Terminal Monitor
TMON has been removed from Mon3 as of v1.5 but it can be loaded as a stand-alone program. See the GitHub for source files. The Terminal Monitor (TMON) is a complete serial port-based monitor for the TEC-1G, designed for users who prefer to interact with the TEC-1G via a terminal.
Starting up TMON
Connect a serial terminal to the TEC-1G via the FTDI to USB connector. Then, select Terminal Monitor from the main menu by pressing GO and look at the serial terminal.
TMON for TEC-1G Version 1.0
MON-3 Version: 2023.11
RAM Found between 0000h and 3FFFh - 16384 bytes
1000 >
Using TMON
TMON is an interactive tool that works with a serial terminal e.g. PuTTY or Tera Term on a PC, or a ‘real’ VT100 serial terminal such as a Wyse WY-60. The TEC-1G keypad and 7-seg displays are not used once the program starts, and do not do anything (except for the testing routines documented below).
Interactions with TMON are via the serial console. The user types commands interactively and the results are displayed on the terminal.
All interactions with TMON use HEX format - so a byte is 00 to FF, etc. The “h” or “0x” is omitted for brevity.
Typically, the ADDR key exits any interactive command, or by entering “Q” from the terminal.
The above text is the default display when TMON first starts. TMON is now awaiting input and commands from the Available Commands list can be entered.
The Command Prompt
1000 >
The 1000 represents the CURRENT ADDRESS in HEX. Many commands default to their actions interacting with memory at this address. The CURRENT ADDRESS changes as with certain commands. e.g. inputting code and data, and can be set by the ADDR command. By default, TMON points to itself.
The command input editor is very simple. Invalid inputs are typically ignored and result in the user simply being returned to the command prompt. The maximum command length accepted is 40 characters, however, presently the longest valid command possible is 9 characters in length. When the user’s input exceeds the maximum command length, the TEC will emit a beep tone to indicate this condition has been reached. Backspace is supported, to correct typos.
All data entered at all times is assumed to be HEX - 4 bytes for addresses, 2 bytes for data. Invalid data input is ignored.
DATA mode
When the DATA command is given, TMON switches to interactive data entry mode. This is signified by the prompt changing as follows:
XXXX nn :
XXXX continues to represent the CURRENT ADDRESS however the nn represents the HEX byte stored at that address, which you are presently editing.
- Enter a HEX byte and it will be written to memory at CADDR; CURRENT ADDR is then incremented by one.
- ENTER increments CURRENT ADDRESS by one and leaves the existing value as-is. This way, any bytes that don’t need altering are skipped over.
-
- decrements the CURRENT ADDRESS by one. This allows for correcting input errors by going back one address after erroneous input.
- Q exits data entry mode.
TMON Commands
Invalid entries will be ignored.
The DATA entry system is very simple and will continue to be improved in future versions.
HELP ? EXIT
INTEL BEEP BELL
VER STATE CLS
RAMCHK GO [xxxx] DUMP [xxxx]
ADDR [xxxx] DATA [xxxx] INC
7SEG SMON HALT
DEBUG KEYTEST FILL xxxx yyyy nn
PRINT
Parameters marked with square brackets e.g. [xxxx] are optional.
HELP Displays help text
? Display the list of commands
EXIT Reboots the 1G back to MON3
INTEL Calls the Intel Hex file transfer routine built into MON-3
BEEP Beeps the 1G speaker
BELL Sends the BELL command to the remote console
VER Displays the version number of TMON and MON-3
STATE Displays the state of the 1G system - SHADOW, PROTECT, EXPAND, CAPS LOCK
CLS Sends a clear screen sequence to the remote console
RAMCHK Runs a simple test to determine how much RAM is installed, and at what memory address(es). Uses whichever bank EXPAND is set to, but does not alter the EXPAND state. Supports multiple discontinuous RAM blocks, if fitted.
GO xxxx Executes code from the CURRENT ADDRESS, or from xxxx if supplied.
DUMP xxxx DUMP the contents of 64 bytes of memory; provides HEX and ASCII outputs so memory can be examined.
DUMP pauses at completion - space repeats the command (CADDR continues to increment if auto-increment is on; otherwise the same block repeats). This allows you to quickly run through larger blocks without needing to type commands repeatedly.
Q quits and returns to the command prompt.
ADDR xxxx Set the CURRENT ADDRESS. If no address is supplied, display the CADDR instead.
DATA xxxx Interactively Input data into memory. Input one hex byte at a time; the value input is stored in the CADDR memory location.
Enter Q to quit input mode. See full description of DATA mode, above.
INC ON/OFF Set auto-increment mode of CADDR. No parameter supplied = Display the current auto-increment mode. Sometimes turning auto-increment off is helpful for debugging or monitoring.
7SEG Displays CADDR and memory byte on TEC 7-seg displays. + and - keys increment/decrement CADDR. Pressing the ADDR key exits to TMON.
SMON Serial data stream monitor. Accepts serial input from the terminal and displays the HEX bytes received on screen. Great for debugging terminal comms and understanding control codes received from the PC (e.g. VT100 sequences). This is a crude implementation but does display the limitations of the bit-bang serial in not being able to adequately buffer incoming bytes in real time (try pressing an arrow key or a PC function key).
Enter Q (capital) to exit SMON back to TMON.
If a terminal program such as Tera Term is used to add a small delay (e.g 20ms) between bytes transmitted from the PC, SMON can accurately show VT100 control codes such as a PC arrow or function key. Without the delay, the bit-bang serial normally gets the first byte only, or perhaps the first and fourth or fifth byte, hence demonstrating the limitations of the bit-bang interface.
HALT Executes a CPU HALT instruction - on TEC-1F, press any key to resume.
DEBUG Calls the MON-3 debugger/breakpoint tool to examine register contents.
KEYTEST Tests the selected keyboard - the last pressed key’s scancode will appear on the 7-segment displays. Fn is displayed with bit 5 set. Matrix keypad keys supported by MON3 (NOT the full matrix keyset) will be returned if MATRIX mode is enabled. Pressing the ADDR key exits to TMON.
FILL xxxx yyyy nn Fill memory between address xxxx and yyyy with data nn. note: Fill range must be at least 2 bytes long. No checks for safety are done - use with caution, as any area of memory, including the stack, program code or data could be overwritten. This does not apply if Protect Mode is on.
PRINT your-text-here your-text-here is echoed back to the serial terminal.
Cartoon credit: John Hardy and Ken Stone, TE Issue 10, 1983.