CD-i Internet Connection

If you encounter any problems with your CD-i system or have difficulty operating some software for CD-i then post your problems here. With help from the CD-i community and the vast resources hosted on the CDinteractive network we should be able to solve any trouble your experiencing.
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Bas
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Post by Bas » Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:09 am

a focus cdifan posted on Le Monde I don't want you to miss:

[..]If we can emulate a pointing device with some software on a pc you can emulate the CD-i modem so we can use our CD-online web browser to surf on the internet again [..]

There is no need to reprogram the CD-i BIOS; direct access to the serial port is fully specified by the Green Book and supported by nearly all CD-i Players (the only exceptions I know of are the Sony players and one or two other oddball players).

Your program needs to find the path name to the serial port via the "CSD" file (it's usually /t2 but not always), but after that you can use the standard OS-9 i/o system calls to access the port (open/close/read/write/setstat/getstat).

See my CD-i Stub sources, available here, for sample assembly code to open the serial port; the relevant files are stubcsd.s and stubscf.s (SCF is the Serial Communications Filemanager from OS9).

If you have a full "CD-i null-modem cable", enough signals are connected to allow the PC to simulate the modem.

What you would need to do on the PC side is the following:
- Wait for the ID byte request (RTS low)
- Send the modem ID bytes (it's in the 605 technical manual)
- Act as if you're a modem :-)

The third part is the most complex one, of course; you'd need to interpret the appropriate "AT" commands and do something with the actual modem data. You also need to send the ID byte quickly; this may be a bit tricky because the response time is quite short.

There are several ways to handle the actual modem data, which should be in SLIP (Serial Line IP) or PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) format; the simplest one is to just forward to a serial SLIP/PPP port on a router (which could be another PC running Linux). The perfect but complex way is to decode the IP packets and then perform address translation (NAT) so that the packets can be transmitted on the PC's own Internet link, handling the reverse packets as well. I don't really know if you can do the latter in a user-mode Windows application, though...

Anybody want to take a stab at this? Its mostly low-level serial port and Internet programming, not really very hard but somewhat complex...

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Post by XCLTempesT » Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:20 pm

I didn't have any time to test much things.
But I came to a point were I would want prove that the dial-up that the CD-I does, is a standard-PC like-dial-up with the same protocol.
So I need a normal dial-up service that works with the CDI still. (a dial-up number with 7 digits max) So I need a dial-up service that provides a local dial-up number in "Den Haag" (a city in the Netherlands). I have a Xs4ALL account, that provides local dial-up servers, but saddly not in The Hague.

So does anybody else have an idea of what ISP service I could use?


Or does anybody on this forum with a normal KPN analog telefone account live in one of the cities where XS4all does have a local number?
(max 7 digits input, so You should live in the city itself, so you don't have to dial the prefix code) If so maybe I could pop round to test on your telefone line :) I'll bring my portable CDI-360 and Internet kit including the '97 CD-online disc.

a list of Xs4All dial-up servers:
http://www.xs4all.nl/helpdesk/algemeen/ ... mmers.html

I also tried searching for alternatives on the site:
www.internetten.nl
But I can't get the dial-up number information easily.


But the point is, that I need a bit of prove that I can create my own dial-up service for the CD-I. If they used something very non -standard. Then It will probably be a bit beyond my expertise. (or it wil cost me way to much time)

PS. I know I use "local dial-up" in the text above, But I mean dial-up without the need to dial the prefix code. But you get the point

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Post by XCLTempesT » Sat Jan 07, 2006 2:30 pm

btw, I also thought about emulating a modem.

In the text above it states that I could use a PPP connection.
But that is what my ZOT-828 dial-up server provides, and that doesn't seem to work with the CD-online disc.
That is why I first want prove, before i try to make a program that emulates the modem.

