RXB - Rich Extended Basic

[+mizapf]

I did not think of MESSUI because it is not in the main development process anymore; one of the developers picked it up when it was in a completely dysfunctional state. If it works for you, use it.

 

And ... after a quick glance over it, it seems to me that it still is a Windows-only thing. SDLMESS users (builds for Linux and Mac) never had the MESSUI.

[RXB]

If I could figure out a script to load everything I need to use that would solve the problem.

 

But stuff just stopped working when setting up. Now it is much worse then when I started and I have no clue what is wrong.

 

Scroll Lock gives me the menu after TAB but I can no longer load a CART or DISK at all.

[+mizapf]

Rich, can you do a little video clip on that, as you recently did? This is easier for me to get the issue.

[jacquesg]

RXB wrote:

 

From what I can see how would you load GPL Object Code into the HSGPL card?

 

As a GPL programming this is must for me.

 

Imagine using C and the only way to load your code is to run 4 different programs before you could test it. You spend more time setting up then testing.

------------------------------------

 

Since you are using the Weiand GPL Assembler you first have to select the HSGPL bank where you want to load your GPL object code. The following steps from the TI start screen will do this:

 

CALL BANK(x) where x is a number from 0 to 15. Hexadecimals cannot be used with CALL BANK.

 

CALL SCON I remember from a previous conversation with Gazoo that he uses a different CALL. SCON works for me so I have stuck with it.

 

BYE to return to TI title screen.

 

This procedure places the selected bank x in bank 0 and bank 1 ready to load the GPL object using GPL*LOADER. A copy of your GPL program is also placed in bank >0010 and can be run from the first RML screen.

 

To move your newly loaded GPL program to another bank and to regain the use of banks 0 and 1 first enter CALL SCOFF. The previous contents of these banks are still there. Then copy the contents of bank >0010 and load it into the bank you want to use. A program named HSGPL is used to save and load selected banks. This program can also be used to reset banks >0010. Contents of HSGPL banks are not saved by HSGPL in a GK format which has a 6 byte header. They are saved in a SNUG format which uses a 4 byte header. A program named GKRACK_E will convert files with GK headers into SNUG files.

 

Before you make extensive use of the HSGPL card it is prudent to create a copy of a blank HSGPL bank. This can be used to clear a bank that is no longer needed.

 

Have fun,

 

Jacques

[RXB]

Jacques

 

OMG that is much worse than I even imagined!

 

With the PGRAM I only had to go to a EA loader and run a single program to turn off the Write protect, then run GPL*LOADER to load the GPL Compressed Object code.

With the GRAMULATOR or GRAMKRAKER it only took a single switch then run GPL*LOADER.

 

I guess a GRAMKRACKER in MESS is my only choice to write GPL code as the HSGPL card would take way too much time between tests to use.

 

Thank you for explaining the whole thing for me. I would still like to try out the HSGPL card in MESS.

 

Rich

[jacquesg]

Rich,

 

On my HSGPL card I have Super Extended Basic in bank 0 and RXB12 plus REA11 in bank 1 because I make a lot of use of Funnelweb. I have Weiand GPL and E/A programs in bank 2. If I left bank 0 blank I think that the HSGPL card would act the same as the GRAMULATOR or GRAMKRAKER card. I am not sure because I have never tried it or even ever seen a GRAMULATOR or GRAMKRAKER card. MESS allows you to have 4 stand alone disk drives usually named as DSK1 to DSK4 plus as many ram disk directories you want starting at DSK5.

 

IMHO a HSGPL card gives you more options than a GRAMKRAKER card. You can use 4 ROM banks instead of only 2. My description may sound more complicated than it really is once you become familiar with its operation. There is an English manual for the 80 column version of HSGPL. It was translated by Bob Carmany and can be downloaded from the SNUG site. I taught myself how to use the HSGPL card by trial and error because most writing I could find deals mainly with hardware and very little with how to use the various software CALLs.

 

Regards,

 

Jacques

[RXB]

Jacques

Thanks but I only need 2 banks to write my code right now.

RXB 2012 & REA 2011 in one page in banks 3 to 7 and the two 8K ROM pages.

That leaves a second page of 40 GROM unused as I do not need the ROM pages.

 

Also I plan to re write the GROM 0, GROM 1 and GROM 2. I want to be able to tack a small chunk of code in each module (about 128 bytes) that is Assembly and GPL.

