INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING 6811 DOWNLOADER FOR THE MACINTOSH

Fred Martin (fredm@media.mit.edu)
December 20, 1993


INTRODUCTION

The Downloader application is used to download Motorola S19-format
files to the Mini Board and other 6811 systems.


COMPATIBILITY

``Downloader'' requires System 7.  It should work on any Mac from the
Mac Plus on up (i.e., Color QuickDraw is not required).  It uses 100k
of application memory.  It works in the background (useful for long
downloads).

``Downloader'' is System 6-unfriendly.  Please let me know if it is
important to you to have this application work under System 6.

The current version number is 0.8.


HOW TO DOWNLOAD A FILE

You can invoke the downloader by dragging a .s19 file onto the
application icon, or by starting up the application and selecting
``Open & Download...'' from the File menu.

In the standard file Open dialog, only TEXT files with the suffix
``.s19'' or ``.hex'' are displayed.  If for some reason you have an
.s19 file that is not named in this fashion, you may download it by
dragging and dropping onto the application icon.

Note: if dragging-and-dropping isn't working, try rebuilding your
desktop (reboot the Mac while holding down the Option and Command
keys).


HOW TO CHOOSE THE SERIAL PORT

``Downloader'' is distributed with the Modem port selected.  If you
would like to use the Printer port, go into the Options menu and
select ``Serial Port...''.  A dialog box will be displayed from which
you may choose the Printer or the Modem port.  ``Downloader''
remembers the current serial port selection when the application is
quit, so you only have to reconfigure the serial port once.


DOWNLOADING TO BOARDS OTHER THAN THE MINI BOARD

``Downloader'' is distributed with options configured to assume the
Mini Board.  The following download options may be selected by
choosing ``Download Options...'' from the Options menu:

* memory type:  EEPROM (default) or RAM.
* bootstrap ignore:  ignore board's reply during bootstrap (defaults on)
* hardware echo:  all serial characters after bootstrap are echoed
  in hardware (defaults on) 

A configuration for a ``normal'' serial port would be to turn both
bootstrap ignore and hardware echo off.


PLANNED IMPROVEMENTS

I plan to add features to the Downloader to make it useful for a wider
range of 6811 systems.  These improvements could include:

* support for internal EPROM memory type
* support for different-sized RAM configurations (e.g., 512 bytes)
* support for Communications Toolbox (additional serial ports)

Please let me know which features would be useful in your work.


FINDING/REPORTING BUGS

If ``Downloader'' fails in an unexpected way, I would be glad to
receive a bug report.  Please send bug reports and comments of any
kind to me (Fred Martin) at fredm@media.mit.edu.  Note the two known
bugs/idiosyncracies below.  Thanks!


KNOWN BUGS AND WEIRDNESSES

* ``Downloader'' stores its preferences in the application file
itself.  This will fail if the application is on a read-only volume.
This bug will be fixed when I write code to locate and create a real
Preferences file.

* If the Downloader is running in the background and it encounters an
error, it brings up an error notification dialog without asking you to
bring it to the foreground first.  I will fix this bug when I figure
out the Notification Manager (maybe).