DOSBox Serial Configuration Problems \ VOGONS

DOSBox Serial Configuration Problems

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First post, by logitechnoob

Posted on 2014-06-26, 13:15

logitechnoob Offline

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Hello,
I'm trying to use an old SDK-86 board with a modern computer using Windows 7 Pro 64bit. The computer does has a serial port on the motherboard, so no Serial2USB adapters

Im using the DOSBox Megabuild6 because it supports serial logging and is most suited for serial coms.

1       0.000 [    313] Serial1: BASE 3f8, IRQ 4, initstring "realport:com1 startbps:4800 parity:n stopbits:2 dbgirq dbgreg dbgtr dbgmd"
2
3       0.000 [    314] RTS 0.
4       0.000 [    314] DTR 0.
5       0.000 [    314] New COM parameters: baudrate  9600, parity none, wordlen 5, stopbits 1
6       0.000 [    314] New COM parameters: baudrate  9600, parity none, wordlen 5, stopbits 1
7       0.000 [    314] New COM parameters: baudrate  9600, parity none, wordlen 8, stopbits 1
8       0.000 [    314] RI  0.
9       0.000 [    314] msr interrupt on.
10       0.000 [    314] CD  0.
11       0.000 [    314] msr interrupt off.
12  847684.000 [ 850985] 				rx 0x1e ()
13  847684.000 [ 850985] rx interrupt on.
14  847684.000 [ 850985] with error: framing=1,overrun=0,break=0,parity=0
15  847685.000 [ 850986] 				rx 0x66 (f)
16  847685.000 [ 850986] with error: framing=1,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
17  847685.000 [ 850986] rx overrun (IF=1)
18  847685.000 [ 850986] 				rx 0x18 ()
19  847685.000 [ 850986] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
20  847685.000 [ 850986] rx overrun (IF=1)
21  847685.000 [ 850986] 				rx 0x66 (f)
22  847685.000 [ 850986] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
23  847685.000 [ 850986] rx overrun (IF=1)
24  847685.000 [ 850986] 				rx 0x86 (†)
25  847685.000 [ 850986] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
26  847685.000 [ 850986] rx overrun (IF=1)
27  847685.000 [ 850986] 				rx 0x66 (f)
28  847685.000 [ 850986] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
29  847685.000 [ 850986] rx overrun (IF=1)
30  847685.000 [ 850986] 				rx 0x86 (†)
31  847685.000 [ 850986] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
32  847685.000 [ 850986] rx overrun (IF=1)
33  847685.000 [ 850986] 				rx 0x80 (€)
34  847685.000 [ 850986] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
35  847685.000 [ 850986] rx overrun (IF=1)
36  847694.000 [ 850995] 				rx 0x18 ()
37  847694.000 [ 850995] with error: framing=1,overrun=1,break=1,parity=0
38  847694.000 [ 850995] rx overrun (IF=1)
39  847694.000 [ 850995] 				rx 0x1e ()
40  847694.000 [ 850995] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
41  847694.000 [ 850995] rx overrun (IF=1)
42  847694.000 [ 850995] 				rx 0x00 (0)
43  847694.000 [ 850995] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
44  847694.000 [ 850995] rx overrun (IF=1)
45  847694.000 [ 850995] 				rx 0x98 (˜)
46  847694.000 [ 850995] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
47  847694.000 [ 850995] rx overrun (IF=1)
48  847694.000 [ 850995] 				rx 0x1e ()
49  847694.000 [ 850995] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
50  847694.000 [ 850995] rx overrun (IF=1)
51  847694.000 [ 850995] 				rx 0xe6 (æ)
52  847694.000 [ 850995] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
53  847694.000 [ 850995] rx overrun (IF=1)
54  847694.000 [ 850995] 				rx 0x98 (˜)
55  847694.000 [ 850995] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
56  847694.000 [ 850995] rx overrun (IF=1)
57  847694.000 [ 850995] 				rx 0xf8 (ø)
58  847694.000 [ 850995] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
59  847694.000 [ 850995] rx overrun (IF=1)
60  847705.000 [ 851006] 				rx 0x98 (˜)

…Show last 6 lines

61  847705.000 [ 851006] with error: framing=1,overrun=1,break=1,parity=0
62  847705.000 [ 851006] rx overrun (IF=1)
63  847705.000 [ 851006] 				rx 0x86 (†)
64  847705.000 [ 851006] with error: framing=0,overrun=1,break=0,parity=0
65  847705.000 [ 851006] rx overrun (IF=1)

and it goes on and on.

