Re: Fluke compiler software

as you say, the actual command codes are the problem areas, you had started
to get somewhere earlier on - but from my experience trying to understand
that mish-mash of code that drives the fluke is not going to be easy.

I actually started on a 'fluke 9010' driver for mame, the display looks
fairly simple, it basically sends ascii to one port, presumably with some
extra commands to clear it. whether the parallel port is fast enough is
something I do not know, but I do know that you can access it from windows
2000 professional etc, as long as you install a device driver. I used one
when I did the software for the willem eprom programmer, so that bit at
least is solved!

I won an 8088 pod in a recent auction, and will start the hardware based
side of the experiments when I have that in my hands, I can't afford to risk
damaging my z80 or 68000 pods. (as far as I know, there was only one or two
arcade games that used 8088's, and I own none of them!)

Once it's known how to control the pod, and we can discover if the old LPT
port is up to the job, then we can write an open source fluke controller
program that can be extended to include 9100 commands and indeed anything
else we can think of - basic templates for testing boards could be generated
from mame, ram areas, rom areas, checksums, etc - they may not be spot on,
but it should cut down the time required to create a test program for any
board.

part of the reasoning behind the windows version of the fluke compiler
(fredericks one anyway - is source available for the proper fluke one too ?)
is that if thats understood, then supporting most of the commands should be
possible for the fluke replacement too.

just out of interest, did anyone have the disks for the 9100 in a format
that can be looked at on a PC, because the 68000 code may be better
structured than the z80 code I have so far. (well, it can't possibly be
worse!)
Received on Thu Apr 04 11:30:05 2002