ANSI Telnet for the M4 Board

[kolleykibber]

Hi all,

I've spent a few evenings getting Ewenterm and Dukes telnet demo for the M4 working together.

I have something workable, few bugs yet, but I thought I'd post it for interest. This gives you ansi/vt-52 style telnet access and most sites seem ok.

It works well with amstrad.simulant.uk:464, telehack.com, a local WOPR server and a few others. Even displays ascii art!

You can use it by copying the three files to the m4 sdcard and running EWEN.BAS.

When I get a chance, I'll fix a couple of bugs and clean up the code and put it on github.

As an edit telnet starwars seems to work. very slowly.

[Brocky]

nice! i was looking into doing something like this myself but havent had the time

[XeNoMoRPH]

excellent work    

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

Very, very good!
Thank you,Sir. 
I'll test it this evening.
It would be wonderful to present it
on the next exhibition!

Steven

[dodogildo]

Awesome 

[ComSoft6128]

Wow!
First time I've seen screens like these from an online source in over 20 (25?) years, tremendous work

[Gryzor]

This is so geeky and cool

[poulette73]

Hello,

Unfortunately, TELNET emulation with the M4 Board isn't perfect for accessing BBS or Telnet servers.
It works but not for all sites, and a lot of display bugs as well...

With the USIfAC II from @ikonsgr, the result is truly perfect. 👍

On the other hand, the implementation is much more complex at the beginning...

[kolleykibber]

hi @poulette73 ,

Yes. I wrote the version in the usifac bundle. But, I think it's probably only you and I  that got it working .

The reason why the usifac version works so well is the Unix proxy manages all the telnet interfacing and translates to serial.

Implementing telnet for the M4 is much more work, but doesn't require the third machine, or the effort.

I think the ideal would be to have the esp8266 manage the telnet protocol, but doing it on on the cpc is a nice challenge.

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

Tested the client this evening.
Already damn good.
I have noticed, that on amstrad.simulant.uk
everything works fine.
However,  if the author of a post has an "avatar",
it is shown on the upper right side.
In that case however, it destroys the rest of the
screen layout.
The workaround is to switch off almost every
'addon' in the settings of the bbs.

Stefan

[poulette73]

Thanks @kolleykibber for EWEN.BAS program for M4 Board. 👍
It works better than TELNET.BIN program

Now the BBS/Telnet connection is at the same level as with the USIfAC II.

[kolleykibber]

Thanks for the screenshots @poulette73 

Weird how the amstrad graphic is different on all three screenshots. I'm using this as my debug screen. Hope simulant doesn't mind my repeated logons.

[GUNHED]

Which is the original character set of the server?
If using the same on CPC it should be fine.

[SkulleateR]

The different login screens (and menus) are results of what you choose at login here :

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

The different login screens (and menus) are results of what you choose at login here :

Yes, you can change it afterwards 
with [D] Default User Setting

Steven 

[VincentGR]

Oh my, was waiting for years for something like this!!!
Thank you.

[Prodatron]

Hi @kolleykibber,

very nice!
8 years ago I developed a Telnet client for SymbOS/SymShell called "SymTel"...



http://www.symbos.de/appinfo.htm?00020
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/programming/symbos-network-support-development/msg96623/#msg96623

...which is ASCII only, without invers and bold support, but usually it is working fine, too.

But sometimes there are problems with some sites. I wonder, if some sites require a handshake to find out, if a special protocol is required ("automatic terminal type detection").
It's cool, that you are now doing the same, and I am very interested in your results!

[kolleykibber]

Hi All,

I've fixed a few display bugs, still plenty. 

I've made the pen brighter too as it looks better on the ctm644.  Although, it might slightly take away from that wargames era feel.

Works on CPCEMU as well with the m4 emulation.

Thanks for all your comments and testing, much appreciated.

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

Thank you very much for your work!

Steven 

[poulette73]

Nice job ! Thanks very much for your work 😉

[dodogildo]

Although, it might slightly take away from that wargames era feel.

[kolleykibber]

Hi All,

I've fixed a few more bugs and created a repo here: https://github.com/fergusleen/m4ewenterm

Will post on the wiki also.

[GUNHED]

Just an remark... There is a BTX modul for the CPC, which can do real ANSI, it adds an additional GFX signal to the CPC picture. This is done by being linked between CPC and its monitor. I made a thread about it, but can't find it any longer.

This is the wiki link:
https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Schneider_BTX_Modul

Sadly this expansion is hard to get.

However it would be nice to have real ANSI in a way like this.
Just an idea needless comment. 

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

Hi All,

I've fixed a few more bugs and created a repo ...

Thank you very much!
Will test it on weekend. 

Steven 

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

 well, I did not tell witch weekend...
Lot to do in real life. But...

Made a test run yesterday,  its a LOT improved.
The only thing thats still confusing the program
is the "avatar"  function provided by the BBS.

You can "deselect" (deactivate) your own avatar,
but I havent found a setting, that disables others
avatar to be shown.
So if the screen layout is displayed by the BBS,
there is the avatar first, then the text/message of the
corresponding user.
The text is written "across" the avatar. That makes it often unredable. 

I havent figure out if- and if, how- to download.
Is it provided by the terminal program, at all?

Steven