Rex Forum

peetah · Member

This may be a long shot, but why not !

I already own a rex 6000 that I use every day.
But it happens that I'm a linux user, and there is no other alternative than using the official softwares wth WINE (www.winehq.org), which is not a reliable method given the approximation of the serial device emulation and the regression existing with new versions: I already lost my data 3 times and was even afraid that the firmware was damaged to the point of no return.

Using qemu (qemu.org) to emulate a win32 machine is not a satisfying solution because of the same reliability issues. But I did some tests, spying the data sent through the serial line by the original application, and I discovered that some of these data are very redondant to the point where I think that a better job could be done.

I'm not saying that I will succeed in this task, but the challenge is quite interesting. Therefore I would like to know if among any of the remaining reader of this forum, there would be a kind soul that will accept to give away its rex 6000 for the sake of research :)

My plan is to develop a rex 6000 emulator that will also permit to be used as an interface for the real connected rex: in the emulator mode, all the monitoring and debugging features will be available (there are plenty of open source z80 emulation libraries that can be used); in the interface mode, the rex will be mirrored as an image file on the user disk: every modifications (contacts edition, addins upload...) will then be done on the image while the real rex is synchroized with the image only when the user decides that he wants to remove his rex from the cradle/pcmcia slot.

Of course I will pay for the delivery
I don't need any accessories such as cradles or stylus since I already got mine, so that should be quite cheap. If your rex is scratched or with esthetical defaults, I don't care: I just need a working device to play with harware interruptions.

I'm located in France which obviously imply that a european donator would be prefered to reduce the delivery cost.

If I fail or consider that I finally don't have the skills to do that job, I promise not to sell this rex 6000, and will send it to anyone willing to work on the same kind of project
Anyone having information on the hardware interruptions is welcome to send me documentation. I intend to ask intel to send me internal specifications since the rex is kind of an outdated device, but I doubt that this will be successful.

Again, there is no garanty that this project will end in a useful piece of code, but it's been a while that the idea turns around in my head, and I would like at least to start something

Thanks for reading and "à votre bon coeur messieurs dames"

pkiff · Moderator

Peetah,

I have a REX6000 with a broken screen that I could donate, but I don't know if that will help you. The broken screen is entirely unreadable.

I also have another REX6000 that doesn't turn on or stay on correctly. I suspect that there is a problem with a connection or contact with the battery somewhere but I don't know. If you don't touch it, then it will sometimes work fine, but if you start to press buttons then it screws up and reboots.

As far as I am concerned, both are non-functional and I don't plan on trying to fix them, but one or the other may be useful for testing?

You can email me for additional info (use the email link at the bottom of the post).

Also, if you haven't already, you should check out:
http://bakketun.net/rex/
and
http://www.ipd.bth.se/ska/sim_home/rex.html

Phil.

peetah · Member

I don't think I've been through your second link, so that will definitely be useful
Concerning you 2 rexs, they can be very helpful: I can use the no-screen one to test how the button works and the other one to look at the communication protocol through the serial line

I email you asap

Thanks Phil !

peetah · Member

did you receive my email ?

pkiff · Moderator

Something was wrong with my email, so no, I haven't seen your email yet. Please resend it to rex at manifestos daht net.

Phil.