Omega-TI Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hey All, I have a technical question for the hardware guru’s out there. Might it be possible to modify the 64K Guidry board into a functional SuperCart? I would be ready to retire my old Editor/Assembler cartridge tomorrow if it were not for that little 8K RAM chip on the thing. Since I got my HDX I find that I’m using the DM2K I have burned on to the 64K cart ‘quite often’ as it does everything the basic E/A module ever did and more. Also, with all that extra memory available on the 64K cart, eventually a way will be figured out to get the EDITA1 and EDITA2 80 column BA-Writer that Tursi modified into the thing too as a functioning built-in editor for the assembly language coders. Now the memory in the Super Cart is just too awesome and useful to give up though. For instance if RAMIT was also resident on the 64K card, it could easily be called up and used to put the SC LOADER menu into the RAM memory. Imagine everything instantly available at the click of the on switch. It truly would be the best of both worlds to have a “Super 64K+8K Cart” or a "SUPER 72 Cartridge", call it what you will. Is it possible? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I think it's possible yes. The write lines are already there on the board to support writing to a RAM, as far as I know (you write to the board to page it, currently). Of you course, you would need to solder in the EA GROMS, which would make for quite an ugly MOD, but still doable. Tursi produced a version of the EA cart with the editor and the assembler built directly into the cartridge - no need to load them from disk! Awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazoo Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Tursi produced a version of the EA cart with the editor and the assembler built directly into the cartridge - no need to load them from disk! Awesome! The original mod for that was done for the Gram Kracker in the early 80s. Around 1992 there was a version that combined the TI Writer and E/A carts into one, with all the files. Check out the attached disk image. Gazoo PgramUtilities23.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 I think it's possible yes. The write lines are already there on the board to support writing to a RAM, as far as I know (you write to the board to page it, currently). Of you course, you would need to solder in the EA GROMS, which would make for quite an ugly MOD, but still doable. Tursi produced a version of the EA cart with the editor and the assembler built directly into the cartridge - no need to load them from disk! Awesome! DM2K loads E/A-5 stuff okay, but I just noticed that I still need my E/A to load E/A-3 programs. I can load E/A-3 stuff directly with the Editor Assembler Cart, or from within 4A DOS with the FIX80 command, but then again 4A DOS uses the Super Cart, which uses the E/A so I'm not sure if 4A DOS actually needs the E/A or not. It's probably like you said, the E/A GROMS would have to be mounted in the cartridge as well as the 8K memory. I'm okay with a little ugly (if I cannot see it)... but getting it all to fit might require one of those oversized 3D printed cartridges. The super thing about DM2K in the cart is that it eliminates two cartridges, the Disk Manager II and the Editor Assembler. Now if there was a way to do a Super Cart without the E/A GROM, I'd love to stick the Multiplan GROM in instead, that way I could eliminate three cartridges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+InsaneMultitasker Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 For most of my TI use through the decades I have used (and still use) the Extended BASIC cartridge almost exclusively. Coupled with FunnelWeb and a special loader here and there, XB was (and is) more than adequate to load all of my dumped cartridges, run disk managers, edit and assemble code, launch menus, and write reports. I know the multicarts offer neat functionality, just don't forget about the alternatives when you start spinning your wheels... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 DM2K loads E/A-5 stuff okay, but I just noticed that I still need my E/A to load E/A-3 programs. I can load E/A-3 stuff directly with the Editor Assembler Cart, or from within 4A DOS with the FIX80 command, but then again 4A DOS uses the Super Cart, which uses the E/A so I'm not sure if 4A DOS actually needs the E/A or not. It's probably like you said, the E/A GROMS would have to be mounted in the cartridge as well as the 8K memory. I'm okay with a little ugly (if I cannot see it)... but getting it all to fit might require one of those oversized 3D printed cartridges. The super thing about DM2K in the cart is that it eliminates two cartridges, the Disk Manager II and the Editor Assembler. Now if there was a way to do a Super Cart without the E/A GROM, I'd love to stick the Multiplan GROM in instead, that way I could eliminate three cartridges. EAII gets you a new ea cart on a 64k cart board.. Shouldn't you be able to put multiple groms in a grom cart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 EAII gets you a new ea cart on a 64k cart board.. Shouldn't you be able to put multiple groms in a grom cart? It sure would be great if a guy could get a PDF file with instructions and pretty pictures to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Just built a Superspace 4bank card from the docs on mainbyte.. kinda tricky as the docs are vague in places, and reference unlabled parts as labels. but I figured it out.. Course my frankencart wont fit in the case but it works! Cost me a munchman & ea cart and some parts from mouser. Greg 