Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Connecting my old 8-bit computer

B

BarnacleGrim

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I'm sure more collectors have even older computers as well, Apple or non-Apple.

I have a Tiki-100, a Norwegian made Z80-based computer running a derivative of CP/M. It has two RS-232 ports.

I want as many of my computers functional and connected to the internet as possible. I suppose I could re-enact the days when you would connect to a mainframe (in my case the G5) and use the Tiki-100 as a terminal. I believe the Mac serial port is both RS-232 and RS-422 compatible, so making a null modem cable would be the easy part. I have never used Kermit, but it does run on just about any imaginable system. Could I use it to connect to an old networked Mac, which then connects to the G5? Or is the only practical way to connect directly to the G5 with a USB-RS232 adapter?
 
An adapter and ZTerm or other terminal emulator should work fine. I use both IOGear and KeySpan with a variety of devices (ICOM amateur radio transceiver, CW Morse decoder, XMIT key, etc.)

Hooking up my Altair 680b is on my list of "one of these days" projects.

Good luck with the project! Sounds like fun.
 
I guess the first step is to make that null modem cable and connect it directly to my G5 with my Keyspan and get it working. Then I'll think about doing it over the network, since I want to keep the Tiki-100 in the basement and the G5 in my study.

It's time to renew my membership to my university's electronics society and see if I can find someone who can write to 5¼-inch floppies so I can get the software on the Tiki-100.

Is ZTerm what I will have on the old Mac passing on the connection over the network? It seems to be a client only.
 
BarnacleGrim said:
I guess the first step is to make that null modem cable and connect it directly to my G5 with my Keyspan and get it working. Then I'll think about doing it over the network, since I want to keep the Tiki-100 in the basement and the G5 in my study.

It's time to renew my membership to my university's electronics society and see if I can find someone who can write to 5¼-inch floppies so I can get the software on the Tiki-100.

Is ZTerm what I will have on the old Mac passing on the connection over the network? It seems to be a client only.
Click to expand...

Might I recommend using an Arduino between the Tiki and the G5? An Arduino is a microcontroller with pinouts. You could connect it to an ethernet shield, and network the Tiki to the G5. The Arduino would act as a serial to ethernet converter. With this in place you just need a terminal program for the Tiki that will talk to the serial port. That would probably be where you would run ZTerm.
 
I'll put another +1 out there for ZTerm and a USB/Serial adapter. I use a Keyspan version, and it works great on my MBP, even while running 10.6. I've had no trouble using my MBP to connect to any of my Sun and SGI workstations.
 
If you balk at the price of the Keyspan adapter, check eBay for USB-Serial adapters that are know to use the Prolific PL2303. Drivers available for Mac here.
________
iolite vaporizer
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back