Conference 501clb::pcdoom

    I don't know about 9pin to 25pin, but you could simply make a
    9pin->9pin cable and then use one of those 25pin-to-9pin adapter plugs
    for the back of the awkward PC.....
    
    ....if so, I can find out how you wire up a 9pin->9pin if you want...
    (ie. strip my spare one at home!)
    
    Do you want me to find out for you? The adapter plugs aren't expensive
    and can be bought at any Maplin/RS components outlet.....

    Sure thing, that sounds great.  Thanks!
    
    J

    Okay sorry about how long this took, but here's the wiring diagram for
    9 pin to 9 pin.
    
     1 2 3 4 5
    ___________
    \o o o o o/         Looking INTO the computer, FROM the cable, the
     \o o o o/          pin numbers on the serial connector are like this.
      -------
      6 7 8 9		
    
    1          		Wire up the connectors thus. That is, connect pin
    2 ------- 3         2 on one end to pin 3 on the other, pin 7 to pin 8
    3 ------- 2         and so on....
    4
    5 ------- 5
    6
    7 ------- 8
    8 ------- 7
    9 not used
    
    Finally, for each end, connect the pins 1, 4 and 6 together. That is,
    just solder some very short pieces of spare wire to join all three.
    Repeat this for the other end of the cable.
    
    Good luck!
    
    	Dan

What sort of performance would you get from that, Dan?

D'you recon I should try it, or go for a network jobby (OOOooo, more cash).

Also, how much wonga are we talking about here?  Approx. How much is the cable 
per metre, because I'd need about 9 metres.


Cheers.

    >>What sort of performance would you get from that, Dan?
    
    For Doom, on small levels, performance is bearable but after you've
    played network it just isn't quite the same ;-)
    
    >>D'you recon I should try it, or go for a network jobby (OOOooo, more
    cash).
    
    Well, cost vs. performance, it's a heck of a lot cheaper and easier to
    just go the serial port. Obviously you can only have two-player games
    of doom as opposed to 4, but networking is a lot of money for a two
    player game when a serial port connection will do (albeit a little
    slower).
    
    >>Also, how much wonga are we talking about here?  Approx. How much is
    >>the cable per metre, because I'd need about 9 metres.
    
    We're talking a piffling amount so long as you can solder a connection.
    I've got a 10 metre cable I made up at home. Cable, connectors and
    connector casings - the whole caboodle was around �9.
    
    Compared with our network which was �143 to set up, you can see the
    advantage of putting up with a serial link. Plus serial can be a handy
    way of transferring files if you've got some nifty little utility such
    as LapLink.
    
    Dan

Fancy knocking one up f'me?  I'd have to check with my housemate, but he wants a 
link, so I expect he'll go for it.  I don't have any stuff, like soldering iron 
etc., with me in Reading.

I'll shout you a pint (so long as it's not at the posthouse! 2 quid! rip-off.)

    Yeah okay, no worries, when I got some spare time :-)

    Ooo one thing.... just make sure you've got some spare 9-pin serial
    ports. I know this sounds silly, since all computers have them, but if
    you or your friend has a 9-pin mouse and you use that to play doom,
    you'll have to get a 25->9 pin adapter if you want to use your other
    serial port (presuming it's a 25 pin port of course).
    
    Or you could just keep swapping the mouse and serial lead over all the
    time, and learn Doom on keyboard :-)

    Thoughts:
    
    If you have a more modern PC (Including all the DEC ones I have seen)
    you get an emulation of the 16550 uart chip this goes pretty quick if
    the S/W will let you.  Many "generic" PC's still use 16450 or copies
    thereof and so can't push much more than 9600baud safely.  You can buy
    16550 cards for not many pennies and this might speed things up a bit.
    
    Can you use the pll port?  There are file transfer utilities that use
    this and if you can stand to wire an eight bit cable they can seriously
    shovel data.  Will DOOM II do it?   Can any of those serious DOS_Geeks
    get the AUX port revectored to PRN going full speed?
    
    I have the cable pin outs if anybody fancies getting it going.
    
    
    regards, Michael.

    Doom and Doom 2 only support Serial and Network 'out the box'.
    
    If you wanted to use anything else, you'd need to write some
    nifty little code no doubt..... but it's an idea. Care to take it
    up ;-) ?

