Downloading problems with WiModem 232 and a UDS-10
#1
Hello. I'm Ron Hall, aka "DarkLord", SysOp of the DarkForce BBS.

I have 3 WiModem 232's. I set one up on my Atari Mega STe where
it works great. I've been able to call out pretty much to anywhere +
anything, no problems.

However, I can not get it to download from BBS's that employ telnet
instead of RAW. It just times out with multiple CRC errors.

I tried using AT*T1, but that didn't help. Same results.

I did find this reply to a post about telnet in the forum:

"None of the Telnet commands are supported. Any time a Telnet command or request is sent to the WiModem(232) while using telnet translation mode (AT*T1), the WON'T/DON'T response is returned."

Does that mean that the WiModem 232 simply will not work with telnet BBS's for downloading?

Thanks.
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#2
No, it works fine for uploads/downloads. I spent a lot of time testing this by setting up connections with both RAW and Telnet protocols.
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#3
(07-27-2021, 05:24 PM)admin Wrote: No, it works fine for uploads/downloads.  I spent a lot of time testing this by setting up connections with both RAW and Telnet protocols.

I must have something set wrong then.

Can you please call my BBS and test there? You will have to register but as in a lot of old software it asks for phone numbers, addresses,
etc - if you are uncomfortable with that, just put XXX's for those fields.

I'm running BBS Express! ST v1.98a on an Atari Mega ST4 (4 megs RAM and TOS v2.06) with a  Lantronix UDS-10 serial to lan converter.

The address is:

darkforce-bbs.dyndns.org port 520

Using the console or, SyncTerm v1.1 on a Win7 or Win10 box and set to telnet, downloads work fine, Using TAZ, Freeze Dried Terminal, or STalker on an Atari ST with a Lantronix UDS-10, works fine with telnet, Kubuntu Linux using Ztelnet or SyncTerm set to telnet works fine as well.

It's only people using WiModem 232's who call in and can't download.  Sad

Thanks, much appreciated...
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#4
Do you have the UDS-10 set to telnet or raw? Do your callers have v4.x WiModem232 firmware? It could be that they have the older firmware, which did have issues (depending on the router). I found a bug in the TCP stack handler library for the ESP8266 (the WiFi module I am using for this product). Depending on the router and the packet size being sent, the packet could get split and that had a bug that was causing data to be dropped. I spent 250+ hours making a new TCP handler to fix this issue. So, ask your users if they are using the latest version of the firmware.
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#5
Ok, I called your BBS and the problem is not with the Telnet translation.  I attempted to upload a file containing just space and return characters.  Only binary files (that has any FF's in them) require the translation to be enabled in order to escape those characters.  Since that text-only file does not work, it would have to be something else in the setup of your UDS-10.  I searched around for a bit and find that this is actually a common problem with the UDS-10 even talking to itself.  There are many posts like this one:

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/185621...nt=2339989

I have never seen a UDS-10 before, but I do know that HEATWAVEBBS uses one (or use to) and I have no issues with uploads/downloads there.

This problem could be due to the all of the hops with router, port forwarding, and back and forth translation with the UDS-10.   Although it seems from the posts I have seen that the data coming in/going out for at least Xmodem protocol is correct.  This makes me wonder if there is some Telnet specific command that is being used with the UDS-10.  I don't support any of these commands other than DONT/WONT (to tell the Telnet device that I don't/won't support commands) and only the translation (escaping FF's) is supported.

Since the UDS-10 is so slow, why are you not using the WiModem232 instead of it?  There are a ton of people who run their BBS's with the WiModem232.  You can run it at 230400 baud if you wanted to.
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#6
Does your "collision" LED ever light up while attempting file transfers?
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#7
I deleted your other thread since everything is repeated here.
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#8
OK, I am able to upload the TESTFILE at 9600 baud. That same file won't upload at 57600 baud. This tells me that there is a timing issue with the UDS-10. Maybe this is why most people use the UDS-1100 instead?

I was not able to download a binary file with Zmodem at 9600 baud though, so if you can put that TESTFILE that I uploaded in one of your download directories I would like to try to download it at 9600 to see if that works with various protocols. Zmodem is super touchy, so I was surprised to see the upload work. I uploaded it also with YModem-1K and that worked fine. The Xmodem and Ymodem protocols don't have tiny timing windows... they still have windows, but typically it's not an issue for WiFi<>router connections. In your case you have a Serial<>Ethernet<>router connection. I did see that the UDS-10 is not fully asynchronous (why it has the collision LED). Its certainly possible that the timing at higher baud rates is too fast and collisions are occurring.
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#9
(07-28-2021, 11:00 AM)admin Wrote: Do you have the UDS-10 set to telnet or raw?  Do your callers have v4.x WiModem232 firmware?  It could be that they have the older firmware, which did have issues (depending on the router).  I found a bug in the TCP stack handler library for the ESP8266 (the WiFi module I am using for this product).  Depending on the router and the packet size being sent, the packet could get split and that had a bug that was causing data to be dropped.  I spent 250+ hours making a new TCP handler to fix this issue.  So, ask your users if they are using the latest version of the firmware.


The UDS-10 is set to telnet. I'm not sure about what version they are using in their WiModem 232 firmware but most of them are pretty "with it" and keep things up to date.

I will ask them though.
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#10
(07-28-2021, 12:34 PM)admin Wrote: Ok, I called your BBS and the problem is not with the Telnet translation.  I attempted to upload a file containing just space and return characters.  Only binary files (that has any FF's in them) require the translation to be enabled in order to escape those characters.  Since that text-only file does not work, it would have to be something else in the setup of your UDS-10.  I searched around for a bit and find that this is actually a common problem with the UDS-10 even talking to itself.  There are many posts like this one:

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/185621...nt=2339989

I have never seen a UDS-10 before, but I do know that HEATWAVEBBS uses one (or use to) and I have no issues with uploads/downloads there.

This problem could be due to the all of the hops with router, port forwarding, and back and forth translation with the UDS-10.   Although it seems from the posts I have seen that the data coming in/going out for at least Xmodem protocol is correct.  This makes me wonder if there is some Telnet specific command that is being used with the UDS-10.  I don't support any of these commands other than DONT/WONT (to tell the Telnet device that I don't/won't support commands) and only the translation (escaping FF's) is supported.

Since the UDS-10 is so slow, why are you not using the WiModem232 instead of it?  There are a ton of people who run their BBS's with the WiModem232.  You can run it at 230400 baud if you wanted to.

Well, successful uploads and downloads have been achieved with the following setups:

Windows 7 - both the Console and SyncTerm, zmodem

Windows 10 - both the Console and SyncTerm, zmodem

Kubuntu Linux - both Ztelnet and SyncTerm, zmodem

Atari ST (TOS) - both STalker and TAZ, zmodem (calling in with another UDS-10)

All of the above set to telnet, not raw.

Hmm, I guess I need to apologize. I assumed you were familiar with the Atari ST line of computers. My bad.

The Mega ST4 has a serial port limited to 19.2k. That's what DarkForce runs at.

I did try the WiModem 232 on DarkForce. You could connect, but all uploads and downloads CRC errored out. 
Also, some key commands would not work. That's weird to me. Darkforce acted the same way with the UDS-10
set to raw as well. 

Thanks.
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