This would run from FAST RAM and could can switch from any module to any other module. The idea is to make a cart that just finds the other modules and uses them.

So say RXB could be 120K (or more) of GROM and you could put the other pages anywhere but it would find them and use them, plus switch back to the caller.

 

The only draw back is if you use a DSR to read or write and leave a open file, when you come back it will be corrupted. But that would be a stupid thing to do anyway.

 

Thanks

Rich

[RXB]

Rich, can you do a little video clip on that, as you recently did? This is easier for me to get the issue.

Ok I am a noob and should have restarted my computer several times.

Here is the proof:

 

 

I feel silly that this happened but I am learning.

[+Ksarul]

Keep at it, Rich! You're teaching all of us useful things. You won't be the only person who makes mistakes as you learn how to use this application, but your documentation of the path may make sure that a whole lot less people run into issues later. Thank you!

[+mizapf]

Hello Rich,

 

first of all, although a reboot seemed to have solved some problem, this is less likely. A reboot would have allowed Windows to load some updated driver, but we're strictly on the application layer. So there is most probably something else that changed; maybe when you last exited QMC2, settings were saved and on re-entry, things worked as expected. Probably.

 

Some comments:

 

When you want to return up one level in the OSD (menu), just press ESC; this is quicker. You need not step down all the way to the bottom of the menu.

 

at 2:07: You are missing the HFDC controller on the right side. This means you won't have floppy support. On the other hand, you were able to launch MESS with floppy controller somehow. But I noticed you started the emulation under the "Played" tab. I suppose QMC2 took the configuration you used last time.

 

Suggestion: You should make sure that all devices on the right are properly selected, then use the Save button on the right edge of the window to create a defined configuration. It will show below the "Default configuration".

 

The problem with starting the "played" instances is that it takes the previous configuration, not the current one. So suppose you found an error this time, or you change the inserted disk, and then you start the emulation under "played", QMC2 will likely ignore all your current changes. This may look confusing.

 

at 4:40: You get a selection "cart1" ... "cart4". This surprises me, as you should only get one "cart" slot. The four slots were in earlier releases of the TI emulation in MESS, or you have to specify "-gromport multi", which I did not notice. On the other hand, QMC2 seems to be started with 0.153 (timecode 2:01). Do you have multiple MESS releases on your system? Maybe you should move away the older ones because there may be issues with the mess.ini file between different MESS releases.

 

at 5:14: You just left the OSD, but you did not switch back to full keyboard mode! This is a very popular thing which I found myself doing several times as well. Please always make sure you return to full keyboard mode before continuing in the emulation.

 

One thing that will happen in the partial mode is that the P key is mapped to "Pause". Whenever you now type P, the screen is dimmed, and the emulator seems to hang. In fact, it is just paused.

[RXB]

Yea I did have multiple MESS on my computer but after I took the one off the C drive and used the one in my Documents (Classic99 is also there) then things started to work better.

 

The MESSUI has a thing called Picker? and you can not resize that damn window oddly it is like so small per the names in it. And the window after that is just empty space? WTH?

 

I will play around with it and see what I can do, then post a better video.

 

Rich

[jacquesg]

Jacques

Thanks but I only need 2 banks to write my code right now.

RXB 2012 & REA 2011 in one page in banks 3 to 7 and the two 8K ROM pages.

That leaves a second page of 40 GROM unused as I do not need the ROM pages.

 

Also I plan to re write the GROM 0, GROM 1 and GROM 2. I want to be able to tack a small chunk of code in each module (about 128 bytes) that is Assembly and GPL.

This would run from FAST RAM and could can switch from any module to any other module. The idea is to make a cart that just finds the other modules and uses them.

So say RXB could be 120K (or more) of GROM and you could put the other pages anywhere but it would find them and use them, plus switch back to the caller.

 

The only draw back is if you use a DSR to read or write and leave a open file, when you come back it will be corrupted. But that would be a stupid thing to do anyway.

 

Thanks

Rich

 

Unfortunately any description of how memory is organized on a HSGPL card gives two meanings to the word 'bank'. One meaning refers to the 16 possible RML pages while the second meaning refers to the 8 possible GROM banks plus the 4 possible ROM banks contained on each page..This is hard to explain in words so I would suggest that you look at pages 7 to 11 of the HSGPL manual and it might make more sense.

