...

Z88 to Desktop Cable

Although Eazylink2 has primarily been designed to be used with the Z88, it supports the 'built-in' Imp/Exp protocol that the Z88 uses. BBC Link also used this protocol which means in theory, file transfers should be possible between the BBC Micro and the Desktop without a Z88 being in sight.

See Z88 BBC Link for more details

Note

title	This has not been proved yet

The BBC Micro to Desktop connection will only work with Imp/Exp. All the other modes described in this document only apply to the Z88. USB to Serial Adapters should work but as yet none of this has been proven. The author does not have a BBC Micro, so feedback would be appreciated.

Z88 to Desktop CableImage Removed

Z88 EndPC End PC to Z88 Cable

Image Removed

Z88 to PC Cable with Serial USB Adapter Image Removed

Z88 to PC Cable with Serial USB Adapter

Z88 End	PC End
Image Added
Image Added Connect to an existing DB9 RS232 port on the computer
Image Added Connect to the USB port with a Serial USB Adapter and Z88 to PC (9 way) Cable.
Image Added Image Added or Connect to the USB port with a Serial USB Adapter and Z88 Serial Link.

There are two types of PC to Z88 Cables and one adapter available that can be used on all the Desktop computer platforms.

Z88 9 way male to 9 way female (Later PC Standard)
Z88 9 way male to 25 way female (IBM PC standard)
Z88 Serial Link

Warning

title	WARNING - This is not a standard cable

Please DO NOT be tempted to rush out and get a standard 9 way male to female cable. They WILL NOT WORK. There are two reasons for this.

The Z88 connector end has no screws in them. If they are there, they will prevent the plug from being inserted into the Z88.
The wiring of the pins is different to the standard connections as the Z88 came out before the standard for the 9 way connection was established.

The correct cable (still sealed in a bag from Cambridge Computers) and the Z88 Serial Link is available from Rakewell Ltd.

Using Adapters

If you use the Z88 9 way male to 25 way female cable, you will need to use a 25 to 9 way adapter to use the 9 pin plug on the modern Desktops or USB Adapters.. Please ensure that all the 9 way pins are connected. Some adapters only connect 3 of the pins, sometimes the only way to tell is to buy one and test the connections with a meter before use.

Image Modified

Desktop

RS-232 Serial Port

If your Desktop has a hardware RS-232 port, the cable can be used with it. If it hasn't, you can either elect to

Fit a 2 Port PCI RS232 Serial Adapter Card with 16550 UART

or use a

Serial to USB converters

Most desktops now have USB and not Serial ports. EazyLink2 will only work with a Serial to USB converter that the flow control supports 'hardware handshaking' and a driver available for the Operating System you are using. The cable type puts less strain onto the connectors than the adapter type.

...

Info

title	Drivers - Turn on Translate

The WCN Download site is in Chinese. Use the ZIP files and turn on translate.

Tested configurations of EazyLink2 client connecting to Eazylink popdown in OZ 4.7.1:

...

Hardware USB Serial Cables


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RS-232
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PCI2S550

or other
RS-232 H/W
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ICUSB2321X
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ICUSB2321F
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FT232R
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FT232R CHIPI-X10
Product Identifier: 24597
Vendor Identifier: 1027
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FT232R
P24577
V1027

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Staples
(18762)
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CH340
P29987
V6790
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PL2303
HXD HX
Rev D)
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PL2303RA
P8963
V1659

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USB 2.0 to
Rs232
Adapter Cable
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USA-19HS USA-49WG
D:Keyspan USB Serial Port
M: Keyspan

Drivers
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Drivers
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MAC Signed
Driver

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Linux Driver information

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Driver comments


Mac OSX: VCP 2.2.18
Linux / rPi: Built-in


LINUX mint 13
LINUX mint 17

Linux / rPi: Built-in

Suppliers
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OS
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OS

9600
38400


USER
REPORT
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VG
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Benny Boogaert
Frank Rodolf
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VG
VK
DA

Tested configurations of EazyLink2 client connecting to Eazylink popdown in OZ 4.5:

Hardware	USB Serial Cables

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RS-232

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	Image Modified PCI2S550 or other RS-232 H/W	Image Modified FT232R	Image Modified FT232R CHIPI-X10 Product Identifier: 24597 Vendor Identifier: 1027	Image Modified FT232R P24577 V1027

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CH340
P29987
V6790

Image Modified

PL2303
HXD HX
Rev D)

Image Modified

PL2303RA
P8963
V1659

Image Modified

USA-19HS USA-49WG
D:Keyspan USB Serial Port
M: Keyspan


Drivers	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified

MAC Signed Driver

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Driver comments

			Mac OSX: VCP 2.2.18 Linux / rPi: Built-in

Linux / rPi: Built-in


Suppliers	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified

OS

									USER REPORT
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Image Modifiedx86_64	not avail.	Image Modified	Image Modified

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Price 26 Jun 2014
		Image Modified	VG GS

£8.32

£2.21

£11.59

		£26.02	VG
Price 30 Jun 2015	£26.25	£6.95 +£9.95	£12.36 + Post	£10.99	£1.37	£12.95	£7.49	£25.86	VG
Price 09 Feb 2016	£19.11	£6.45 +£9.95	£10.03 + Post	£10.99	£1.49	£14.95	£7.49	£26.10	VG

Tested configurations of EazyLink2 client connecting to Eazylink Popdown (for all OZ versions) v5.2.3-06:

Hardware	USB Serial Cables


	Image Modified RS-232	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified	Image Modified


	Image Modified PCI2S550 or other RS-232 H/W	Image Modified FT232R	Image Modified FT232R CHIPI-X10 P24597 V1027	Image Modified FT232R P24577 V1027

Image Modified

CH340
P29987
V6790

Image Modified

PL2303
HXD HX
Rev D)

Image Modified

PL2303RA
P8963
V1659

Image Modified

USA-19HS USA-49WG
D:Keyspan USB Serial Port
M: Keyspan

OS

								USER REPORT
Image Modified OS X 10.11 (x86_64)	not avail.

