Laser 128 EX compatibility issues

[AstoriaFloyd]

Hello! I am attempting to use my Laser 128 EX (an apple IIc clone with notably good compatibility), however I cannot use it due to the error "Can not open serial port", which I believe is due to the fact the fact this is technically a clone, and not an original, thus failing to detect a Super Serial Card despite it being effectively identical. This is my belief due to the error message in the manual stating "Can not open serial port" means "The card in the selected slot is not a Super Serial Card".

[colinleroy]

Hi!
I'm almost sure I know what the problem is there. For confirmation, can you give me the result of the following BASIC line on your Laser?

PRINT PEEK(49664)

[colinleroy]

I expect it's not 44. If it isn't, can you try the floppy image at https://www.colino.net/tmp/mastodon.dsk ?
And if it is 44, can you send me the results of:

PRINT PEEK(49669)
PRINT PEEK(49671)
PRINT PEEK(49675)
PRINT PEEK(49676)

Thanks!

[colinleroy]

By the way, if this fix works (I suppose it will), according to my emulator tests you're going to have another problem, and this is a layout problem that I have no idea how to fix yet.
I have reported it at cc65/cc65#2214 if you want to subscribe to the issue.

[AstoriaFloyd]

the result of print peek(49664) is 218, and that floppy does indeed get me to the login screen! from here i did manage to log in, though i did encounter two errors on my way there, on the login screen backspacing or replacing a character using the arrows key would instantly crash me, dropping me out of 80 columns mode and throwing "BRK: $2A03", and finally I do believe the layout problem is occuring due to the menu being kinda, merged together with posts.

[colinleroy]

Hi!
Thanks for reporting back! I'm glad the first roadbump was easy to solve, but the second one seems much harder though. I'll check what happens in the emulator, and see if I can find a solution that would fix the Laser without making the code much bigger/uglier for Apples. The problem is deep inside the cursor manipulation routines of the ROM, so fixing it will require runtime modifications to cc65, and I'll have to sell that to them!

[AstoriaFloyd]

Thank you for such prompt responses :)