[GreenKeys] RSS feed reader for Baudot teletypes now available

[Jon Schlegel]

Great Accomplishment, John!

Three cheers for Sourceforge and GPL also!

Regards,
Jon Schlegel WA3MVM



At 03:19 PM 4/27/2009 -0700, John Nagle wrote:
>My RSS feed reader for Baudot teletypes is now on SourceForge at:
>
>https://sourceforge.net/projects/baudotrss/
>
>The source code has been uploaded and is under Subversion control.
>For now, this is in a form for developers.  It works, but there
>is not, as yet, an easy-to-use download and run package.  You have
>to get the source from SVN Browse.
>
>Below is the README.txt file.
>
>                                 John Nagle
>
>
>RSS reader for Baudot Teletype machines
>
>Simulates a classic "news ticker", printing current news and weather on old
>Baudot teletype machines. Useful for museum-type demonstration systems.
>
>Supported hardware: Teletype Models 12, 15, 19, 28.
>
>John Nagle
>Animats
>April, 2009
>License: GPL/LGPL.
>
>
>This is a Python program for driving classic Baudot teletype machines such as
>the Model 15 or Model 28.  It's usable with both KSR machines (with 
>a keyboard)
>or RO machines (no keyboard).
>
>The program connects to RSS feeds and prints them on the Teletype as they are
>updated. By default, it connects to the Reuters "Top Stories" feed, 
>which prints
>about five lines per news story.  So this is a useful demo program to leave
>running to drive a Teletype in a museum situation.  A new story appears about
>once an hour.  If you want more typing time, find a more active feed.
>
>System requirements:
>         Computer:               Intel 32-bit, with hardware serial port.
>                                 (USB to serial converters will usually not
>                                 work at 45.45 baud.)
>         Operating system        Windows 2000/XP.
>                                 (Should work on Vista and Win7, not 
> tested.)
>         Python system:          2.6
>         Required packages:      win32api
>                                 pyserial
>                                 feedparser
>         Baudot teletype:        Model 15, 19 or 28 in proper 
> working condition.
>                                 Communications font, not weather font.
>                                 Default baud rate is 45.45 baud.
>                                 The program will work with or without
>                                 unshift-on-space.
>                                 The program assumes automatic LF on CR.
>                                 If all the lines are typing on top of each
>                                 other, add the "--lf" flag
>                                 on the command line.
>                                 If a power relay is attached to the RTS line
>                                 from the serial port, the Teletype motor will
>                                 be turned on and off at the 
> appropriate times.
>
>         For information on interfacing a current-loop Teletype to a PC, see
> 
>http://www.animats.com/nagle/aetheric/connecting.html
>
>System configuration issues:
>      If you're running this on a machine with a keyboard, it's useful
>to configure your operating system to turn off the input and output 
>FIFO for the
>serial port. Otherwise, there's a 4 character time delay built into 
>the serial
>port, and at 45.45 baud, that's a full second. This makes interactive typing
>very painful.
>
>Installation:
>      As yet, there is no installer.  Download the source ".py" and 
> ".bat" files.
>
>Running the program:
>
>Usage: userinterface.py [options] [feedurls]
>
>Options:
>    -h, --help            show this help message and exit
>    -v, --verbose         Verbose mode
>    -k, --keyboard        Keyboard present
>    -c COMMAND, --cmd=COMMAND
>                          Initial command
>    -m, --markread        Mark all stories as read
>    -b BAUD, --baud=BAUD  Baud rate
>    -p PORT, --port=PORT  Port number (0=COM1)
>    -l, --lf              Send LF at end of line
>    -a OHDONTFORGETKEY, --ohdontforgetkey=OHDONTFORGETKEY
>                          API key for OhDontForget messaging
>
>If "--keyboard" is specified, the Teletype (not the computer) will prompt:
>
>"Type N for news, U for news updates, W for weather, S to send:"
>
>"News" reads the specified RSS feeds, printing any new items as they come in.
>
>"News updates" is the same as "News", but discards all old news first.
>So it will print "Waiting for news..." and wait.
>
>"Send" refers to a limited capability for sending SMS messages from 
>the Teletype
>keyboard.  This requires requesting an API key from "ohdontforget.com".
>We're looking for a better (two way) SMS solution.
>
>"Weather" is currently the weather for San Francisco, CA.
>This can be changed in the code at the line
>
>         s = weatherreport.getweatherreport("ca","san_francisco")
>
>Only state/city combinations supported by NOAA will work.
>
>When the Teletype is prompting for a command, after 30 seconds, it
>will print "OFF" and turn off the motor.  Sending a BREAK will wake
>it up again. Sending a BREAK when other printing is going on will
>stop whatever is happening and prompt for a command.
>
>There is no interactive interface or GUI on the computer.  This program
>is normally run in the background.  It will run forever until killed.
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