 

Jacques

 

 

[+Ksarul]

This ambiguity when describing GROM banks was why Tursi coined the term "slots" for use with the ÜberGROM. Each GROM base (or RML page in the HSGPL) has between 1 and 8 of its banks filled with a program GROM--he just called them slots because they could be used in a totally mix-and-match fashion with the ÜberGROM.

[RXB]

Tursi has a good approach.

 

As a original GRAMULATOR and GRAMKRAKER user I adopted the Miller Graphics explanations standards.

This was later expanded on by Horizon with the PGRAM

 

BANK is 5 BANKs addressed from >6000 to >FFFF Thus 5 x 8k = 40K GRAM per PAGE of GRAM

PAGE is a 40K GRAM made of 5 BANKs per PAGE, so like SLOTs Tursi described the TI99 has 16 of these. Thus 16 x 40k = 640K of GRAM

 

The first 3 BANKs of GRAM are 0 the GROM OS or can be GRAM OS. And TI Basic is BANKs 1 and 2 of GROM or GRAM.

 

The RAM/ROMs are a whole different can of worms and vary depending on who you side with.

 

Now a real ClusterF**K is the TI way of organizing GROM with 6K per BANK and each PAGE is 30K Thus 6k x 5= 30K and 16 PAGE is 16 x 30k = 480K of GROM

(using 6K boundaries were a cost cutting concept not a logical way of building extra memory)

[RXB]

Well finally with help from Robert I got the Floppy and Hard Drive working in MESS! Yahoo!

 

So now how do I convert the ton of stuff I have in Classic99 and PC99 to use in MESS?

 

Try to create a dsk image from the files using TI IMAGE TOOL creates a empty disk in MESS?

 

Try to import anything results in errors. Why does MESS use a file system not supported by anything but MESS?

 

I have all these tools I created and need to create programs in MESS and none of them exist in MESS anywhere.

RYTE DATA GPL ASSEMBLER

Marty Kroll GPL Loader

 

So how do I get these into the MESS file system?

Edited June 3, 2014 by RXB

[RobertLM78]

I'm pretty sure Classic99 uses straight TIFILES, so any files you've created with that you can import on to a .dsk image with TIImageTool. I'm not sure about the PC99 stuff.

[+mizapf]

Rich,

 

1. MESS uses a "file system" that is also used by other emulators like v9t9. The DSK files are a dump of sector contents. Yes, this is a good thing. Most emulators on the world make use of disk images.

2. Also, MESS and TIImageTool support PC99 format. No need to convert anything. You can open those disk images directly.

3. Classic99 uses plain TIFILES. You can import them into the DSK image files using TIImageTool. Open the DSK image, go to "edit", choose "import files". If the files are not shown, remove the file filter by choosing "All files".

4. As I said several times, I cannot make any use of "results in errors" if you don't tell me the error. In most cases, as it shows, the problem is on layer 8, sorry.

[RXB]

Rich,

 

1. MESS uses a "file system" that is also used by other emulators like v9t9. The DSK files are a dump of sector contents. Yes, this is a good thing. Most emulators on the world make use of disk images.

2. Also, MESS and TIImageTool support PC99 format. No need to convert anything. You can open those disk images directly.

3. Classic99 uses plain TIFILES. You can import them into the DSK image files using TIImageTool. Open the DSK image, go to "edit", choose "import files". If the files are not shown, remove the file filter by choosing "All files".

4. As I said several times, I cannot make any use of "results in errors" if you don't tell me the error. In most cases, as it shows, the problem is on layer 8, sorry.

Thanks.

Got the GPL Assembler and GPL*LOADER and can run them!!!

 

Will have to keep playing with the TI Image Tool as some .dsk images will just not import at all, or after I do import them they are empty.

 

Hey by the way all my hard drives I create all respond to WDS1 only and in TI Image Tool all say HDS1 even if in Hard drive slot 2 or 3?

 

But RXB does make Directories and I can copy floppies to directories.

Edited June 3, 2014 by RXB

[RXB]

There may be a misunderstanding here.

 

In RXB support CALL AMSINIT only sets up the pages for SAMS to work, it sets aside 32K as UNUSED for a return to normal non SAMS environment.

Thus why RXB only has 240 pages instead of 256 pages from CALL AMSBANK command in RXB.

