This is probably a bit premuture as I haven’t implemented HTTP yet in RustTex but I thought I’d do a short post on making pages for RustTex (you can also use the same pages with a teletext emulator).
I use a program called wxTED to create pages for RustTex. This is primarily designed for TeleText so the RustText file handler has to do a few things to make sure they display properly on a BBC micro/BeebEm.
wxTed presents a GUI which allows you to enter text. You can do line drawing by using ctrl-F? (F1-F9 for the colour). In graphics mode you can use q,a,z,w,s,x to change one of 6 blocks inside the character location. It also lets you set the background colour and do lots of other stuff. Check out it’s help pages Help->Special keys and have a play.
It’s 1985 in a parallel universe where Europeon telecoms companies have understood the need to bring down costs and install a new digital communications network based on ISDN.
In parallel Minicomputers and Mainframes are being joined together to better share information between companies and academic institutions using packet switch. They all agree on a information sharing agreemement that mirrors the current internet where costs are shared and the system is opened up to indviduals.
This is a small project to imagine what the reader would experience if this had happened and their newly purchased LOUCORP9000 ISDN modem arrives through the door ready to be connected to their BBC Microcomputer.
In order to connect a real PC to your local PAD (which is what RustTex does) you will need to run the tcpser program and the Beebem BBC micro emulator.
How to install
Download beebem from http://www.mkw.me.uk/beebem/ and install it on your PC. Versions are also available for Unix and I think mac.
You will then need to install tcpser to allow you to emulate a modem. You can download it from http://www.mkw.me.uk/beebem/tcpser.zip . Unpack the tcpser zip file and launch the GO.bat file.
Then run BeebEm. From the comms menu select RS232 destination and select localhost:25232 I’ve not had much luck connecting directly to RustTex yet so for now your have to use tcpser to connect to RustTex.
Then follow the instructions in the pamphlet below. Your phone no. is the IP address or hostname of the machine running RustTex (localhost if it’s the same PC as your running BeebEm).
Your LOUCORP9000 ISDN modem.
Congratulations on purchasing your LOUCORP9000 ISDN modem. Your ISDN modem provides the very latest technology which will allow you to connect to your local PAD (packet assembler/disassembler) and experience the internet at speeds of up to 9600 baud.
How to connect your ISDN modem to the Internet
Connect your modem to you ISDN line and connect it’s serial port to the back of the BBC micro. Once the modem is connected then you will need a terminal emulator running on your BBC micro. Below is a simple BBC basic terminal emulator your can type into your BBC micro.
10*FX2 2
20*FX7 4
30*FX8 4
40*FX229 1
50REPEAT
60 A%=138:X%=2
70 IF ADVAL(-1)>0 AND ADVAL(-3)>0 THEN Y%=GET:CALL&FFF4
80 *FX2 1
90 IF ADVAL(-2)>0 THEN VDUGET
100 *FX2 2
110UNTIL0
Enter the code above and don’t forget to save it to a disc or tape using the SAVE “filename” command! You can now run the terminal emulator using the RUN command.
How to connect to your local PAD
In the terminal emulator type AT and press the return key. The ISDN modem should return with OK. To connect to your local pad type the following, where phone number is the phone number of your local PAD.
ATDT <phone number>
For example you could type ATDT localhost
This will connect to the PAD and you will get a screen similar to the one below.
From here you can get help by typing help! Refer to the documentation of the PAD you are dialing into for more information.
