Dectalk isa model

[Debee Norling]

I am still having problems getting my Dec PC2 working. My system has only
one serial port and the Dec Express I'm using actually belongs to my
employer, so I can't keep it forever. I do own several Dec PC boards, but
the model 1 boards don't fit in any of my PCS (I'm happy to give them away
to anyone who will try to help me!) So I do have two Dec PC 2 boards, and I
have tried them both in two separate machines with these same results.

Here's what I've done and what happens:

First, I tested that it worked OK in DOS. I made a boot disk with the
drivers. DOS is no longer on that computer but my DOS boot disk booted,
loaded them fine and the decPC2 talked OK.

I downloaded the dec_pc.tgz file in the linux-speakup.org goodies directory.
Actually, there are several copies on the Speakup site, but maybe it is just
links to one copy.

I unpacked it and following the Readme instructions, moved it to the
/usr/local/lib directory so there's now a dec_pc directory under
/usr/local/lib.

I changed to that directory and examined the files. The Readme says dtload
needs to be compiled as a module, but there was an executable and no source.
I got the speakup 1.5 source, but found no dtload.c there either, so I
figured I had to use this binary.

I looked at the Readme again, and it isn't exactly in chronological order,
but it looked like the next step was to type dtload -t -v which I did. Lots
of status messages appear showing that the firmware files are being
downloaded to the card, but there are no errors. Dtload is supposedly now in
test mode, and anything I type should be echoed. I do this but it doesn't
talk. Eventually, I give up and do ctrl-D which takes me back to a shell
prompt.

I figured that maybe this archive came with Dec PC1 firmware, so I overwrite
the firmware files with those from my DOS drivers disk. The files I
overwrite are cmd.exe, ltx.exe, ph.exe, dtpc.dic, kernel.sys. I try running
dtload -v -t again, but this time it completely crashes the system.

I restart and repeat the test. I confirm that if I use the supplied firmware
files, id doesn't crash or give errors, and doesn't talk but does appear to
go into test mode because ctrl-d takes me back out. However, if I use my
firmware files, it just crashes.

I'm doing all this as root and I'm actually typing ./dtload so I know I am
loading the copy in my current directory.

Next I look for Ron Gemma's site on Ultranet where we used to be able to get
drivers but it's gone.  Better back up my copy of my working DOS drivers!

Next, I get sighted help to make sure my switches match. The US government
uses these DECPc 1 and 2 boards for NOA, so they have switch settings
online.  Yes, my switches are set for I/O address 250.

Next, I carefully read through my dec_pc.conf. Here it is, pasted from my
Linux box:

io=0x250
kernel.sys
dtpc.dic
lts.exe
ph.exe
cmd.exe

Ok  so that's all that's in the file.My DOS drivers load user.exe and
usa.exe too -- I try adding them to the directory and the conf file; no go.

Next, I poke around the blinux site and find another tarball of Dec PC
files. This is a device driver that's supposed to create a /dev/dtpc0
device, and it does include source. I get errors when running make, errors
when running make dev, and errors when trying to write to the /dev/decpc0
despite the fact that the installation process does seem to create the
device.

I can post more details about those errors, if needed but this message is
already pretty long. Also I have no idea if this other tarball  is even the
right set of drivers for anything useful. It does want me to use my firmware
files from my DOS disk, which I of course try to do.

As a former technical writer, I'm frustrated by how abysmally documented
some Linux information is. I can't wait to get skilled at this stuff so I
can help by rewriting all this crummy documentation!

I am out of ideas for what to try next. I will happily give away a Dec PC
model 1 to anyone who can help.


--Debee