CantStopClicking Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 I agree! BTW, can you guess my favorite number? Zero? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 Zero? Nope, and you only get one more guess... smart a..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CantStopClicking Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Nope, and you only get one more guess... smart a..... hehehe, okay, I give.... is it 1438? -Dano 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CantStopClicking Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 There was some discussion a while back on the old Yahoo TI group about obtaining the source to the Millers Graphics Corcomp FDC eproms so 80 track capability could be added. I volunteered for the task if someone could come up with the source, but alas it was not to be found. Gazoo Man, that's a total bummer. Did the search run into a dead end or was it that the owner of the source was not willing to let it go? Or other? Sure would be nice considering the controller is ready to go hardware wise (or so I'm assuming). Cheers! -Dano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazoo Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I don't think I've ever mentioned to anyone how incredibly simple the 80 track modification for the TI disk controller is.Here goes:The source code exists for the DSR. Look at it. Basically every disk access relies on the read/write sector routine. In the routine, the code asks the question 'Is the sector number greater than 359?' If yes, the routine says 'go to side 2'. 359 in hex format is >0167. If we change the value for the computation to 719, or hex >02CF, side 2 isn't accessed until we've passed 80 tracks or 719 sectors on side 1. So a simple 2 byte change makes all three drives on the TI disk controller operate at 80 tracks.The sector read/write routine also includes the drive number. In order to use both 40 track and 80 track drives we just check the drive number. For the DSK1=40 track set of eproms, we ask 'is the drive number greater than 1?', and if so use >02CF for the sector number calculation rather than >0167. For the DSK3=40 track set of eproms, we ask 'is the drive number less than 3?', and if so use >02CF for the sector number calculation rather than >0167. Pretty simple, huh? Gazoo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 Pretty simple, huh? For an Uber programmer like you that can hack assembly code blindfolded, I suppose it is. For me, not so much, but I'm impressed as hell with the results! In my opinion, this is one of the "BIG THREE REQUIRED MODS". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary from OPA Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 For an Uber programmer like you that can hack assembly code blindfolded, I suppose it is. You not a Uber programmer until you can just view the HEX code and know completely what is doing and where and how, without even using any form of disassembler, just by blindly viewing the hexcode. Don't laugh, I knew someone that could do, and not just on 9900 code, but at least dozen other cpu's, I am close but not 100% in viewing hex code and finding the overall flow without making some paper notes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CantStopClicking Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 You not a Uber programmer until you can just view the HEX code and know completely what is doing and where and how, without even using any form of disassembler, just by blindly viewing the hexcode. Don't laugh, I knew someone that could do, and not just on 9900 code, but at least dozen other cpu's, I am close but not 100% in viewing hex code and finding the overall flow without making some paper notes. I wish I had that skill. I'm still just trying digest a years worth of reading assembly tutorials. For me, it's not so much the actual language as it is the ability to apply logic to individual bits and knowing the results will be what you want. Being able to understand shifting of bits and masking is seriously important and not for the faint of heart. I deal with ACL's on network equipment where you have to deal with masks and inverse masks exclusively - and that isn't super intuitive. I need to have an extremely clear head and be ready to focus when I do that type of stuff or mistakes will eat me alive. Hats off to you guys that this stuff comes to either naturally or learned and soaked up well! I'm just glad we have folks here who are capable and willing to share. Thanks! Cheers! -Dano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 I can only read object code for some few commands, e.g. when I search for a LI Rx,>yyyy, DEC, JNE. Apart from that, I seemed to have substantially impressed my students in the beginners' lecture by converting decimal to binary, hexadecimal and back ... in my mind. I had to admit, though, that I can do that for numbers up to 255, and that I know only a couple of special numbers with 16 bit. ("You know that there's a known number close to that one, the 49152, aka C000 ... well, maybe you don't, anyway ...") And that there is a reason for my skills ending at 65535. People just don't learn mental arithmetics anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CantStopClicking Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 For an Uber programmer like you that can hack assembly code blindfolded, I suppose it is. For me, not so much, but I'm impressed as hell with the results! In my opinion, this is one of the "BIG THREE REQUIRED MODS". Yes, agreed, it is one of the simpler and least expensive upgrades. And that fact that it's the TI FDC that can do it, makes it the most universal for existing systems. As long as EPROM's and the ability to program those obsolete chips are still available, it's a fairly cheap and easy job. I'm almost out of the EPROM's but I can at least burn those guys! If only the CorComp method was as simple... I still have hope! :-) -Dano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 ...if you have a 3.5" drive connected to your TI, you're wasting half the space on the disk without this upgrade. The statement above say's it all... Yes, agreed, it is one of the simpler and least expensive upgrades. And that fact that it's the TI FDC that can do it, makes it the most universal for existing systems. Yeah, how can you argue with DOUBLING your storage capacity with EXISTING HARDWARE? That's why it's #3 on my list of "MUST MODIFICATIONS". The cost to benefit ratio makes this one a no-brainer. Almost anyone could do it, or have it done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 You not a Uber programmer until you can just view the HEX code and know completely what is doing and where and how, without even using any form of