Columbia Kermit/kermit.zip/newsgroups/misc.20000824-20010305/[e-mail] _Fri Feb 16 13:15:52 2001.msg

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From: "dls2" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: interfacing to FANUC CNC controller
Message-ID: <HUdj6.275608$[e-mail]>
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 18:00:07 GMT
Organization: Excite@Home - The Leader in Broadband http://home.com/faster
To: [e-mail]

"Frank da Cruz" <[e-mail]> wrote:
> dls2 <[e-mail]> wrote:
<snip>
> : Data is supposed to be transfered as readable, 7-bit,
> : ASCII, text, from the FANUC CNC controller, through
> : RS-232, to the computer running K95, and back, again,
> : for purposes of backing up, and restoring, the data.
> :
> Without protocol, right?

Right; no X-, Y-, or Z-modem, and no Kermit file transfer
protocol; just Kermit-95 being used to set the serial port
communication parameters and log the exchanged data.

> : Downloads, using K95, have been done using session
> : logs.  The captured data is identical to that acquired by
> : the ProComm Plus arrangement, with two important
> : differences.  The first difference is in the data header,
> : where instead of the expected percent sign (%), there
> : is a DC (Device Control) character (up/down arrow)
> : placed before the percent sign (%), in the closed session
> : logs.
> :
> K95 would not record this character if it did not come in.
> But DC1 is Ctrl-Q or XON.  If Kermit sees this as a data
> character, this would indicate that you did not SET FLOW
> XON/XOFF.

Actually, I did SET FLOW XON/XOFF, and usually kept
flow control set as such, when not trying other settings.

> : The second difference is in the data footer, where
> : instead of the expected percent sign (%), there is a DC
> : (Device Control) character (paragraph symbol) placed
> : after the percent sign (%), in the closed session logs.
> :
> DC-what?  The Device Control characters are DC1, DC2,
> DC3, and DC4, codes 0x11-0x14.

device control 1       DC1     ^Q    11   
device control 2       DC2     ^R    12   
device control 3       DC3     ^S    13   
device control 4       DC4     ^T    14   
    http://www.bbsinc.com/iso8859.html

<IBM PC Extended ASCII Display Characters Chart>
    http://www.jimprice.com/ascii-dos.gif

The first DC (Device Control) character which appeared,
before the first percent sign (%), was an up/down arrow,
associated with being a ^R, or DC2.

The second DC (Device Control) character which appeared,
after the second, and last, percent sign (%), was a paragraph
symbol, associated with being a ^T, or DC4.

X-ON is CTRL-Q, and
X-OFF is CTRL-S, but
neither of those appear.

CTRL-R and CTRL-T do appear,
but I have no idea what they mean,
much less how Kermit interprets
them regarding flow control.

Since the CTRL-R and CTRL-T appear at the head and
foot of the data, respectively, do they have something to
do with handshaking?  How should handshaking be set?

> : Would the appearance of these DC (Device Control)
> : characters in the K95 session logs I make account for
> : why I cannot upload the same files back to the FANUC
> : CNC controller, using "xmit <filename>", even after I
> : strip these DC (Device Control) characters from the
> : session logs?
> :
> How are you attempting to upload these files?

Is XMIT the wrong command to be using for reading a file
from disk and spooling the raw contents out onto the line?

Does XMIT assume the use of a protocol, be that X-, Y-, or
Z-modem, or Kermit, and not ASCII?

Should I have attempted to use the FILE command, instead?

> Aside from flow control, the real questions are:
>
>  . What are you supposed to be sending to the controller?

The equivalent of a plain ASCII text file.

>  . Exactly what format is it supposed to be in?

Plain, ordinary, ASCII.

>  . When are you supposed to send it?  Are you supposed
>    to wait for a prompt, or what?

The FANUC CNC controller gets put into a state where it is
ready to accept data.  The assumption is that this controller
is attempting to read from tape, so the mode is one of LSK
(Label SKip).  The controller will read any data sent to it, but
will not actually regard any of what is sent to it as data, until
after the first percent sign (%) is sent to it.  Upon receiving
this first percent sign (%), the controller switches to an Input
mode, wherein everything received is considered to be data,
and duely processed as such, until such time as a second
percent sign (%) appears, signifying an end to the data input,
and switching the controller out of its Input mode.

> Is the connection full or half duplex?  If you do this
> by hand, does the controller echo what you type?

Setting the controller to full duplex or half duplex did
not seem to make any difference; I don't know why.

The settings for ProComm Plus indicated that the
connection was to be half duplex, so that is what I
had K-95, likewise, set to.

> What if you type something too soon?

LSK (Label SKip) is in effect, so there isn't a problem.

> Does the controller support typeahead?  etc etc.

I don't know what typeahead is; what is typeahead?


appreciatively,
  --  Derrick Shearer