    Hi,
    I have 2 computers at home and I wanted to run doom version 1.1 over
    the serial link,but when I tried using sersetup  it connected and began to
   run doom and when it was just about to go in doom it said ipx not
    detected and  stopped. Anyone know what I did wrong?
     
     Andy

    At a guess (you haven't told us very much) I's say you ran SERSETUP
    directly. To do this, you need to run it from SETUP, and choose the
    appropriate options for your setup. SETUP then calls SERSETUP with the
    correct parameters.
    
    Note that to run this at its best, you need to be using 1.666 *AND* it
    must be the registered version.
    
    Cheers, Laurie.

    'ipx not detected' ?!?!?!
    
    That means it's looking for a network driver!? Are you sure you chose
    the right option, or (if you used the command line) you did type
    SERSETUP and not IPXSETUP ?!?!?! Weird....
    
    :-]

    Dan,
    
    Read my note again, and think about what the defaults are for SETUP and
    network games... I bet I'm right.
    
    Laurie.

    True, didn't think of that. Make sure you hit spacebar on the option
    first, eh?! Enter by itself doesn't change the option does it?
    
    Ahh well. Let's hope he gets it sorted :-)
    
    Dan
    
    P.S. Cheques paid in, Laurie ;-]

    
    
    	Trying to run DOOM across a serial link up.
    Both PC access through SETUP. However when they try to connect after
    inputting all the parameters one PC bombs out of Doom whilst the other
    boots to DOOM and then hangs awaiting Doom Network info.
    
    	Tony

    	I have just installed an multi io card with a high speed 16550 fifo
    uart on it,and now doom doesn't work over the serial link anymore.It
    runs very slowly for a few seconds and then freezes.
    
    	The machine that i'm connecting to has an older 8250 uart,as did
    mine before the upgrade.
    
    	Before the upgrade it worked perfectly at 14400 baud with little
    apparent slow down because of the serial link.
    
    	Could the problem be because either the doom driver can't drive the
    16550 or that the connection 8250-16550 doesn't work ?.
    
    	Has anyone tried this configuration and got it to work?
    
    	Thanks
    	Brian

    I had the same problem when I added a Promise EIDE card. Have you
    "enabled" the 16550 UART? The one supplied with the Promise didn't
    work. Try using 16550.exe from the SIMTEL archives.
    
    Cheers, Laurie.

    re :-1
    
    	I tried the 16550.exe program and the fifo was disabled,so I
    switched it on,but it made no difference.
    
    	I could get the serial link to work by using sersetup -8250,which
    sets the 16550 to 8250 mode.but most doom frontend programs don't have
    this option.
    
    	Also,Terminal velocity and rise of the triad won't work over this
    link either.

    Sounds like a dodgy card then... How many wires does the cable have?
    
    Cheers, Laurie.

    I don't know,but its a dec bc22d-25.
    
    	I called USGOLD about Rise of the Triad,and they told me that
    16550-8250 doesn't work.They uarts must must be of the same type.
    
    	The board appears to work otherwise,I'm using it at the moment to
    type in this note over a modem.
    
    	Have you actually got doom to work across two machines with
    different uarts.
    
    Thanks 
    Brian

RE:                      <<< Note 131.21 by BRUMMY::LOXTON >>>

�    I don't know,but its a dec bc22d-25.
    
    That means nothing to me at all.
    
�    	Have you actually got doom to work across two machines with
�    different uarts.
    
    In a word, yes; for DOOM that is. I'm using a 9-wire cable.
    
    Cheers, Laurie.

    BCD22-D	Terminal cable

    Description: The BC22D is a fully shielded, EIA-232 null modem cable
    designed for asynchronous applications.

    Number of connectors: 6

    Connectors: Two 25 way female D-type

    Wiring:

    Pin	Signal			Pin	Signal
    1				1
    2	Transmit data		3	Receive data
    3	Receive data		2	Transmit data
    6	DSR			20	DTR
    7	Signal ground		7	Signal ground
    20	DTR			6	DSR
    

    Maybe coming from left field, don't you need to have RTS/CTS wired
    also? My printer wouldn't work from the serial port until I at least
    jumpered those lines together.