[Coco] TCP/IP Programming in Commodore BASIC

[Gene Heskett]

On Saturday, November 06, 2010 11:18:06 am Aaron Wolfe did opine:

> I'd like to see an IP stack on the CoCo as well.  There has been
> discussion here about such a thing in the past.  Maybe it would be a
> good topic for the next coco conference.
> 
> Ideally an IP stack would be accessible from both DECB and OS9.  I've
> looked at the cheap (< $5) "TCP/IP on a chip" solutions that are
> available and thought that one of these would make it easier to add IP
> to the CoCo, since you would interface to an existing stack rather
> than creating your own.  These chips would buffer and decode the IP
> packets into data streams and also have the interface used to talk
> with ethernet or wireless networking hardware built in.  They would
> let the CoCo use it's resources at the application layer rather than
> dealing with the protocols.
 
Didn't the majority of those require far more than the usual 4 address for 
a full interface to them?  Like about 16 of them?  That right there would 
seem to bloat the driver considerably.

> The last time I mentioned such a thing it wasn't a popular idea.

You didn't hear negativity that from me.

> 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.

KA9Q could do slip only, not tcp/ip.  & that was crashy as could be.  And 
by that time, no ISP's were offering slip connections in my neck of the 
woods anyway.
 
> Writing a stack isn't interesting to me, although using one is :)
> That's one reason why the IP services provided by DriveWire are
> implemented as regular serial channels on the CoCo side.. I just don't
> care too much how IP gets there so long as it's there.
> 
> I think it would be valuable to have a real IP stack no matter how
> it's provided, and I'd be willing to help with an effort to implement
> any sort of IP solution for the CoCo.  I don't think there is much
> point in extending the IP functionality in DriveWire unless it's to be
> compatible with some other "real", coco native solution.

I am still in favor of the 'chip with a stack' solution, if some way to 
squeeze its register addressing into the coco's normal I/O map could be 
done.  However, I have not investigated today's offerings in that area.

> my $0.02

That's about what mine are worth too these days I fear.

> -Aaron
> 
> On Sat, Nov 6, 2010 at 1:29 AM, tim lindner <tlindner at macmess.org> wrote:
> > I really wish we had a TCP/IP stack like the 6502 guys. Jono Downes
> > has added BASIC support for TCP/IP programming:
> > 
> > http://lyonlabs.org/commodore/kb-bob/index.html

[...]

-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
God isn't dead.  He just doesn't want to get involved.