disassembler, just by blindly viewing the hexcode. Don't laugh, I knew someone that could do, and not just on 9900 code, but at least dozen other cpu's, I am close but not 100% in viewing hex code and finding the overall flow without making some paper notes. Eh, no. You are not an uber programmer until you can write an interactive program in EasyBug to toggle CRU lines to control a robot on-the-spot at the Faire. EDIT: Although, upon reflection, that is pretty impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 You know, I've been thinking, if it was that simple to make the 80 track modification to the software, how about a DSSD 160 track alteration? From what little I know about the Lotharek device, it can be set up to emulate many different formats. It's not a real drive after all, it's all software, so theoretically could one have a virtual 720K drive using the standard TI-FDC? If this could be done, I'd probably leave DSK2. as an 80 track so the remaining 3.5 would work properly. It would just be a simple matter of pulling the out old chips and inserting the new ones. Still, we would be up against the 127 file limit per virtual disk, but the usefulness would sure be expanded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed in SoDak Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 (edited) If I did this conversion to 80-track, what happens if I put a 40-track disk in that 80-track drive? Would it read/write? Or would I be stuck with having to use 40-track disks in a 40-track drive? I'm not really shopping, just curious. I converted most of my old SSSD disks to DSSD long ago and don't add new files very often, so I'm content to use my 180k DSSD collection as it sits and skip the work of transferring everything to larger capacity just to trim the total number of disks I have. I was curious about going to a 3.5" drive just for reliability, but my 20-year-old collection of 5.25" floppies still seem to read/write fine, knock on wood. On other systems, sometimes the High Density disks are less reliable. Would a 1.4 meg drive on a TI be problematic down the road? Probably best to transistion to a hard disk or some solid state drive if you use a TI that much to require a ton of storage. -Ed Edited July 27, 2014 by Ed in SoDak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazoo Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 If I did this conversion to 80-track, what happens if I put a 40-track disk in that 80-track drive? Would it read/write? Or would I be stuck with having to use 40-track disks in a 40-track drive? I'm not really shopping, just curious. I converted most of my old SSSD disks to DSSD long ago and don't add new files very often, so I'm content to use my 180k DSSD collection as it sits and skip the work of transferring everything to larger capacity just to trim the total number of disks I have. I was curious about going to a 3.5" drive just for reliability, but my 20-year-old collection of 5.25" floppies still seem to read/write fine, knock on wood. On other systems, sometimes the High Density disks are less reliable. Would a 1.4 meg drive on a TI be problematic down the road? Probably best to transistion to a hard disk or some solid state drive if you use a TI that much to require a ton of storage. -Ed Perhaps if you read the docs, you will have a better understanding. 80tktidc.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 (edited) I don't think I've ever mentioned to anyone how incredibly simple the 80 track modification for the TI disk controller is. Here goes: The source code exists for the DSR. Look at it. Basically every disk access relies on the read/write sector routine. In the routine, the code asks the question 'Is the sector number greater than 359?' If yes, the routine says 'go to side 2'. 359 in hex format is >0167. If we change the value for the computation to 719, or hex >02CF, side 2 isn't accessed until we've passed 80 tracks or 719 sectors on side 1. So a simple 2 byte change makes all three drives on the TI disk controller operate at 80 tracks. The sector read/write routine also includes the drive number. In order to use both 40 track and 80 track drives we just check the drive number. For the DSK1=40 track set of eproms, we ask 'is the drive number greater than 1?', and if so use >02CF for the sector number calculation rather than >0167. For the DSK3=40 track set of eproms, we ask 'is the drive number less than 3?', and if so use >02CF for the sector number calculation rather than >0167. Pretty simple, huh? Gazoo Simple...LOL What I need is the controller to have 80/40/40. Would this be very hard to modify the eproms? and would both eproms need to be changed? Edited January 11, 2015 by Fritz442 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I think Atrax has .bin files with each of the possible flavors already, so getting an EPROM programmed with the specific configuration you need is relatively easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I think Atrax has .bin files with each of the possible flavors already, so getting an EPROM programmed with the specific configuration you need is relatively easy. Oh kool, are these bin file posted anywhere as I have looked for something like these and have not found them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrax27407 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 The chips are $6 each postpaid (two per set). Just pick the configuration that you want and let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 (edited) The chips are $6 each postpaid (two per set). Just pick the configuration that you want and let me know Sorry I wasn't clear, I have eproms and can burn them, I was looking for the files only.... Or instructions on how to modify them. 80/40/40 Edited January 11, 2015 by Fritz442 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 There is also an auction ending in just over six hours of a Myarc DSDD 80 (720K) disk controller card. It'll control up to 4 drives at 720K each. So with 4 drives or 2 HxC's you could access to up to 2.88M at the same time. Check out the auction << HERE >> 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Hrmmmmm.... I did not realize that was a 720k device. Maybe I will go for it and sell my BwG (with RTC!) Unless there is a compelling reason not to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 HOLY KerrrrrrrAP! The Myarc floppy controller card went for $160.50 before shipping! Did anyone here get it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Not me. I gave it serious consideration, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 I was the underbidder. Looks like Chris may have gotten it (assuming I've decoded eBay's obscured user names properly). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.