USB port for PSION 1

[Yves]

https://youtu.be/2QNIG_PwsJs

[Hawsey]

Looks great would this also work for Psion II?

[amenjet]

Looks great would this also work for Psion II?

That's an interesting question. The Organiser 1 has no top slot and so the Link Up serial pack had to use one of the datapack slots. the code for the Link Up goes on a datapack in the second pack slot and can be removed once loaded so that data files can be transferred. A second Link Up pack has code for a terminal emulator, but the code for that pack seems to be lost at the moment.
The Organiser 2 has a top slot which was presumably added so that IO could be used while having both datapacks present. Top slot adapters usually have their ROM on board so that separate datapack isn't needed (or 2, in the case of the Link Up) and also can't be lost.
Interestingly, the signals for the datapack slots and the top slot are almost the same, and the datapack slots for the Organiser 1 are the same as the Organiser 2 (as far as I know, I haven't seen any technical manual for the Organiser 1). So, theoretically, any datapack can fit in any Organiser, and top slot hardware could run from a datapack slot, but there are a few limitations:

1. Data datapacks for the Org 1 have a different header compared to the Org 2. This means that even though a datapack may (see 2. below) work in either organiser, whether it can be used depends on the header that is on the pack. For a mask ROM that is fixed forever, for an EPROM or RAM pack it depends on which organiser formatted the pack. So, if you format in an Org 2 then that is the only type of organiser it will work in, and similarly for the Org 1.
2. The Org 1 only supports linear datapacks. You can't use a paged or segmented pack in the Org 1. Some datapacks can be converted to be linear, but not all.
3. The signals on the top slot are the same as the datapack slots with the exception of the VPP, AC and VB signals. So for instance, you can't program an EPROM (using the standard methods) when in the top slot and you can't turn the organiser on from a datapack slot.
4. The pinouts of the datapacks slots ad the top slot are different.
5. IO hardware can be run from a datapack slot (this is mentioned in the technical manual for the Org 2). The code that controls it would have to understand that the hardware was in a datapack slot and not in the top slot. I don't think much code is that 'slot aware'.
6. The top slot can be a 'data slot' and indeed it does behave that way, for example the Comms Link ROM is read as a datapack from the top slot.
7. The 'slot bus' has a number of modes which are defined using control signals. If you use those signals for IO then they can't be used for data reading or writing purposes. This is why the top slot ROM is limited to being a linear addressed ROM, as the paging and segmenting signals are used for IO.

The short answer is that, due to the above, then yes, the hardware of the Link Up USB will work in the Org 2 (as will the serial version), but the Link Up data pack won't. the Comms Link code won't understand (or at least I very much doubt it will) serial hardware like this in a datapack slot. There's no reason I can see why, with custom code or modified Comms Link code that you couldn't run a Link Up cable of either type on the Org 2 from a datapack slot.

Running the same hardware as a link Up pack in the top slot of an Org2 will be the same as a Comms Link minus the ROM and without the power on capability and power supply. If you add those two bits of hardware to th Link Up hardware then you get a Comms Link.

Bit of a longer answer than I was expecting to write, sorry.

Andrew

[Hawsey]

Thanks , all very interesting stuff .Good luck with your tinkering .