Sorry, this page is still under construction…
Using a 30 year old laptop in 2021:
For now check out some of the details already at:
https://zedstarr.com/2021/07/22/rs232-flow-control-handshaking-psion-mc400-retro-communications/
and
https://zedstarr.com/2021/09/09/psion-mc400-retro-computing-via-rs232-to-raspberry-pi-handshaking-fixed/
and
https://zedstarr.com/2023/05/20/usb-rs232-compatibility-issues/
There are a few different versions of Psion serial cables around and some have different colour schemes for the internal wires. If you’re thinking of adding USB/Serial modules to a standard Psion serial cable I strongly recommend actually buzzing-out your cable with a multimeter to make sure your connections are right.
Raspberry Pi config:
Model 3B+, static IP, set to connect to home wifi or phone-hotspot when out-and-about
2 x USB-serial links:
/dev/ttyUSB0 (alias /dev/mc400.portA) – getty 9600 baud for terminal log in
/dev/ttyUSB1 (alias /dev/mc400.portB) – dosbox-x/MCLINK.EXE 19200 baud for filesystem access
dosbox-x emulator used to run MCLINK.EXE for file sharing and WSPCX.EXE to convert screenshots
rainbowstream used to send tweets
msmtp used to send emails
rclone used to sync to Google Drive
ImageMagick used to convert screenshots
Bitly.com URL shortener API used to shorten Google Drive links to stored screenshots
curl & sed used to parse BBC RSS/XML news feed into text file
Room 7609 