I don't have much experience with modem protocols, but using Python you can acces the serial without much trouble. Also Python is ideal for these routing aps. routing sockets is done very easily in python.
But for the modem emulation, I think you could even do it in windows using Visual basic if you wanted to. But I have no idea how to do the routing in VB though.

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Post by XCLTempesT » Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:30 pm

some progress:

It turned out that you can input a prefix multiple times (and only the first charecter is replaced from the last input).
So you can make the CDI call any telephone number you want!

So I tried to call XS4all. And the phone is picked up! for the first time it said "logging on"!
Saddly the password was incorrect according to XS4All, so either I misspelled the password of my account or the CD-online disc added something to the username (@cd-online.nl for example) or password.

Strangly my own hardware setup doesn't pickup the line. I'll be checking tomorrow is it is because of the telefone central I used, and I'l get another modem the day after, to check if it is because of the modem.
If it still doesn't work, it is because of the sharing server, and I'll ask a friend to help me setting up a linux machine as dial-up server.

I'll keep you posted!

When I get the CD-I online I'll start experimenting with emulating a modem on the serial port using Python. But that is even further away

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Post by Bas » Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:37 pm

wow that's really cool! I'm foreseeing a lot of progress and possibilities here! I think cdifan has also a lot of experience with the modem stuff....

unfortunately i don't have any hardware knowledge about this, but god people help this guy!

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Post by XCLTempesT » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:55 pm

I tested my dial-in server with a normal KPN telefone line, and I have the same problem. So I'm assuming the home-telefone-central I use isn't the problem. That leaves the used modem and/or the dial-in server itself.
(or the home-central, and modem and/or dial-in server offcourse)

Tomorrow I'll get a different modem to test with. Maybe it will solve my problem. If not I'll test my netgear RM 356 modem router, or maybe get help with a linux dial-in server.


keep you posted.

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Post by cdifan » Sun Jan 08, 2006 5:06 pm

I have no personal experience with the real CD-i modem, just read about it, but I do have a good idea of modems in general and I have been told that the CD-i modem was basically just that.

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Post by XCLTempesT » Wed Jan 11, 2006 6:37 pm

It may be a default modem and connection, but it doesn't work on a default with a normal dial-up connection.

I tried a different modem: same result, so it has something to do with the dial-up server.

Using a dial-up server in windows XP has the same result as the hardware server:
it dials, it is picked up, there is a lot of modem noise, and then nothing.
XP is still monitoring, and didn't set up a PPP connection.
And the cd-i still says "connecting"

using a normal ISP, I get a bit further, it tries log-on, and says that the password is incorrect. (but it is correct, so the CD-online disc, may add something to the password or username string, I don't know)

CDi-fan, since you have some modem experience: what do you think the problem is? Do you have any Idea what kind of connection is being established? (is it ppp?)

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cdifan
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Post by cdifan » Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:39 pm

I would guess SLIP, not PPP, but I have no actual data on this.

Can you make a serial port trace of a failed connection attempt?
This might require a bit of cable splicing...

I don't have any CD-Online disc myself so I cannot test it...

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Re: CD-i Internet Connection

Post by solkutter » Mon Sep 09, 2013 12:05 pm

i have the complete "internet op je t.v" package,
and if there is any way to get a cd-i player on the internet
i would be VERY interested.
unfortunately i'm no computerbuff, but to anyone dedicated to researching this
i can offer cd-i modem and internet-disc 01.
drop me a line if you can use them to get some players
back online, on the interwebs.

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Re: CD-i Internet Connection

Post by Arethius_RGC » Sat Sep 21, 2013 5:11 pm

HI I can research it, I'd be interessed as well.

Once perm onth I'm going to my association and we are quite a few talented people there so I think we can make work.

Could be nice playing Ram Raid online.

Just hoping the servers are still online.

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Re: CD-i Internet Connection

Post by solkutter » Sat Sep 21, 2013 5:18 pm

o.k, that's great!
would either the modem or the disc with the browser be helpfull at all?

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