77 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
77 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
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# VEServer - Virtual Ethernet Drive Server for Apple II
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## Purpose
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VEServer is a very simple virtual disk server for an Apple II equipped with
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a compatible ethernet card (such as the Uthernet II.) It is intented to be
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used with the Apple II client program `VEDRIVE.SYSTEM` which is included as
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part of the [ADTPro](https://github.com/ADTPro/adtpro) disk imaging program.
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The `VEDRIVE.SYSTEM` program is designed to communicate with the ADTPro
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server, which is a multi-platform Java program. VEServer can be used in
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place of the ADTPro server for this purpose. VEServer is a much smaller and
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simpler program, so it is easier to modify and better suited to being run as
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a system service.
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## Principle of Operation
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VEServer uses IPv6 and listens on UDP port 6502 for incoming datagrams from
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`VEDRIVE.SYSTEM`. There are two types of supported request:
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- Read disk block and obtain updated system date and time
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- Write disk block
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Two simulated drives are supported, backed up by disk files in `.po` "ProDOS
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Order". These may be 143K or 800K floppy disk images or any volume up to the
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ProDOS limit of 32MB.
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VEServer can provide system date and time in a similar manner to an Apple II
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clock such as Thunderclock or No Slot Clock. Because the legacy ProDOS date
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and time format will run out in a few years time, ProDOS 2.5 introduces a new
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date and time format. VEServer uses the legacy format by default. If using
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ProDOS 2.5 please specify the `--prodos25` flag to use the new format.
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## Command Line Options
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There are only a few options:
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- `-h`, `--help` - Display brief usage information.
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- `-p`, `--prodos25` - Use new ProDOS 2.5 date/time format (see above.)
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- `-1 FNAME`, `--disk1=FNAME` - Specify filename for disk 1 image.
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- `-2 FNAME`, `--disk2=FNAME` - Specify filename for disk 1 image.
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## Running in a Shell
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You can just run `veserver.py` directly, for example
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`./veserver.py --prodos25 --disk1=/home/woz/hd32_1.po --disk2=/home/woz/hd32_2.po`.
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When run in a shell, each block number read or written is logged, and vt100
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escape codes are used to colourize the output. Reads are shown in green and
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writes in red. If a block number is prefixed by a `+` symbol this indicates
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that VEServer believes this is a duplicate request, which is usually caused by
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UDP packet loss. If a block number is shown prefixed by 'X', this indicates
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a checksum failure (not seen in normal operation.)
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## Running as a System Service using Systemd
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A sample Systemd unit file `veserver.service` is provided. This has been
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tested on Raspbian (Raspberry Pi) but may need modifications for other
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distributions of Linux. On most systems you just need to edit the
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`veserver.service` file to reflect the path where `veserver.py` is installed
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and copy it to `/lib/systemd/system`.
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Once the service file has been installed, you can control the `veserver`
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service as follows:
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- `systemctl start veserver`
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- `systemctl status veserver`
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The reads and writes are logged to the system log and may be seen using the
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following command:
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- `systemctl stop veserver`
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Rather than using colour to indicate reads and writes the letter 'R' or 'W' is
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shown before the block number in the log.
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