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Linux / rPi: Default support Image Modified

Image Modifiedx386 / x86_64
	Image Modified	VG

Image ModifiedArm 32bit

Image Modified(x86_64)

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Update USB Drivers

Tip

title	TIP Please ensure the latest drivers are installed.

When Eazylink2 uses a Serial Port or a USB - Serial connector, check that the latests latest drivers have been correctly installed before running the program. With desktop Operating Systems being updated, USB drivers that used to work, may not work after updating the operating system. A disk with the manual and drivers which are normally supplied with the converter, can be years out of date. You are advised to read the manual to see which driver it uses. Use Google to search for the latest driver. Some operating systems will automatically find the latest's driver it requires when the USB Adapter is used - e.g. Windows 8.1

For example there is already a later driver ( 08/08/14 3.4.2014 ) than the one shown below. This is why it is important to find the latest drivers to ensure good communication between Eazylink2 and your Desktop.

Image Modifiedxp

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Example

Device Manager without
correct driver installed.

Image Modified

For example - this driver is dated 04/11/2011

...

Windows Update can update the drivers if they are manually selected. They do not get updated when automatic updated are used.

Anchor
added_device_manager
added_device_manager
Image ModifiedDevice Manager (Optional)

Note

title	Eazylink 2 Automatically finds the correct Serial Port

The serial port should automatically be found. If this does not happen the following information may be useful.

Image Modified

Before running the program, it can be useful to know the device name that the operating system has allocated to the serial port you are using to connect to the Z88. This is either a physical number that is on the computer e,g, COM.1 COM.2 (device names on Windows), or a virtual one (see below).

If you are using a Serial to USB converter the driver will automatically allocate a new serial port device name. Please refer to the manufacturer's instructions for details how to find out that name (COM port number on Windows).

This COM port may also be examined or changed in the Device Manager.

Original software for the Z88 could only select COM.1 or COM.2, so if they are required, here is how to change it from COM3 (the automatic choice that was selected in this case) to COM.1. Select the

Device Manager
Ports (COM & LPT)
Prolific USB-to-Serial

Comm

Com Port (COM3) (or whatever device you are using).
Properties
Port Settings
Advanced ...
Change COM Port No to COM1
OK

Note: The parameters shown in the 'Advanced Settings' are ignored by this program.

Mac Users


Image Modified	Image ModifiedOn the Mac selection of the COM port uses tty. Just select the correct name that your driver uses.
Image Modified	Image ModifiedHere it is again on a later Operating System on the Mac, but it is showing two drivers, the old one (which is ticked) and will fail if used with OS X. Which just shows how important using the driver really is. It is also good practise to remove any old drivers. A good site that shows you how to do that is https://www.mac-usb-serial.com/wordpress/support/troubleshooting/

...

BBC Micro to Desktop Cable

Although Eazylink2 has primarily been designed to be used with the Z88, it supports the 'built-in' Imp/Exp protocol that the Z88 uses. BBC Link also used this protocol which means in theory, file transfers should be possible between the BBC Micro and the Desktop without a Z88 being in sight.

See Z88 BBC Link for more details

Note

title	This has not been proved yet

The BBC Micro to Desktop connection will only work with Imp/Exp. All the other modes described in this document only apply to the Z88. USB to Serial Adapters should work but as yet none of this has been proven. The author does not have a BBC Micro, so feedback would be appreciated.

Versions Compared

Old Version 143

New Version Current

Key

Z88 to Desktop Cable

Z88 to Desktop CableImage Removed

Using Adapters

Desktop

RS-232 Serial Port

Fit a 2 Port PCI RS232 Serial Adapter Card with 16550 UART

Serial to USB converters

Tested configurations of EazyLink2 client connecting to Eazylink popdown in OZ 4.7.1:

Tested configurations of EazyLink2 client connecting to Eazylink popdown in OZ 4.5:

Tested configurations of EazyLink2 client connecting to Eazylink Popdown (for all OZ versions) v5.2.3-06:

Update USB Drivers

Anchor
added_device_manager
added_device_manager
Image ModifiedDevice Manager (Optional)

Mac Users

BBC Micro to Desktop Cable


	Image Modified PCI2S550 or other RS-232 H/W	Image Added ICUSB2321X	Image Added ICUSB2321F	Image Modified FT232R	Image Modified FT232R CHIPI-X10 Product Identifier: 24597 Vendor Identifier: 1027	Image Modified FT232R P24577 V1027

Page Comparison

Versions Compared

Old Version 143

New Version Current

Key

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Z88 to Desktop Cable

Z88 to Desktop CableImage Removed

Using Adapters

Desktop

RS-232 Serial Port

Fit a 2 Port PCI RS232 Serial Adapter Card with 16550 UART

Serial to USB converters

Tested configurations of EazyLink2 client connecting to Eazylink popdown in OZ 4.7.1:

Tested configurations of EazyLink2 client connecting to Eazylink popdown in OZ 4.5:

Tested configurations of EazyLink2 client connecting to Eazylink Popdown (for all OZ versions) v5.2.3-06:

Update USB Drivers

Anchoradded_device_manageradded_device_managerImage ModifiedDevice Manager (Optional)

Mac Users

BBC Micro to Desktop Cable

Anchor
added_device_manager
added_device_manager
Image ModifiedDevice Manager (Optional)