[Coco] TCP/IP Programming in Commodore BASIC

[William Astle]

On 10-11-06 01:00 AM, Aaron Wolfe wrote:
> The last time I mentioned such a thing it wasn't a popular idea.  It
> was suggested that if we don't run the IP stack on the 6809, we
> shouldn't do it.   I'd be happy with that approach if we had a stack
> for the 6809, but as far as I know no one is working on one.

This is, of course, easier said than done, but anything worth doing is.

I looked into doing it at one point and quickly realized that if it's 
going to happen on the 6809, it will have to be over a serial link of 
some kind, perhaps using drivewire or equivalent to yank packets into 
the system. The remote end of the serial link would then have to buffer 
packets but if the coco advertised the correct bits and bobs within the 
IP protocol, it ought to work. After all, IP was designed in an era 
where many participants in the net were not all that much more powerful 
(if there were at all) than a coco3 and they didn't have "TCP/IP 
offload" to network cards.

I would think any stack on the coco would have to advertise an MTU much 
smaller than the 1500 byte norm that has emerged with ethernet ubiquity.

I think one would realistically want to have a proper UART in the system 
before attempting to use such an IP stack, though, so that the coco has 
cycles left over for actually processing packets it receives.

That raises a question: is anyone currently offering for sale a proper 
serial port (or two) that can be plugged into a coco? Something 
compatible with the rs232 pack? I can't seem to find anything at the 
moment. My google-fu must be weak.

-- 
William Astle
lost at l-w.ca