PLATOTerm 0.8 Alpha Release

This is a pre-release version that works well enough for initial testing by a larger audience.

Core

• Prefs loading/saving now working correctly.
• Character set downloading/scaling and use 99% working (one edge case needs debugging)
• New 5x6 font courtesy of MrFish.
• Fixes to 4x6 font for Apple2

Apple2

• First cut of Apple II release. Please test!

Requirements for C64

• Commodore 64 or 128 in 64 mode
• Swiftlink-232 or compatible cartridge and RS232 wifi-modem, or
• User port wifi-modem

Requirements for Apple2

• Apple ][+ minimum
• 48K of RAM
• Super Serial Card in Slot 2
• WIFI modem attached to Super Serial Card
• A shift-key mod is optional, if running on an Apple ][ Plus.
• otherwise, use ESC ESC key combo to shift into lowercase.

Other Apple2 Notes

The PLATO keyboard is mapped onto the Apple ][ keyboard. CTRL is used to access the special PLATO keys, with ESC acting as a SHIFT key in combination for shifted combinations.

PLATO KEY	Apple Key
ANS	CTRL-A
BACK	CTRL-B
SHIFT-BACK	ESC CTRL-B
COPY	CTRL-C
SHIFT-COPY	ESC CTRL-C
DATA	CTRL-D
SHIFT-DATA	ESC CTRL-D
EDIT	CTRL-E
SHIFT-EDIT	ESC CTRL-E
FONT	CTRL-F
÷	CTRL-G
HELP	CTRL-I
SHIFT-HELP	ESC CTRL-H
LAB	CTRL-L
SHIFT-LAB	ESC CTRL-L
SUPER	CTRL-P
SHIFT-SUPER	ESC CTRL-P
SQUARE	CTRL-Q
ACCESS	ESC CTRL-Q
STOP	CTRL-S
SHIFT-STOP	ESC CTRL-S
TERM	CTRL-T
×	CTRL-X
SUB	CTRL-Y
SHIFT-SUB	ESC CTRL-Y
Setup	CTRL-Z
Shift Lock (for Apple ][+	ESC ESC
--

For Apple ][+ systems, you can press ESC ESC to toggle and access the lowercase characters.

TBD: Map access keys (lots of special printable characters) onto Apple2 keyboard directly.

Apple2 Default Configuration

• Super Serial Card
• 2400 BPS

Commodore 64 Default Configuration

• User Port modem
• 2400 bps
• 1351 Mouse

Issues? Questions?

File an issue in github, or contact me at thom dot cherryhomes at gmail dot com.

Printable documentation is coming soon and will be available for the beta release. Commodore 64 users can use the documentation from the previous release.

C64-0.1-alpha

Here, we have what I would consider the first working implementation of PLATOTerm, with working flow control for user-port WIFI modems.

In order to utilize this, you should enable hardware flow control, e.g. with &K1. The code currently asserts RTS to toggle off when the buffer gets full.

I am putting a D64 disk image here, as well as an in-progress version of the manual. If you are interested in testing, please contact me at thom dot cherryhomes at gmail dot com.