The weirdest thing I'm noticing is that I set the parameters for serial communication but it rewrites them with NEW COM paramters.

Why is it doing this?

Reply 1 of 9, by Jorpho

Posted on 2014-06-26, 18:35

Jorpho Offline

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logitechnoob wrote:
Im using the DOSBox Megabuild6 because it supports serial logging and is most suited for serial coms.

Portmon should also work for serial port logging.

If I'm not mistaken, overrun errors may be influenced by the DOSBox cycles being too high. Try slowing them down as far as you can.

Reply 2 of 9, by logitechnoob

Posted on 2014-06-26, 23:34

logitechnoob Offline

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Well if you mean changing the serial port configuration, I could. But take a closer look at the Serial log, my settings are detected but are rewritten after. How can I change the settings if DOSBox changes them to something else?

Reply 3 of 9, by Jorpho

Posted on 2014-06-27, 18:51

Jorpho Offline

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logitechnoob wrote:
Well if you mean changing the serial port configuration, I could.

Huh? I wrote nothing about that. I meant that your program might be running faster in DOSBox than originally intended, resulting in "overrun=1" over and over again.

If you are concerned about the serial port parameters being sent, that might well be a function of whatever software you are trying to use.

Reply 4 of 9, by logitechnoob

Posted on 2014-06-27, 20:26

logitechnoob Offline

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Just a little background info: I'm trying t run this program in a university lab environment. The program had been running in Windows XP mode on Windows 7 in the past, but now I need to change my setup for security reasons.

For the moment, let's forget the serial configuration and all that. Do you know of a way I can get the program (I believe it's 16 bit) to run on Windows 7 and also use serial communication? DOSBox seemed like the best option but I'm not sure anymore.

Back to what you said, how can I adjust my program to communicate properly and run as fast as DOSBox?

Reply 5 of 9, by collector

Posted on 2014-06-27, 21:00

collector Offline

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If this is something important, you should probably be looking at a different solution than DOSBox. DOSBox was designed for Games. The developers have taken a number of shortcuts with things that games do not need that help performance. This makes it less than ideal for other applications and can break things that many apps might rely on to the point that they do not work properly, if at all.

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers

Reply 6 of 9, by Jorpho

Posted on 2014-06-28, 04:51

Jorpho Offline

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VMware, at least, will let you run another operating system that can access to the physical serial ports in your computer. I'm not sure if Virtual PC (which is used by Microsoft in XP Mode included with Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate) offers the same feature. This will likely work better for you than DOSBox.
https://www.vmware.com/support/ws3/doc/ws32_devices3.html

Do you know of a way I can get the program (I believe it's 16 bit) to run on Windows 7

If it's a DOS program, then yes, it's 16-bit. The 32-bit version of Windows 7 will still run 16-bit programs; the primary disadvantage is that 32-bit Windows 7 can access only a relatively limited amount of physical RAM.

Back to what you said, how can I adjust my program to communicate properly and run as fast as DOSBox?

I'm not sure you're reading what I'm posting.

Reply 7 of 9, by logitechnoob

Posted on 2014-06-30, 14:43

logitechnoob Offline

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The 32-bit version of Windows 7 will still run 16-bit programs; the primary disadvantage is that 32-bit Windows 7 can access only a relatively limited amount of physical RAM.

True and the machines are currently 32bit Windows 7 but they have to be switched over to 64bit. I'm not my decision to make so I can't change that.

I can see now that DOSBox is not a suitable emulator for this program at all. I'll see if VMWare is a viable option. Are there any other solutions you can think of that can allow me to run the application (in a freeware program)?