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXB Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 I do not get it? If you have a GRAM device it eliminates all these issues at the same time. A PGRAM can run 4 Carts at the same time and you have hundreds of choices. A HSGPL card is a Nuke by comparison. As for the Super-cart bank switching RAM only 8K at a time is painful at best compared to a SAMS card with 1Meg of RAM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Course my frankencart wont fit in the case but it works! Ahhh, but the enjoyment you got out of making it was probably at least half the fun! Hmm, do you think it might fit in one of those oversized 3D printed cases? If you ever want a label made for it, let me know. It might be kind of fun to work up a "Frankencart" design as time allows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Just built a Superspace 4bank card from the docs on mainbyte.. kinda tricky as the docs are vague in places, and reference unlabled parts as labels. but I figured it out.. Course my frankencart wont fit in the case but it works! Cost me a munchman & ea cart and some parts from mouser. Greg Photo's, else it didn't happen 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Photo's, else it didn't happen ugggg braaiinnss 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asmusr Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 So just for the record, the CY62256NLL chip is a valid replacement for the "43256-12LP 32K CMOS RAM" specified on mainbyte.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Speaking of Super Carts... Has anyone yet come up with step by step plans to turn one of these new boards into a Super Cartridge? It would be awesome to combine the power of a Super Cart with the power of having some of ones favorite utilities in the same cartridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 So just for the record, the CY62256NLL chip is a valid replacement for the "43256-12LP 32K CMOS RAM" specified on mainbyte.com. Yep worked in my board and also I use them on the HDX daughterboard.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 While thinking about super carts, I started wondering if the E/A GROM is a different GROM ID than the XB GROM. I was thinking I would like to combine E/A and XB into a single cartridge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 It uses the same GROM Base, and I'm pretty sure it uses the same GROM ID as one of the XB GROMs. I know that there is a version for one of the GRAM devices that shifts it to a different address though--but that won't help you if you plan to use physical hardware (at least until the 512K cart is ready). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXB Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 While thinking about super carts, I started wondering if the E/A GROM is a different GROM ID than the XB GROM. I was thinking I would like to combine E/A and XB into a single cartridge. RXB is a combination of the two carts. i.e. XB & EA GROMS Also many others have done this including Miller Graphics did it first on the GRAM KRACKER. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXB Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 (edited) It uses the same GROM Base, and I'm pretty sure it uses the same GROM ID as one of the XB GROMs. I know that there is a version for one of the GRAM devices that shifts it to a different address though--but that won't help you if you plan to use physical hardware (at least until the 512K cart is ready). In RXB is moved the EA cart from >6000 to >E000 so XB could reside at the normal location. Besides the EA cart works exactly the same way, but moving XB would disable most of the XB cart functions. The only problems with this is EA in RXB does not allow Supercart use. But then I did make a REA CART that was designed for this and that it includes the EA EDITOR and ASSEMBLER and GPL Assembler. This is all in one cart and can be moves to any GROM location as I also include the Source Code. And the utilities to do your own version. Edited February 2, 2014 by RXB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 It uses the same GROM Base, and I'm pretty sure it uses the same GROM ID as one of the XB GROMs. Bummer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 There is a cartridge as a MESS RPK that combines Editor/Assembler with Extended Basic. Maybe someone actually invested the effort to rewrite all addresses in the E/A GROM. Just unzip the attached ZIP container (rename it to *.rpk to use it in MESS). ea_exbas.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXB Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 (edited) RXB2012.zip.zip There is a cartridge as a MESS RPK that combines Editor/Assembler with Extended Basic. Maybe someone actually invested the effort to rewrite all addresses in the E/A GROM. Just unzip the attached ZIP container (rename it to *.rpk to use it in MESS). OMG RXB is is exactly what you just described. And the Source code is included.Also has built in GPL and Assembly Assembler plus the EA Editor built into the EA CART! I have said this like 50 times over the years. Mizapf I even went so far as to make RXB use a different GROM base and still work. By the way no one else has come up with a Editor Assembler cart that will load and run a XB program that will find the RXB cart in a alternate GROM address and run it. This REA was designed to use as the EA GROM for a Super CART! Just watch the video it explains this and how it works. Edited February 3, 2014 by RXB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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