 

In RXB the SAMS memory is only available to the LOWER 8K using the command:

CALL AMSBANK(lower-bank#,upper-bank#)

 

Each SAMS bank is 4K and can occupy any space in the 32K memory, but this would be a nightmare to manage in XB.

So instead I invented a way to manage SAMS so you can use it to load multiple Lower 8K Assembly by using a new loader/saver:

CALL BLOAD("path.filename")

or

CALL BSAVE("path.filename")

 

BSAVE saves the entire lower 8K as a Program Image file and BLOAD loads those lower 8K Program Image files into the lower 8K.

Then using CALL AMSBANK(#,#) you can swap out the pages of LOWER 8K up to 240 pages of Assembly or whatever is in those pages.

 

Here are the Videos and the RXB 2012 has them in the RXBAMSDEMO folder.

 

 

 

 

 

Now RXB 2012 has the original AMS commands invented by Joe Delekto, later modified by Paul Schippnick so I include all my I have to help you.

RichSAMS.zip

[+mizapf]

Hey by the way all my hard drives I create all respond to WDS1 only and in TI Image Tool all say HDS1 even if in Hard drive slot 2 or 3?

 

 

Rich, it's quite simple: This is a fake output. You will always get a "DSK1", "HDS1", or "SCS1", depending on the format that TIImageTool detects. It is intended to look like the output in Geneve OS, but of course there is no reason for having DSK2 or WDS3 or the like.

[RobertLM78]

I'm not sure if I'm reading the most recent version of the RXB Manual, but I found an error on v3.005 page 40. There is a program to copy an entire directory. I have it working as such:

100 !** FCOPY WHOLE DIR **
110 CALL CLEAR
120 INPUT "MASTER PATH: ":M$
130 INPUT "COPY PATH: ":C$
140 OPEN #1:M$,INPUT,RELATIVE,INTERNAL
150 INPUT #1:A$,B,C,D
160 X=X+1 :: IF X=1 THEN 150
170 IF LEN(A$)=0 THEN CALL CLSALL :: RUN
180 PRINT X-1: :C$&A$
190 CALL FCOPY(M$,A$,C$,A$)
200 GOTO 150

The problem was in line 140 - it had

140 OPEN #1:M$,INTERNAL,INPUT,FIXED 38

but seems to like OPEN #1:M$,INPUT,RELATIVE,INTERNAL much better. I successfully tested the above, so it works, right out of the box .

[RXB]

I'm not sure if I'm reading the most recent version of the RXB Manual, but I found an error on v3.005 page 40. There is a program to copy an entire directory. I have it working as such:

100 !** FCOPY WHOLE DIR **
110 CALL CLEAR
120 INPUT "MASTER PATH: ":M$
130 INPUT "COPY PATH: ":C$
140 OPEN #1:M$,INPUT,RELATIVE,INTERNAL
150 INPUT #1:A$,B,C,D
160 X=X+1 :: IF X=1 THEN 150
170 IF LEN(A$)=0 THEN CALL CLSALL :: RUN
180 PRINT X-1: :C$&A$
190 CALL FCOPY(M$,A$,C$,A$)
200 GOTO 150

The problem was in line 140 - it had

140 OPEN #1:M$,INTERNAL,INPUT,FIXED 38

but seems to like OPEN #1:M$,INPUT,RELATIVE,INTERNAL much better. I successfully tested the above, so it works, right out of the box .

Yea that may be a fix I had for Classic99 that I was using.

So need to fix that also, thanks..

[Tursi]

3. Classic99 uses plain TIFILES.

Classic99 can use TIFILES, V9T9 Files, V9T9 ("Sector") disk images, and PC99 ("track") disk images, thank you. TIFILES are the default format for output files, but changing that is as simple as clicking a checkbox.

[Asmusr]

Classic99 can use TIFILES, V9T9 Files, V9T9 ("Sector") disk images, and PC99 ("track") disk images, thank you. TIFILES are the default format for output files, but changing that is as simple as clicking a checkbox.

 

But disk image are write protected, right?

[RXB]

Classic99 can use TIFILES, V9T9 Files, V9T9 ("Sector") disk images, and PC99 ("track") disk images, thank you. TIFILES are the default format for output files, but changing that is as simple as clicking a checkbox.

We were talking about being able to catalog files from XB. Not knocking Classic99 but it does not use a normal format for DISKS hence SECTOR access does not work.