Debug SAS DLL for testing

[Tilt]

I have the new .dll installed and running on both of my laptops.  One with a USB -> serial cable, the other with a real serial port.  I'm still seeing the same type of timing problems on both of them with this version too.  Get some   AndyP, and thanks for your continued efforts with this!

[poppo]

..as I still have a not-burned-out working S+ interface board one here...lol

Hopefully the mailman will rectify that today. 

[poppo]

As I posted in the USB serial port adapter thread, this Edgeport 4 port unit works with the IGT SIM but not with this app. Here is a sample of the dmnon log.

[AndyP]

As I posted in the USB serial port adapter thread, this Edgeport 4 port unit works with the IGT SIM but not with this app. Here is a sample of the dmnon log.

Thats interesting. Its writing out data, but getting a large delay befre any responses are received.. Seems the uart in the card is not sending an interrupt fast enough. Of course it wont affect the SAS app because it processes the data asyncrounously. I might have a try at using a USB to Serial adaptor and see if I can replicate it here.

[jay]

I am wondering at this point if the varied results are related to the varying specs of our PCs
I still believe that there is a timing issue with the code, possibly buffering - real time device management is a royal pain so no disprect to Andy.
I am just suggesting this as perhaps being a diagnostic aid in knowing what needs to be tweaked.

I am wondering if we could report in on your processor speed / Ram and how well the app is working.
Perhaps older PCs are working better than newer ..... and and more / longer polling is required for the newer systems
Or if its perhaps the otherway around and newer PCs are working better.

Jay

[AndyP]

OK, for you smart guys out there. Here is the problem:

If I only want to poll a single machine, thats easy, because I know every repsonse I get is from that one machine. If I poll 2 machines, how do I know which machine the reponse is from?

What I do now, is poll the first machine, wait for a response, poll the second machine and wait for a response. Now the problem I am beginning to see is that sometimes the UART does not tell me its received any data for a while, so I give up waiting and go on and poll the next machine. Then all of a sudden I get all the responses in a block.. What is supposed to happen is that you set a timeout in the UART, so that if it has not received any data in a certain amount of time, it sets the interrupt so that the receive buffer can be read. It looks like the USB adaptors ignore this setting.



SAS has no way of detecting the start of a response packet, and no way of detecting the end of a response packet, so I cant sort through a buffer of data and look for messages. Furthermore, exception responses do not have the poll address in them, so I cant map them back to a particular machine in software.

[AndyP]

I am wondering at this point if the varied results are related to the varying specs of our PCs
I still believe that there is a timing issue with the code, possibly buffering - real time device management is a royal pain so no disprect to Andy.
I am just suggesting this as perhaps being a diagnostic aid in knowing what needs to be tweaked.

I am wondering if we could report in on your processor speed / Ram and how well the app is working.
Perhaps older PCs are working better than newer ..... and and more / longer polling is required for the newer systems
Or if its perhaps the otherway around and newer PCs are working better.

Jay

You are correct, doing real time stuff in windows is hard. The faster the PC the better in this situation.

[AndyP]

Well I just plugged in a belkin USB to serial adaptor and failed out of the box. The problems here are slighty different to others I have seen so far, but along the same lines.

[poppo]

As I posted in the USB serial port adapter thread, this Edgeport 4 port unit works with the IGT SIM but not with this app. Here is a sample of the dmnon log.

Thats interesting. Its writing out data, but getting a large delay befre any responses are received.. Seems the uart in the card is not sending an interrupt fast enough.

The Edgeport has a configuration utility with these options. Anything you think I should try? Also attached is the pdf explaining those settings about half way through.

[AndyP]

Mabe check the low latency, and fast reads/writes and see what happens.

[AndyP]

What is even more interesting now, is that my USB to Serial adaptor is sending data to the machine, and the machine has stopped chirping, but its not responding. Exactly like the gameking comms analyser showed.

Time to look at it on an oscilloscope I think. Maybe the parity bit is not getting set..

[AndyP]

Just tried the belkin adaptor with IGT's sas test and it does not work either.

[poppo]

Mabe check the low latency, and fast reads/writes and see what happens.

Ok, I checked those and now I am getting responces (door open, door closed). Here is a new dbmon log with those settings. Maybe it will help.

[jay]

Just throwing this out there..... are the SAS responses a fixed size ? ie consistant byte count.
Alternatively can you ask the machine to report its SAS number followed by another poll ?

[AndyP]

Just throwing this out there..... are the SAS responses a fixed size ? ie consistant byte count.
Alternatively can you ask the machine to report its SAS number followed by another poll ?

No, the responses are all different sizes. The problems stems from the fact the general response is a single byte response, so there is no way of determining which machine it has come from.

[jdkmunch]

IBM X41 -  worked with the old dll and new one

no problems or differences  seen between versions


so far two machines hooked up to a 4 port usb hub -   One I-Game 3904 and one Bluebird

I have to wire up two more machines   an 044 and reel touch.

[jdkmunch]

oh an Acer C110

didn't work at all - both - old and new

[stayouttadabunker]

IBM X41 -  worked with the old dll and new one
no problems or differences  seen between versions
so far two machines hooked up to a 4 port usb hub -   
One I-Game 3904 and one Bluebird
I have to wire up two more machines   an 044 and reel touch.

Munch...the "hub"...what make and brand?
It's working on 2 machines to one PC at the moment?
Details please my friend!!! 

[Foster]

He is using a USB hub to allow him to connect more USB to Serial RS232 adapters cables.

[stayouttadabunker]

Like this?  >>>

[poppo]

This is the 4 port USB unit I mentioned in the other thread. Only $29 shipped and it's all in one.

Bought some of these 25ft cables too.
http://cgi.ebay.com/25FT-RS232-Serial-Cable-DB9M-DB9F-M-F-male-female-/130468687074

[stayouttadabunker]

I bought one for just about $30.
The others were like over $200.00....nuts

[jdkmunch]

I tried a $5 non powered USB hub and it didn't work with the serial adapters -  no communication at all.

I had this old Belkin F5u021 which is powered -  and it works!   

Three machines hooked up and working!!!!

[jdkmunch]

Like this?  >>>

You come up with the best pictures

[stayouttadabunker]

Like this?  >>>

You come up with the best pictures

That photo was actually a snapshot of my brain reading this stuff... 
Now I know why Einstein's hair was so screwed up!