Date   : Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:00:41 -0600
From   : jules.richardson99@... (Jules Richardson)
Subject: Beeb Networking - Was: No wonder CompSci graduates

Phill Harvey-Smith wrote:
> Jules Richardson wrote:
>> I wonder if efforts are best concentrated in USB-to-<mumble> devices? For 
>> anything Internetty (and probably involving emulators) there's going to be a 
>> reasonably-quick machine with 'net access and USB ports involved. I loathe 
>> USB, but it is perhaps the logical choice.
> 
> Why do you hate USB ?

mainly that it isn't always the most reliable, and that it replaces many much 
simpler ports (e.g. serial and parallel) that were able to do their jobs 
without a big mess of hardware and software.

>> <mumble> could be an adapter for any kind of vintage computer networking - 
>> Econet / Torchnet, RML Znet etc.; why just limit to Econet?
>>
>> The adapter provides a way of allowing vintage machines to connect to
a modern 
>> network, and also a way for emulated systems to connect to a vintage network. 
>> Make it cheap and cheerful and dumb, though, and do all the grunt-work in 
>> software on the modern system.
> 
> Something like one of the FTDI chips, say the vinculum on the datacentre 
>   for example, or even simpler the FT245Bm, which on the Beeb side would 
> appear as just a single byte I/O port, but on the PC/Mac side would use 
> a virtual com port. 

Aha. No, I wasn't proposing that a real beeb talk to one of these gadgets - 
real beebs could still be on an Econet LAN; the widget simply gives a PC (or 
anything with a USB connection) an Econet port.

I suspect that there's some software voodoo that could be worked on the PC 
side to make this work and route Econet data across IP networks, or allow 
emulators to easily talk to real machines on the Econet the other side of the 
USB widget, with the software translating between IP and Econet data and 
sending/receiving it over the Econet as necessary.

cheers

Jules