modified to with with an OPL2LPT on LPT1...

Anyways, patching a game's adlib code to go through your COM1 port should be just as easy as patching it for the LPT1 port...

Cheers,
Radiance

PS: Serdaco has an MT-32 PI hat that you install on a RaspBerry PI 3+ and it makes it into an MT-32 compatibe softsynth with MIDI ports on the hat...

But the 100/200lx only has the one port? It doesn't have a separate printer port...

You use a PCMCIA card that offers a parallel, eg printer port.
It's all shown in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnBLijJ87EE

Radiance

radiance32 wrote on 2021-12-25, 22:52:

There is only one serial port, eg COM1, and you can use it with the HP serial cable, or with the infrared port, but, since it's […]
Show full quote

Hamby wrote on 2021-12-25, 11:32:

hm... I wonder if there are any vintage infra-red mice that might be compatible with the 100/200lx irda port?
Thus freeing up the serial port.
I really should get back to work sometime on writing some kind of DOS driver/tsr for the stinger serial joystick, now I think about it..

There is only one serial port, eg COM1, and you can use it with the HP serial cable, or with the infrared port, but, since it's just one serial port, you can't use both at the same time,
you just select the "output" of the serial port to cable or infrared...

I also have never seen an infrared mouse before, I don't think one exists, but I'm just speculating...
And either way, it would'nt be a solution...

Radiance

I had an infrared mouse as part of a set with an infrared keyboard, long ago. Can't remember the brand.
It figures that there's only 1 UART.

Hamby wrote on 2021-12-26, 02:31:

radiance32 wrote on 2021-12-25, 22:52:

There is only one serial port, eg COM1, and you can use it with the HP serial cable, or with the infrared port, but, since it's […]
Show full quote

Hamby wrote on 2021-12-25, 11:32:

hm... I wonder if there are any vintage infra-red mice that might be compatible with the 100/200lx irda port?
Thus freeing up the serial port.
I really should get back to work sometime on writing some kind of DOS driver/tsr for the stinger serial joystick, now I think about it..

There is only one serial port, eg COM1, and you can use it with the HP serial cable, or with the infrared port, but, since it's just one serial port, you can't use both at the same time,
you just select the "output" of the serial port to cable or infrared...

I also have never seen an infrared mouse before, I don't think one exists, but I'm just speculating...
And either way, it would'nt be a solution...

Radiance

I had an infrared mouse as part of a set with an infrared keyboard, long ago. Can't remember the brand.
It figures that there's only 1 UART.

Yes, that's the reason, there is only one UART integrated in the Intel Hornet SOC that powers the HP 100 and 200LX machines,
so only one COM1 RS-232 interface.

Do you remember the name/brand/type of that infrared mouse you speak of ?

Thanks,
Radiance

radiance32 wrote on 2021-12-26, 22:04:

Yes, that's the reason, there is only one UART integrated in the Intel Hornet SOC that powers the HP 100 and 200LX machines, so […]
Show full quote

Hamby wrote on 2021-12-26, 02:31:

radiance32 wrote on 2021-12-25, 22:52:

There is only one serial port, eg COM1, and you can use it with the HP serial cable, or with the infrared port, but, since it's […]
Show full quote

There is only one serial port, eg COM1, and you can use it with the HP serial cable, or with the infrared port, but, since it's just one serial port, you can't use both at the same time,
you just select the "output" of the serial port to cable or infrared...

I also have never seen an infrared mouse before, I don't think one exists, but I'm just speculating...
And either way, it would'nt be a solution...

Radiance

I had an infrared mouse as part of a set with an infrared keyboard, long ago. Can't remember the brand.
It figures that there's only 1 UART.

Yes, that's the reason, there is only one UART integrated in the Intel Hornet SOC that powers the HP 100 and 200LX machines,
so only one COM1 RS-232 interface.

Do you remember the name/brand/type of that infrared mouse you speak of ?

Thanks,
Radiance

Not offhand.... we're talking almost 20 years ago...
Pretty sure it was an off-brand.

I was surfing vintage stuff on ebay, and came across some PCMCIA (non-cardbus as well as cardbus) cards with dual RS232. Much more common and cheaper than PCMCIA parallel cards I saw. 🙁

Hamby wrote on 2021-12-31, 15:16:

I was surfing vintage stuff on ebay, and came across some PCMCIA (non-cardbus as well as cardbus) cards with dual RS232. Much more common and cheaper than PCMCIA parallel cards I saw. 🙁

Nice, but, is there an HP 100/200LX specific driver/enabler for it ? If not, you probably can't use them...
Also, using a parallel port is better, as there are many parallel port sound cards you can use (Serdaco has adlib OPLxLPT, General Midi S2p, etc...).
There is only one device for the serial port, and it's just a MIDI output port...

Radiance

Speaking of serial ports and MIDI... I came across this video "Mini MIDI Gaming with the HP 200LX and Serdaco MPU-232" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtOAXqwvkIU

The idea of hooking my 100LX up to my MT32 tempts me so much 🤣

I also have a Roland PMA-5... which is battery powered... so hypothetically I could have a portable midi DAW. 😀

Hamby wrote on 2022-01-05, 12:46:

Speaking of serial ports and MIDI... I came across this video "Mini MIDI Gaming with the HP 200LX and Serdaco MPU-232" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtOAXqwvkIU

The idea of hooking my 100LX up to my MT32 tempts me so much 🤣

I also have a Roland PMA-5... which is battery powered... so hypothetically I could have a portable midi DAW. 😀

That video is made by Cloudschatze, a friend and he's also on this forum,
you can PM him and I'm sure he is willing to share some of his patches that are required to get MIDI output working from a few games he patched/modified for the serial USB MIDI interface made by Serdaco....

Radiance