Author: Ratko V Tomic
Date: 07:58:06 10/05/99
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Thanks Ed for the driver info. Regarding the print option: > #1. A chess program outputs the move it plays to the printer > in a specific (ASCII) format. (That was all there was to do to > make Rebel auto232 compatible). Does it need to output anything else to the printer, like move number or evalations or resign, draw, checkmate, etc? Is the move in algebraic from-to notation? What baud rate, parity, data bits do they set when they redefine PRN to COM port? > #2. The auto232 driver (when launched) redefines the printer to > the serial port (COM1 or COM2). Then from the serial port the move > is read, translated and send via the serial port of the other computer. Microsoft "mode" command, while it can redefine COM port as a printer, it inserts a resident module which time-slices the cpu time and needlessly polls COM port (which could be handled entirely via the low overhead interrupts). > #3. The other computer scans the serial port and puts all info > received in its keyboard buffer. I suppose that is the whole job of the DOS driver since they already remap PRN to COM via DOS mode. The overhead of 10% on slower machines is way too much (not even the 4.77 Mhz IBM PC from 1981 needs that much overhead for chess move transmission & kbd buffer). With a bit more info (from the questions above), I should be able to make a small (under 2K) driver which supports auto232 under DOS and has no measurable CPU overhead or any spurious effects on the chess program. As for Windows programs, I have auto232 specs, but in any case, they can be made to play automatically with or without their explicit cooperation since all move info, in or out, can be captured cleanly and without much overhead (compared to Windows overhead). Even if program allows only mouse input of moves, the mouse moves and clicks can be fed as easily as keyboard input.
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