I currently have #Obsidian installed via #ArchLinux's repos. I've just noticed that it depends on FUSE 2†, and I'm not sure why.

I have read that the AppImage version needs it, but I thought that's more because of AppImage than Obsidian.

So, questions:

† I noticed this because we're currently trying to migrate #plptools from FUSE 2 to FUSE 3, and I was wondering what other things on my system depended on FUSE 2.

EDIT: Solved! Thank you to @penguin42 for the guidance. I now have an aarch64 VM running Debian and "host-only" networking so I can SSH in easily. My next challenge will be to do the same with Arch or Alpine, and get serial over TCP or a UNIX socket working.

#HIVEMIND: Does anyone have any tips on running ARM VMs on AMD64? Preferably both 32 and 64-bit.

I've got a few apps (#plptools, the new #SIBOSDK) that I'd like to be able to compile and test while on-the-go.

I'm guessing something like #qemu would do the job, but I don't know where to begin.

#LazyWeb

Current main projects:

• #ecobj: Another piece of the #Psion SIBO SDK rewrite puzzle. ECOBJ.EXE takes an Intel OMF file (.OBJ) for a class and moves the class descriptor data into the code segment. I think I might be able to get this working by the end of the year.
• Get my website running #GoHugo (this is almost done!).
• #CTRAN: Still haven't started writing unit tests. Also, complete a full write-up of what it took to get the thing working.
• Research into compilers: I'm nowhere near ready to start yet, but I'm learning as much as I can.

Upcoming projects:

• #siboimg: Rewrite in Pascal, and add the ability to create and modify FEFS images.
• #plptools: I'd like to see two-way transfer working for EPOC16 -- I'm sure I'll need the help of the rest of the maintainers to get this working. I can't do much with the #HaikuOS port until the USB serial drivers are "fixed" (hardware flow control added) -- I don't think I have the skills for this, so it'll have to wait until some kind soul has the time to work on it.
• #PsiDrive: Add a ~17V boost converter to allow writing to Flash SSDs.
• NAS/home server: Rebuild or replacement of DEATH, my Microserver gen8. It's been over 18 months since DEATH's RAID died. It's lead me to thinking that maybe I don't need the sort of server I thought I need. TBD.

Maybe next year, maybe not:

• New Psion SSD with RP2350: I doubt I'll get anything made, but I'd like to experiment to see what can be done with the protocol.
• Rewrite the rest of the SIBO C SDK tools.
• Compiler: Recreation of the JPI/Clarion TopSpeed C compiler, targeting the SIBO/EPOC16 platform (8086 and V30). I was hoping to get going with this around July this year, but it just didn't happen. This is my Everest. I know I'm not ready yet. I need to train for it.
• Vine: New word processor for EPOC16. Trying to start this project in 2023 lead me to rewriting the SDK, so we're quite some way away from getting this done.
• Research into Objective-C: Not Foundation, just the syntax. For compiler shenanigans.

I've really struggled to get going with projects this year. That's fine, these things happen. But I'd like to find better ways to cope next year so that I can make a little more progress.

#plptools update!

Ports

The #HaikuOS port works with on-board serial ports. However, USB RS232 adapters do not work. This is because of an issue with the usb_serial driver in Haiku. DTR and RTS can't be set reliably, and RTS and CTS can't be detected.

There is still one small issue with the Haiku port. A GNU regex test in ./configure is segfaulting. This can be bypassed, but we want it fixed. That involves delving into autotools, so we'll see how I get on!

Both the #FreeBSD and #NetBSD ports are working! With a combination of brute force and the help of a few FediFolk, these now compile. (I did think that the NetBSD port was severely broken, but I was just using the wrong serial device. Sigh.)

MacOS is still stable and happy.

We're not planning on adding any more ports unless people really beg!

Bugs

Just a handful of small fixes, like plpftp not segfaulting any more when you press CTRL-C. I might have introduced a new bug into plpftp regarding Daylight Savings... I'll try to fix that soon. In my defence, Psion's implementation of DST is, to put it politely, rudimentary.

#Psion #retrocomputing #retrodev

We have a working #plptools port for #FreeBSD!

#retrocomputing #retrodev #psion #runbsd

#NetBSD people! I need some help. (EDIT: Answer found! Thank you, @kaveman !)

I'm trying to update the port of an old piece of software (#plptools), but I'm having issues with linking it to readline.

It's detecting libedit first, even though FSF readline is installed. The following does nothing:

Adding LIBS="-lreadline" throws an error early on in ./configure, saying that it can't find libreadline.so.8.

Do you have any advice at all?

The GitHub issue is here: https://github.com/plptools/plptools/issues/22#issuecomment-2954149613

#runbsd #bsd

#HaikuOS users with USB RS232 adapters! I need some help.

I'm trying to get an old piece of software working with Haiku that uses serial comms (see #plptools). I'm having some issues with DTR/DSR/RTS/CTS checking and setting, but it would be great if someone else can check my findings.

See this link for more information on my tests and results: https://discuss.haiku-os.org/t/porting-plptools-to-haiku/16849/7

Are you able to replicate what I'm seeing?

Current main projects:

• #plptools: Resurrecting old ports (#FreeBSD, #NetBSD) and working on a new port to #HaikuOS. It's an opportunity to get more familiar with the code and maybe find bugs along the way.

Upcoming projects:

• #CTRAN: Still haven't started writing unit tests. Also, complete a full write-up of what it took to get the thing working.
• Get my website running #GoHugo.
• Rebuild of DEATH, my Microserver gen8, probably with #FreeBSD. (Yes, it's been over a year since DEATH's RAID died.)
• Pick another SIBO SDK tool to rewrite. (Probably EMAKE or RCOMP.)
• Add a 17V boost converter to #PsiDrive.
• Make #fefstool create FEFS images. (I'm half-tempted to rewrite fefstool in Pascal to make it easier for me to finish.)

You'll notice that some of these projects have been sitting for a while. I've struggled to get going with things this year. I'm hoping that working though plptools will give me some mental energy to get going with other things.

#plptools update!

Haiku

The #HaikuOS port is now mostly working, with caveats. Everything compiles except plpfuse, which might require migrating plpfuse to FUSE3. I've been able to send and receive files using plpftp, but RS232 DSR checking has to be disabled in the code. I don't want to speak too soon as it could very well be my mistake, but there might be a bug in Haiku's implementation of ioctl() for serial ports. Stay tuned...

FreeBSD

The #FreeBSD port currently has issues with linking to readline, but I'm sure that's fixable. However, a different issue has come up involving FreeBSD's implementation of the timezone global variable. This, in turn, might have uncovered some very old, slightly iffy code when working out timezone offsets.

Other platforms

The #macOS port is running fine at the moment, thanks to @captfab and @jbmorley's sterling work. If you're on macOS, check out Reconnect.

I'd like to resurrect the #NetBSD port for a few reasons, not least because you can still run the current release of NetBSD on a Series 5. I have no experience with NetBSD, so that's my challenge for this afternoon.

There are indications that plptools has at some point worked on #HPUX, #IRIX and #AIX. I personally feel that these ports probably don't need to be resurrected.

The code also mentions #Solaris - I'd certainly consider working on an #IllumOS port, if people were interested.

Interestingly, there's no mention of #OpenBSD, but again I would consider working on that if people are interested.

This is very much a *NIX/POSIX suite of tools. A Windows port isn't going to happen any time soon, unless someone wants to try building it using cygwin. I'm not saying it will never happen, but it's not a priority.

Misc

A couple of small bugs have been squashed by Reuben, including an issue where logging didn't go to stdout when using the --autoexit switch.

#psion #retrocomputing #retrodev