5 ms·

Sure, but IDK how you'd send them on a mac without the software to do it? Is there even an environment you can program in? Can Applescript on classic macos do

Sure, but IDK how you'd send them on a mac without the software to do it? Is there even an environment you can program in? Can Applescript on classic macos do serial stuff in any form?

jdsnape 2y ago
I wonder if you could convince the mac there was was a postscript printer on the other end, then retrieve the text from the ps commands that were sent.
- phibz 2y ago
  You could use local talk and another Mac with ethernet or a floppy drive. Mac file sharing is built in with system 7 and later
  - westurner 2y ago
    https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/Serial_port https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/Serial_port links to "Macintosh Serial Throughput" (1998) https://lowendmac.com/1998/macintosh-serial-throughput/ https://lowendmac.com/1998/macintosh-serial-throughput/ which mentions a Farallon Mac serial to Ethernet adapter. /? farallon Mac serial port Ethernet https://www.google.com/search?q=farallon+mac+serial+port+ethernet https://www.google.com/search?q=farallon+mac+serial+port+eth... : $50 and no FreePPP or Zmodem or AppleScript serial port to a [soldered] cable to an Arduino/RP2040W/ESP32 (which is probably faster than the old Mac). https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/548343/44804 https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/548343/44804 mentions minicom and gnu screen, and the need to implement e.g. file-level checksums because over serial like ROM flashing
Rinzler89 2y ago
IDK about MacOS, but on Windows 9x/XP, sending bytes via serial was incredibly trivial in C#, Visual C++ or even ols school Visual Basic.[1] Even if you didn't have one of the dozens of already written serial terminal apps, you could write your own pretty easily in one of those languages to push bytes out the serial port, with just a few standard API calls. I doubt MacOS didn't have something similar. Unless of course, MacOS back then was somehow shittier than Windows, which I doubt. [1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.visualbasic.devices.ports.openserialport?view=netframework-4.8.1 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.visua...
- Anarch157a 2y ago
  No need for any programming language in Windows 9X, just open a DOS prompt and use 'copy file.txt COM1: /B'. We used that trick back in the DOS days to print raw ASCII files on parallel (LPT1:) or serial (COM1:) devices. I'm willing to bet it still works on Win11.
  - Rinzler89 2y ago
    > I'm willing to bet it still works on Win11. It might not. A lab I was at in uni still had Windows XP PCs because according to them, that's the last Windows OS that allowed direct serial/paralel port access needed to control the external robotics/CNCs via those old APIs the SW used, since subsequent versions of Windows abstracted away those direct HW API calls that DOS used in the name of security and stability.
    - Gormo 2y ago
      What OS-level APIs would something communicating over serial be using? Sure, Windows abstracts the hardware, but that's been true since well before Windows XP, and modern versions of Windows still expose virtual COM ports for serial adapters connected through USB or PCIE, just as XP did. In fact, even DOS abstracts away serial communications: your hardware would be set to a specific I/O port and IRQ, but DOS exposes those as I/O devices, so you would just read and write to COM1, COM2, etc. My guess is that there's some other issue running that old Windows program on modern versions of Windows -- maybe some components are 16-bit, and since current 64-bit Windows doesn't include the VDM, they can't run. Or maybe it's an issue with current versions of certain DLLs.
- NegativeLatency 2y ago
  Didn’t know how to program at the time I was using classic macos but my current understanding (having done some retro programming for fun) is that unless you specifically installed a programming environment there’s no real ability to script or even run commands.
- Sesse__ 2y ago

Sure, but IDK how you'd send them on a mac without the software to do it? Is there even an environment you can program in? Can Applescript on classic macos do serial stuff in any form?

jdsnape 2y ago

I wonder if you could convince the mac there was was a postscript printer on the other end, then retrieve the text from the ps commands that were sent.

phibz 2y ago
You could use local talk and another Mac with ethernet or a floppy drive. Mac file sharing is built in with system 7 and later
- westurner 2y ago
  https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/Serial_port https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/Serial_port links to "Macintosh Serial Throughput" (1998) https://lowendmac.com/1998/macintosh-serial-throughput/ https://lowendmac.com/1998/macintosh-serial-throughput/ which mentions a Farallon Mac serial to Ethernet adapter. /? farallon Mac serial port Ethernet https://www.google.com/search?q=farallon+mac+serial+port+ethernet https://www.google.com/search?q=farallon+mac+serial+port+eth... : $50 and no FreePPP or Zmodem or AppleScript serial port to a [soldered] cable to an Arduino/RP2040W/ESP32 (which is probably faster than the old Mac). https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/548343/44804 https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/548343/44804 mentions minicom and gnu screen, and the need to implement e.g. file-level checksums because over serial like ROM flashing

Rinzler89 2y ago

IDK about MacOS, but on Windows 9x/XP, sending bytes via serial was incredibly trivial in C#, Visual C++ or even ols school Visual Basic.[1] Even if you didn't have one of the dozens of already written serial terminal apps, you could write your own pretty easily in one of those languages to push bytes out the serial port, with just a few standard API calls. I doubt MacOS didn't have something similar. Unless of course, MacOS back then was somehow shittier than Windows, which I doubt. [1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.visualbasic.devices.ports.openserialport?view=netframework-4.8.1 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.visua...

Anarch157a 2y ago
No need for any programming language in Windows 9X, just open a DOS prompt and use 'copy file.txt COM1: /B'. We used that trick back in the DOS days to print raw ASCII files on parallel (LPT1:) or serial (COM1:) devices. I'm willing to bet it still works on Win11.
- Rinzler89 2y ago
  > I'm willing to bet it still works on Win11. It might not. A lab I was at in uni still had Windows XP PCs because according to them, that's the last Windows OS that allowed direct serial/paralel port access needed to control the external robotics/CNCs via those old APIs the SW used, since subsequent versions of Windows abstracted away those direct HW API calls that DOS used in the name of security and stability.
  - Gormo 2y ago
    What OS-level APIs would something communicating over serial be using? Sure, Windows abstracts the hardware, but that's been true since well before Windows XP, and modern versions of Windows still expose virtual COM ports for serial adapters connected through USB or PCIE, just as XP did. In fact, even DOS abstracts away serial communications: your hardware would be set to a specific I/O port and IRQ, but DOS exposes those as I/O devices, so you would just read and write to COM1, COM2, etc. My guess is that there's some other issue running that old Windows program on modern versions of Windows -- maybe some components are 16-bit, and since current 64-bit Windows doesn't include the VDM, they can't run. Or maybe it's an issue with current versions of certain DLLs.
NegativeLatency 2y ago
Didn’t know how to program at the time I was using classic macos but my current understanding (having done some retro programming for fun) is that unless you specifically installed a programming environment there’s no real ability to script or even run commands.
Sesse__ 2y ago